Nothing is better than the adrenaline rush of visiting old, abandoned places and hearing the history of the location. If you’re an adrenaline junkie or a fan of local history, you’ll love learning about the lore of creepy places in West Virginia. From haunted hospitals to an abandoned amusement park, these places will send a shiver down your spine. When you go home after you leave any of these terrifying locations, you’ll probably be sleeping with the lights on!
1) The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, located in Weston, WV.
This creepy yet striking location was built between 1858 and 1881, and it is the largest hand-cut stone masonry building anywhere in American. Rumor has it that the asylum is haunted with the souls of the insane that passed there! Some of the reasons that people were admitted to the asylum include laziness, religious enthusiasm, superstition, and birth control. The asylum was intended to house about 250 people but the population there peaked in the 1950s with over 2,400 patients. In 1994, the asylum was forced to close and has never been reopened as a mental facility, but they offer regular tours, haunted tours, and even a haunted house in the fall.
The Mothman is said to be a man-sized moth-like creature which has had many sightings starting in the 1960s. The Mothman is often connected with the Silver Bridge Collapse which occurred in 1967, killing 46 people. Today, you can visit the Mothman Museum to learn about the legend.
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3) The West Virginia State Penitentiary, located in Moundsville, WV.
Construction began on this historic site in 1866, and it operated for over a century thereafter. It was closed in 1995 after it was determined to be unfit and inhumane. This prison was on the Department of Justice's Top Ten list of most violent correctional facilities in the nation. This was probably due to the 85 executions that occurred at the prison, nine of which were men being electrocuted in the wooden electric chair nicknamed "Old Sparky." The Penitentiary is haunted with the souls of the 85 executed and 36 men that were murdered. As visitors quietly walk the halls of the prison, some hear disembodied noises coming from different places in the old prison. The tour guides often tell that the noise is just the souls of the dead haunting the halls of the prison that they reside in for the remainder of eternity. How reassuring! You can tour this site to this day.
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4) Lake Shawnee, an abandoned amusement park in Mercer County, WV.
Lake Shawnee shut down in 1966 and has been decaying since. The park is said to be built on the site of a Native American burial ground, and legend asserts that it was also the location of a horrible massacre of settlers. It was revealed that 13 bodies, mostly of children, were found in the burial ground. Over the years, several unfortunate events have occurred at the amusement park, such as the death of a little girl and a drowning which led to death in Lake Shawnee. This spot can be found in an unincorporated community listed in Google Maps as District III, WV 24747... but keep in mind that this site is now on private property, and that you will want to wait until tours are available again, if ever, to see it.
In 1888, a farmer named Graham Hamrick purchased two female corpses from the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. This wanna-be scientist mummified the bodies with his patented embalming potion, trying to find out the secrets of the Pharoahs. Hamrick was successful, and today the bodies are displayed in glass-topped wooden coffins at the Barbour County Historical Museum.
This park opened in 1903. The Big Dipper, installed in 1958, is one of the only wooden roller coasters left of its kind. As if riding this 50+ year old wooden coaster wasn't terrifying enough, the park has an Adena tribe burial mound on site... and it has never been excavated. This mound is the third-biggest in the state and is the last of its kind left. Rumor has it that the park is haunted by Native American spirits. You can visit the park to this day.
Darkish Knob has a reputation of being haunted. During the years of the Underground Railroad, a small house was tucked under brush and was very well hidden near the base of the hill. It was a place of refuge for runaway slaves. The woods are supposedly haunted with the ghost of the young girl trying to find the house. She was riding her horse and it lost its footing, and it fell over the edge of the hill. The girl fell to her death on the rocks that were below and it is said that she returns on occasion to the hill.
8) The now torn-down Lakin Industrial School for Colored Boys in Lakin, WV.
Lakin Industrial School for Colored Boys was built in 1924 as a home for delinquent juvenile offenders. For over thirty years, the boys and staff worked on a surrounding farm which made them self-sufficient. In 1956, the school closed down as a result of Brown vs. Board of Education. There have been many reports of paranormal activity including people being pushed down the stairs.
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9) The Grave Creek Mound Historical Site in Moundsville, WV.
The Grave Creek Indian Burial Mound is more interesting than it is terrifying, but it still has some spooky aspects. Indian Burial mounds were intended to connect the living with the dead as an entrance to the afterlife. There are layers of burials here, and generations of this indigenous tribe are resting together in what is now a tourist site.
Many West Virginians have heard many stories about all these scary sites. West Virginia has been featured on television and in movies several times because of these places, and there’s certainly a reason our lore is so everlasting. There has been a movie adaptation of the Silver Bridge Collapse that is connected to the Mothman, and the Ghost Hunters on Syfy have visited the West Virginia State Penitentiary! Where do you think the scariest place in West Virginia is? Comment below!
Can’t get enough of local legends in West Virginia? We don’t blame you; this area is rich in history! You might enjoy a trip to the haunted Flinderation Tunnel near Salem, West Virginia ,where the sounds of a phantom train can still be heard.
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More to Explore
Creepy Places in West Virginia
Nikki Rhoades|May 31, 2020
What are the scariest haunted attractions in West Virginia?
One might argue that the scariest attractions in West Virginia are places with real hauntings and restless spirits... which is why the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum is such an enduring aspect of local legend! The Old Hospital On College Hill is part haunted house and part actual paranormal site, and the super spooky old Sanford School is now a museum of the paranormal.
What are the creepiest cemeteries in West Virginia?
Cemeteries are often a wealth of local lore, which is a natural expectation considering that these sites are the eternal resting places of those before us. There are said to be several haunted cemeteries in West Virginia, including Hatfield Cemetery and Brooke Cemetery.
Are there any haunted hotels in West Virginia?
Can't get enough of all things paranormal? Try your luck and stay at a haunted hotel in West Virginia like The Lowe Hotel in Point Pleasant.
