Haunted Adventure by Rhonda Lee Carver

 Are you interested in apparitions and what spirits still linger?

The fam and I visited the Mansfield Reformatory, which is said to be the most haunted prison in the US, for their ghost tour. You might have seen the prison in a movie because several were shot there. Shawshank Redemption was one and Lil' Wayne did a music video in a cell. I love the architecture of the place, much more than I'm interested in the hauntings. The place is absolutely beautiful...on the outside. Inside, not so much, except for the Warden's apartment. Architect Levi T. Scott built it in replication of a German Castle.

Here are some intriguing facts...

The prison started as a reformatory, hence the name, but as more hardened criminals were housed there the basic idea of reform switched to punishment, which was on the barbaric side. There were a handful of popular criminals who were locked up there. Charles Manson asked to be housed at the prison because his mother and uncle were rumored to have been imprisoned there at one point and where Charles was born.

No executions were done at the prison, however, they do now have an electric chair that was used in over 320 executions. It was brought in to add to the eeriness, but the host of our walk said since the chair arrived there have been many more ghostly sightings. If you look close enough on the chair's arms you'll see fingernail gouges.

The last warden who lived there with his family had a sad story. Rumors say that his wife died by suspected murder in their bedroom, but that isn't the case. The Warden stored his gun on the top shelf of their closet. One Sunday morning she reached up to take down her hat box and the gun, which was loaded, fell and went off, fatally shooting her. She was found by her children who were playing in the next room. The Warden died sometimes later of a heart attack in this office. The children lived with the assistant warden and his family until they turned into adults. The host said they'll get a scent of rose perfume on occasion because the wife was all about roses. This is true because I could smell it also...just a faint hint. And the Warden's cherry cigars too.

I can't say that anything fascinating happened in terms of a haunting, but the place has a very eerie feeling. If only the walls could talk... I hear there were some brutal slayings that will forever linger in the dark shadows.