Is Ohio State Reformatory haunted?
United States Reported haunting level 5 of 5
What actually happened
After the state abandoned its reform model in the 1960s and inmates sued over conditions, the reformatory closed in 1990 and was sold to local preservationists for one dollar.
The history
Designed by Levi Scofield and opened to its first inmates in 1896 after 10 years of construction, it was meant as an intermediate penitentiary built on religion, education and a trade. The Shawshank Redemption was filmed here.
What people report
Guides tell of a warden's wife in the administration wing and of cell doors slamming in the east block.
That paragraph is reported tradition, not a claim about what is there. The history above it is sourced; the stories are recorded because people tell them.
Visiting
100 Reformatory Rd, Mansfield, OH 44905, United States