For 164 years the Ohio Penitentiary dominated Spring Street just west of downtown Columbus. It was built in 1834, which made it just about the oldest building in the county, and was a huge, impressive place, as you can tell from the photo above. The city demolished it to make way for parking facilities for the new hockey stadium. Some progress.
At its peak in 1955, the Pen held 5,235 prisoners. It held some pretty famous ones too, among them William Sidney Porter, also known as O. Henry, who wrote more than a dozen stories inside, including "The Gift of the Magi"; Sam Shephard, the Cleveland doctor who was wrongfully accused of mudering his wife, served ten years thanks to our wonderful criminal justice system, and was eventually released due in large part to the efforts of F. Lee Bailey--the TV show "The Fugitive" was based on the Sam Shephard story; and Charles Makley and Harry Pierpont, associates of John Dillinger, who were eventually gunned down during an escape attempt. The Ohio Pen was also home to a vampire in the late 1800's; a man named James Brown (not to be confused with the big-haired black singer) was sentenced to life imprisonment after he killed one of his shipmates at sea in the Indian Ocean in 1866 and drank his blood. He was dumped off on Ohio for a few years by Massachusetts.
The Pen was closed down in 1979 but stood empty for almost twenty years, during which time it gained a reputation as the coolest abandoned place in the state to break into. I never had the opportunity to go in myself, but my friend Rookie did. He described towering cell blocks, a flooded basement, a rack of keys, and paintings and murals done by the prisoners. He also said that it was possible to sit with your back against one wall of a cell and touch your feet to the other, if that gives you any idea of the comfort level of this place. An octagon-shaped room had once contained the electric chair, but Old Sparky himself had of course been removed years earlier. See Rookie's Ohio Pen page at his excellent website, Illicit Ohio. The photos below appear courtesy of him.
The Pen was reputedly a very haunted place. I've heard rumors that Nationwide Arena is haunted by the prison ghosts. Serves them right.
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