Moundsville Penitentiary

The Moundsville, West Virginia Penitentiary established in 1866. Everything done in 1876. It looks like Gothic castle style, with striking stone Facade. 

In 1929, the construction to expand the prison began, but because of the shortage of iron due to the war, it was not completed until 1959. 

The structure was originally built for 480 prisoners. By the early 1930s, it housed a total of 2,400. It imprisoned 119 years worth of inmates. At times, three prisoners would be assigned to one of the tiny five by seven cells.

Around the 1930s, the hauntings of the prison commenced to arise. Moundsville prison has been listed as one of the most violent, haunted prisons according to the US Department of Justice.

The Moundsville, West Virginia Penitentiary

In 1986, the West Virginia Supreme Court ruled. The small cells have been cruel and unusual punishment and ordered the prison to be closed. In 1995, the last prisoners transferred out of Moundsville.

Violent History:

The Grave Creek Mound – –

The Grave Creek Mound (where Moundsville gets its name) started rising around 250 BC.

The Adena natives felt honored to be buried along side their village leaders. Each level filled with their bones, rising to the next, and the next.

                         Grave Creek Mound

First found in 1772 through frontiersman Joseph Tomlinson and his brother. They built a cabin near-by and got here upon the Mound whilst hunting.

In the late 1800s, Moundsville took over all executions for the state. In all, 85 prisoners have been hung and 9 electrocuted. The executions had been only a small part of the violent past at Moundsville. Suicide, murder, and violent punishments contributed to the demise of lots of inmates. Because of terrible report keeping, the specific range of inmates who died violent deaths at Moundsville is unknown.

Second, West Virginia Penitentiary:

In the 1860s, West Virginia separated from Virginia. The Governor Arthur Boreman needs a prison. Virginia was once nevertheless angry about separation. They barred the new created state from using their buildings, and a robust prison is crucial to reputation.

Boreman was once denied federal money. His only choice was a small prison shaped in Wheeling, WV (the capital). Quickly it was overcrowded. Then 9 risky criminals escaped.

Boreman’s thinking resurrected and a new prison was once eventually approved.

Inmates Torture: 

Shoo-fly:

There was once the 'shoo-fly,' an instrument so arranged that the victim may want to be positioned with his feet in the stocks, his arms pinioned and his head mounted so that he may want to not move it.

Then anyone would take the hose and flip the water full upon the prisoner's face. This was once kept up until the victim used to be partly strangled to death.

Kicking Jenny:

One instrument invented at the jail called the "kicking jenny" used to be one of the main forms of punishments.

Inmates would be stripped of their clothing and bent over the machine with their feet fastened to the floor with ropes and hands stretched over the higher quit of the machine. The superintendent would then take a whip and beat the prisoner until they are almost dead.

 The “Kicking Jenny” torture

According to popular legend, the prison buildings had been built on an historic Native American burial ground. Some accept as true with that the legend coupled with its violent past so that it is haunted.

Ghost Stories:

10 years later stories of inhumane punishment told to newspapers like the Cincinnati Enquirer. Former Assistant Superintendent Wilkerson had considered enough. After leaving he exposed accounts of violence done on inmates.

The Greenbrier Ghost:

Zona Heaster Shue was found dead in 1897. Her husband, Erasmus Trout Shue, dressed her for burial before the doctor arrived to determine the cause of death. Shue moaned and would now not depart his wife's corpse till she was buried.

He even furnished her favourite scarf to wrap round her neck. The doctor gave her a cursory look, and wrote down that she fainted dead by childbirth. Zona's mother, Mary Jane Heaster, had her suspicions. She testified that Zona's ghost visited her over a period of four nights and described how Shue had killed her. Heaster took her story to local prosecutor John Alfred Preston and convinced him to reopen the case. Based on the visitation, the body was once exhumed, and Zona's neck found to be broken. It was once ample for a jury to convict Shue of killing Zona. Shue spent the next three years at the prison in Moundsville, the place he died in 1900.

Hot Spots:

There are various areas in Moundsville regarded as "hot spots" the place an unusual amount of paranormal activity reportedly occurs. Such locations include the Chapel, shower cages, Death Row, the Sugar Shack, which was once a recreational area and the North Wagon Gate which is the place where death row inmates had been taken to be hung before the facility used the electric chair.

Wagon Gate:

                           Wagon Gate

One other area known for strange occurrences is the circular entrance gate which was used to separate arriving inmates from the warden's living quarters. According to reports, the circular cage turns periodically by itself, giving the impression that the spirits of criminals are still arriving at the prison.

Wrap Up:

With its violent past, harsh stipulations and two major riots, Moundsville Penitentiary is a popular destination for those who study paranormal activity. Some claim that the prison is plagued with what is called, residual haunting, which is described as a replay of a tragic event from the past.