The iconic backdrop to the 1994 film “The Shawshank Redemption” has long been a popular historic site. However, the stories behind the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield rival the tale of Andy and Red.
They certainly are scarier.
The building itself has its own essence, said Ashleigh Ramey, the Ohio State Reformatory’s program director.
“Obviously, the building is not a living thing, but it has this aura and this feeling about it. It kind of breathes,” Ramey said. “You drive up and you just get this feeling.”
Cleveland architect Levi T. Scofield gave the prison its gothic look. After 10 years of construction, the facility admitted its first inmates in 1896.
“Scofield designed this prison to be something that was awe-inspiring,” Ramey said. “He wanted to give the gentlemen who were sent here a feeling of hope and inspiration.”
It ceased operation as a prison in 1990 and sat empty until area residents lobbied to take it over and restore the structure.
The site now hosts tours, ghost-themed experiences and various events throughout the year.
The Glattke Ghosts
Arthur Glattke was the prison’s longest serving warden from 1935-1959. He lived on the grounds with his wife Helen and two sons.
Tragedy struck Helen on a Sunday morning in 1950. When reaching for something in her closet, Arthur’s gun fell from the shelf and discharged when it hit the ground, striking Helen in the lung.
She died a few days later, Ramey said.
Ohio State Reformatory Paranormal Program Manager Kathy Feketik believes Helen’s spirit appears in the prison as a residual smell.
“Helen used to make a rose water perfume,” Feketik said. “The very first time that I was here, I was taking a tour and I smelled roses coming down the second floor to where her bedroom was.”
Arthur continued at the prison, but tragedy befell him nine years later.
“There was a lot of stress involved with the families living here on property,” Feketik said. “And as a result of the stress back in 1959, Art actually had a massive heart attack in his office.”
And like his wife before him, Arthur’s spirit left an aroma behind too, Feketik said.
“He used to smoke a cherry pipe tobacco,” Feketik said. “And there are occasions when you're walking around, you make a dead stop because you smell cherry pipe tobacco.”
Ghosts of the West Attic
After a deadly fire destroyed the neighboring Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus in 1930, 266 surviving inmates were moved north to the Mansfield prison.
With no room in the cell blocks, the men were housed in an unventilated attic with no windows and a single door.
“Now keeping in mind, the inmates that were coming from the Ohio Penitentiary were the worst of the worst … they locked the door and what happened?” Feketik said. “I’m sure it wasn’t pretty.”
Entering the West Attic, Feketik said a smell of smoke is prevalent at times.
“I attribute that to when the inmates came from the Ohio Penitentiary, and their clothing had smoke smells on them and any bedding or anything that they brought with them,” Feketik said.
In the back of the attic are signatures scrawled on the walls by the men housed there, adding to the mystery of the space.
The Chair Room
Another paranormal hot spot, according to Feketik, is what’s simply called the Chair Room.
A lone wooden chair sits in the middle of the square room all by its lonesome.
“This chair does move by itself on occasion. It will also, when you're sitting in it in the dark, it may vibrate. You might hear voices,” Feketik said. “You might see lights, there's all kinds of things that can happen.”
During the reformatory’s ghost hunts, participants are challenged to sit in the chair with the lights off for 15 minutes.
“You just wait and see what happens,” Feketik said.
A ‘Shawshank’ redemption
Over the decades the prison went from a reformatory for non-violent offenders to a maximum-security prison.
According to Ramey, the prison was not supposed to house more than 1,900 inmates.
“At our worst, we were closer to 3,500, which is a crazy number,” Ramey said.
A lawsuit by inmates in 1978 accused the reformatory of keeping them in brutal and inhumane conditions. By 1990, it was closed.
In a way, Stephen King came to the rescue of this historic building in 1993 when director Frank Darabont chose it as the location for his award-winning film based on King's 1982 novella, “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.”
“When Castle Rock showed up to film the first morning, the wrecking ball was actually standing outside of the prison,” Ramey said. “There is a very good chance that if they had not selected the Ohio State Reformatory as their filming location, that the building would not be here today.”
Feketik is grateful for her job at the reformatory, which she said is the best she’s ever had. Her future spirit might agree.
“I'm going to be here until they kick me out,” Feketik said. “Or, who knows? I might be here after I go. Ha, ha, ha, ha!”
