Ghost Walks
Ghost Guide Daniel – – This was provided to us years ago by a local Niagara historian. He talked with the only living descendant of the village once behind the Screaming Tunnel.
She has disdain for the brutal legend. Then telling a story. Her take on the real reason it’s called, “Screaming Tunnel”.
For over 100 years the legendary Screaming Tunnel in Niagara-on-the-Lake has stood hidden at the tip of the Niagara Escarpment. Legend and ghost stories giving the location it’s infamy.
I knew the legends going into this professional visit. Part of a bus trip I helped coordinator over a decade ago. Yet I remember like it was yesterday. Not cause of the spooky excitement. Instead, due to sheer disappointment.
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…”