When one hears the word “prison,” the vision that most likely crosses people’s minds are far from that of The Ohio State Reformatory.

With its towering Gothic turrets and stone castle appearance, the historic reformatory has a way of intimidating even the bravest of visitors.

Photo credit Ivy Kingery

My first visit to The Ohio State Reformatory (OSR) was a little over a year ago.

As I headed onto 100 Reformatory Road, made that left turn and started down the reformatory’s front drive, I remember being awestruck and even feeling a bit reluctant as I approached this colossal structure that suddenly seemed to envelope me into its presence.

Getting out of the car and looking up at its tallest steeple was even worse.

And I was there by choice, I thought.

I could not imagine being transported and taking that same drive up to this massive institution and entering as an inmate.

My second visit was a little over a week ago, and I was lucky enough to tour and chat about the reformatory and its history with that of author, lecturer, internet radio co-host, and OSR volunteer Greg Feketik.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, Greg’s also an investigator of the paranormal and has been studying and investigating for over 20 years. So… who better to stroll through The Ohio State Reformatory with on a late October afternoon?

Photo credit Ivy Kingery

Greg explained his same feelings when he first saw the reformatory.

“The architect, Levi Scofield, designed it based off the castles in Europe. He wanted the inmates to feel, when they first saw this place, like, ‘Oh my gosh, what did I do? I’m gonna spend time in there!’ And that’s actually how I felt the first time I came here, I was like ‘Oh my gosh look at this place! And I’m gonna spend the night in there?! That was in 2004.”

There’s no doubt that The Ohio State Reformatory’s overwhelmingly daunting first impression is sure to advance a heart rate and leave a lump in one’s throat.

 

 

The History

Construction began in 1886 on Ohio native and architect Levi Scofield’s design of this almost unapproachable building. Using both Victorian Gothic and Romanesque Revival architecture, Scofield’s extravagant institution would begin as a reformatory school and eventually evolve into a maximum-security prison that would end up housing thousands of inmates before being forced to close its doors almost a century later.

But, The Ohio State Reformatory’s history starts even before its 1886 groundbreaking.

The field where the reformatory was to be built served as a training camp for Civil War soldiers under the name Camp Mordecai Bartley, named after the Ohio governor who served in the 1840s.

Sometime around 1867, Mansfield Ohio was chosen as the location for a new Intermediate Penitentiary. The facility would serve as a point between the Boys Industrial School located in Lancaster and the State Penitentiary in Columbus. The young first time offenders ranged from ages 13 to 33, with crimes from that of theft, to, as mildly as, disobeying family rules.

In1896 the reformatory doors opened to its first 150 offenders.

“When they came here, they had to learn a trade, they had to go to school, and they had to have religion and go to church. They had to have those three things. And it worked. A lot of times when they got out, the recidivism rate was low and they didn’t come back.”

Over the years, the reformatory transitioned into that of a maximum-security facility. The occurrences that transpired inside of its Gothic stone walls would be far more dispiriting than the reformatory’s outward appearance.

“It was more in the late 1960’s early ‘70’s that the reformatory turned into a maximum-security prison.”

OSR remained in full operation until a 1990 federal court order closed its doors that December as a result of prisoners filing class action suits citing overcrowded cells and inhumane conditions.

With its hauntingly chilling appearance, it’s no wonder why the reformatory was chosen as the prison location for the 1994 film “The Shawshank Redemption,” which was based on Stephen King’s novella “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.” It could also be said that the filming of the 1994 movie was, in fact, a form of redemption for the reformatory, saving it from the wrecking ball as it was scheduled to be demolished.

In 1995, the citizens of Mansfield formed The Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society, and have been working diligently since then to restore the historic prison. The reformatory has since been featured as the location for numerous other films and productions.  OSR now serves as a museum and popular tourist attraction which can also be rented for events, with proceeds going to further restore the prison.

As I walked through the now quieted and aged halls, rooms and cells that were once alive with active prisoners, guards and employees, I imagined what it might have been like to be there. The only way to get a true picture of what life must have been like at The Ohio State Reformatory, was to ask someone who had lived it.

Mr. Michael Humphrey, a former inmate who served 14 months at the reformatory, agreed to talk with me about his time spent there.

Photo courtesy of Ohio State Reformatory and Michael Humphrey

“I entered in August of 1969 and was paroled and left in September of 1970. I was 18 years old when I went there and I was 20 when I left. During the time I was there, I went to school and graduated.

“It was a very dangerous place, there was no question about it. You had a bunch of young rambunctious kids and a lot of them, mad. I was in several fights and I did spend 3 days in “The Hole” once for fighting.”

“The Hole” was a form of solitary confinement that served as punishment at OSR.

“My first day out on the yard, it was very easy to tell I was the new guy because I had my head shaved and had the new clothes on. One of the fellas walked up to me and decided he was gonna tell me how it was going to be, and I wasn’t excepting of it and we went at it. The guards broke it up and they took us directly to ‘The Hole’.

“They kept the lights on in there 24 hours a day and they gave you bread and water for the first 2 days, the 3^rdday you would get a bologna sandwich and a carton of milk. You couldn’t be yelling and screaming, you needed to be quiet or they would add time to it. So, you pretty much needed to tow the line.”

A Typical Day in OSR

“We would get up in the morning and go over to the chow hall and then we would come back and be counted and then everyone would be discharged to their jobs. I would go to school, then we would go to lunch and be recounted again. Then it was back to school for me for the remaining afternoon, and then we would come back to be recounted, go over to the chow hall once again for dinner and then come back and we would be locked into our cells. The lights would stay on until I believe 9 pm, and then it was lights out and you had to be quiet. If you still continued to talk or raise Cain or anything, then they would come get you.

“I pretty much kept to myself and went to school and I tried not to go out onto the yard a tremendous amount of time because that’s where, if things were going to go wrong, it would usually be in the yard. I stayed in my cell a lot and studied and just wanted to have a good report when I went to the parole board because I wanted to get out.

Photo credit Ivy Kingery

“When they brought me in, they put me in 1 southeast cell 3 and I was there for 30 days. Then they moved me to 3 southeast cell 4, and I spent 11 months in that cell with the same cellmate.

“When I made parole, I was moved to West Cell Block. When you made parole, they moved you over to the west block to get you out of the environment of East Cell Block because it was much more violent in the east block then it was the west. So, when guys found out you made parole, sometimes they would start trouble to get you engaged in fighting and add time to your sentence.

“It was dangerous. When you came out of your cell in the morning, you weren’t exactly sure what was going to happen, if anything. Fights were the norm for the day, there was no question about that. Sometimes guys took it a little bit further than that. I was overly cautious.”

In May of 2004, former Ohio State Reformatory inmate Michael Humphrey #77663 was granted a pardon from Ohio’s governor.

Michael has volunteered with the reformatory for 15 years and is a current OSR employee where he has worked for the last 3 years. Michael is the guide for OSR’s Inmate Tour (which is intended for mature audiences only) which he follows with a Q & A afterwards.

 

The Haunts of OSR with Greg Feketik

Aside from being very knowledgeable about the reformatory’s past, Greg Feketik also has plenty of stories and experiences about those that have chosen OSR as their forever home…

Photo credit Ivy Kingery

Greg and I started in the administration portion of the building where the lower level now houses the gift shop area and the prison museum that has progressed immensely just within the last year.

Photo credit Ivy Kingery

Photo credit Ivy Kingery

The staircase is one of my favorite spots in the reformatory. It was this infamous staircase where, in the movie “The Shawshank Redemption,” the swarm of officers ran up to confront Warden Samuel Norton in his locked office after receiving Andy Dufresne’s tidbits on his crooked in-house tax evasions.

Photo credit Ivy Kingery

“One of the first times my wife and I were here, we had a video camera going and we were coming down that sets of steps right there, nobody else around, and as we were coming down these steps, right between us, we hear a ‘Hey!’ We stopped and I was like, ‘Was that you?’ and she was like, ‘No I thought that was you!’ It was weird, but we did capture that audio on the video camera.

“We had another experience here on the stairs. My wife and I were working what’s called a ‘Ghost Walk.’ It’s where they give you a tour at night without the lights on and talk about the paranormal hot spots, and we ‘pushed’ for the tour, meaning we followed the tour and kept everyone together so nobody wandered off. My wife was standing at the top of these stairs (2^ndfloor) and the tour was on the 1^stfloor. So, she’s standing here looking this way, and, it was night but there was light shining in, and she’s facing this wall and sees a shadow walk behind her. She turns around and nobody was there. She tells me and I come up and searched the floor and don’t find anybody. So, there’s something about these stairs where it seems like there’s a lot of activity.”

This area of the administration wing served as the Assistant Warden’s living quarters where he lived with his family. This floor is also where the Warden’s office was in “The Shawshank Redemption.”

Photo credit Ivy Kingery

Greg then takes me to a bigger room.

“One of the first times we were here, this was an old bathroom. My wife went in there, and she’s kinda sensitive, and she comes out and says, ‘I don’t like it in there. There’s something in there.’ So obviously, we all went in there, I mean that’s what we were here for!

“My wife reluctantly went back in with us. At the time, all the windows were boarded up and we shut the door and it was so dark that you couldn’t see your hands in front of your face. There was no light whatsoever. It was only the four of us in there, and up on top of the ceiling there was a swirling color of lights, just swirling all over the ceiling, like a rainbow. We all saw it and were mesmerized looking at this colored lightshow and then it slowly disappeared.

“We were all like ‘What the heck was that?’ We tried to recreate it by shining flashlights under the door and we never could. Yea, that was kind of a crazy experience and we could never figure out what caused that.”

 

“This is The Chair Room”

Photo credit Ivy Kingery

“It’s the only room inside the prison (except for cells) that doesn’t have any windows. We’re not sure what it was actually used for, but there’s people who claim this room is very haunted.

“So, what you do, is shut the door and it’s pitch black and sometimes when you sit in the chair they say you can hear voices or you can feel the chair vibrate. Other times, people will say if you move the chair and leave, when you come back the chair will have moved back. I’ve personally never experienced any of this.

“We’ve had volunteers walking by the room who have heard growling coming from here. One volunteer that helps me on the private ghost hunts, when he was on the 2nd floor, he heard growling following him.

“We actually offer a challenge when we have small group private ghost hunts, if anyone is brave enough to do it. The challenge is to go sit in the chair for 15 minutes by yourself, door shut with lights off.”

Greg admits that most of the time the mind is the one that plays tricks on the challenge-ees and thus they don’t last the 15 minutes.

When offered up the challenge by Greg, I did sit in the chair… enough time to snap a photo, lights on, but opted out of the rest. Not saying I wouldn’t have done it…. But, we were on a time schedule and had a lot of the prison to see… that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

“These three floors, which is West Admin, I consider one of the more haunted locations inside the prison.”

We walked on down the hall until we entered the chapel, probably my most favorite spot in all the prison. Greg pointed out the heavy steel doors which indicated we had left the administrative area and were then in the actual prison.

Photo credit Ivy Kingery

“Some say the chapel is their most active area. Most of the time EVPS are captured here but I’ve never really had anything personally happen to me here.”

From the view of the chapel windows, often times you can see the current inmates from the two active prison facilities that are still located on the property, thus any photography from these windows is strictly prohibited. With one of the facilities being maximum security, there are, most likely, still inmates that were transferred from OSR continuing their sentences there.

Greg led the way up to the west attic. Back in the 1930’s inmates were transferred and housed up here after a fire broke out at The Ohio Penitentiary.

Photo credit Ivy Kingery

“They moved about 300 inmates up here and this is where they stayed, they had cots for them. Sometimes when the inmates came here their clothes and bedding still smelled of smoke. Sometimes when we’re up here, we’ll get a really strong odor of smoke.”

Photo credit Ivy Kingery

Greg points out graffiti on the walls written by the inmates that stayed here.

The two types of hauntings.

“You have the residual haunting, which is like a tape recording. It plays over and over and it doesn’t interact with you. You can’t get rid of it, it’s just there.

“Then you have the intelligent hauntings. These are ghosts or spirits that will actually interact with you. You ask them to do something, they’ll do it. You ask them a question, they’ll answer it.

“Now, some of the best EVPs that were captured in the prison have been up here. Most of the time, investigators will ask questions and don’t get any answers. But, if you’re talking amongst yourself, you’ll get answers.

“One of the EVPs we captured here was during a private investigation after the majority of the group had left and there were only four investigators present. One of the investigators asked the remainder of the group, ‘What happened to the rest of our group?’

“Well, when they replayed the audio there was a response that wasn’t the investigators. It was another voice that said ‘They left.’

“Another time one of our investigators was basically apologizing to the spirits for doing the same thing people do all the time, and said ‘We don’t mean to bother you.’ And immediately after that, on the audio, there was a voice that said, ‘It’s ok..’

“You don’t hear them at the time, in fact the first EVP ever recorded was back in 1959 by a guy by the name of Jurgenson. He was out in the woods with an old tape recorder recording birds. When he went to replay it and listen, he had human voices in there and he was the only one in the woods.

“Another EVP captured was in the library on the east end. One of the investigators sees an old phone book on the counter and goes, ‘What’s this?’ Another investigator comes up and says, ‘Oh, it looks like an old phone book’ but when we reviewed the audio, right after she asks, ‘What’s this?’ another voice says, very clearly, ‘Library.’

“The point is, the EVPs show that they are very polite and cooperative here and they’ll help you.

“Now, the only thing you don’t want to do is provoke.

“We had a case up here in the attic where an investigator was up here provoking and well, he got a response.”

Greg shows us a cell phone picture of a scratch formed into an X on the provoker’s back.

“That was here, in the attic where we are now. The thing is, when you’re here, treat these spirits with respect and they will treat you with respect. You have to remember, these were inmates and they were here for crimes and if you don’t respect them, they will not respect you.”

It was about this time that we heard a loud boom from the far left of the room that echoed loudly throughout the attic. After hearing about all these experiences up here, we all jumped, but it was when Greg jumped that I became alarmed.

I suddenly envisioned myself in a horror movie.

Greg reassured us that as loud as it was up here in the attic, most likely it was an effect’s test run from the ground floor for OSR’s “Blood Prison” which is a haunted house that the reformatory puts on every year to raise funds for its continued preservation.

Immediately after the first boom, we heard two more and then a third that hit on the opposite end of the attic, right where we were standing.

It was later confirmed that it was most likely air cannons for “Blood Prison.”

The Cell Blocks

“There were murders here. Inmate on inmate and inmates on guards.”

The building of the prison continued into 1910 with the completion of East Cell Block. The East Cell Block side of the reformatory remains the largest free standing steel cell block in the world. At 6 tiers high, East Cell Block could house 1,200 inmates at one time verses West Cell Block that has 5 tiers and could house 700 inmates.

“This side (West Cell Block) and the administration portion, was built between 1886-1896. These cells are much larger than the ones on East Cell Block. This was the quiet area, inmates wanted to be on this side. They used to call this side, ‘The Hilton.’ Troublemakers, and when you first got here, were housed on East Cell Block. It was extremely loud over there. They used to call that side ‘Motel 6.’”

Entering into the cell blocks is an experience that is difficult to describe. There’s no doubt an eeriness that follows you as you climb the stairs and hear your footsteps echoing on their metal surfaces. The narrow ranges on each tier lead into the now flaking cells that once housed multiple prisoners, some convicted of heinous and violent crimes. The silence alone in these cells offer an uncomfortable sensitivity and even sadness the first time you enter in.

 

Photo credit Ivy Kingery

On this visit, though, that ghostly silence was replaced by echoes of chilling instrumental music billowing up from down below one of “Blood Prison’s” ghastly scenes, managing to create yet another type of distressing ambience to the cell blocks.

“Now we did have an experience on West Cell Block during another private investigation. Earlier in the night we smelled this terrible smell, it was like burning sulphur, or rotten eggs, it was nasty. And later on, we were walking on one of the tiers and that smell came back. So you hear one of the investigators on the video sniff and say, ‘That smell’s back, do you guys smell it?’ And right when he says that, on the video you see this thick mist and when it disappears, the smell went away. And that was crazy because we didn’t see the mist at the time, and it wasn’t until we were reviewing the video and we were like, ‘Holy cow! Look at this?!’

As we made our way to East Cell Block, Greg explained another one of the challenges during the night investigations, which is to challenge anyone to walk the East Cell Block on the 3^rdtier, by themselves without a flashlight.

Photo credit Ivy Kingery

“I’ve done it a couple times, sometimes you think you hear voices coming out of the cells and sometimes you’ll hear footsteps walking behind you. This is a long walk by yourself at night.”

An electrifying blast of “Blood Prison’s” eerie carnival music instantly stunned me. I’ll have to admit, the impeccable timing of the theatrical audios during my visit here with Greg was a bit uncanny.

Next, Greg spoke of a full-bodied apparition sighting in the prison’s library.

“Where the library was, one of our volunteers was closing up for the day and saw a guest go into that room. So he went into that room to tell the guest, ‘Hey we’re closed, you have to leave,’ and when he went into the room, there was nobody there. He said it looked like a real person. There’s only one way in and one way out. Because of the route, he had a clear view of it. He saw him go in and he never came out.

“Other volunteers have seen full-bodied apparitions, and it seems like most of the spirits and ghosts were employees.”

Some of the reformatory’s regular haunts are that of prison guard, Frank Hanger down in Solitary, “Mr. Salts” who was also a guard that is usually seen near the east showers, as well as an inmate that regularly is seen near those same east showers.

And then there is the ghost of Helen Glattke, the wife of Arthur Glattke, the Assistant Superintendent from 1935-1959. Unknowing to me at the time, I had apparently run across Mrs. Glattke during my first visit.

“We are now in East Admin. Now when the reformatory was built, the Wardens and Superintendents and their families lived here. There were some tragic events that occurred here. Back in November of 1950, the Superintendent’s wife, Helen Glattke was in this bedroom and on that Sunday morning, was in this closet reaching for a box.”

Photo credit Ivy Kingery

“Well, on the top of that box was her husband’s service revolver and she didn’t know it. When she pulled the box down, the gun fell and discharged and struck her in the lung. She died several days later at a hospital.

“I don’t think she’s ever been seen here, but you will smell her. Roses and rose water. One volunteer says that you can sometimes smell her White Rain shampoo.”

My heart skipped a beat. And then a couple of beats.

I clearly remember a scent of roses so strong on my first visit here, that I made several comments to my husband and son about where this rose scent might  be coming from!

As Greg led us into Mrs. Glattke’s pink bathroom, I smelled it again, as strong as the first time! My husband, daughter and Greg agreed they too smelled a faint whiff of floral.

Photo credit Ivy Kingery

Uh, WOW.  Well hello Mrs. Glattke…

Greg also mentioned that sometimes people smell beer and goes on to say that Mrs. Glattke used to brew her own beer.

“In 1959, her husband Art Glattke had a massive heart attack in his office. After that, they decided that Superintendents and their families were not going to live onsite anymore.”

“We have a lot of volunteers here and they see things, hear things, smell things.”

Greg tells of a recent experience he had in Solitary or “The Hole.”

“Of course, Solitary, or ‘The Hole,’ is one of the most active areas.”

Photo courtesy of Greg Feketik

“I was sitting in Solitary by myself and there’s only one way in and one way out and there’s nobody in there but me and down at the end of the cell block there was a loud commotion like there were maybe people fighting or scuffling down there.

“That same night, there were guests who got EVPs there, and one where they asked ‘If anybody’s here can you say hi?’ and when they viewed it, there was a male’s voice that said ‘hello’.  So that was pretty cool.”

As I was wrapping up my session with Greg, another volunteer, Tom joined us. He explained that after doing a tour up on the 6^th tier of East Cell Block, a lady came up to him complimenting the “cool effect!”

“I was like, ‘What effect?’ And she said, ‘That cell door that’s rigged to close on its own when you walk by it. What did they use? Hydraulics or electricity?’ And I was like, ‘There’s no door that’s rigged.’ She was like, ‘What do you mean?’ I told her, ‘If you saw a door close on its own, you had a paranormal experience!’ ”

 

Photo taken by a visitor that captured a dark shadow behind her

I asked Michael about any paranormal experiences, if any, he had while he was an inmate. He explained at that time, there was no talk at all about the prison being “haunted.”

“I can tell you, I did have a paranormal experience but didn’t know it at the time. I didn’t sleep a lot at night so when the guards would come by at night, sometimes they would stop a minute and talk to me. I could always hear them coming down the range because they wore a type of shoe that had a soft sole on them so you could tell it was them walking down there. They would come and I would turn around from the top bunk and face the bars and I would just talk to them for a couple minutes. So, I heard the guard coming one night and I turned around to talk to him and the footsteps walked right in front of my cell and there was nobody there. I pretty much just kinda thought, well maybe I had it wrong, maybe he was on a different range or something, but from what I know today, I’m absolutely sure that footsteps walked right in front of my cell.”

I then asked Michael what brought him back to OSR.

“After my 2004 pardon, I don’t know how to explain it to ya, but my whole attitude just changed. I then enjoyed being there and helping other kids. I absolutely have a wonderful time there now and I don’t mind telling my story, I don’t mind talking to people, and I don’t mind dealing with the younger kids that are a little troubled. For me, now, it’s just an all-around great experience.”

Photo courtesy of Ohio State Reformatory

Among its violent, shattered and sorrowful past, The Ohio State Reformatory is finally seeing brighter days.

Photo credit Ivy Kingery

Through its ongoing preservation, the walls of this one hundred and twenty-two-year-old institution share with us its stories, and undoubtedly teach us a tale of redemption,

in every sense of the word.

 

Greg adds,

“I just love it! I love this place and I love showing people around.”

He then offers up,

“The scariest things that happen to most people on our ghost hunts, most of the time, are not paranormal.”

I look at him perplexed.

“Have you seen those cardboard cutouts? Those will scare the crap out of ya!”

The Ohio State Reformatory features “Escape From Blood Prison” now through November 4^th.

To learn more about Greg and his investigation of The Ohio State Reformatory and his other experiences and investigations, check out his book, “Insights Into The Unknown, A Ghost Hunter’s Journey” and his newest book, “Roads Into The Unknown, A Ghost Hunter’s Journey Continues” both available through Amazon.com.