Ghost Hunt at the (former) West Virginia State Pen

We had an excellent adventure in West Virginia (don't hear that phrase often) over the weekend, complete with chills, thrills, encounters, and Red Bull.

For those not in the know, for Maggie's 30th birthday we booked a ghost hunt at the former West Virginia State Pentitentary located in Moundsville, West Virginia. Maggie's Mom and Jamie (youngest sister) joined us from Missouri for the long car ride across Ohio, punctuated by a stop at the best wings place in the world: Quaker Steak and Lube located in Columbus.

The state pen operated from 1866-1994 and looked almost like a stone clad castle complete with turrets. The structure was squat but extended for what seemed like blocks, very cold and devoid of anything resembling hospitality. It was just a brutal looking facility - one that conveyed an ominous feeling looking at the exterior.

About 80 other ghost hunters met in the lobby at 8pm for a tour of the prison, including the haunted areas. Our group was the last, led by Mike - an older gentleman who worked for 11 years as a medical staff supervisor at the prison. He led us through a hallway where the most famous ghost picture was collected: the Shadow Man. The second stop was the cafeteria - and I immediately had a bad feeling just standing in the space, listening to Mike explain the occurrences and sightings in the room. We then left the cafeteria, across the north yard towards the Wagon Gate that originally served as the first prison and building for the prisoners in the 1866s. The prisons slept on the bare dirt while they built the current structure. We walked past a fenced in basketball court into solitary confinement - a block of 4 cells where the worst of the lot stayed for 22 hours out of the day. The furthest cell in the line was the site of a brutal stabbing, and is reportedly haunted. This end of the prison was in the north wing, which housed the worst of the prisoners.

We made our way into the north block cells, a four tier block of cells with about 15 5' x 7' enclosures that held at one time three (yes, three) prisoners. The waiting area outside of the block is supposed to be haunted as well.

We made our way out to north yard and underneath the building into the basement, the site of R.G.'s murder. R. G. was a prisoner that worked as an engineer and maintenance shop manager. He was well liked until he was seen talking to the warden, and the prisoners decided he was a rat and had to die. A gang of them cornered R.G. in the basement and assaulted him - but he managed to escape. Instead of running into the open, he ran into a separate room in the basement to hide, where he was discovered and stabbed over 35 times. There are two large rooms in the basement where women have felt as though someone is touching or holding their arms or hands, and men have emerged with scratches on exposed skin.

Our group went upstairs into the medical area of the prison, through the treatment/triage and psychiatry wards, and to the south end of the prison. The south end housed the general population and they had more freedom that those in the north end. We went through the south yard to the "Sugar Shack" - a large open room in the basement. This area was used as a recreation center complete with pool tables, ping pong, and other games. The Sugar Shack is the area with the most frequent contacts with other spirits, and was high on our priority list to revisit.

The last area on the tour was the south wing prison cell block - again, a 4 tier block of 15 cells. Cell #13 on the first tier was the last stop - the cell of "the undertaker", a cell with two hand prints on the back wall. "The Undertaker" killed his wife and mistress, and his cell is reported to be haunted.

After an hour outside, we were treated to pizza and a movie. The movie featured former workers who recounted the assaults, murders, and prisoners during their time at Moundsville. The second half of the movie featured a psychic who went around the prison, relaying her impressions on the spirits and forces. I, for one, am not convinced she knew her ass from a hole in the ground. Her "findings" started out with the north yard - the site of a battle between Indian tribes. The tribes had headdresses like Incas, and their body type was squat. According to her, one of the tribes may have been completely wiped off the face of the planet.

OK - I can buy the Indian battle. But when she started to describe the headdresses and physical stature, which isn't a typical image of tribes from the area .....

Her next adventure was into the Sugar Shack, where she described images and a spirit in the space. She called him "Jasper" and the last name was"Whi__", but she could not make out the last letters. More descriptions followed, getting more specific and personal with each breath. The ghost letters on the screen appeared: "This information is currently being researched".

Well, how friggin' hard is it to find out if a prisoner named "Jasper Whi__" was murdered in the prison? I went to the dead prisoner log in the lobby and couldn't find his name. In fact, I couldn't find anyone named "Jasper" in the log book. It took me 5 minutes to do the "research" - how long could it take others?

I couldn't stand to hear her dig a deeper hole, so I left the room and waited for the girls to ghost hunt. I'll include pictures and thoughts from the night on the blog through the week ...