Thrillist names this notoriously creepy Ohio spot one of the most haunted places in America

“This massive stone castle is basically hell disguised as Hogwarts,” said Thrillist, a national travel & destination guide.

The publication recently rounded up the most haunted places in America, and Ohio’s own Ohio State Reformatory made it on the list. The former prison in Mansfield, OH (which was the backdrop for movies like Shawshank Redemption!) was built in 1886 on top of a training ground for Civil War soldiers. 

When it opened in 1890, the prison served as an intermediate penitentiary, where first-time offenders would go if they were “too violent.” The prison quickly became crowded with inmates of more serious and violent crime, and by the 1960s, The Reformatory was overrun with fighting and disease. 

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The Reformatory has quite a dark past. In the ‘30s, a riot broke out, and guards made 120 rioters share 12 solitary confinement cells for punishment, making them go a week without food or water, resulting in madness and…death.

154,000 troubled inmates passed through the prison, many of whom died of influenza, tuberculosis, suicide, and other means of death. A graveyard sits outside of the prison with 215 numbered graves.

Of course, adventure seekers flock to this prison to witness paranormal activity. Visitors claim they’ve been pushed, punched, and chilled by unseen forces. Witnesses claim to hear cell doors slamming, dark apparitions lurking in the corners, and a feeling of anguish all around. 

A regular tour is already pretty grim, but during this spooky season, it’s transformed into one of the biggest prison-based haunted attractions in America, called Escape From Blood Prison. “The cells and hallways are filled with undead inmates and faucets dripping blood, turning the already creepy reformatory into a bona fide nightmare through Halloween, after which it returns to a regular old haunted prison,” said Thrillist. 

This is the last weekend of the year to experience the terrifying haunted prison!

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