Sherri Brake - The Haunted History of the Ohio State Reformatory

SHERRI BRAKE

Published by Haunted America.
A Division of The History Press
Charleston, SC 29403
www.historypress.net

Copyright 2010 by Sherri Brake
All rights reserved

Front Cover: Photograph of the Ohio State Reformatory, courtesy of Perry Queener.

First published 2010
Second printing 2010
Third printing 2011
e-book edition 2011

ISBN 978.1.61423.189.9
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Brake, Sherri.
The haunted history of the Ohio State Reformatory / Sherri Brake.
p. cm.
print edition ISBN 978-1-59629-935-1
1. Ohio State Reformatory--Miscellanea. 2. Haunted prisons--Ohio--Mansfield.
I. Title.
BF1477.3.B73 2010
133.12977128--dc22
2010011655

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

With the undertaking of any research project, there are always a few souls in the background who need to be acknowledged and thanked for various reasons. Reasons for these acknowledgements vary and include research help, guidance, support and helping the author maintain a relative sense of sanity.

First of all, I would like to thank the Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society for preserving and maintaining the building that this book is about: the Ohio State Reformatory.

To the staff at the Ohio State Reformatory and all of the wonderful tour guides and volunteers who led tours and answered visitors numerous questions, a big thank-you. These volunteers clean the castle and do many behind-the-scenes jobs like landscaping, hauling dirty mattresses out of cells, cleaning and picking up tons of paint chips and plaster, replacing light bulbs, restocking the gift shop, hauling out trash, etc. They take pride in the Reformatory and volunteer thousands of hours a year and are unpaid but never undervalued. You guys rock!

Gratitude and thanks to my husband, Perry Queener, who hauled heavy stuff, set up tables and wandered the grounds and halls of OSR with me looking for that perfect camera shot. Your support and encouragement seem to have no end.

To Becky McKinnell and Jill Keppler, wonderful tour guides and like-minded souls: I have learned much about OSR from you both. You are appreciated.

A thank-you to the thousands of visitors and paranormal investigators who flock to the building for day tours and night events. You help preserve this building and its history by being repeat visitors and bringing new people to tour when you return.

I want to thank the photography skills of Laura Skufca, Scott Sukel, Perry Queener, Jill Keppler, Dianne Blosser, Jeff Cox and Cheyrl Kneram. Some of their photos are featured in this book. Other photography sources include the Ohio Historical Society, Mr. Art Glattke Jr., the Mansfield, Ohioarea newspapers and Photohio.org, with credit to Scripps-HowardNewspapers/GrandviewHeightsPublicLibrary/Photohio.org.

Thanks to my family and friends who have encouraged me onward with two books written in one year! Special thanks to my mom and dad, Larry and Suzi Brake, and my sisters, Shawni and Terri, and their families. To my children, Sage and Mason Recco, always remember our New Years Eve we spent at the Ohio State Reformatory ushering in 2008! To my cousin Perry Buzz Brake, for your support through the years, you are my mentor! To my lifelong friend Sandy Kemmerling Westfere, you are a true friend and have proven it time and time again.

A special spirited nod and thank-you to my Aunt Lou Hammond. You inspired me in so many different ways with your love of family, wonderful storytelling and zest for life. We miss you.

A warm thank-you to Mr. Art Glattke Jr. Thank you for sharing memories and photographs of your childhood spent at OSR as the superintendents son. You are a treasure! To angel reader Laura Lyn Wissler, palm reader Debra Robinson and other psychics and sensitives who submitted their experiences for this project, a spirited thanks. I also want to express appreciation to the past inmates who shared some memories of their time spent at the reformatory. To The History Press and my editor Hannah Cassilly: thank you for letting me do one more project with you, and I appreciate your support and enthusiasm for this book in particular. To the Mansfield Public library, thanks for keeping a great research file on OSR. To my brother-in-law Scott Queener, you are a walking thesaurus, and you always seemed to know when I needed chocolatethank you! To Dee Dippel and the gang at the office, you make work fun! To Sheena Harless, thank you for the extra pots of coffee at the office.

To the extended family of Haunted Heartland Toursguests, skeptics, believers and ghost huntersyour cards, e-mails and phone calls are always appreciated. See you at another haunt soon!

To the past superintendents, correctional officers and staff at the Ohio State Reformatory: thank you for your service in the ninety-four years that the Ohio State Reformatory was open.

And finally, thank you to architect Levi Tucker Scofield for his many beautiful buildings that are still standing today and for designing a structure as grand and imposing as the Ohio State Reformatory.

INTRODUCTION

It was a rainy afternoon back in 1999 when I first laid eyes on it. I peered through the chain-link fence like a sugar-deprived kid in a candy store. There it stood, massive and monstrous, as if plucked from the very hills of Transylvania. I felt as if I had stepped onto the movie set of Bram Stokers Dracula as I glanced at the building. Giant stone walls, foreboding doors and massive turrets returned my stare. I had heard stories of this fortress, and now I was finally seeing it, albeit from a distance. I did not go inside the building, as it was closed that day, but I knew that one day I would be back and would venture inside its winding hallways. The building I fell in love with that day was the historic Ohio State Reformatory (OSR).

One year later I returned, and did so with camera in hand, partaking of a normal daytime tour of the building. The tour guide on that day gave tidbits of history, gruesome stories of past prisoners and Hollywood movie trivia of films shot on site. It was an informative tour, and being the history lover that I am, I ate up every detail and factoid that I could. Little did I know that in a couple of years, I would be back and would be leading hundreds of ghost hunters on investigations throughout this castle-like building.

What draws people to visit the Ohio State Reformatory? Its a compilation of various things, but it basically boils down to three: the grand architecture, the history and the ghost stories. I asked various tour guides what originally drew them to the reformatory to volunteer. One volunteer guide told me that the building picked