State file · WV
Haunted places in West Virginia
What are the most haunted places in West Virginia? The best-known are Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum (Weston State Hospital), The Greenbrier Ghost and West Virginia Penitentiary.
West Virginia was born in the Civil War, carved out of Virginia in 1863, and its ghost lore is shaped by the hard history that followed: coal camps and mine disasters, labour wars, isolated mountain hollows and great stone institutions built to hold the state’s prisoners and patients. Few states have so many famous stories tied to real court records and hospital ledgers.
- 3 hauntings
- 12 recorded sightings
Haunted places in West Virginia
Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum (Weston State Hospital)
A vast stone Kirkbride hospital built for 250 patients that held over 2,000 at its peak. It closed in 1994 and now sells history tours and ghost hunts. Widely reported
The Greenbrier Ghost
In 1897 a West Virginia mother said her dead daughter’s ghost named her killer. An exhumation found a broken neck, and the husband was convicted of murder. Widely reported
West Virginia Penitentiary
A Gothic stone fortress that held West Virginia’s prisoners from 1876 to 1995, scene of 94 executions and a 1986 riot. Guides tell of a “shadow man.” Widely reportedThe ghost lore of West Virginia
Its best-known ghost story ended up in a courtroom. In 1897 Mary Jane Heaster told a Greenbrier County jury that her daughter Zona’s spirit had revealed she was murdered; an exhumation had already found a broken neck, and Zona’s husband was convicted. A roadside marker on Interstate 64 still calls it the only known case in which a ghost’s testimony helped convict a killer.
The state’s two giant Gothic institutions – the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston, built for 250 patients and later holding more than 2,000, and the West Virginia Penitentiary in Moundsville, with its 94 executions – now sell history tours and overnight ghost hunts, a trade that has revived local economies while drawing criticism from mental health advocates. Point Pleasant’s Mothman and the Braxton County Monster round out a rich store of Appalachian legend.
Ghost-hunting hotspots
- Harpers Ferry
The river-junction town of John Brown’s 1859 raid and the Civil War has long-running candlelight ghost tours.
- Lewisburg and Greenbrier County
Home of the Greenbrier Ghost case, its historic courthouse and the roadside marker on I-64.
- Moundsville
The penitentiary stands across the road from the ancient Grave Creek Mound, a sacred Adena burial site to be visited with respect.
- Weston
The Lewis County town around the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum has built a tourism economy on the asylum’s history and ghost hunts.
- Point Pleasant
The river town of the 1966–67 Mothman sightings, with a museum, statue and annual festival.
Timeline
- 1876The penitentiary is completed West Virginia Penitentiary
Built with convict labour from local sandstone, the castellated prison opens its North Wagon Gate and cellblocks.
- January 23, 1897Zona Shue is found dead The Greenbrier Ghost
The young bride is found dead at home; her death is initially attributed to natural causes and she is buried.
- February 1897Exhumation and autopsy The Greenbrier Ghost
After her mother reports the ghost’s visits, the prosecutor orders an examination that finds a broken neck and crushed windpipe.
- July 8, 1897Guilty The Greenbrier Ghost
Edward Shue is convicted of murder at the Greenbrier County Courthouse and sentenced to life imprisonment.
- March 13, 1900Shue dies in prison The Greenbrier Ghost
Shue dies in the West Virginia Penitentiary during an epidemic and is buried in an unmarked grave.
- April 1919Eugene V. Debs imprisoned West Virginia Penitentiary
The labour leader serves two months here after his conviction under the Espionage Act, before transfer to Atlanta.
- November 7, 1979The mass escape West Virginia Penitentiary
Fifteen inmates break out; escapee Ronald Turney Williams kills off-duty Trooper Philip S. Kesner outside the walls.
- January 1, 1986The New Year’s Day Riot West Virginia Penitentiary
Inmates take officers hostage in a two-day uprising over conditions; three inmates are killed.
- 1994Weston State Hospital closes Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum (Weston State Hospital)
After decades of overcrowding and decline, the hospital closes under a court order and patients are moved to a new facility.
- March 27, 1995The prison closes West Virginia Penitentiary
After a court ruled the cells unconstitutional, the last inmates are transferred and the site later reopens for tours.
- 2007Sold at auction Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum (Weston State Hospital)
The state auctions the property, by most accounts on August 29, for $1.5 million to Joe Jordan (an AP report dates the sale to 2008); by March 2008 it has reopened under its original name for tours and ghost hunts.
- December 2011A tourism boom – and criticism Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum (Weston State Hospital)
The Associated Press reports more than 115,000 visitors since reopening, alongside objections from mental health advocates to the name and themed events.
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