Sunday, October 31, 2010

Our final stop on the Haunted America Tour:

Haunted America Day 5

It is difficult to define a haunted place as each has unique paranormal activity. Researchers can put in a ton of hours just to study one particular place before assigning it “Haunted”.  This final stop on our tour is one place considered to be the scariest!

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Haunted America #6: The Haunting of the West Virginia Penitentiary


West Virginia State Penitentiary is considered by many to be the scariest haunted prison in America and by the sounds of the ghost stories and history of the prison its obvious why. West Virginia State Penitentiary was opened in 1876 with 250 inmates going straight into the cells. If you look at any pictures of the prison you will see a very Gothic and spooky building, even if the prison wasn’t haunted it would still spook most people.

It was decided that the prison would be extended in 1929, the construction did was not completed until 1959. In these 20 years the prison was grossly overcrowded with some cells having 3 inmates each.

West Virginia State Penitentiary is the home of many executions over the years it was open either by hanging or electric chair, but executions were not the only deaths in the prison; Illness, Overcrowding and Riots killed many inmates.

How haunted is this place?

Over the years visitors and paranormal investigators have commented on being touched or feeling ’something’ close to them, many have said that feel that someone is watching them. Of course this prison will give most people the spooks because of the spooky building but 3 different ghosts that keep coming up when asking visitors for details on their experiences.

The Maintenance Man

This is the most popular of the 3 to come up. A maintenance man working at the prison when it was open used to spy on the inmates and reporting the inmates’ bad behavior. One day he was in the bathroom, he was attacked by several inmates and killed. He is said to be lurking in the bathroom where he was savagely murdered, but he makes no contact with the living.

Robert the inmate

Robert is said to be an inmate who was violently murdered by the prison guards who were known to be physically abusive towards the worse inmates. They would beat them to ‘near’ death, but this time ‘near’ was too far and they killed Robert. His remains are said to be buried behind one of the walls in the prison. Roberts’s spirit walks the prison to this day terrifying anyone he comes into contact.

Avril Adkins

Last but certainly not least is the story behind Avril Adkins, he was sentenced to hang by the neck until death. He was taken to the Gallows for hanging but something went wrong during the hanging and Avril fell through trap door and landed on his head, he had a very serious head injury. The guards picked him up, took him back up the stairs and hung him, this time he died. Many visitors to the prison have said they have seen him walking around the Gallows where he died.

West Virginia State Penitentiary is now closed to all inmates, but it is open to tourists and visitors.

10 comments:

Samantha Gentry said...

Thhis has been an interesting "haunted tour" ... thanks for giving us the information.
Samantha Gentry SGentryAuthor@aol.com

Cate Masters said...

Another place I wouldn't spend the night on a dare! lol. The Philadelphia State Penitentiary is the same way. The inmates were trapped in a fire there, and died horrific deaths. They can't sell the place, so now give haunted tours.
Thanks for the ghost tour! Very interesting.

Terra said...

This would be a cool place to see. The Prison looks big from the out side and I bet there are more than just three ghost running around that place.

Cassie Exline said...

Creepy looking place, no wonder it's haunted. cassieexline(at)yahoo(dot)com

This was fun.

Unknown said...

Cor strewth! (excuse the britishism!) I'll bet there are a good many more prisons that are haunted. This one's the worst of the lot, if you ask me. Ew - the one whose hanging went wrong...You wouldn't get me in there - I'll be in the hotel they used for "The Shining"

K. Z. Snow said...

All penitentiaries, asylums, sanitariums, etc. built before, say, WWII have a really, really creepy aura. I have to wonder just how much the appearances of these buildings, their histories, and the reports of paranormal activity influence people's perceptions and experiences. The power of suggestion can be mighty strong. (But I still don't want to spend the night in one of those joints! *g*)

Cathy M said...

Prisions rate up there with mental hospitals as the scariest places. Too much pain and suffering not to have overflowed into the spirit world.

Thanks for a fun week.


caity_mack at yahoo dot com

Dominique Eastwick said...

Wont catch spending the night there... No sirreee bob....

LORETTA CANTON said...

I would not go there for anything.


loretta

lbcanton@verizon.net

Unknown said...

Thanks for the haunted tour. I loved every post. I would have dropped in yesterday, but I was at the Patriots game. :)

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