Spirits of Lake Shawnee - near Princeton, West Virginia

Lake Shawnee which is located in the southern tip of the state of West Virginia, was once a thriving place.  First a source of water for local farmers, and then an amusement park later in time.  However, there have been some gruesome events that have taken place on this ground that have made it one of the most haunted places in West Virginia.

The abandoned Ferris wheel at the site of a dilapidated amusement park along the shore of Lake Shawnee in West Virginia.  The park is believed to be one of the most haunted places in West Virginia.

Around 1783, Mitchell Clay who settled in the area with his wife Phoebe and family some eight years prior, went out hunting one day with some of his neighbors. When they returned two of his children were found slain by local Shawnee natives and another had been taken away. Mitchell and some other men gave pursuit, but the other child was not found and thought to be burned at the stake by the natives. This event became known as the Mitchell Clay Indian Massacre.  The children were buried nearby at the Mitchell homestead close the shores of what is now Lake Shawnee.

Historical marker commemorating the Mitchell Clay Indian Massacre

On the very same location of the massacre, an amusement park was built in 1926.  It was in operation for over 40 years.  However, some untoward things happened in the park that was the former killing ground and burial site.  A young girl was swinging on the swings at the park one day and a truck came too close to her and as she swung backwards, she slammed into the vehicle and died right there on the spot.  It is rumored that a man died in an accident on the Ferris wheel as well.  Lake Shawnee itself claimed a victim as well.  A young boy was swimming in the lake and he was later found floating.  He had drowned in the murky waters.

The abandoned rides at Shawnee Lake have become overgrown and create an eerie scene themselves.  Photo by Karen Stuebing

The amusement park still stands near Princeton, West Virginia on the shores of Lake Shawnee, although abandoned.  The ground is privately owned and is not open to the public. The dilapidated rides overgrown with weeds and plant life.  The hauntings continue however.  As it is reported that a man was mowing a field there on the grounds and was startled to find the ghostly image of a young girl sitting on the fender of his tractor.  He fled the scene never to return. The tractor, it is said, still sits in the spot where he left it and has become another feature of the overgrown landscape.  Also on certain nights, the sounds of children can be heard in the long abandoned park.

The abandoned swings at Shawnee Lake.  A scene where a little girl lost her life and is believed to haunt the grounds to this day. Photo by Karen Stuebing

References:

www.clayfamhist.org
www.paranormalknowledge.com
www.pbase.com/kstuebin/hauntedamusementpark

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Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum (Weston Hospital) - Weston, West Virginia

The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum has seen a long history and some of it not so pleasant.  Some people who have visited the hospital claim that there are patients who have never left.

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum or Weston Hospital is located in Weston, West Virginia and is host to many ghosts

Construction began on the Weston Hospital in 1858.  The original design was to extend sprawling wings to the main structure to allow maximum exposure of light and air circulation to better suit the patients.  However, when the Civil War broke out in 1861, construction on the hospital halted.  Union troops from Ohio led by Colonel Erastus Bernard Tyler then took over the partially finished structure and used it as a fortification to control the area around Weston.  The structure and grounds then became known as Camp Tyler.

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston, West Virginia

The building actually opened to patients as a state hospital shortly before he end of the Civil War in 1864. The structure was fully completed in 1881.  However, even upon it's completion it was over it's original capacity of 250 by about three times that amount.  This number would grow tremendously over the next decade.  In addition to the overcrowded conditions, allegedly some barbaric treatment of some of the hospital's residents by today's standards made it a horrible place to be.  Untrained physicians used unorthodox treatments such as electrode-shock and leaching to try and "cure" the patients.  One of these doctors in particular liked to do lobotomies and reported to have performed thousands of them.  Needless to say, many of the patients who entered the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, never made it out...  alive.

The gates to Weston State Hospital as it was once known

The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum changed to the Weston State Hospital in 1913.  However, even more over crowded at over 1300 patients the conditions and treatment for those interned there were still deplorable.  These conditions continued through most of the century.  Eventually, the hospital was closed in 1994 when it's occupancy had reached 2500 patients.  The town of Weston took a huge economic hit with the closing of the hospital.

An interior shot of Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston, West Virginia

Today the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum is known to be crawling with ghosts and is a center for paranormal activity.  Many hear disembodied voices, laughing, footsteps, sobbing, and eerie screams.  Shadow figures have been spotted in some of the hallways and rooms as well as plasma orbs and unexplained mist.  Some claim to have seen full bodied apparitions of what appeared to be patients moving in and out of the walls of the asylum.  The building has been investigated by many paranormal research teams and EVP recordings of voices speaking from beyond have been captured with in the old hospital.  It is also said that the ghost of a young girl who was born in the hospital as her mother was a patient there, still roams the corridors.

The sprawling Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston, West Virginia was laid out for maximum sunlight and air circulation for the patients

The hospital is today known as the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum and is open to the public from March through October.  Historic tours as well as ghost tours are available for visitors to get a first hand look at the haunted asylum.

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum
71 Asylum Drive
Weston, West Virginia 26452

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The Ghost of the Female Stranger - Gadsby's Tavern Alexandria, VA

On their travels, a man and his companion wife of which no one knew her name, stopped at a hotel in Alexandria, Virginia.  Their ship diverted course and put into harbor close to Alexandria so the two could row to shore because she was feeling very ill.  She passed away some time later in room 8 of the hotel which is now known as Gadsby's Tavern.  She was buried in St. Paul's Cemetery with an tombstone shaped like a table with the inscription: "In memory of the female stranger, died October 14, 1816 age 23 years 8 months".

Gadsby's Tavern Alexandria, Virginia

The man could not pay for the costs incurred for the female stranger's funeral expenses.  One night, he slipped away never to be seen again.  Folks in town, even though they were left unpaid, never revealed the true identity of the female stranger.

Table shaped tombstone of the "Female Stranger"

Inscription on the "Female Stranger's" tombstone

She has been known to return to the hotel.  Occasionally seen in the upstairs window of room 8 holding a lighted candle.  Some say they have heard the sound of someone walking around the upstairs, only to find there is no one there.

Window of room 8 of Gadsby's Tavern

One evening during a dance that was held there, a young man spotted the female stranger across the room flirting with him.  He looked again and she was not there.  There was only one place she could have gone that quickly and that was a nearby bedroom.  The room happened to be the room where the female stranger died.  As the man entered the room, he spotted a candle lit on the night stand.  Thinking this was a bad idea to have a candle lit in an unattended room, he went downstairs to complain to the hotel manager.  After the two returned to the room, they found the candle as if it had never been lit, the wick still white with wax.

Weston, West Virginia - A Ghost Train Haunts Flinderation Tunnel

A long time ago near Weston, West Virginia B & O railroad workers were working on tracks inside of tunnel #2, otherwise known as Flinderation tunnel.  A train traveling at a much too high of speed came roaring through the tunnel catching the workers off guard.  One of the workers managed to escape into a cutout escape hollow.   The other two workers were mutilated and chopped to pieces as the train ran over them.

Flinderation Tunnel, Weston, West Virginia

To this day on occasion it is said that you can see a light appear in a fog at the end of the tunnel followed buy a huge gust of wind as if it were a train that went blowing by.  Other folks have witnessed various plasma orbs floating through the tunnel as well as hearing voices in the tunnel when no body is around.

 

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