SALEM, Ohio — In between the cracks of Gothic buildings and rusty swing carousels lies a dark past, one that the West Virginia Department of Tourism’s Paranormal Trail seeks to uncover.
Launched on Oct. 1, the Paranormal Trail is a digital passport that rewards individuals for visiting West Virginia’s reportedly most haunted locations through a tier system of prizes. In its first two weeks alone, the trail saw over 5,000 sign-ups.
On a larger scale, the trail takes visitors on a tour of the state, exposing its rich history and that not everything is as it seems.
“You’re going to experience something different at everyone you go to,” said Michelle Graham, filming and events manager for Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. “You can learn so much about things that are unexplained by the people who spend so much time in these buildings.”
Lake Shawnee
Beneath the soil of Lake Shawnee abandoned amusement park lies thousands of years of history. It starts with the Native American Shawnee tribe which occupied West Virginia for nearly 2,000 years before the United States government told them to assimilate or leave in 1831.
One of the most notable Shawnee leaders was Chief Cornstalk, originally named Hokleskwa, which translates loosely to “stalk of corn.” He was the leader of the Shawnee nation between 1720-1777.
Cornstalk was murdered by American militiamen while on a diplomatic visit in November 1777, during the American Revolutionary War. His death furthered tensions between the two groups.
Around the same time, the first English settlers in Mercer County, the Clay family, moved to what is now known as the Lake Shawnee property in 1775. Mitchell and Phoebe Clay had 16 children, but three of them would be massacred by the Shawnee tribe in 1783.
Violent deaths continued to plague the property after Conley T. Snidow turned it into an amusement park, which opened in 1926. Six children were killed in accidents at Lake Shawnee Amusement Park between 1926 and 1967, when the park finally closed.
The park was reopened by former employee Gaylord White in 1987 but would only operate as an amusement park for two years before closing again.
At a crossroads with what to do, Gaylord and his son, Chris White, the current owner of Lake Shawnee, decided to turn the property into a mud bog in 1989 — but they would uncover something much more valuable than dirt.
While bulldozing the empty field in 1990, they started finding arrowheads and pieces of pottery. Gaylord immediately stopped and called Marshall University archaeologists to inspect the land. The team would uncover loads of Native American artifacts between 1990-1991, as well as a Shawnee burial ground.
Today, the site pays homage to the Shawnee tribe where artifacts are on display. Additionally, Chris White provides a brief history on the Shawnee tribe. Someday, he hopes to create a small Native American museum on-site.
The abandoned amusement park also honors the other deaths that occurred on site, including the Clay family and the children who died while the amusement park was in operation.
Over the years, visitors have left offerings to the Native Americans or the children like handcrafted items, stuffed animals, pinwheels and various toys.
“We ask anybody that comes to bring an offering, and the offering doesn’t need to be valuable,” Chris White said. “It’s better if it means something to you.”
Numerous TV shows and paranormal investigators have also visited the site to film and experience the ghosts of the park’s past. Many claim the spirits of the children who died at the park remain there today.
Since taking part in the Paranormal Trail, Chris White has seen an increase in visitors at Lake Shawnee. He hopes more people continue visiting Lake Shawnee and the other sites on the Paranormal trail.
“Vistors should come to Lake Shawnee because it’s unique,” Chris White said. “You will learn a lot about Native American history and their culture, the way they lived and the way they died. You can walk the creepy trail (where the Clay children died) and you can go around the park and take photos of the Ferris Wheel and swings.”
Lake Shawnee, 470 Matoaka Road, Rock, West Virginia, offers daytime tours and overnight stays by appointment only. For more information, call or text 304-921-1580, or visit www.wvlakeshawnee.com.
Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum
Lurking in the halls of the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum are decades’ worth of memories that are both tragic and pleasant in equal measure.
“We ran the entire gamut of mental health treatment progression in the years that the asylum was in operation,” Graham said. “There was a lot of dark history there, but at the same time we want to highlight and showcase that this was somebody’s home. There were people who cried when the asylum closed in 1994 because they’d spent their entire lives here. We have just as much good as we have bad.”
Construction on the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum began in 1858. The facility opened in 1864, although work on it would continue until 1881. It is the largest hand-cut stone masonry building in North America and is the second largest in the world, next to the Kremlin. The asylum was originally designed to provide care for 250 patients.
In the beginning, there weren’t strong criteria for admitting patients, Graham said. However, over time, the asylum would start separating the patients based on needs within the wards of the asylum including violent females, violent males, tuberculosis and more.
The oldest section of the building is the Civil War section, which housed both Union and Confederate soldiers during the early days of operations.
At its peak in the 1950s, the asylum housed 2,400 patients. Treatments ranged from lobotomies, electroshock therapy and hydrotherapy in the early years to various forms of discussion-based therapy and antipsychotic and antidepressant drugs in the later years.
Eventually, with the evolution of modern-day healthcare, outpatient care became more common which is one of the contributing factors for the asylums closure in 1994. The asylum reopened as a tourist attraction in March 2008.
Today, the asylum acts not only as one of the most unique pieces of architecture in the world but seeks to highlight the evolution of mental health care. Graham adds that the treatments of lobotomies and electroshock therapy given prior to the 1960s are often misinterpreted as acts of vengeance.
“This was not just some horror place that that they were experimenting on patients,” Graham said. “They 100% believed that it was the best medical practice that was going to help the patients that resided at the asylum at the time.”
The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, 50 S River Ave., Weston, West Virginia, is part of West Virginia’s Paranormal Trail and has many tours available, including the history tour, discover the asylum tour, photography tours, ghost tours and more. Reservations are required for some of the tours. For more information, visit trans-alleghenylunaticasylum.com.
Paranormal Trail
The trail includes 18 haunted stops across West Virginia. To join the journey, interested parties need to register to receive a link that opens up a personal digital passport.
Visitors will click the check-in button, upon visiting a location, which earns them prizes the more locations they visit. At three locations, participants get a Paranormal Trail sticker, at 10 they get a Paranormal Trail beanie and by visiting all 18 they get a limited edition Paranormal Trail print designed by West Virginia artist Liz Pavlovic.
The challenge lasts until the end of the year. However, if it proves to be popular, the West Virginia Department of Tourism may extend it to next year.
Sites on the Paranormal Trail include:
Mothman Museum; Point Pleasant, West Virginia; www.mothmanmuseum.com
West Virginia Penitentiary; Moundsville, West Virginia; wvpentours.com
The Blennerhassett Hotel; Parkersburg, West Virginia; theblennerhassett.com
Ghost Tour of Harpers Ferry; Harpers Ferry, West Virginia; www.harpersferryghost.20m.com
Hotel Morgan; Morgantown, West Virginia; www.hotelmorgan.com
Flatwoods Monster Museum; Sutton, West Virginia; braxtonwv.org/the-flatwoods-monster/visit-the-museum
The Old Hospital on College Hill; Williamson, West Virginia; www.collegehillhospital.com
The Historic Glen Ferris Inn; Glen Ferris, West Virginia; www.glenferrisinn.com/home-9866
Shepherdstown Mystery Walk; Shepherdstown, West Virginia; shepherdstownmysterywalks.com
The Haunted Haymond; Sutton, West Virginia; www.facebook.com/thehaymondhousehaunted
Flinderation Tunnel, Salem, West Virginia
Bigfoot Statue (Elk River Trail); Ivydale, West Virginia; www.elkrivertrail.org/rail-trailheads/06
West Virginia Bigfoot Museum; Sutton, West Virginia; wvbigfootmuseum.org
Silver Run Tunnel (North Bend Rail Trail); Cairo, West Virginia; wvstateparks.com/park/north-bend-rail-trail
Cryptid Mountain Miniature Golf; Morgantown, West Virginia; www.cryptidmountainminigolf.com
Hempfield Tunnel (Wheeling Heritage Trail); Wheeling, West Virginia; www.wheelingwv.gov/directory/Parks-Recreation/heritage-trail
For more information, visit wvtourism.com/west-virginia-paranormal-trail.
(Liz Partsch can be reached at epartsch@farmanddairy.com or 330-337-3419.)
