-West Virginia Penitentiary - Moundsville, WV-

Location:

• Jefferson Ave, Moundsville, WV

Investigation Date: 

• 9/18/05

Time: 

• 12:00am - 6:00am

Weather Conditions:  

• Patrly Cloudy
• Light to No Wind
• Temp at 67° 

Background: 

No architectural drawings of the West Virginia Penitentiary have been discovered, so an understanding of the plan developed by the Board of Directors must be obtained through their 1867 report, which details the procurement of a title for ten acres of land and a proposal to enclose about seven acres. On the north side would be a street 60 feet in width, and on the west 140 feet for street and yard to the front buildings.

The prison yard would be a parallelogram 682 1/2 feet in length, by 352 1/2 feet in width, enclosed by a stone wall 5 feet in thickness at the bottom, 2 1/2 feet at the top, with foundation 5 feet below the surface, and wall 25 inches thick. At each of the corners of this wall would be large turrets for the use of the guards having inside staircases, with guardrooms above and on a level with the top of the main. The superintendent's house and cell buildings would be so placed, that the rear wall of each will form part of the west wall.

1866-1900

The North Wagon Gate was the first building of the complex to be constructed. It served as living quarters for the 150 inmates who worked to construct the state's second oldest public building. The hand-cut sandstone used to build the walls was quarried nearby.

The first phase of the West Virginia Penitentiary was completed in 1876 at a total cost of $363,061. The complex surrounded the North Wagon Gate and included north and south cellblock areas, an administration building and a home for the warden and his family located in the center towering 4-story section of the gothic structures.

The building extended 682 feet across the front and was engulfed by 24-foot high walls that are 6-feet in width at the base and tapered to 18 inches at the top. The facility opened for full operation in 1876 with 251 male inmates.

Once the construction of the Penitentiary was complete, the inmates were then focused on jobs that must be completed in order to support any community. A variety of industries were located within the walls of the prison including a blacksmith, wagon shop, carpentry shop, brickyard, stone yard, paint shop, tailor, bakery and hospital.

The first execution at the Penitentiary took place in 1899 when the state took over the responsibility from the countries. During the history of the prison, a total of 94 men were executed. From 1899-1949, eighty-five men were hung, and, from 1951-1959, nine men were electrocuted.

1901-1959

Educational efforts were being made at this time, and inmates regularly attended class. A new school and library were constructed in 1900 in an effort to help reform prisoners.

The prison continued with its existing industries, and explored other sources of revenue for the Penitentiary. In the early 1900's income from the prison farm and inmate labor made the Penitentiary virtually self-sufficient. A prison coalmine was open in 1921 and provided the Penitentiary with coal and saved the state an estimated $14,000 per year in fuel costs. The mine was located approximately one mile from the prison and inmates mining coal were permitted to stay at the camp under the supervision of a coal mine supervisor who was not an employee of the prison.

In 1929, a massive expansion to double the size of the Penitentiary began. The New Wall construction was not completed until 1959 due to steel shortage during World War II. The construction eased the overcrowding that had caused the need for triple bunking in the prison's 5 x 7 foot cells. As with the prison's first phase of construction, the use of inmate labor helped to defray the cost of construction.

The last execution by hanging in the State of West Virginia took place in 1949. In 1951 the State began using an electric chair that had been built by an inmate for executions. Until the state abolished the death penalty in 1959, nine men had been sent to their death by electrocution. The original electric chair is now on display in the facility and is part of the tour that visitors see while at the prison.

1960-1995

The prison population peaked in early 1960's with a total of 2,000 but as new prisons were built, by the time the facility closed, the population had decreased to 600-700.

In 1986, the West Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the Penitentiary's 5 x 7 cells were cruel and unusual punishment. The Penitentiary closed its doors in 1995, and the majority of the inmates were moved to the new Mt. Olive Correctional Complex in Mt. Olive, West Virginia. A smaller complex consisting of a correctional facility and regional jail was constructed in Moundsville.

Upon the closing of the Penitentiary, the Moundsville Economic Development Council obtained a 25-year lease on the facility. The facility has been named to the National Register of Historic Places and is utilized for historical and educational tours and the National Corrections and Law Enforcement Training and Technology Center.

Source: Moundsville Economic Development Council

Investigation Notes:

Due to the fact that we were on a "ghost hunt" ran by the Moundsville Economic Development Council, we were there with around 90 other people. The other people consisted of other paranormal investigators and some people that seemed to be there just for a scare. This created a terrible environment to conduct any reasonable investigation on the grounds, but not knowing what to expect and given the prison's long and reported history of hauntings we proceeded. 

At about 9pm, we were first given a tour of the facilities by a tour guide that showed us around the prison while describing the history and some of the paranormal reports. We were then supplied with pizza and soda's and allowed to wander the grounds freely. It quickly became apparent how the numerous amounts of people at the prison was going to cripple any serious investigation efforts. While walking around the prison you could hear talking, screaming, doors slamming, footsteps and even strange noises, but that was just the other people. You couldn't travel 25 feet in any direction without seeing or hearing other people roaming the grounds. This quickly became irritating and downright discouraging to say the least. 

Everyone was allowed to be there until 6am the following morning. I decided that we would conduct the bulk of our investigation from about 2am until 6pm, hoping that some of the more obnoxious people would have left by then. While some did filter out as the night wore on, the endless supply of obnoxious behavior seemed to last the night through. With some luck we were able to find some quite sections around the last couple hours of our allotted stay. With the limited time we had at that point and not feeling or experiencing any type of paranormal activity during our hours of roaming the prison, we decided to focus our efforts on the most reportedly active sections of the prison.

We started at the north hall cell block which housed the most violent of the prison inmates. In that cell block there were area's for solitary confinement and we even saw a cell with padded walls. Just as we were getting starting, we were greeted with the familiar sounds of other people roaming about. We packed up and decided to try our luck elsewhere. 

We then went to the the maintenance room of the prison where the only documented ghost there is reported to haunt. His name was R.D. Wall and he was well liked by both employees and inmates alike. Until one day an inmate overheard a conversation he was having with a corrections officer about some of the inmates plans in which the officer then proceed to tell the warden. The inmates decided to get even with R.D. and one night confronted him in the maintenance area and literally cut him to pieces. It's said that the hauntings started that night with sightings by the tower guards of a man walking on the stoop just above the maintenance room and in front of the administration building. These sightings were reported over many years by numerous tower guards without any explanation ever being found. We were told that there had been two sightings by people in the last three years.

With equipment in hand and confident that no other people were around we started an investigation there. We walked around the area trying to get a feel of any paranormal activity that may be happening. The only freighting thing I had happen was when a bat suddenly swooped about 12 inches from my face. We had no abnormal temperature readings or EMF readings while down there. We took photos and shot video and even attempted some EVP recordings, but quickly decided against that due the fact that we weren't able to create a controlled environment due to other people wandering the grounds. How could we be certain that any noise we picked up wasn't from someone around the area that we weren't aware of?

We the went around the psych ward with no abnormal readings or experiences.

We then went to the infamous "sugar shack" that is supposed to have the most paranormal activity in the entire prison. Once again we recorded no abnormal readings on our equipment and had no paranormal experiences while down there. 

We then proceeded to the contact visiting room and repeated our investigative efforts with the same results for any abnormal temperature or EMF readings.

We concluded in the cafeteria and with the same results we had been getting all night. No paranormal experiences and no abnormal readings detected with our equipment.

Evidence:

None

Conclusion: Inconclusive

None of the photos taken produced any paranormal evidence, neither did the video or small amount of audio that was collected. None of the investigators had any paranormal experiences or feelings the entire night.

With conditions worse than rain to conduct an investigation, there is no way to determine if results would have been different had we been able to conduct our investigation in the proper controlled fashion. When there are 90 or more people roaming the grounds at a time, you spend more time trying to find a place that is vacant and quiet than being able to conduct a legitimate investigation. While the atmosphere, history and ambiance seemed right, it was the hoards of other people that took this investigation that contained ample opportunity for paranormal evidence and experiences and turned it into nothing but an exercise of patience and a frustrating lesson learned.

Unless we are able to obtain exclusive access to the prison to conduct our investigation in the proper fashion, this investigation will remain closed.