Saturday July 29, 2017
Today
Andrew and I met a couple friends at the Mansfield Reformatory (famous for its
starring role in the 1994 film, “The Shawshank Redemption.” My friends had
already been there, but neither Andrew, nor I had ever been there.
We
were blessed with a lovely day with all sunshine and big, puffy clouds and not
too hot with temperatures hovering around 80 degrees. Being a weekend it was
quite busy, so even though we wanted to get booked onto a 1pm tour, we ended up
having to wait until 2pm and our only option for tours was the History Meets
Hollywood Tour:
History Meets Hollywood Tour
Explore the past through this unique tour, which takes guests on a journey
through both the historical timeline of the prison and the equally iconic,
fictional
story of inmate Andy Dufresne from the 1994 film, Shawshank Redemption. This
tour also includes information on the warden’s living quarters and several
other
films and music videos filmed onsite.
If we
ever visit again we hope to go on the Inmate Tour.
Inmate Tour
Real-Life behind bars may be difficult to understand unless you have lived
it.
Such is the case for tour guide, Michael Humphrey, who spent 14 months here
in
the late 1960’s. Walk through the prison as Michael leads you through a
normal
day for an inmate and hear stories that stick with Michael all these years
later.
Since
that wasn’t an option yesterday, I settled for buying from the gift shop, Inmates
Speak Out: Stories, thoughts, ideas & plots conceived by those who lived,
worked and died behind the walls.
Our
young tour guide, Emily Smith, was an excellent guide who you can tell
absolutely loves her job and is good at it. Due to having such a large group
(though this may be normal anyway), we also had a “pusher” (wearing a “trustee”
hat) whose job it was to make sure we all stayed with our tour and didn’t try
to lock each other inside any of the cells. Of course this has happened before,
which is the reason for their strict rules and procedures. In the event of an
accidental lock-in, a locksmith from Columbus is called and the guilty party
pays “bail” to get out (not really, bail, but it sounds funnier).
The
other strict rule is to not take any photos out of the rear windows of the
(minimum) security prison behind the reformatory. It’s a federal offense and
not something to easily talk your way out of. Good to know. Note to self, no
photos out the back window.
There’s
one room on the inside of the building which has no windows since it is
literally in the middle of the building. We were lead inside and told it was
haunted, and then our guide asked for a volunteer to sit on the chair in the
middle of the room. My friend’s husband, Jay, volunteered for this
responsibility, after which the lights were turned out to see if anything
happened. Nothing did, but Jay swears he sensed some paranormal activity of
some sort or the other. We’re all pretty skeptical, though I have no doubt some
people have experienced genuine paranormal activity, but those things seem to
typically happen after dark, rather than in broad daylight, so I didn’t really
expect anything other worldly to happen.
Just
to provide a little timeline, the prison closed down in 1990 and the film crew
for “Shawshank Redemption” arrived shortly thereafter to film their movie,
which was released in 1994. Since then the building has fallen into disrepair with
more peeling paint than a Sherwin Williams warehouse.
Probably
the biggest difference on the inside of the prison in contrast to what you see
in “Shawshank,” is the fact that there’s only cells on one side of each block.
There aren’t any wings where they face each other. I believe this is probably
true of most prisons and I think that’s the case at Alcatraz too. They didn’t
want prisoners to have face-to-face contact being across the way from each
other, and I can totally understand the logic behind that decision.
My
only complaint is not feeling like we had enough time to really explore this
massive prison. A self-guided tour was included with the price of admission,
but we didn’t really have time for much wandering around afterwards since the
prison is supposed to close at 4pm and we had to head anyway. We probably could
have walked around in the hour we had to kill before our tour started, but
Andrew figured it would probably be a bit monotonous if we did that, and we
agreed (but had we known how big the building was and how long our tour lasted
we probably should have at least looked in a few rooms). All four of us agreed
it might be worth a visit again someday (maybe at Halloween for the ghost
tour?), and certainly the city of Mansfield in all its yesteryear glory.
Bonus
story: Andrew and I were killing time waiting for our friends to arrive (they
had a bit longer of a drive coming down from Northeast Ohio) and happened to
stop in at the Squirrel’s Den in downtown Mansfield. I saw some postcards in
the window, so I suggested we pop in and pick up a couple since they were
likely to be cheaper than at the reformatory (they were, by half).
While
we were paying for our purchases (including a bag of chocolate popcorn that
Andrew had chosen) I happened to notice a yellowed article on the wall behind
the cash register. The article (http://www.squirrelsden.com/) was all about
President Obama’s visit in 2012 while he was campaigning for re-election. The
owner, LaDonna Secrist, who was interviewed for the article and the one
checking out our items, told us all about it. I felt a little bad that we
couldn’t stay to talk longer. Ms. Secrist was as kind as could be, like
everyone (one of the employees at Doc’s Deli) we met in Mansfield who asked us
if we were visiting for the day. Mansfield may have seen better days, but the
people who still live there have a lot of spunk and spirit. If we ever get back
for a return visit I hope to stop in for another tasty sandwich from Doc’s Deli
(the cure for the common sandwich) and then some chocolate for dessert at the
Squirrel’s Den (and further investigate the story behind the name as
illustrated by some photos on the wall behind the counter).
All
in all a great day and a nice visit with our friends. Have a great week everyone!
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