Bissman Building
Mansfield, Ohio

The Bissman Building was founded as a wholesale grocery store by Peter Bissman in 1878. His son followed in his footsteps, and his son and so on until the fifth Ben owns the building. It has long since stopped being a grocer. Today a print shop operates in the building, and Ben stores some of his antique cars and other memorabilia there. Some scenes from “The Shawshank Redemption” were shot here. A sign at the front door saying “Brewster Hotel” is a reminder. There is abundant evidence that spirits are there, including some of the Bissmans. Two people are known to have died here, a man on his last day of work, and a little girl who was raped and murdered. The structure is four stories and a basement, so it is a large area. Ellis Byrd, the manager gave us a most interesting tour giving highlights of the history as well as anecdotes on the paranormal activity. We learned that organized crime had control of the basement. Gambling, drugs, a speakeasy, and prostitution were rampant in the lowest floor. The activity began during the tour, when we heard a typewriter in the garage, footsteps in various places, and saw a shadow figure on the second floor! The figure startled all of us, and we gasped in unison! We knew this would be quite a night!

We set up base in the room that had been Peter Bissman’s office. The Mel meters and K2 meters showed normal readings. Joining us for their first investigations were my sister Barb and her son Jay. Tech guy Rob missed connections on his flight, trainee Dorothy was picking him up at the airport, and there were delays! By the time they arrived, we had scrapped plans to use the DVR system, due to the lack of time in such a large place.

In the cellar is the “wet freezer” so called because the floor is always wet. It was in this room that a little girl was brought, raped, murdered, and shoved into a pickle barrel. Jay and I both felt light touching, almost like cobwebs. We captured a white mist figure huddled behind the brick pillar. We can’t tell if it’s a small person or an adult trying to hide. The ovilus kept saying “dirt” so we went back down. In that room, as Ellis was telling us about a rumored treasure buried in the floor, his ovilus battery died, then Greg’s camera, then my camera. It was if the spirits didn’t want us to know the story. Ellis finished the tale at the site of the supposed treasure. We saw several shadow figures moving around us, and he said something grabbed his arm. When I said, “We don’t want your treasure. You can have it. We aren’t here to take it,” the instruments suddenly came to life again. Very strange!

There is Ruthie, one of the Bissmans, who died at about age 9, who is there. One of the rooms has some toys for her. We tried to connect with her by playing with the toys and talking to her. We got the words “kiss” and “mommy.” Ruthie doesn’t like men, so Barb and I and later Barb, Dorothy, and I went in to conduct EVP sessions and take pictures.

An entity poses as a child, and tries to arouse maternal feelings in women. Both times when we were in the area, the ovilus spoke words like ”mommy, papa, and hug.” We walked away, telling whatever it was to leave us alone.

F.W. Smith, in 1911, was telling his friends good bye on his last day of work. The elevator decapitated him on the third floor. The official story is that he missed the switch. Rumors are that he knew what was going on in the basement and he was killed. He remains there today according to many reports! We didn’t have any experiences with him, unfortunately.

In the front of the building is an old fashioned beer dispenser! Wouldn’t that be a fun addition to the break room! As Barb and I were chatting about it, on the video, you can clearly hear someone stomping back and forth. There was no one else there and we were completely still!

We thoroughly enjoyed our investigation of the Bissman Building, and look forward to returning there in the future.

http://www.bissmanbuilding.com/Welcome.html