The Most Haunted Places in West Virginia

Ranked

1. 

   1. Hill Top House Hotel Harpers Ferry · Haunted Hotel / Inn · Family Comfort: Moderate

   Thomas S. Lovett, a Storer College graduate, opened the Hill Top House Hotel in 1890 above Harpers Ferry as one of the country's largest Black-owned hotels; it hosted Presidents Wilson and Clinton, burned twice by 1919, and closed in 2007 before a $150 million restoration began in 2021. Visitors report figures in Civil War-era uniforms moving through the building between 2 and 3 a.m., along with banging pots, laughter, and voices from the kitchen.

   8 original accounts · documented across 4 decades, 1917-2017 · retold in 1 later publication

2. 

   2. West Virginia State Penitentiary Moundsville · Prison / Reformatory · Family Comfort: Low

   The West Virginia State Penitentiary opened in 1876 at Moundsville and, over 119 years, saw 94 executions and 36 inmate homicides, including a 1986 riot that killed three inmates; that year courts ruled its cells unconstitutional, and the prison closed in 1995. Investigators report being touched or pushed in the Sugar Shack's solitary cells, and a figure called the Shadow Man, reported by both guards and visitors, is seen in a corridor in North Hall.

   9 original accounts · documented across 3 decades, 1930-2012 · retold in 2 later publications

3. 3. TNT Area / West Virginia Ordnance Works Point Pleasant · Outdoor / Natural Site · Family Comfort: Low

   HauntBound identified five distinct published accounts at this outdoor site, across five kinds of published source. Three later publications retell those accounts.

   5 original accounts · documented across 3 decades, 1966-2020 · retold in 3 later publications

4. 4. Miller Hall, Shepherd University Shepherdstown · Other Dark Tourism Site · Family Comfort: Moderate

   HauntBound identified four distinct published accounts at this documented site, across three kinds of published source. Reported phenomena include apparitions.

   4 original accounts · documented across 3 decades, 1915-2004

5. 

   5. The Wells Inn Sistersville · Haunted Hotel / Inn · Family Comfort: High

   The Wells Inn opened January 15, 1895 in Sistersville, built by Ephraim Wells, the founder's grandson, to house prospectors during Tyler County's oil boom; Wells kept an office and apartment on the second floor until his death in 1937. Guests and staff report the scratching sound of a pen on paper in his writing rooms, footsteps and doors opening in the corridors, and a door at Room 324 that resisted three attempts before swinging free.

   5 original accounts · documented across 3 decades, 2003-2021 · retold in 4 later publications

6. 6. Silver Run Tunnel Cairo · Outdoor / Natural Site · Family Comfort: Moderate

   HauntBound identified three distinct published accounts at this outdoor site, across five kinds of published source. Three later publications retell those accounts. Reported phenomena include apparitions.

   3 original accounts · documented across 2 decades, 1861-1910 · retold in 3 later publications

7. 

   7. Mothman Museum Point Pleasant · Museum / Historical Site · Family Comfort: High

   HauntBound identified three distinct published accounts at this museum site, across six kinds of published source. Three later publications retell those accounts.

   3 original accounts · documented across 2 decades, 1966-2005 · retold in 3 later publications

8. 8. Marrtown Parkersburg · Outdoor / Natural Site · Family Comfort: High

   Thomas Marr, a Scottish immigrant who settled with his wife Mary in 1836, worked as a night watchman on the Parkersburg toll bridge until he died in February 1876, his body found in the river, cause unresolved. Family tradition holds Marr had seen a grey-robed rider on a white horse near the bridge on nights before his death, and the rider appeared at the home that night, told Mary her husband was dead, then vanished.

   1 original account · documented across 1 decade, 1876-1878 · retold in 3 later publications

9. 

   9. Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum Weston · Asylum / Hospital · Family Comfort: Low

   Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, built in 1858 on the Kirkbride plan for 250 patients, opened in 1864 and by the mid-20th century held about 2,600; the hospital ran a lobotomy program in the 1950s before a class-action suit led courts to close it in 1994, reopening as a tour attraction in 2008. Investigators report a child called Lily in the children's ward and a former patient known as Ruth associated with the overcrowded upper-floor wards.

   8 original accounts · retold in 4 later publications

10. 

    10. Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park Hillsboro · Battlefield / Military Site · Family Comfort: Moderate

    HauntBound identified three distinct published accounts at this military site, across four kinds of published source. Three later publications retell those accounts. Reported phenomena include apparitions and disembodied voices.

    3 original accounts · documented in 1920 · retold in 3 later publications

Superlatives