Were not talking Virginia, were not talking East Virginia, North or South Virginia - today
we are returning to West Virginia - a US state thats home to so many legends and stories,
I struggled to narrow them down into one video.
Luckily, you guys liked it so much that I can now continue to share these creepy stories
with you and trust me, theyre just as good as the ones before.
Lets see if you can handle them.
My name is Danny Burke and this is the Top 10 Scry West Virginia Urban Legends Part 2.
Starting off at number 10 now we have the Lake Shawnee Amusement Park.
Its been a long time since laughter was heard in this amusement park.
It was abandoned in 1966 after the grizzly death of two young kids.
For some people, that was reason enough to never visit the place again - but others say
its dark past goes back a lot further than people think.
They say the very land is cursed.
It apparently goes back to 1783, when a turf war started between a European family of settlers
and Native Americans who owned the land.
They killed 3 of the families children during the fight.
The father, Mitchell Clay, enlisted the help of other settlers to seek vengeance for his
family.
After burying his children, they murdered 7 Native Americans in revenge.
Ever since then, locals say the land has been cursed, soaked in the blood of the hateful
war that took place there many years ago.
When the Amusement park was built there, deaths were attributed to the curse.
A little girl was killed when her swing smashed into a truck.
A small boy drowned in the swimming pond - over the years, the parks rides were responsible
for 6 deaths.
The park closed but in the years since, it has become a hot spot for paranormal investigators
- you can even go on a tour of the most haunted places, some have reported seeing ghosts of
the dead all over the park.
Let me know if you ever end up going …
Next up at number 9 we have The Haunted Harpers Ferry.
Harpers Ferry is picturesque town in West Virginia, full of dozens of 19th century building
and old shops, restaurants and inns.
All those old buildings are said to be the reason why this town always makes the list
of the most haunted places in America.
It was the site of many Civil War battles and locals say their restless spirits still
walk the streets and pass through the old stone walls.
Alysaa LeVasseur, manager of the towns museum, one said -The whole town is haunted.
People have seen things.
You can probably ask anyone in town who has been living here, or works here, and they
have seen something.
They cant deny it- … it may seem like a bold claim but it seems to be true.
The townspeople are in agreement that their homes are also home to ghosts.
Regular sightings include wounded soldiers, an old priest, and a phantom army troop performing
one of their marching drills.
Sounds annoying - and you probably cant ask them to keep it down …
Next up at number 8 we have The Unknown Stranger.
Today, in the town of Middleway, you can visit a grave where the marked name is simply -The
Unknown Stranger- … the story goes that in 1974, a travelling stranger was staying
at a boarding house in Middleway when fell gravely ill.
He called the owner of the boardhouse, Adam Livingston, to his bedside and told him he
was Catholic.
He begged to be given his last rites by a Catholic priest.
Livingston was a Lutheran and knew of no Catholic priests nearby.
The stranger begged and beg but his request would be his last dying breath.
In the years since then, locals say that the unknown stranger haunts the old boarding house
and even the town at large.
They say he is a vengeful spirit, unable to pass on because he didnt get the last rites
he so desperately wanted.
Today, you can go to the grave of the Unknown Stranger, but some still fear is wrath will
turn against them …
Coming in at number 7 we have the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.
This building was a psychiatric hospital that was first operational in 1864.
For almost 100 years, it took in some of the most troubled and disturbed minds in West
Virginia.
It was only build to house 250 patients but began to take on more than it could handle.
By the 1950s, it had reached its peak and housed over 2,400 patients.
They were all jammed into overcrowded and poor conditions.
Despite this, the Asylum limped on for another 40 years until it was finally closed to patients
in 1994.
Now, people say its haunted by the thousands of tortured souls who eeked out a miserable
existence there in life.
Those who have dared to visit it report doors slamming, shadowy figures and blood curdling
screams from within the buildings crumbling walls.
Many locals stay well clear of it, but brave visitors can take special ghost tours through
the asylum, where they say things go bump in the night almost every time …
Next up at number 6 we have the North Bend Rail Trail Tunnel Number 19.
Theres a mouthful.
Tunnel number 19 is also known as the Silver Run Tunnel.
In 1910 a train engineer got the shock of his life when he saw that there, stood infront
of the tunnel they were about to go into, was a girl.
She was described as having pitch black hair and bloodless skin.
She was wearing a white dress and didnt seem to fear the train barreling towards her.
At first he thought she must have been sleep walking - he slammed the breaks on but she
didnt move.
Then, just as the train was about to hit her, she screamed and jumped straight into the
air.
When he asked the next stationmaster about this he told him not to worry as several others
had reported the same sight.
A new engineer called OFlannery didnt believe that this ghost was real.
On his first run, he sped towards the tunnel - it was foggy and there was a full moon.
He spotted the woman in white but kept going.
The ghost screamed and shot straight up.
When he reached his first station, there was crowd waiting.
He asked what was going on and was told that as his train passed each station, people tried
to warn him that there was a girl riding the front of the the train - her arms outstretched
and screaming.
He found nothing on the front of his train and requested a transfer almost immediately.
Some still report seeing her outside the tunnel even to this day …
Next up at number 5 we have The Grey Flats Ghost.
Locals in the town of Beckley will sometimes warn people before hiking the nearby Grey
Flats Trail.
It runs through an ancient an eerie woods.
Old farmers pepper the outskirts, brambles and rotting oaks mingle and the canopy of
leaves can snuff out any light trying to break through the darkness.
Naturally, the trail has earned a reputation for hauntings.
I found one story from a hiker that goes like this -It was nearly dusk in late October and
it was cold and drizzly, and though that made seeing difficult, what we saw was plainly
visible.
At the point on the Grey Flats Trail where trees move in close we saw a black figure
in what might have been a long coat and a broad-rimmed hat.
Though man-shaped, it had no obvious depth as no light fell upon it.
It was completely black.
And rather than moving like a person, it moved without walking.
And it moved to the side, away from us up through the trees away from the road toward
what might have been the farmhouse.
And though the rocky ground rose, the figure did not.
It appeared to move into the earth.
As soon as it disappeared into the ground my friend Becky began to get sick.
She held her hands over her stomach and bent down and began to let out of kind of a long
sob.
We asked her if she was alright and she shook her head yes, that she just wanted to go home,
so we grabbed her by the arms and went back out toward Ship Rock.
Just as we were getting ready to turn onto the old farm trail we looked back and saw
the shape again.
It appeared to be emerging from the ground and heading down toward where the old strip
mines were- … their words not mine, Im definitely creeped out though.
Moving on to number 4 now we have Blennerhassett Hotel.
This hotel in St Parkersburg seems normal from the outside, but everyone will tell you
its what goes on inside thats made it famous among ghost hunters.
It was built by William Chancellor in the late 19th century.
Over 100 years on, locals say it is haunted by the very man who built it.
There are consistent reports and documented happenings of hauntings there going back decades.
Visitors say that several spirits haunt the old hotel - but William is the most well known.
He appears as an old man in a 3 piece grey suit.
They say his hair and beard are slicked back and that he sometimes wears a top hat and
a cane.
The spirit is said to look solid until he disappears in a puff of smoke.
Some of the other spirits include -the children- … these small children ghosts are said to
play tag and hide and seek through the day at night.
Some of the staff report hearing whistling as if someone was trying to get their attention,
but they look up to find nobody is there.
The cooks say they feel tugging on their sleeves while they try to cook.
I wonder if you can ever get used to a feeling like that …
Next up at number 3 we have the Whipple Company Store.
From 1890 to 1964, this building served as the company store for the local mine.
Over the years though, it began to take on more responsibilites.
At first it became a meeting place for town events - then it hosted ballroom dances - and
then it became an embalmers.
Thats right - the towns dead were embalmed in the basement, with bodies being stored
there until their funerals.
With all of this energy, its no surprise that many ghost hunters have been drawn to the
building.
There have been reports of people smelling coal dust or hearing strange whispering voices
all over the building - there have even been a few full apparitions of miners.
Its a unique building because of how its built - they say you can stand in the middle and
hear everything thats happening in the building, even a whisper.
So, if you do visit, theres no way youre missing a ghostly apparition …
Moving on to number 2 we have The West Virginia State Penitentiary.
This prison opened in 1875 in the town of Moundsville.
Ever since then, its gained a reputation as perhaps the most haunted prison in the United
States.
That may have something to do with its rather violent history.
In the late 1800s, the prison took over executions for the entire state.
85 men were hung and 9 electrocuted there.
Suicide, murder and other violent punishments contributed to ther death of hundreds of inmates
- the exact number of inmates who died by violent means is unknown, perhaps intentionally
hidden by the perpetrators.
Locals will tell you the story of the phantom inmates who wander the hallways at night - especially
the infamous Shadow Man.
Ghost tours can show you round the lockup areas and the prison yard.
You can even see the electric chair dubbed -Old Sparky-, responsible for the execution
of a number of inmates.
I was amazed to read that you can actually stay inside the Penitentiary overnight - no
lights, no nothing, just you and your friends trying to brave it through a night in one
of Americas most feared prisons.
Sound fun?
And finally at number 1 we have The Greenbrier Ghost.
Elva Zona Heaster was born in Greenbrier County sometime around 1873.
Not much is really known about her early life - but her later life is very well documented.
She married a wandering blacksmith by the name of Erasmus Stribbling Trout Shue - that
was actually going to be my name at one point.
Anyway, the two were married for only a year when Elvas mysteriously died.
Despite the local custom of letting the towns women clean and dress the corpse for the funeral,
Erasmus insisted he do it all himself.
Very strange.
Rumours began to spread that he killed her, but nobody could prove it.
Then, one night, the ghost of Elva was said to appear by her mothers bedside to explain
how shed been murdered by her husband.
Her mother took that information to the local prosecutor who then dug up the body and proved
that Elva has indeed been killed by her husband.
The event is now enshrined in local history - the ghost that helped solve its own murder
…
I love ending videos on a strange sentence like that - hopefully you enjoyed the video
- if you liked this, perhaps we should continue with other US states or maybe everyone would
like us to go international again.
Let me know - thanks for watching as always, my name is Danny Burke and Ill see you all
in the next one.