I've been a native West Virginian going on 22 years now and I (like most others my age) have yet to see many of the wonders that our beautiful state has to offer; however, I was lucky enough to have the experience of touring the West Virginia State Penitentiary in Moundsville, West Virginia this weekend. It was something that everyone should experience. Even if you're not the museum type, I assure you that you will be consumed in awe from the minute the tour begins.
When you first enter the Penitentiary, you are greeted by a tour guide selling tickets to your right. To your left, on a platform in large Plexiglas case, stands the prisons electric chair, "Old Sparky".
As you wait for your tour to begin, you are free to roam around in the front room museum that displays a hodgepodge of items from prison life. You can scan the wall of confiscated shanks, a display of each of the convicts who were hung at the prison, and even a letter from Charles Manson requesting a transfer to the prison so that he may be with his elderly mother who was an inmate at the penitentiary at the time.
When the tour starts, you are taken through a number of common rooms throughout the prison such as the contact visitation room, which was once the cafeteria where the 1986 riot started over poor prison conditions. This room was converted into a contact visitation room and painted with a mural of colorful cartoons for any families who visited. Art is located throughout the penitentiary. You will see beautiful landscape murals depicting West Virginia. All the artwork that is seen in the penitentiary was painted by inmates throughout the years.
Another highlight of the tour is getting to see each of the different cell blocks. North Hall is where the prison kept the more violent inmates. New Hall is where they kept the general population. North Hall is a lot more fenced in with clear boundaries set for inmates to not cross. New Hall is a lot more open with less fenced in areas. In New Hall, our tour guide actually locked us in a cell This was a bit of a terrifying experience as someone with claustrophobia but hey - I managed.
The normal tour does not include much information on the paranormal stories associated with the facility. We did get to hear the story of one of the most violent inmates, Red Snyder, who is said to still lurk the halls. Our tour guide did tell us about a few of the many murders that occurred at the facility while it was running. The tour is not for the faint of heart (or for children for that matter). The tour is for those who are looking to learn more about our state's history and have an interest in the paranormal. Try stopping by the West Virginia State Penitentiary in Moundsville, West Virginia for a tour. I know Zach and I will be returning for a paranormal tour - that's for sure. You can visit the penitentiary website at this link.
