West Virginia is known for its expansive geographical wonders, but most folks haven’t heard of its mysterious ghost towns. Since the state has an intense mining history, there are quite a few spaces and places throughout that have experienced a season of growth and then sudden depletion. There is one place that can even be called the creepiest abandoned town in West Virginia: Kayford, WV.

The tiny and now fairly forgotten coal-mining town of Kayford was once a thriving community, outfitted with a general store, a school, and a church. The miners and their families lived on the mountain for over 200 years, until changes in coal mining led most of the town to disappear. The town revolved around coal mining, but Mountain Top Removal put many of those miners out of work and made the area dangerous. Health hazards, toxic water, and unstable ground have managed to make this an area that few people want to visit.

Don’t risk it, folks. We’ll show you the wonders of Kayford, West Virginia, and allow you to step inside, right from the comfort of your own computer. Check it out!

Kayford was a coal mining community that has mostly been abandoned, making it one of the scariest places in West Virginia.
Flickr/biotour13
Traditional mining of Kayford Mountain has been replaced by Mountain Top Removal, and the town has crumbled. As you can see here, there's really not much left of the once-thriving mountain town.
Now the community has more graves than living people.
Flickr/biotour13
Eerie, don't you think? It's an odd experience to walk through a literal ghost town in West Virginia, where the only residents are the dearly departed.
Miners once worked underground in the mountain to retrieve the coal, but now the entire mountain is being scooped away.
Flickr/biotour13
Mountain Top Removal requires far fewer people than traditional mining, so there weren't enough jobs to support the town.
When coal dust sits on a mountain exposed to the weather, it can make the surrounding area a toxic place.
Flickr/Dana
Strangely beautiful, but toxic nonetheless. It's beautifully one of the strangest abandoned places in West Virginia.
The exposed coal dust seeps into the streams, turning them brown and making the water unsafe.
Flickr/biotour13
No more fishing in these waters, folks. We're so sorry to say that the Mountain State has been tapped out in Kayford.

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The dust fills the air when explosions take place, and breathing it increases the risk of cancer.
Flickr/biotour13
The dust contains toxic sulfur compounds, which also tend to be dangerous to the human body.
There are several family cemeteries surrounding the MTR site.
Youtube/hawriverfilms
It's heartbreaking to see so many folks buried together and forgotten on the mountain. On the bright side, they do have one another in the afterlife.
The blasts from the explosions often send rocks and rubble flying into the cemeteries.
Flickr/biotour13
The Stover family cemetery is right on the edge of the MTR site. Although rules require the mining to be 100 feet from the cemetery, the cemetery is not clearly marked, and it's likely that graves have been disturbed.
The blasts also cause the underground mines to settle, creating cracks and unstable ground.
Youtube/hawriverfilms
The ways beneath the earth in Kayford are dangerously many...
There's little left now of this former mountain community, but there is one part that remains unchanged.
Kate Wellington / Flickr
Curious?
The Stanley family has lived on the mountain for seven generations, and they refuse to ever sell their part of the mountain for any price.
Coal River Folklife Project collection (AFC 1999/008), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
Many of their ancestors are buried in the cemetery above the MTR site. Some still live here on the mountain, and they've turned part of their land into a public park, where they hold gatherings and remember what the mountain used to be. The abandoned Kayford remains a mystery, forever one of the ghost towns of West Virginia.

It’s a beautiful, eerie experience to see the town of Kayford, WV. It’s a town that once had the world at its feet, yet now has merely become a memory, one of the best-known abandoned places in West Virginia. Have you been? Would you visit?

If you’re looking for another adventure, make sure to check out the remnants of another coal-mining town, check out the abandoned town of Kaymoor.

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More to Explore

Kayford WV

Meghan Kraft | September 21, 2019

What other abandoned places are there in West Virginia?

There are all sorts of unique abandoned places in West Virginia, including:

  • Lake Shawnee Amusement Park in Princeton
  • The ruins of the St. John's Episcopal Church in Harpers Ferry
  • Point Pleasant's TNT Bunkers
  • The Machine Shop in Coalwood

 

Are there any hiking trails to abandoned places in West Virginia?

There are a handful of hiking trails in West Virginia that will lead you to extraordinary ruins. Bend Rail Trail takes you along the path of an old railroad and will take you by the remnants of old towns and railroad stops. Narrow Gauge Trail Reveals the ghost town of Sewell, while Kaymoor Miners Trail takes folks by the remnants of a long-forgotten mining community. If you're looking for a more exhaustive list, check out these incredible West Virginia hiking trails.

What ghost towns can you find in West Virginia?

There are all sorts of ghost towns in West Virginia, mainly due to its history as a mining community. Check out Kaymoor, a restored mining townsite, or Winona that's empty except for one active church. Thurmond, Nattalburg and Sewell are also famed ghost towns, each of them eerier and more interesting than the last.

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Kayford, WV 25075, USA