The Bissman Building

Mansfield, OH

The Bissman Building on North Main Street adds a unique, albeit eerie, element to downtown.
Engineered and constructed by the same contractors as the Ohio State Reformatory in 1886, the Gothic Romantic structure was home to the Bissman family’s wholesale grocery distribution center up until the mid 1970s.


Now the 130-year-old building serves as the headquarters of Pirate Printing, a Bissman family-owned printing and embroidery business. For about 90 years, the Bissman Company supplied the greater Mansfield area with various grocery products, including Bissman’s Red Band Coffee, hand rolled Cuban cigars, private labeled canned goods, and a wide array of alcoholic beverages. The Bissman Company ended its successful run as a grocery distributor in 1976 but remained in the beer distribution business into the early 2000s.

May 28, 2011
Investigators: Beth Rosen, Matt Rosen & Travis Spitzer.

Location Photos: Click to enlarge

  • Constructed in 1886, the Bissman Building served as a wholesale grocery distributor in the real world, and as the Brewer Hotel in The Shawshank Redemption on screen. It employed more than a few Ohioans, and a few ‘long passed’ still find a way to clock in today.
  • A side view of the Bissman Building – so you can get a sense of how deep this building really is.
  • Meet our gracious hosts – Ben Bissman to the left and Ellis Byrd on the right.
  • Makes you thirsty just lookin’ at it, doesn’t it?
  • Behold five generations of Bissmans, all on one wall.
  • To the left is Ruthie Bissman, she allegedly haunts the building to this very day.
  • A still photo from the front of the Bissman Building in The Shawshank Redemption, where Brooks and Red tried to adapt to life on the ‘outside.’
  • This is the basement – where mobsters brought their non-paying customers for a friendly game of ‘Pay Up or Else.’
  • You’re looking at the corner of a basement room where a brutal attack and murder is thought to have occurred.
  • Above is graffiti from F.W. Simon – he was decapitated while peering down an open warehouse elevator to say goodbye to a co-worker.
  • 4th floor, entry to Ruthie’s Room – this is the room where we caught that odd shadow as highlighted in the Findings Section.
  • Inside of Ruthie’s room, with offerings from past investigators in hopes of a peaceful afterlife.
  • Garage area that once served as a slaugtherhouse and serves as Ben Bissman’s garage today. Just check out that Mystery Machine. It’s the same color and everything!

Findings:

4th Floor, Ruthie’s Room: With no one near this area, we catch an odd shadow in the right window. Initially, we thought it was being cast on the opposing building. But keep in mind, this is the 4th floor. And our host, Ellis Byrd, said he’s never seen anything like it this high up. Bottom line – this video left us absolutely confounded.

Grave Concerns Paranormal does not view findings presented on this page as evidence of ghosts or the paranormal. These are merely experiences that we can not explain at this time.