The West Virginia Penitentiary is a gothic style prison located in Moundsville, West Virginia. The prison operated from 1876 to 1995, and during this time accumulated infamy due to its poor conditions and treatment of inmates. At its peak, each prison cell housed up to three inmates with only one mattress, with the prison doubling its size in 1929 to combat the overcrowded conditions. Thirty six homicides took place in the prison, though many more […]
Originally named the Williamson Memorial Hospital, yet now dubbed the Old Hospital on College Hill, this historic building has a storied past. It officially opened on the 3rd of March in 1928 after the town’s other hospital burned down. Today, the hospital remains perched high on a hill, continuing its watch over Williamson though now in a decayed state. Appearing as a ghost of its former self, shielded by thick fog and surrounded by many […]
Lake Shawnee is an allegedly haunted and abandoned amusement park. The thought of such a location may send a chill down one’s spine, but it is the blood-curdling history of the land that this site was built upon which will truly give you the chills. The first dark moment in this location’s history occurred when the Clay family purchased land in West Virginia during the late 1700s. This land was intended to house the Clay […]
Earlier this year I had the opportunity to tour around one of West Virginia’s most haunted buildings. Construction on the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum begun in 1858 and was completed in 1881. Originally designed to service just 250 patients, overcrowding took over and poor conditions flourished. The asylum peaked to house 2,400 patients in the 1950’s. Lobotomies, murder, rape, suicide and mistreatment taint the past of this beautiful gothic building. Many now believe the tortured souls […]