Page 14 - AAA Magazine – AAA Ohio Auto Club – September 2018

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spirit is not the only one suspected of haunting the Bissman Building. A night watchman who worked for the company just before Simon’s death was accused of abducting and murdering a little girl whose family was traveling through the area by train.
All that ghostly energy has led to a number of unexplained phenomena. Doors slam. Lights mysteriously go on and off. A little girl giggles, yet no child is in attendance. Visitors feel as though they’re being watched or touched. One ghost hunting guest trying to antagonize the spirits fell to the ground complaining of frighteningly intense pain.
Phantom Prisoners
But the Bissman Building is just one stop on the Mansfield’s Haunted Trail. More famous as both a Hollywood movie set and a ghost hunting spot, Ohio State Reformatory also starred in IMDB’s most popular movie of all time, “The Shawshank Redemption.”
More than 100,000 visitors a year come to the prison, many to experience the shadowy apparitions, glowing orbs and strange occurrences that have become the stuff of spectral legend. Dan Smith with the
Reformatory says overnight ghost hunts and ghost walks sell out, with visitors hailing all across the globe. And every October more than 40,000 pack the former penitentiary for its annual Blood Prison, reputed to be one of the scariest Halloween experiences in the country, thanks to Hollywood special effects that make the typical haunted house seem positively pathetic.
In 1969 Mike Humphrey was a teenage
kid joyriding in a car that wasn’t his. The move landed him a brief stint in Ohio State Reformatory. Once released, no one wanted to return to the prison that a court order closed due to its brutalizing and inhumane conditions. But Humphrey did. And nearly 50 years later he still comes back, leading tours and telling his personal ghost stories to more than 1,000 visitors over the years.
“One night, my adult son and I were walking by the central guard room. A lady walked out dressed in a full green ball gown, her hair all done up,” recounted Humphrey. “I shouted, ‘Ma’am, are you lost?’ She looked me in the eye, turned to the right, took one step and vanished right into the wall. My son saw it too. We froze. We finally did go look for her, but she was nowhere to be found.”
Humphrey has had other ghostly encounters in the prison he’s willing to share. He’s seen shadowy figures and heard voices; one yelling “Get Out!” as he passed
by. But he has a theory, too. He says the prison was a place of a lot of pain and even death. And with more than 165,000 inmates incarcerated during its 120-year history, it’s no surprise a few spirits remain. Humphrey added
that in the early 1900s the prison was a grand showplace, despite its role in reforming wayward young men. It was a place where the governor and other dignitaries held balls and major events.
Beyond the Bars
Some lesser-known sites are believed to be haunted as well, such as Mansfield’s historic Renaissance Theater, where former Theater Manager Edward Raffner was shot just before midnight on Halloween Eve 1919. The Mansfield Fire Museum, Oakhill Cottage, Malabar Farm and other places thought to harbor hauntings dot the town. Whether a serious specter seeker or a skeptic looking for laughs, Joe James helps visitors explore those sites. As part of the work, he’s had more than his share of ghoulish encounters. The reaction, he says, is always the same.
“Just like the folks on our tours, I’m always stunned,” James said. “It’s literally hair-raising. Your
heart stops. You feel a pit in your stomach. The hair stands up on your arms and neck.”
In addition to eerie sounds, mysterious lights and shadowy figures, James says he and fellow hunters have experienced clothing tugged, hair pulled, hits, scratches and shoves. At Malabar Farm, built by long-deceased, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Louis Bromfield, many claim to hear Bromfield’s famed boxer dogs barking and running the halls, despite the fact that they
passed away decades ago.
Whether you’re certain that the spirits of those who have passed are hanging around in Mansfield, or you’re simply seeking an offbeat amusement, Mansfield’s Haunted Trail offers plenty of places to dabble in the paranormal.
A common thread links every one of the believers
we encountered along the trail. All claim that to have once considered the idea to be hogwash. They thought all those ghost stories are just that – stories. Tall tales. Yet independently, each of them now says it takes just one encounter with a free spirit to turn a skeptic into a believer.
Amy Weirick is a freelance writer from Worthington, Ohio.
12 | AAA MAGAZINE
Blood Prison
For more information, visit DestinationMansfield.com. For travel planning assistance, visit your local
AAA store or AAA.com/Travel
Mansfield CVB