In the quaint town of Weston, West Virginia, there stands a massive brick building with eerie windows and looming towers. This building is one of the largest of its kind (second, in fact, to the Kremlin in Russia) and it served as a state hospital for the mentally ill in the mid-1800s, through the 1990s. It wasn't just a regular, run-of-the-mill hospital, though... it was an insane asylum.
The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum (the moniker it earned over the years) opened to patients in 1864. It was intended to house about 250 patients, but it quickly became overcrowded and patients were subject to living in filthy conditions. At the height of its popularity, the Asylum housed around 2,400 patients. That is way more than it was originally intended to accommodate. It was forced to shut down in the year 1994, suddenly releasing the many patients to walk freely about the streets of Weston, West Virginia and completely collapsing the little town's economy.
Creeped out yet? Well, you will be. The building's dark history is so terrifying, in fact, that it has captured the attention of many popular, paranormal television programs. Travel Channel has featured the Asylum on a few of the network's Halloween programs, and the popular television show "Ghost Hunters" once did an entire episode (which featured a complete tour of the building) on the Asylum.
Why is this place interesting enough to warrant television spots and a gigantic influx of tourism each year? Well: the building has many bizarre and violent events deeply entrenched in is history. Patients were basically tortured in this place; squeezed together in tiny rooms without much space to move around, the "lunatics" (as they were so affectionately called) became extremely violent and irritable. Many of them would reportedly throw things at nurses, scream at them, and lash out in anger. Also, mid-century "medical" treatments weren't exactly up-to-par. If you were said to exemplify traits of homosexuality, "hysteria," or some other "affliction," you were committed to the Asylum and given electro-shock treatments. As you can imagine, the shock therapy rarely "cured" individuals; it mostly left them half brain-dead and utterly confused, sadly. Basically, the place was filled with bad ju-ju.
Not to mention, the Asylum was a Civil War hub, too. That's an entirely different story, but it adds to the building's whacked-out history. You can visit the building to this day, and, in fact, you can stay the night there. Tour guides lead you through the haunted halls of the Asylum for a few hours in the evening, and when the midnight hour comes, you are left to your own devices until 6 a.m. the following morning. Freaked out yet? I know I am. You can also do short tours of the building without spending the night, of course, and even indulge in one of the building's dramatized haunted-house attractions.
Not sure what to do this Halloween? The Asylum is sure to be a hit with your friends and family.
