HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Charlie West Ghost Tours' Capitol-District Walk Past the Capitol Plaza Theater and Frankenberger Mansion
123 Capitol St, Charleston, WV 25301
Research updated August 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Pricing set by US Ghost Adventures and shown at booking; check usghostadventures.com/charleston-wv-ghost-tour for current rates. Ask about the bonus extended tour to additional haunted locations.
Access
Wheelchair OK
About one mile of paved downtown Charleston sidewalks, starting at the Kanawha County Public Library.
Equipment
Photos OK
Former Kanawha County Courthouse site (West Virginia Mine Wars era) · Capitol Plaza Theater / Welch mansion site · Frankenberger Mansion
US Ghost Adventures runs guided ghost walks in more than 250 U.S. cities; in Charleston, West Virginia, the program is marketed as Charlie West Ghost Tours, covered in a Charleston Gazette-Mail feature on its December launch as a new local ghost-and-history tour. The Courting the Crimson Curse tour meets at the Kanawha County Public Library, 123 Capitol Street, built on the site of Charleston's former courthouse, and covers about one mile of downtown Charleston in roughly an hour, with an extended bonus tour also offered.
The meeting point sits on ground with a documented labor-history connection: the former Kanawha County courthouse hosted proceedings tied to the West Virginia Mine Wars of the early 20th century, the sustained conflict between coal miners organizing for better pay and safety and the coal companies and allied law enforcement that opposed them. The route's confirmed corpus stops include the WVSU Capitol Center Theater, formerly the Capitol Plaza Theatre, which the operator ties to the earlier Welch family mansion that once stood on the site, and the Frankenberger Mansion, a historic home named for 19th-century Charleston businessman Philip Frankenberger and now used as offices for the West Virginia Radio Group. The Kanawha River, which runs through downtown Charleston, is also named by the operator as part of the route's backdrop.
US Ghost Adventures guides are identifiable by branded shirts and lanterns; tours run nightly, rain or shine, year-round.
Sources
At the Capitol Plaza Theater, the operator ties the theater's site history to the earlier Welch family mansion, describing 'unspeakable tragedies' suffered by the family and framing reported ghostly encounters in and around the theater as a legacy of that history. At the Frankenberger Mansion, the operator recounts a story of an infant reportedly born of a scandalous affair and said to be buried within the mansion's walls, framing reported footsteps, cold drafts, and unexplained noises as tied to that account. At the Kanawha River, the operator frames the river's currents as the backdrop for local legends about those said to have met a grim fate along its banks.
All of this is the tour operator's own marketing and narrative material, not documented history independently verified for this listing; it is included here as a description of what the tour covers, not as an endorsement of any specific claim, including the unverified affair-and-burial account tied to the Frankenberger Mansion.
A one-hour, one-mile nightly walking tour meeting at the Kanawha County Public Library, 123 Capitol St, on the site of Charleston's former courthouse. The route covers the Capitol Plaza Theater, the Frankenberger Mansion, and the Kanawha River. An extended bonus tour to additional haunted locations is also offered.
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Featured stop, tied by the operator to the earlier Welch family mansion on the site.
Featured stop, tied by the operator to businessman Philip Frankenberger.
Featured stop as a scenic/legend backdrop; no single corpus venue corresponds to the river itself.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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