Ghostly diners, violent crimes of passion, phantoms peering from theatre balconies, canal workers who still walk the towpaths the haunted history of Stark County includes
characters and legends as bizarre as they are terrifying. Take a bone-chilling journey with Sherri Brake, owner of Haunted Heartland Tours, as she recounts tales of superstitious
pioneers and the horrors of the great influenza epidemic of 1918. Stroll along silent corridors of an abandoned asylum and linger among graves of Civil War dead and discover the eerie ends of Stark County s departed souls."

Built on the site of a Civil War camp ravaged by disease, the Ohio State Reformatory first opened in 1896 to reform young offenders but eventually grew to house the most dangerous criminals. By the time the Mansfield institution closed, the prison was hosting a thousand more prisoners than it was designed to hold in "brutalizing and inhumane conditions." Within the dark corridors made famous as the backdrop for The Shawshank Redemption, ghostly presences linger, from the dungeons of solitary confinement to the West Wing showers, where a bent pipe marks the place where a prisoner hanged...

Afterlife with no parole. If you die in prison, your soul stays in prison. At least that's what many inmates believed. 998 murders and suicides combined with 85 hangings and 9 electrocutions all make for a dark and violent past. The Cincinnati Ohio Enquirer called it a "Hell On Earth" in 1886. The New York Times branded it as "One of the Most Violent in the Country." Inmates called it "Bloody Alley" and for good reasons. The Haunted History of the West Virginia Pen is brought to light by Paranormal Investigator, Haunted Heartland Tours owner and author, Sherri Brake. Built in 1866 in...

Ghosts, Spirits, Legends and Dark History.Fireside Folklore of West Virginia offers up locations of reported paranormal activity, haunted buildings, spooky spirits, folklore and the legends they are born from. The Mothman, The Headless Ghost of Centralia, The West Virginia Penitentiary, UFO's, Gravestone Symbolism, Ghosts on the Battlefield, and Burnt House Haints are just a few of the locations and subjects covered in this new series by author Sherri Brake. This paranormal folklore guide is the first in a spellbinding series focusing on the state's ghost stories, legends and haunted...

Inmates called it "Bloody Alley" and the newspapers reported it was "Hell on Earth." This is a must have guide book for serious investigators of the West Virginia Penitentiary. Join paranormal researcher, Sherri Brake, as she shares with you old and new ghost sightings, a list of the paranormal hot spots, suggestions for ghost hunting equipment and more. Also included are interviews with staff and psychics who share their experiences, both scary and intriguing. View the list of executions and then go stand where the Death House stood to conduct your investigation. Need to know where certain...

Vol II of the Fireside Folklore of West Virginia series. Ghosts, spirits, legends and dark history abound as author Sherri Brake travels across the Mountain State. John Brown's Ghost, the Spirit of Sis Linn and the Greenbrier Ghost all come to life once more as legends old and new are brought to light.

Ice-pick Lobotomies * Straight Jackets * Seclusion Cells * Ice Water Baths Sound like a scene from a horror movie? Welcome to the 19th century asylum located in Weston, West Virginia. It held the demented, the insane and the unfortunate. Come explore ghosts and haunted history with author Sherri Brake. Built in the 1860's to house 250, the asylum in Weston was overcrowded with 2,400 patients by the 1950's. Barbaric treatments, unsanitary conditions coupled with scandals, murders and suicides made for a nightmarish situation. To some it was a haven from the streets, to others it was hell on...