Ghost Report: Moundsville Penitentiary

Originally broadcast on 4/19/2019

(I’m going to repost some of the original “Ghost Reports” I’ve created over the past four years for Ghost Magnet With Bridget Marquardt - here’s one from 2019!)

Wikipedia image of Moundsville Penitentiary by Rhonda Humphreys

This week I’m excited to be talking about the Penitentiary located in Moundsville, West Virginia, because what’s scarier than a haunted prison? How about one that’s supposed to be one of the most haunted prisons in the U.S.?

Just looking at the West Virginia penitentiary gives you the creeps. This place was built in 1876 in the Gothic style, and it looks like something out of a horror movie. They shut it down as a prison in 1995, and nowadays it’s mainly a tourist attraction, complete with a visit to “Old Sparky”, the prison’s original electric chair in which nine men were executed. 

Every Halloween, part of the prison is turned into a Halloween haunted attraction called the “Dungeon of Horrors”, but the spirits are said to be in residence all year ‘round. Ghost sightings were reported at the prison even back in the 1930s, when guards on night duty reported seeing a figure walking in a maintenance area that inmates had no access to. There are legends that claim the prison was built on a Native American burial ground, and paranormal investigations frequently take place in the “Sugar Shack”, a recreation room located in the basement that was said to have been a gambling den for inmates; arguing voices and cold spots have been frequently reported from that area.

CLICK HERE to listen to the original podcast.