Trans-Allegheny
Lunatic Asylum is deemed one of the most haunted hospitals in America. I was finally able to take the trip to tour
her buildings and experience what so many others have over the years. It was truly amazing. This blog will give you her history and pictures I was able to capture from my tour.
Feel free to scroll to the pictures if history isn’t your thing.
History
On
March 22, 1858, Legislature passed an act authorizing the establishment of the
Trans-Alleghany lunatic asylum. After
consulting with Dr. Thomas Kirkbridge, leading doctor who specialized in
treating the mentally ill, and Dr. Francis Stribling, the asylum was to be
located in a rural area far away from cities.
The three hired commissioners purchased 269 acres of land for $25,000.
Trans-Allegheny
(aka Weston State Hospital) is a 242,000 square foot sandstone block building which
started her construction at the end of 1858 by prison laborers to house
psychiatric patients. It sits on 666
(seriously they couldn’t have bought one more or less) acres of land that
was designed to be a completely self-contained hospital. They raised their own vegetables, maintained
a dairy herd, were supplied coal from nearby mines for heat, and had a
reservoir for water. Even the patients’ clothing, curtains,
mattresses and furniture were created in-house.
This once isolated community operated successfully for over 100
years.
Trans-Allegheny
is the largest hand-cut stone masonry building in the United States and only second
largest in the World, The Kremlin being the largest. She
measures nearly 1300 feet along the facade with a center unit standing four
stories high with a great cupola and clock tower. Its original design was to house offices and
personnel with a large ballroom. The
design was in the “Gothic” style with elaborate Dutch or Jacobean gables of the
pre-Civil War period. Besides the
addition of dormers along the entire gable roof and replacing of the original
slate roof with modern composition material, the external appearance of the
building stands as it was originally constructed.
The
blocks were first made out of fine blue sandstone brought in from a quarry at
Mt. Clare in nearby Harrison County but the quality of the stone lessened as
construction continued.
Virginia
General Assembly authorized the hospital in early 1850s as a place to house the
insane. Baltimore Architect, Richard
Snowden Andrews, began construction in 1858 but building was interrupted when
Civil War broke out in 1861. By June 28,
1961, only the southern one-story wing was under roof, and walls for the
connecting three-story section had been started and $98,000 had been expended.
The
Virginia government demanded the return of the hospital’s unused construction
funds (around $27,000) following its secession.
But the money was stolen by the 7th Ohio Volunteer Infantry
and put toward the establishment of the Reorganized Government of
Virginia.
Construction
resumed in 1862 following the admission of West Virginia as a U.S. State in
1863. The construction continued into
1881 with skilled stonemasons brought in from Germany and Ireland. If you look closely at the stones, you will
notice a certain pattern on each one.
This pattern was a way for the workers to “sign” the stones to prove it
was theirs in order to get paid.
Trans-Allegheny
opened her doors in October 1864. Her
first committed patient was a female housekeeper from Ohio who suffered from “domestic
troubles.” The hospital housed
epileptics, alcoholics, drug addicts and non-educable mental defectives. Some of the known “cures” practiced included the
barbaric treatments of electro shock therapy and frontal lobotomies. The patients deemed uncontrollable were often
locked in cages which you will see pictures of below. Reports in 1949 found extremely horrid living
conditions at the hospital, to be of poor sanitation, insufficient furniture,
lighting, and heating.
The
hospital was only designed to house 250 patients but as fast as new buildings
were completed, they were filled.
1880
– 717 patients
1938
– 1,661 patients
1949
– 1,800 patients
1950
– 2,600 patients
It
is also rumored that Charles Mason spent time there during the height of its
over population. Following “Kirkbridge
Plan,” patients were housed with strangers only and discouraged from seeing
anyone they knew and loved.
Her
named changed from West Virginia Hospital for the Insane to Weston State
Hospital in 1913. In 1986 Governor Arch
Moore announced the plans to build a new mental illness facility, due to
changes in patient treatments. William
R. Sharpe Jr. hospital was built and Trans-Allegheny closed her doors for good
in May 1994.
Trans-Allegheny
was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1990. That did not stop a group of at least 20
local off-duty police officers and employees from illegally playing paintball
in the main tower building on the weekends of May 22 and 29, 1999. They lied to the security guard via saying
they were conducting a training exercise inside. They ended up damaging all four floors in the
incident. Paintball paint was spattered
on just about everything. They even
damaged an irreplaceable mural in the building’s auditorium.
On
August 29, 2007, Trans-Allegheny was bought in auction by Joe Jordan, an
asbestos demolition contractor, for 1.5 million. He has since turned it into a tourist
attraction with the money for tickets going back into the restoration of the
hospital and her lands.
Paranormal
Trans-Allegheny
is on the top of every list for paranormal hotspots in West Virginia. There were frequent reports of patients
killing other patients and employees. Many female workers were raped and the hospital
became known for its extremely violent misdeeds. The asylum has been featured in several
televised programs such as Ghost Hunters (2008 and 2014); Travel Channel
(2009); and Forgotten Planet (2011).
One
death reported was a nurse that went missing for nearly two months before her
rotting body was found at the bottom of an unused staircase. There was also a patient who went missing and
who was later found hanging in the greenhouse.
There
are reports of hearing gurneys being pushed up and down the tiled hallways and
screams coming from the electro shock room.
There has also been reports of voices giggling, laughing and warnings to
leave the building. The most active
spots around the asylum would be the Civil War wing in which a ghost names
Jacob has been spotted wondering the area.
Another
hot spot would be the fourth floor in which conversations have been recorded
along with banging one of the 906 doors.
Another ghost is named Ruth and she is located around Ward 4. It is said if you call her name she will push
you from behind or open a door in your face.
And
we can’t forget Lily. She was a patient
as a little girl and is reported to hold your hand or turn the flashlights on
and off as response to your questions.
She also likes to play ball and roll it back and forth.
My
Tour!!!!
Upon
entering the grounds of Trans-Allegheny, I was struck by how big the building
and lands were. I couldn’t get a good
picture of the complete building because of how large it truly is. The main building is four floors but the
height of the ceiling could easily make it a six.
You
are first greeted by a group of workers that is dressed as nurses, doctors and orderlies from the 19th century. I suggest you visit the website to see what
tours are offered and times. We went on
a whim so didn’t really know what we wanted other than to see as much as
possible. We ended up doing the 2 hour
history tour which includes; four floors of main building, walk around the
grounds and first floor of medical building.
These tickets will run you $30 and it’s nice to tip your tour guide
after. Also, even during the summer
months the hospital is cold so make sure to bring a light jacket. I would also recommend a picnic lunch to enjoy under the large trees on the ground afterwards.
Our
tour guide was amazing! Here he is. I can’t remember his name but it started with
an “E” and he really knew his history and was pretty funny as well.
The
lobby has a small gift shop, bathroom and museum of the past. Take notice of the glass above the front
door upon entering. If you hit the right time of the
day, the sun will shine through the glass and create a rainbow of color throughout
the lobby. We did not get to see this
but our guide said it will reach clear across the lobby and outside the other
doors at the end of the hall. That is a
BIG rainbow. It was used as a way to
keep the patients calm.
We
started the tour outside. Our guide lead
us down the left side of the clock tower building to another rather large four
story building which housed the tuberculosis patients. Once a patient was discovered to have this
disease, they were sent to this building.
There is a caged open area at the end of the building that would allow
families to come visit their loved ones without physical contact. At the time it
was not known that tuberculosis is an airborne disease. Now this building serves as the haunted
house open to the public around Halloween. Our guide said they made someone
pee from fright within the first five minutes of being inside last year, so it is NOW a
must on my “to visit list” at Halloween!
Our
next stop was the Medical Center. This
is the area that the lobotomies and shock therapy was performed. It took only seconds for the infamous
lobotomist to use an ice pick tool to damage the brain and turn patients into “zombies.” This building has not been restored and you
are only limited to the first floor for touring. This building was also where bodies of
the dead were kept and you could get your hair or dental services done. The coffin was brought over at one time to
use as a prop (never used) and was never picked back up so it found a new home
in the coroner’s office.
Back
outside and behind the medical building, you can see what remains of the greenhouse in the distance. Our guide told us
about a building that used to be right beside of the greenhouse but one night
a patient set her bed on fire and burnt the building to the ground. This building is not on the tour.
Also
behind the medical building you can see the cellar and the building that housed
the dangerous patients. Patients that were
not fit for general population or prisoner were kept in this two story
building. Our guide told us the inside
is a completely open floor plan, even the showers and bathrooms. This allowed for easy viewing of all the
patients. The windows are reinforced
with bars only inches apart which stopped any attempt to escape. This building was closed by the fire marshal
when it was discovered to have only one way in or out. This building is not on the tour.
We
reentered a side building which connects to the Clock Tour building. A husband would bring his wife to the asylum if
he had a mistress or if the wife had inherited some money as a way to rid him
of her. The wife would have to live in this building
until her husband came back for her or until she died. These women did not have any mental disease
and ended up being a big help to the staff.
If you look closely at the building you can see two stone faces. These faces were said to ward off evil spirits
and another set of stone faces were on the other side of the yard so that no
area was left unwatched.
We
made our way back into the lobby and to the stairway leading to the other three
floors. If you put your hand on the rail
and look straight up, you will see the top floor. Our guide said there was once a patient that
jumped from the top floor and lived with only a few broken bones. It was thought that he must have pin-balled
off the rails as he came down and that is what saved him from death.
The
second floor of the Clock Tower Building is remodeled to show you what it would
have looked like years ago. This section
would have housed the doctors that worked in the building.
The
third floor was patient rooms. Each room
was painted a different color so the patients that could not read or write
would be able to find the right room.
This
floor also has the gym, which was still in use by the city to hold events after
the patients where moved. You can still
see Christmas garland hanging from the past parties held there. It was also the place where movies were
played from the film room on the fourth floor.
Patients
kept in this wing had to have special door knobs. These knobs are flat which would stop
patients from using the round knobs as a weapon to break arms.
Further down
the hall is the cell rooms that held patients that were a danger to
others. Each of these rooms has two
doors, one cell style and another heavy steel door with only a peephole to see
in. My son was closed inside by the guide and wasn't very happy about it. Although, I thought it as lots of laughs.
The showers
were set up like we use in the gyms now.
You would go in way door at the far end, take your shower and get clean
clothes at the other end.
At the end
of the hall is one of the most famous rooms on the property. This room is said to be the location of one
of the worst patient murders in the buildings history. Three patients were put in this room and one
was found hanging by tied up sheets from those pipes.
The fourth
floor was where the nurses slept. The
rooms were small with cut outs for windows.
The only light in this section would have been from oil lamps and it was
pretty dark and a lot spooky even in the middle of the day.
This floor
also has the film room which is right above the gym on the third floor.
From this
floor you can also see the clock tower better.
Our guide
then took us back down to the first floor and we were left to explore the
museum they have there on our own. For as much
as we got to see and the history we have learned, this ended up being a
wonderful day well spent. I would highly
recommend you stop by to see this place in person because pictures just do not
do it justice.
Here is the rest of my random pictures!
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