When the ghost hunters went to retrieve the audio recording from the chapel The Ohio State Reformatory, they found it paused. This was alarming but could have been a mishap. What made this action irrefutable and spine-chilling was when they found it paused a second time. And a third.
Ghost hunters are prominent visitors of the Reformatory. As one of the most famous haunted prisons in America, it has a long-documented history of paranormal activity. English teacher E.B. Smith has witnessed strange happenings many times she has visited.
After the Reformatory was closed in 1990 due to deteriorating conditions for inmates, a local activist, architect, and father to Smith, Dan Seckel decided to stop the demolition of the beautifully built building.
Known for being the prison where “Shawshank Redemption” was filmed, the Ohio State Reformatory is now run as a historic sight. Seckel saw the beauty and potential of the rundown reformatory and petitioned the state of Ohio to buy it for $1, according to Smith. Along with this, he started a non-profit organization in order to repair and restore the building.
At the same time Seckel was purchasing the Reformatory, English teacher Smith, was just 10 years old.
“I kind of grew up out there,” Smith said. “So I would go out and help. There were no people, we were the people and we would clean, run tours, and direct parking. Ghost hunters would come and we’d give them a tour.”
For Smith specific parts of the building feel particularly haunted to her. One of those places is the solitary confinement cells. During the worst times of the reformatory’s past, it was overcrowded. The solitary confinement cells held two people instead of one. According to Smith, this situation never went well and many killed others in order to have the cell to themselves.
“The other place you can feel really awful things is in the warden’s quarters,” explained Smith. “The warden’s wife died in an accident at the prison, so you can definitely feel her presence.”
At a time when she knew she was the only person in the room, she witnessed a woman’s reflection in the mirror located in the quarters.
When entering the chapel, according to Smith, visitors get a creepy feeling. This is why one day when Smith, her dad and her stepmom visited the chapel with ghost hunters, they left an audio recorder set up in the chapel. After their tour of the Reformatory, they went back and it was paused.
“They set it up again and we left, did a couple of things, and came back and it was paused again,” says E.B. Smith. “Third time’s the charm. They tried it one more time and came back and it was paused a third time.”
After the ghost hunters put together a report of all the information from the Ohio State Reformatory, it was found out that on the last recording, you could make out someone, something whispering the word “stop.”
Although Smith’s dad is not a believer despite the countless experiences he has had, Smith firmly believes in there being something.
“I’ve had enough experiences,” said Smith. “I don’t know if they’re ghosts but there’s some sort of presence. We all leave our mark somewhere. And especially with very traumatic events, there’s a presence that can get left behind. The prison for sure has convinced me of it”
