The Mansfield Reformatory opened in 1896, not as a prison but as a place to reform young offenders. In keeping with the Progressive Reformers of the era, youths should not be lockd up with adult criminals. Over time Mansfield became an acutal adult prison where over 155,000 had passed through the doors. The cemetery holds hundreds who never left, marked only by a number.
The architecture is stunning - Victorian Gothic, Romanesque and Queen Anne styles
It is over 255,000 square feet
The building closed its doors in 1990 and has not been maintained since, intentionally so to preserve the allure and macabre feel.
Paint is chipping
The rooms are musty and dusty
But it is solidly built. This is the ceiling. Many of the walls are a foot thick
The movie Shawshank Redemption was filmed here. This is the Wardens office
This room was in the film as well. Andy Dufresne passed through it as he travelled in an out of the Wardens office.
Orbs, lots and lots of orbs
This room was used to film the scene where Brooks hanged himself in the boarding house. The carving "Brooks was here" is visible
The largest free standing cell block built at the time.
Three or four floors of cell blocks
The slightest noices echoed and bounced off the walls. Imagine hundreds and hundreds of men locked in these spaces.
The paints used in the time period were lead based and today we know that these paints can lead to brain damage and death. I'm sure this explains the many men who went insane.
It truly was a creepy and morbid place. Lots of tortured souls there and the tour guides have many ghost experiences.
No comments:
Post a Comment