Fancy That: Who Ya Gonna Call?

I am the happiest inmate you have ever seen.

That’s a little more like it.

For those of you who aren’t aware, on Thursday night, I fulfilled my life-long dream of staying over night at the Mansfield Reformatory. -scratches off bucket list- Most of you already know about this marvelous place, because I’m assuming that many of you are Ohio readers. If by chance you don’t know, the Mansfield Reformatory is an old maximum security prison that was closed down in 1990, but is supposed to be a hot spot for haunted activity, if you believe in that sort of thing.

While the building was absolutely gorgeous, and having free-reign of the place until the wee hours of the morning was super exciting, it was more of an exploration than a ghost hunt. Perhaps we just didn’t know the proper way to ghost hunt, but no one in our group of approximately 10-12 people (as far as I know) saw or heard anything ghostly. I did my best to tempt them, too. I decided that I was going to venture alone into the cells (one of which is where an inmate lit himself on fire), in the dark, SIT ON THEIR BEDS, for goodness’ sake, and I got nada. What’s up with that? Maybe I just wasn’t their type. I have no idea. We sat in the “Jesus room” for awhile, visited the library, which you knew that I was going to track down, and saw the warden’s quarters, where the warden’s wife, Helen, knocked a gun off of the shelf in her closet and accidentally shot herself while getting ready for church one morning. We got nothing in there, either. When Ghost Adventures did it, they were scared poo-less, if you will, and all sorts of crazy things happened! Well, allegedly; it’s not like you can really see anything that they see in those shows. It’s mostly just thirty minutes of listening to them scream into the camera.

With all of that being said, I would DEFINITELY do it again. I am SO ready for round two with those troubled spirits. Not to mention that even if we didn’t see anything, being in the cells was enough to to send a chill down our spines. I know that they’re working really hard to gather enough money to restore the building, and while I fully agree with that, the chipping paint, dirty floors, and old feeling that it possesses has a history, as well as a spooky vibe. Of course, I don’t want the whole place to come tumbling down, so I see where the renovation would be necessary. Then once they have it all fully remodeled, it will be time for Caleb and me to move in. ;] Oh, and get this! Mom and I found Mansfield Reformatory scrapbook paper AND stickers. We hit the jackpot. I also couldn’t leave without a souvenir mug for tea time. Did you expect any less?

Enjoy the photos!

xoxoxo
Ash

P.S. What you may think are ‘orbs’ in these pictures is really just dust. I could literally see it floating in the flash of the camera light, so don’t get too excited. Darn.