It features 14 of the state’s most morbidly fascinating settings.
Between theabandoned sanctuary , winged cryptids , and omnipresent mist billowing over its dark mound , West Virginia may very well be the ultimate state for spook - hunters and horror enthusiasts . Nestled in innately eerieAppalachia , it ’s a commonwealth that epitomize the mythical and the murky ; the nervous and the unexplained . And just in time for Halloween , West Virginia has wrap out aParanormal Trailto highlight the creepy and most haunted seat across the state .
Having just pass a week exploring West Virginia for the first time , push back between Harpers Ferry and Point Pleasant , akaMothman ’s hometown , I can confirm that the state is indeed the sodding station for a spooky route trip . While undeniably beautiful , all those forest mountains provide tidy sum of room for monsters and myths to run rampant , and for hospital , badly - advised entertainment parks , and pen to lessen into bone - chilling disrepair .
plunge as a self - guideddigital passport , highlighting 14 of the body politic ’s most morbidly fascinating preferences , the Paranormal Trail allows travelers to map out their own gnarled road trip , and get rewarded with prizes — like stickers and beany — for their courageousness . After sign on up online for the passport , fearless explorers are on their way to a nervous romp across one of America ’s most underrated states .
West Virginia’s Glen Ferris Inn|West Virginia Department of Tourism
Some of the berth on the trail sound downright terrific , so anyone who is really uncomfortable with haunted place might trample carefully and amaze to the hokier stuff . Like the world ’s one and onlyMothman Museumin Point Pleasant , the riverside hamlet once visited by a giant snort - military personnel with red eyes . Or , you bang , anowl . And the museum is quite a damn , fill up with scribbled testimonies and ephemera from the Richard Gere film it barrack , The Mothman Prophecies . decently out of doors , there ’s a thicc Mothman Statue , with weirdly chisel abs and a needlessly detailed derriere .
Similarly , theFlatwoods Monster Museum , in the diminutive town of Sutton , leaning into the debile folklore around a hovering beast with sharp fingers and a spade - shaped capitulum ( point for detailed originality ! ) that spooked some stripling in the ‘ 50s . Next to those two stone - insensate originals , Bigfoot feels a little familiar , but West Virginiadoesstill look like prime Bigfoot territory , so America ’s most well - journey cryptid gets its blossom with a 10.5 - foot sculpture on the Elk River Trail .
Things only get creepier from there . Including theTrans - Allegheny Asylum , which is exactly the type of grim , labyrinthine nightmare fuel you ’re envisioning in your forefront . This one - time psychiatric infirmary operated during a time when psychiatrical treatment was , shall we say , heinous . At its height / worst , the infirmary far exceeded its 250 - person mental ability , often housing thousands of patients at a sentence . Unsurprisingly , many died . Today , the asylum offers duty tour and ghost hunts , admit the horrifying opportunity to interlace yourself in the construction overnight .
The main building of the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston, West Virginia|EVA HAMBACH/AFP via Getty Images
There ’s also theWest Virginia Penitentiary , a Gothic - way compound that looks like a scoundrel ’s stone - clad castle . course , horrid thing find here , which makes it a great place forPrincess Tea . In the town of Rock , theLake Shawnee Abandoned Amusement Parkis another stop on the trail . Because of track an entertainment park on Native American entombment ground , ill-famed for freak accidents and macabre end , would be . Both are available for paranormal circuit .
For something a small less traumatizing , Harpers Ferry offers a reprieve . Another period on the Paranormal Trail , the hilly and historical Ithiel Town — criss - crossed by the Appalachian Trail and the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers — lays claim to one of the oldest spook tours in the nation , led by guide in 19th - hundred dress carrying flickering lanterns . A family - friendly affair , it ’s a leisurely stroll through Lower Town , where legion Civil War - epoch sites are meticulously bear on , and perhaps , haunted .
Other locations on the Paranormal Trail includeThe Blennerhassett Hotelin Parkersburg , report to be one of the state ’s Old and most haunted;The Historic Glen Ferris Inn , whose resident physician wraith is a bearded polite War officer known as The Colonel ; and the foresighted , dark , and ominous Flinderation Tunnel , frequented by ghosts of the B&O Railroad era .
West Virginia’s Flinderation Tunnel|West Virginia Department of Tourism
At each stop , visitant need only open up the pass on their telephone set and check out in at their location to get down notching point . The more places you unfearing , the more likely it is you ’ll earn swag — or even a restrain - edition photographic print designed by West Virginia artist Liz Pavlovic . Move over , Appalachian , there ’s another lead in Ithiel Town .
