The Shawshank experience

It was on tuesday,14th of October,2008 that we reached Mansfield in Ohio..a one week official visit for my hubby. When he leaves for office in the morning, I would be here in the hotel room, spending time reading and mostly, browsing the net. This browsing spree took me to a site that listed the tourist attractions in Mansfield. On top among the list of places was this one called "Mansfield Reformatory". Further searches about this place revealed the fact that it is an imposing architecture of great historical importance which was a prison built in 1886 which had housed quite a lot of prisoners. Some other facts about this reformatory says that it holds the largest free standing cell block in the world at six tiers high which were also infamous for the tortures that the inmates had to go through. But something which instilled excitement in me was that, one of my favourite movies 'Shawshank Redemption' which I saw just one week before was shot in this huge castle like prison. This was more than enough for me to decide to visit this place and finally yday eve me and my hubby set onto the Mansfield Reformatory formally called as the OSR(Ohio State Reformatory).

The very first glimpse of the edifice itself aroused my avidity to explore the nook and corner of it. But to our dismay, we came to know that all tours inside the prison have concluded for the season. Since it is Halloween on Oct 31, they're conducting scary events called "The Haunted Prison Experience" which is a 45 mins long trudge inside the reformatory which they claim as the most scariest haunted experience..no its not just a claim, it was infact the most scariest experience of my life. OMG!!Only 4 of us were allowed to go inside at a time where there was absolutely no light but ample stuffs to scare the sh** out of you. Many a kind of props, 3D animations and the worst thing, actors who dressed up like the weirdest and dirtiest of ghosts or witches or whatever crap you can call, would spring upon you screaming and yelling. We were not allowed to take any sort of flashlights or cameras with us inside which was an other disappointment for me. We passed by the prison cells,the 6 tier high cell blocks,the warden's quarters which were all almost deteriorated by rust, and many other old and outmoded arenas shrouded in darkness, that I could hardly see. Finally after 45 mins of mental torture from the evils, we got out of it. I badly wanted to explore the entire castle during daytime, alas!! what to do. But this one indeed was a truly unforgettable experience..as if I was destined to watch the movie just a week before and visit the very same place a week later :).

Here are some photos which we took from outside the reformatory