Getting dark
Originally uploaded by ericandkatherine
I helicoptered into Mansfield, Ohio this weekend (not literally, mind you) to do some work for my new book. I went to spend the night in the old Mansfield Reformatory.
Mansfield was once Ohio's main prison and it's huge--more than 250,000 square feet. It has the largest free-standing cell block in the world--two of them in fact--each six stories high, featuring over 1,100 cells. At one time, Ohio's death row was housed here. More than 200 people died here in the 90 years it was a functioning correction facility.
You've probably seen Mansfield before, as it is regularly used as a movie set. Shawshank Redemption was filmed here, as well as parts of Air Force One and Tango & Cash.
The facility was pretty much abandoned in 1990. Since 1995, a preservation group has maintained the site and conducts tours on Sunday afternoons.
Mansfield is something between a historic ruin and an EPA Superfund site in the making. Lead-paint peels off the walls and ceilings, asbestos and plaster dust are everywhere, rusty metal, missing guardrails, loose stairs and on and on.
It's a challenge to go through in the daytime...but what about at night?
Several times a year a group of the preservationists bring outsiders into the prison to document its supposed paranormal activity. Unlike other paranormal sites, where people feel cold breezes, light touches, or see a floating head or something--Mansfield's interactions with the dead are on a different level. People are grabbed, punched, shoved, and pushed. Things are thrown.
So the deal is that the crew go in with you at 8pm, right before dark, and give you a tour to help get you adjusted. Then they turn off the lights. Then it slowly gets dark. Then you are free to roam the entire prison structure, almost completely unrestricted. Sounds crazy? I know, it is. The gate on the property opens from the inside, so once you walk out, you were done for the night. I, and a handful of brave souls, stayed until 5 a.m.
Now, the point of this is to eventually sell some books, so I shouldn't really tell you what happened to me or the others, but let's just say it was probably the most frightening night of my entire life. Seriously.
The head of the ghost hunt crew took me through in the afternoon so I could see what it looks like, pictures are here (and quite fascinating). I took a few pictures at night (here), but I was far too busy to be snapping photos. Something I normally don't do, but did at Mansfield, was record some video. I shot about an hour's worth. Below is the first video I put together, which should give you a taste of what it was like.
And if you are patient...you can hear a ghost talking at the end of the video!
Very spooky!
