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The Mad Dog Killers of Mansfield Reformatory
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Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio might be better known by its unofficial name, Mansfield Reformatory. The former reformatory is renowned for its paranormal activity and spooky appearance, which has led many to dub the facility, "Dracula's Castle." Today, it is known in the paranormal field as something of an ideal training grounds for would-be ghost hunters to learn the tools of the trade. After all, the prison is steeped in legends of past inmate violence and other notorious goings-on. In fact, sometimes it is quite difficult to separate the legend from reality, For example, it is not uncommon to hear that the Ohio State Reformatory housed the worst of the worst in the state of Ohio. In reality, it was an intermediate facility whose inmates were those too old to serve in a juvenile detention center, yet too young for the hard life awaiting them at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Columbus. That's not say that the facility did not have its bad apples and bloodshed. In fact, today is the anniversary of one of the reformatory's most notorious crimes. July 21, 1948 marked the start of a two-week crime spree that would take the lives of six innocent civilians and spread fear throughout the community. Interestingly, the crimes were sparked not by inmates then serving time, but rather two men who had recently been paroled. On this day 61 years ago, Robert Daniels and John West returned to Ohio State Reformatory to enact revenge on an employee of the prison. When that individual could not be located, the two men went to the home of the prison's farm superintendent and kidnapped the man, his wife and his daughter. They took the three souls to a nearby cornfield and executed them in cold blood. As it turned out, the crime spree had only just begun and it would last for two weeks longer until it ended in a shootout with West dead and Daniels in handcuffs. Robert Daniels would ultimately be executed for the crimes, for which the press dubbed the men the "Mad Dog Killers." Read more of the history and the stories of ghostly activity at the Ohio State Reformatory. -Casey H.
Filed under: General, Dark Destinations	July 21, 2009, 5:16 pm | Permalink | 4 Comments
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sludgeguy Sep 22 2009, 02:18 PM UTC My Step Grandma was the wife of the farmer killed north of Tiffin. Her first husband Jim was murdered in their car and he fell over into her lap.
sasha.boals May 07 2012, 12:56 AM UTC Dear sludgeguy, Sorry for your loss. My Great uncle was Robert Daniels. I am sorry your relative happened to be where they were in this period of his life. To understand what caused him to do these horrendous things was he had been hit by 2 different vehicles at age 8 and teen yrs. please continue.
sasha.boals May 07 2012, 12:58 AM UTC He stole a car at 15 and was sent to the reformatory where the guards continuosly beat him with horse bridals and whips over and over again. (I do not agree with his actions to resolve it) He made a vow to them he would get even one day. When he met J. West was when things got bad and he tried to...
sasha.boals May 07 2012, 01:01 AM UTC get revenge on them then. It is a sad part in my family but it needs to be known that he was mentally messed up in the head due to the cars and the beatings. He was never quite the same. I hope this clears up some of the background on him of why he did the messed up things he did. Sorry Again. ~SB~
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