What does a Gothic looking building and a state penitentiary add up to? Apparently, it equates to a place haunted by unhappy souls.
Such is the case of the West Virginia State Penitentiary. There are plenty of “haunted” prisons, but West Virginia State is thought to be the most haunted. Modeled after a prison in Joliet, the Gothic Revival architecture made it look frightening alone when 250 inmates entered cells in 1876 when it opened.
Although conditions of the prison may have been seen as decent enough at the turn of the 20th century, they quickly deteriorated. Eventually, the prison would be named to the Top Ten Most Violent Correctional Facilities list by the U.S. Department of Justice. It wasn’t uncommon to have three prisoner assigned to a 5 x 7 foot cell, with two sleeping in the bunk beds and one sleeping on a mattress on the floor. By 1929, the state decided to expand the prison to meet the growing number of convicts. However, the steel shortage during World War II led to the construction not being completed for another 30 years.
The prison shut down for good in 1995. During its history, 36 homicides took place in the West Virginia State Penitentiary. Between 1899 and 1931, 85 men were executed by hanging and from 1931 until 1965, 9 more were executed in the electric chair.
The prison now serves as a training facility and tourist destination. The electric chair, nicknamed “Old Sparky” is still on display. Each year, a “Dungeon of Horrors” is set up for Halloween. Stories that ghosts haunted the prison began in the 1930s. Some believe the prison is haunted because it was built on a Native American burial ground, but others believe it is just the home of lost souls who were imprisoned and killed there.
Former guards have reported seeing ghostly inmates and a “shadow man.” Others have heard noises they can’t explain, heard voices, and felt cold spots. There are three main ghosts that people report seeing. One is the Maintenance Man. The story is that this man used to spy on inmates and report any bad behavior until the inmates killed him one day in the bathroom. People have seen this ghost near the bathroom where he was killed, but he doesn’t make contact.
Another ghost sited is Robert, a former inmate. Robert was reportedly beaten to death by guards and legend has it that his body was buried behind a prison wall. The third ghost is that of Avril Adkins. Avril was an inmate who was hanged, but the hanging went wrong and he had to be hanged a second time. People have reported seeing him walking the gallows.
The West Virginia State Penitentiary has been featured in the MTV show “Fear,” the Sci-Fi Channel’s “Ghost Hunters,” ABC Family’s “Scariest Places on Earth,” the Travel Channel’s “Ghost Adventures,” and A&E’s “Paranormal State.”
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