The Ohio State Reformatory

Took a day trip during the week and we had the entire place all to our selves!
You are able to wander around for hours! Nothing is off limits! Not even the old jail cells! I am always amazed when you can 'touch' history...most of the time things are roped off, not this place!
I am convinced the chapel is haunted...we had something weird happen to us in there.
Definitely recommended.

We did the Beyond the Bars tour. Our tour guide was Austin and he did a great job of telling the history and keeping it interesting. The Beyond the Bars tour was a bit of an extra cost but we got to go into areas not covered by the self-guided tour. The attic area was probably my favorite and seeing the inmate "artwork" dating back to the 1930s was really interesting. The guided tour was almost 2 hours. When we finished that, we got sandwiches at the cafe, retrieved our friend who didn't want to do the guided tour, and then headed back inside for the self-guided tour. The self-guided tour covered more of the areas that were used for Shawshank. There was also an electric chair that had been used previously (but not at this location I believe). It still gave some gravity to the location.

There is also a gift shop with a lot of Shawshank merchandise and they keep the movie on a loop in the cafe.

This was definitely an interesting place to visit and I'd love to come back for the ghost tours!

06/0302022
Went to this place last year. But it still is in my mind and impressive. If you are looking for an attraction to see this is it. The prison is no longer in use, but it is where the movie Shawshank Redemption was made. Spent four hours on the self guided tour, and to me it was worth it.

Went here yesterday and loved it. Experienced a few different paranormal activities. Definitely worth the drive and the money to go and check this out.

This place is definitely a must see if you're in the area. And if you were into the history, then it's worth the trip as well. They do certainly market for the movie footage, but seeing Old Sparky was both intriguing and spooky.

We had a busy road trip from Chicago to Ohio. My fiance planned this stop for me and oh my! I loved it. I am a huge fan of Shawshank redemption and had no idea that this jail was located in Ohio. We booked tickets for our family, including 2 younger girls and I was nervous that it would bore them but they had a blast. The history of the jail is so interesting and the girls were fascinated by every room they saw. I would come back in a heartbeat

If you find yourself anywhere near Cleveland, The Ohio State Reformatory is a must see. Located in Mansfield roughly an hour and a half south of Cleveland. We were visiting friends who live in Hartville and it was about the same hour and a half drive.

The reformatory's claim to fame is that it was the location where the movie "Shawshank Redemption" was filmed, but it is oh so much more than that.

We took the self-guided tour. We paid, I think, $20. If you're taking the self-guided tour the extra $5 for the wand is a must. As you walk through the prison there are numbered plaques throughout on the wall. Push the corresponding number on the wand and listen to the story about that particular site in the prison.

The tour does, of course spend ample time on the filming of "Shawshank", but as I said, it is so much more.

At one time this was an actual working prison. There is so much rich history to hear about and see while on the tour. There are several locations where people have purportedly experienced paranormal activity. There are interviews with former inmates. Hearing stories former inmates was totally cool.

It was fascinating to hear everything about the prison. From the movies that were filmed all or in part at the reformatory to actual prison history.

It was just a really great experience.

During our visit to Ohio we visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Pro Football HOF, even the house where "A Christmas Story" was filmed.
The Ohio State Reformatory was my favorite. And that's saying something because I'm a huge music (metal) fan, a huge football fan (Go Seahawks!) and "A Christmas Story" is my 2nd favorite Christmas movie next to "Die Hard".

The Ohio State Reformatory is most definitely a must see.

I decided to check this out due to having some time, and I do love to see movie locations and the Shaw Shank Redemption was filmed here. I will not lie. This place is not for the faint of heart. If you don't like feeling trapped and / or are easily scared, then this may not be for you. This is a huge decommission prison, and lots of deaths were here in addition to very harden criminals. They have a few tour options, and you can even just do a self-guided with or without audio. It does cost $5 more for the audio. You get to walk through most of the entire prison. Some areas are closed off due to restructuring the areas. There are many signs throughout the prison that say paranormal activity, as you see in my pictures. At one point, I walked into the solitary confinement area and heard some strange noises that made me decide not to go any further in that area. I was pretty freaked out. The place is beautiful from the outside, but inside it is Alcatraz meets haunted mansion. Just imaging walking over 200 feet past all these cells, and on the left, you have bars, and on the right, you have the cells that are destroyed and rotting. This was by far one of the scariest things I have encountered. I also enjoyed being able to see it and how massive it is. I was a little disappointed that I asked for a travel agent discount or "FAM" ticket even after explaining I was also a travel reviewer with a lot of readers and experience. I paid full price for my ticket, which was $25. I did not opt for the audio, and since I think the audio would have talked about the paranormal activities, I am glad I didn't. All in all, if you either want to be scared or just have curiosity about what a real prison looks like, check this out. There are signs that there are certain locations where you can not take pictures due to the real working prison right behind this one. If this review helped you at all, please mark as helpful and follow me. Plus, I am starting a YouTube series travel blog, and you can follow that at https://www.youtube.com/@Dangoeswild

We visited for two reasons: One, because Ohio State Reformatory is a famous landmark in the Mansfield area. And two: Because MrBeast once filmed one of his challenges here. Guess which reason belongs to my children?

So yeah, MrBeast did visit this abandoned prison, but that's not the only reason to visit. Ohio State Reformatory is an amazing piece of history, and not just that, but: It's kind of creepy! In that way that large, abandoned prisons can be.

We chose to opt out of the group tour and just walked around the prison by ourselves. This was a great choice, because we could walk as fast or slow as we wanted. We took more time around certain places. (Like the prison cell where a prisoner set himself on fire. What the heck! That was kind of disturbing to read, but that happened.) And we walked fast up stairs and past places that didn't interest us as much. This prison is very large, and I imagine you could spend all day here. We spent about an hour there walking at a pretty quick pace.

Personally, I really liked visiting this prison because of the photo ops. There are so many spaces that are worn away, crumbling, and full of remnants of history. I loved just walking around with my camera, taking photos of all of the patina and rust.

There are certain areas that you can't take photos, though. There's an actual low-security prison located next door that you can see from certain windows, and there are signs telling you not to take photos out the windows.

Also: This was the filming location of the Oscar-winning film, The Shawshank Redemption! Part of the museum in the prison is dedicated to the movie, with info and props from different scenes.

On the first floor, as you exit, there's a gift shop where you can buy Reformatory things. It is a little disorienting. It's like, you've just spent an hour or more absorbing the lives of prisoners, and then you're met with a room selling t-shirts and keychains making light of the things that happened in the prison. There is like a whole range of human emotions going on here when you visit the Reformatory, and they all culminate at the gift shop as you pay for your Straight Outta Shawshank mug.

What a wonderfully cool place! This was once a prison that has been in famous movies. Now it's a museum you can tour. You can even stay the night to get the full experience.

We went on a tour and was amazed at how large the prison still is. It was really amazing to see how small the cells were yet how large everything else was in comparison. One of the tour guides was a prison who was falsely convicted for a crime he didn't commit. There were so many tales about that place.

Do your self a favor and stop by for a few hours. They have a wonderful gift shop filled with souvenirs and crime novels too.

OSR does a great presentation of History, crime and punishment. The architecture is a powerful presence. The tour leader was an excellent presenter. We're going to watch all the films that were shot there.