The Haunted Bissman Building

The Bissman Building is an impressive structure. It looms over downtown Mansfield, Ohio with historic grace. Its façade is slightly chipped, but the beauty of the building remains unmarred by the scars of time and weather. These scars only add to the haunting beauty of the building. Inside, the building is equally as impressive. The two front rooms are paneled in a rare style. Eastlake paneling is testaments to the unique style of the original builders of the building as is are the engravings around the fireplace.

The owner of the building is one of a long line of Bissmans who have owned this historic building. His people came over from Germany over a century ago and founded a wholesale grocery in his family building. Now, Mr. Bissman runs a successful printing company out of the structure. Mr. Bissman is a friendly man who is happy to talk about all aspects of his family business and history. He is happy to talk about the paintings of his ancestors that line the walls and he is happy to talk about the roll he and the building played in the filming of the movie The Shawshank Redemption. He is also happy to talk about the darker history of the Bissman Building.

The Bissman Building does have a dark and tragic history. That history is the history of a little girl named Ruthie. Little Ruthie’s photograph still sits on the mantle of the building She is photographed with her family. The poor little girl was murdered in the building and stuffed in a pickle barrel in the basement. She was raped and killed with particular cruelty and her ghost still wanders the building looking for the justice. One interesting story I was told in the building says her ghost found justice in the building. Apparently, one of the employees of the building was suspected of committing the crimes against little Ruthie. He was asked to leave and as he was saying goodbye from the elevator it malfunctioned and he was decapitated by the elevator. It is said that Ruthie had her revenge at that moment. She killed the man that killed her, but she also left another ghost behind, an angry dark ghost that ghost hunters and explorers have come to fear.

The Bissman Building has been featured on many ghost hunting shows and been explored by many paranormal investigators. My Ghost Stories on biography is the most recent to feature the building. I watched this show on Saturday night and listened to two ghost hunters tell their terrifying experiences in the building. One of the women was possessed by a malevolent spirit while in the building and showed angry red marks where this spirit had attacked her. The Bissman building’s haunting has produced numerous pictures and EVPs. The Bissman Building website has these photographs and recordings available for everyone to see at http://www.bissmanbuilding.com/ .

  

Checks from Frank

From: Isabella Min

Thanks for your email
Please find attached a copy each of the documents covering the disputed balance of our collaborating settlement agreement which I need your reputable and trustworthy law firm to handle for me in collecting the balance from him or litigate this matter if he fails to pay because the proposed time for payment has long elapsed.

Currently am living in South Korea for an assignment and Franklin Minoru my ex lives in your jurisdiction, Due to the time difference (+13hrs EST) it is a little bit difficult to determine the best time to call you. We agreed under this Collaborative Law Agreement attached to this mail for a onetime cash settlement of $623,000.00USD to his credit, he has paid me $122,000.00USD but still owing $501.000.00USD.
I will be pleased to read back from you as soon as possible with regards to your fees quotations and a copy of your retainer agreement which constitute your terms and conditions so I can have a preview and then get back to you with the signed copy.

Thank you and awaits your urgent response.

Isabella Minoru

Address: 209 Migeun-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, Korea
Tel. 82-31-656 7883

I like your shoes. I'll give you two bucks for them.

I'm spending time at a regional negotiation competition this weekend, and I've begun to pick apart certain characteristics of my fellow competitors. The result....well, here you are. 

1) The ladies man - yes, he views this as a negotiation....for getting in your pants. He's the one with the metrosexual tie/hair combo and the overly shined shoes. Negotiating style? Slick....but nearly as slick as he thinks. 

2) Demure lady - she uses her lack of words against you in an attempt to have you blabber until the cows come home. Must....resist...the....temptation..... She's usually paired with an equally demure lady, or

3) The overly competitive former 1L gunner - this is typically a guy, and he's got something to prove. If you stand in his way, he will cut you. I'm waiting for my chance to engage in a no-blink-staredown contest with this fellow. Because I will set him ablaze. With my MIND. 

4) The couple - they came here together. They are dating or (at the very least) fuckbuddies. They have eaten, breathed, a sexed this problem for the past 27 days. They are literally about to come to fisticuffs by this time....or they've turned to toking to pretend they are not in this competition. 

5) The don'tgiveafuck - tired of being here. Tired of negotiating. Tired. 

6) The over-prepared - you would think this was the same as the retired gunner, but no. These people don't just have the law. They have the excel sheets on their computers at the hand with the formulas to turn their numbers into a final offer. Fuck them.

7) The Hillary - I once heard Hillary referred to as a snake. As in, she looked like she would unhinge her jaw at any time and swallow you whole. I can appreciate this, however terrifying it may be. 

8) Medicated/nonmedicated - these are the people either dosed up on Adderall or not...when they should be. They are talking a million miles an hour, bouncing around from subject to subject like monkeys on crack, and generally making my hand itch. 

All in all, though, I've been having a good time. We got in at a reasonable hour last night, had dinner at a delicious place, and our suite is GREAT. 

And while at that delicious restaurant, hanging out at the bar and waiting for a table, something even more delicious happened. I was drinking water. The bartender saw everyone in my group had drinks and made sure I didn't want something, to which I replied I didn't want an $11 drink I could get for $6 back at home.

And I received that drink. For $6.

How's that for a friggin' negotiation?

The Shawshank Trail: A Photographic Journey

If I had to explain why I first began to travel seeking ghosts and ghost stories,  the answer would be wrapped up in my passion for beautiful places with tragic histories and interesting stories.  It would speak of my love for strange, old buildings and history that people only whisper about in shadowy corners.   It would speak of my love of horror stories and old movies that draw me into worlds I have never lived in.  The Shawshank Trail offered me all of these things this week.   Slowly,  I'm going to go over the history of each building I visited this week and their haunting histories.   Most of the places I visited had amazing ghost stories and I will do a post on all of them.  But for today, here is a brief overview of everything I saw in pictures.   The picture above is a photograph of the shattered remains of the tree Red found his money at.   

The Haunted Bissman Building.  In The Shawshank Redemption, this was where Brooks ended his life.  In real life, the building is filled with lonely ghosts.  It should be featured on My Ghost Story tonight.

The Wyandot County Courthouse where all the court scenes from The Shawshank Redemption were shot.  This building was so beautiful it took my breath away.

The town got together and reinacted the scene from The Shawshank Redemption in which Red was mesmerized by a Mozart aria for us.  It was beautiful.

 

 The haunted and beautiful Ohio Reformatory was amazing.   This was the primary location for The Shawshank Redemption.

I caught an interesting orb in this photograph of the room in which the parole board sat.

We went to several eateries which had Shawshank related food items for us to try.  

 

 The Renaissance Theater is where The Shawshank Redemption premiered.  It also houses its own dark and ghostly histories.

The Pugh Cabin where Andy dreamt of killing his wife.

To learn more about The Shawshank Trail,  you can go to their wonderful website at http://www.shawshanktrail.com/

Phew!

It's been a heck of a week again.

Wednesday I was due in at college for some more exam invigilating. There are a few exams during November so I get the chance to go in for a day or two. My timetable said I was needed for a 1.15pm start but I got a call from the administrator just after nine in the morning asking why I wasn't there. I thought I had read my timetable correctly but she asked me to get there as soon as possible as they were short staffed. I shut the computer down, changed into cycling gear and locked the house. I went down to the changing room as soon as I arrived and decided not to have a shower but to get changed and dash straight up to the exams office. When I got in (out of breath and red in the face) she was most apologetic as the top half of the timetable had somehow been deleted before it was e-mailed out and several others hadn't turned up either. So it was a hectic day but at least it wasn't my fault. I hate it if I let people down.

In the evening it was Nottingham Writers' Club manuscript of the year competition where we take in our little stories of 250 words max and have them read out anonymously by a team of readers. We then all vote for our favourite. I was one of the readers and anxious to do my best so that each entry was presented at its best. The theme was 'stormy weather' and it was fascinating for the number of different ways this was approached. Some entries used it as an analogy for stormy relationships. Others used it in the conventional sense with rain and winds causing danger to shipping and flight delays. I didn't win but I still got something out of the effort and from hearing the other entries.

Thursday morning I logged in to find I hadn't won Helen Yendall's mini saga competition either. Having read the short listed entries I could understand why. You can read the top five stories on her blog here. Amongst them is fellow blogger Patsy who came second.

Thursday afternoon I received an e-mail from Jill Finlay at The Weekly News to say that one of the two stories I had submitted had been accepted. Yippee!

The Shawshank Trail

It has been a very long day and I won't say too much tonight about the many stories I've collected on my trip this week, but I do want to share a little of how much I've enjoyed my day.  I began my exploration of Mansfield, Ohio today with a day of touring The Shawshank Trail.   The Shawshank Trail is a tour of all the places that were used in the filming of the movie, The Shawshank Redemption.  The Shawshank Redemption, based on the novel by Stephen King, is the story of one man's overwhelming strength of spirit in the face of almost insurmountable odds.  The main character, Andy, is falsely imprisoned, tortured and raped in prison, and yet still finds a way to carry on and escape.   The movie is shot mostly in the breathtaking Ohio Reformatory.    The Reformatory is hauntingly beautiful and just haunted.   After touring the reformatory today,  I was left wanting more.  They do offer all night ghost hunting trips and ghost tours of this amazing facility and I think that it would be worth an extra trip later to participate in one of these activities.  There were many corners of the reformatory that our little group missed and several ghost stories I didn't catch in the rush to see more.   Yet, just being in the reformatory carried a sense of history and mystery so deep it pulled me in and left me longing for more study.  
After the reformatory, The Shawshank Trail took us to many other locations.  We went to Pugh cabin where Andy dreamt of killing his wife.  We saw the tree where Red found his salvation and enough money to carry him away from his life.   We had a lovely meal at an old Carriage house on Malabar Farm, a location famous for its history and ghosts.  We even went to the haunted and beautiful Renaissance Theater where the premier for Shawshank Redemption was.  

Although I haven't completed my tour of Mansfield or The Shawshank Trail, I have to say that Mansfield is a lovely, little town for those who love ghost stories and Stephen King.  It is also a great vacation for people looking for haunting locations that are just off the beaten path.   There is a quiet in the autumn leaves here that calls for further exploration and helps you understand why this small town has been visited by so many ghost hunters and used for so many movies.   Mansfield has many hauntings in its quiet corners and holds a beauty that the larger, more touristy cities lack.  Of course, I always forget something when I travel, and this trip I forgot my camera cord so I can't post any photographs of my trip until tomorrow, but I think when I do the pictures will say a thousand words.  

Counsel for Mark

From: stevenmark

Subject: Trả lời:   Legal Advice

 
> Dear Counsel,
> 
> I am seeking legal representation from your law firm regarding a breach of Loan agreement I had with my borrower. I need proper legal advice and assistance to know the best way to handle this issue. If this is your area of practice, please contact me to provide you with further Information, If you are not in position to represent me please direct me to someone who can
> 
> Regards,
> Stafford Steven Mark
> 
> 
> 




Dear Counsel,

Good day to you and thanks for responding to my email. Please pardon my late email response as my condition does not allow me to stay long on the computer. It is a little bit difficult to gauge the best time to reach you vice verse as I am currently now in Japan on a charity work with my church.

My full names are Stafford Steven Mark. I am a private lender who lends Investors, small companies and individuals funds on a fixed term to invest and in return pay back with interest.  On January 5th, 2009, I lend General Construction Company who is located in your jurisdiction the sum of $380.000.00 with interest on two years fixed term and to pay back January 5th, 2011.

There has not been any attorney working on this case. Different payment dates have been promised and I still have not received anything. Advice from my solicitor in Japan was to seek legal assistance in the United States which is why I contacted you to act as my counsel in retrieving these funds. My last contact with my Borrower, I was told I would receive payment not later than Mid January 2011 and till now, nothing has been paid.

I will like to know what your fees would be in order for me to inform the company to expect contact from you as you have been authorized to act on my behalf and receive said funds or make contact with your firm. I would like to forward your details to them on your approval, so they know a law firm is representing me and I can sue for breach of agreement if they don’t keep their promise. I would like to give them this last chance to fulfill their obligations before we start legal proceeding.

Please do get back to me so I can furnish you with the required details to contact my borrower and receive my funds on my behalf as I know these companies respect law firms and do not want to be carried to court. Before we proceed I will like you to forward your fee/retainer agreement for me to review and if okay, sign and return for you to begin work.

I am aware that retainer fee has to be paid, kindly send me your firm retainer agreement for my review, signed and send back to you. Upon receipt of the agreement, I shall make immediate arrangement for the fee to be paid or your legal expertise in this matter on a contingency basis if that is acceptable.   Also, include your firm payment information should in-case they want to make a full or partial payment they owe without further delays or possible litigation.

Thank you for your anticipated co-operation and understanding. Contact me should you require more information. I have attached here a copy of the Loan Agreement Promissory Note for your information. My borrower’s name is General Construction Company.

Regards,
Stafford S. Mark