MANSFIELD, Ohio — Are you ready for a good scare?
Blood Prison, an annual Halloween experience housed inside the epically eerie Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, has just been nominated as one of America's 20 top haunted attractions in a new 10Best poll from USA TODAY.
“Taking place in the Ohio State Reformatory, the state’s notoriously haunted prison, Blood Prison features encounters with the warden’s widow, brings you face to face with maniacal inmates and deformed guards, and sends you into the ‘suffocating blackness’ of The Hole,” according to the 10Best poll. “This haunted attraction is not for the faint of heart.”
The Mansfield Reformatory -- which is the same location used to film portions of The Shawshank Redemption -- opens for the 2023 Halloween season on Friday, Sept. 29. See their full schedule HERE.
Blood Prison isn't the only Ohio haunted attraction nominated in this year's poll. Also making the list is Land of Illusion in Middletown.
"Haunted Scream Park at Land of Illusion features six haunted attractions including the Temple of Terror and the Killer Klowns Haunted Maze," the 10Best poll explains. "As you make your way through each one, keep your eyes open for chainsaw-wielding madmen, wandering monsters, live spooks and more otherworldly creatures."
You can vote for your favorite once per day RIGHT HERE. The poll closes at noon on Monday, Sept. 18 with the final results to be announced on Friday, Sept. 29. Check the current leaderboard HERE.
Here’s the full list of nominees for best haunted house / attraction:
- 13th Floor Haunted House: Phoenix, Arizona
- Azra Chamber of Horrors Haunted House: Madison Heights, Michigan
- Bates Motel and Haunted Hayride: Glen Mills, Pennsylvania
- Blood Prison: Mansfield, Ohio
- Camp Blood: Carrollton, Georgia
- Cutting Edge Haunted House: Fort Worth, Texas
- Delusion: Pomona, California
- Field of Screams Maryland: Olney, Maryland
- Field of Screams Pennsylvania: Mountville, Pennsylvania
- Frightmare Manor: Morristown, Tennessee
- Halloween Nights at Eastern State Penitentiary: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Haunted Scream Park at Land of Illusion: Middletown, Ohio
- The Haunting Experience: Cottage Grove, Minnesota
- Headless Horseman Hayrides and Haunted Attractions: Ulster Park, New York
- The Horrorland Miami: Miama, Florida
- Nightmare on 13th: Salt Lake City, Utah
- Pennhurst Asylum: Spring City, Pennsylvania
- A Petrified Forest: Altamonte Springs, Florida
- Stalker Farms: Snohomish, Washington
- Undead in the Water: The Gathering: Tampa, Florida
“Nominees are submitted by a panel of experts,” according to USA TODAY. “10Best editors narrow the field to select the final set of nominees for the Readers’ Choice Awards.”
