Mansfield Reformatory Overnight Investigation Report

Location: Mansfield, Ohio

Date: April 26, 2003

Time: 8 p.m. - 4:30 a.m.

Moon Phase: Waning crescent

Solar weather: M Class flare, geomagnetic storm

Investigators Present: Paul Murdoch, Shonda Addington, Robert Hall, Hillary Murdoch, and 96 unkown investigators

Equipment used: Olympus C-3000 digital camera, Kodak DC280 digital camera, RCA digital voice recorder, Sony digital video camera with Nightshot, Pentax PC-550 35mm camera, Extech EMF meter, Olympus 2000 Digital Voice Recorder, Sony Digital-8 Handycam, Extech IR thermometer, Sony Hi-8 Cam
Olympus C-4000 Digital Camera, Trifield EMF meter

History: The site was originally used as a Union Army training camp during the Civil War. In 1896, the reformatory was completed and opened it doors as a reformatory for adolescent boys, not yet tough enough for prison. Eventually, the building became a maximum-security prison. In 1990, the last inmates were transferred out, and the building was closed. The building had a date with the wrecking ball when the preservation society was formed to save it in 1992. Since then, it's been used to film several movies such as Tango & Cash, Airforce One, and The Shawshank Redemption. More information can be found on the Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society's website at http://www.mrps.org/index2.html.

Investigation: We arrived at the prison around 7:30 p.m. First we had to register with the Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society (MRPS), who was sponsoring the overnight. Then they gave us a talk outlining the rules for the overnight. Next, we were taken on a tour of all areas of the prison and administrative offices. By 9:30 p.m., we were ready to begin our investigation.
  We decided to begin our investigation in the east wing shower room, however, we ended up at the end of the west wing instead. Outside the old west wing shower room, Shonda got a big, bright moving orb. We then went into the shower room and attempted an EVP session, but didn't get any results, so we headed back out to the cellblock to try to find the other shower room. Once we got out there, we stopped to take some pictures. Just then, Robert spun around quickly and asked "did you hear that?" I said "Hear what?" He said "someone just said Get Out!" He asked both Paul and Shonda, but they hadn't heard it either. Then we noticed a man and a woman walking by, and he asked if either of them had said anything like it, but they hadn't. There was no one else around. The man and woman overheard our conversation about trying to find the other shower room, so they offered to take us there. On our way, Robert reviewed his recording, and found that the "get out" was recorded in a female voice!
  We reached the shower room off the east cellblock at 9:46, and sat down to record. The man and woman who escorted us left almost immediately. Thirty seconds into our EVP session, I recorded something that sounded like a high-pitched children's voice. A minute and twenty seconds into the recording, we all heard a noise outside the door which we could not explain…no one else was around. Six minutes later, I got a picture of a bright orb in the middle of the shower room. Shonda took a picture from the other side of the room and caught the same orb!
  At 10:32 p.m., we moved into the isolation unit, also known as "The Hole". We didn't obtain any results here though, so we headed back to the office for a dinner of pizza and soda.
  After dinner, we climbed the steps down to the basement. There were about twenty other people down there already, so we didn't find any ghosts. What we did find was one inmate's entire personal file from 1956! After looking over that for awhile, we decided to try to find someplace less crowded.
  At 12:24, we sat down in the third floor of the assistant warden's house. Robert and I sat down at one end of the large main corridor, while Shonda sat at the other end. Paul went to take a nap in the car. About twelve minutes into the session, Robert and I began to get pictures of bright, stationary orbs around Shonda. A minute later, I smelled the strong smell of baking potatoes. No one else smelled it though. Robert and I continued to get orbs around Shonda, which seemed to be interacting with her. At 12:42 a.m., I recorded strange whispering. A few minutes later, two other investigators entered the room, and sat next to Robert and I. Almost four minutes later, the one investigator got a series of three pictures showing a bright blue mist around Shonda's feet and torso. About five minutes later, the activity around Shonda seemed to suddenly stop.
  At 1:10, we went up to the chapel. There was someone else there already taking video, so we just stood quietly in the room and snapped some pictures. At 1:30, we decided to try to find the library, so we walked out onto the top level of the east cellblock. Because of the positioning of the library and the stairs, and the fact that the east cellblock is one huge, freestanding cage, we had to walk the length of the cellblock, three times, on two different levels to get there. During the first two laps around the cellblock, I was bringing up the rear of the group. I swore I heard footsteps behind me, but I realize that it was probably just an echo, however, I did hear a high-pitched "help" just in my left ear, and also heard my name whispered.
  We finally reached the library at 1:45 a.m. Strangely, we did not get any positive results here, although I did get several moving orbs here during the tour, while the rest of the group was up in the guard tower. During this session, I did see something move in the doorway at the far end of the room though. Maybe someone was observing us from afar?
  At 2:38, we met up with Paul again and returned to the spot in the west cellblock where Shonda got the moving orb and Robert got the EVP earlier in the night. About a minute and fifteen seconds into the session, Paul smelled a foul odor, like something rotting. About a minute later, I felt a cold spot on my left side. When I took a picture, it revealed a small, pink orb. Almost three minutes after that, I smelled campfire smoke (wood burning). It wasn't until two minutes later that Robert smelled the same thing…Paul and Shonda never smelled it. About that same time, Shonda got a big, moving orb over Robert's head. Right before we left this spot, Shonda's camera stopped working, although she had just replaced the batteries.
  On the way to the east cellblock, we stopped in the center room in which the "fresh-fish" scene from The Shawshank Redemption was filmed. I sat down and started taking pictures of Shonda, since her camera was still not working. In one picture, there is an orb moving through the broken window. In the very next picture, there is a moving orb right next to Shonda!
  At 3:00, we walked down to the end of the east cellblock. Three minutes later, Robert smelled the smokey smell again. We then walked into the shower room, spread out, and sat down. Some members of another group came into the room, took some pictures, then left again. One of those pictures, after being developed, would show a strange greenish arc actually passing through Shonda! Several minutes later, we heard a loud noise at the wall next to me, in the opposite side of the room from the doorway.
  At 3:26, we went back to "The Hole". There was another group there already, but they were nice enough to stand still and be very quiet during our EVP session. About ten minutes after the other group left, I got a picture with two orbs moving down the hallway toward us!
  By this time, we were getting pretty tired, and our legs were aching from all the walking and stairs, so we decided to try one last place…the warden's house. This is rumored to be one of the most active parts of the reformatory, maybe because both the warden and his wife died there. At 3:45, walking through the hallway in the third floor of the warden's quarters, I smelled a very strong stench, which smelled heavily like sewage, and caused me to cover my nose and mouth. Robert and Shonda, who were walking right beside me, smelled nothing. About ten minutes later, we moved down to the second floor. Since we didn't get much there either, we decided to call it a night. We actually left the prison at about 4:30 a.m.

Conclusion: This investigation was conducted during an overnight sponsored by the MRPS. Although everyone in attendance was very nice, and mature, there were still a total of 100 people there, which made it extremely difficult to conduct our sessions in any kind of controlled environment. Even though the reformatory is huge, we were still constantly bumping into people, leading us to draw the conclusion that 100 people is simply too many for one overnight. Never the less, we did obtain many pictures of moving orbs, a few EVPs, and experienced a fair amount of strange phenomena within our group. Judging by this overnight, and the results we obtained during the one-hour day tour, we must conclude that the reformatory is loaded with paranormal activity. This may even be one of the most haunted sites we have ever investigated. We would like to go on another overnight, maybe during a time of year which isn't quite so busy.

Submitted by Hillary Murdoch