Ghost Walks
For over 100 years the legendary Screaming Tunnel in Niagara has been a right-of-passage for St. Catharine’s youth.
Are they brave enough to go inside this terrifying place at night? Hold up a wooden match. Face the ghost of a murdered girl. Those who take part are accepted. Those who fail… meet social ruin.
Directly across the road from the Ohio State Reformatory once stood a wood farmhouse. Locals remember the lilacs and a beautiful lily pond owned by Phoebe Wise.
It’s the late 1800’s. The townsfolk think she’s insane.
Negative energy rarely has a name. Not here! Elmo the Elemental isn’t a Mansfield Reformatory ghost once human. It’s known as an elemental. In other words, a build-up of energy appearing in photography taken by guests.
Not your normal ghost photo!
Ghosts come from history but also can be part of it. Over the years many inmates told guards they were really scared at night. Making Mansfield Reformatory ghosts different.
Said they’d wake to invisible hands grabbing at the bed sheets. Pulling them tight and loose as if a ghost was “tucking them in”.
The Administration Wing of Mansfield Reformatory. Location of the Warden’s office and family apartment. This is where both Arthur and Helen Glattke began their journey into death.
And where some say they remain.
Why would free men return to the town where they served time? Robert Daniels and John West came back in 1948. Not far from the Mansfield Reformatory.
Bringing with them the darkest event in the Mansfield, Ohio’s history.
Daniels was a “psychopathic personality”. West was “a moron”. They became friends in Mansfield Reformatory. Connected by an enjoyment of crime and chaos.
It’s one thing to face the darkness of the prison as an inmate. Try as a Mansfield Reformatory guard. As Dr. Phil says, “No matter how flat you make a pancake, there are two sides!”
The inmates had their stories of tragedy and death. But being a in this position wasn’t easy either. These examples make me hope they had decent salaries.
Ghost Guide Daniel – – No matter how see it today, Mansfield Reformatory was designed around the hope (by architect Levi Scofield). Makes you think it’d be great to be an inmate.
Designed for spiritual uplift. Hence being called a Reformatory… aka for reform. They wanted the men to become better members of society.
Proving, “…the road to hell is paved with good intentions…”
Ohio Governor Marty Davey appointed Arthur Lewis Glattke (glaa-k). Making him Warden of Mansfield Reformatory. This for helping get Davey elected in 1935.
Taking charge, Arthur brought in many new ideas. Like playing calm classical music in the cell blocks.
Here’s a quick Mansfield Reformatory History sheet.
A Gothic prison born of hope in Mansfield, Ohio. Was completed from 1886 to 1910. Construction that took years to build up the massive cell blocks. Inmates moving in and out. The building being used during that time.
Then it was 1910. The new Ohio State Reformatory (aka Mansfield) broke a world record. Cell blocks an amazing 6 levels high.