Built by the Condemned
The West Virginia State Penitentiary opened in 1866. Before its establishment, state felons were housed in local jails, often leading to overcrowding and escapes, prompting Governor Arthur Boreman to lobby for a dedicated facility. The state decided on a plot of land in Moundsville, about 10 minutes down the river from Wheeling, the state capital at the time.
Inmates transferred from the county jails, including the one in Wheeling, were immediately put to work cutting and transporting stone from local quarries. These convicts were responsible for building the oldest half of the penitentiary, known as the North Hall.
“They themselves, at least that north half, the oldest half of the penitentiary, was all built by those convicts. Every block of sandstone was cut, beveled, and laid by hand.”
The construction started in June 1866 and continued nonstop until the original structure was completed in 1899. Interestingly, the labor system utilized, known as the Auburn system of corrections, emphasized silence and hard work as a pathway to moral purity. Because the inmates built the North End, there is visible pride in the craftsmanship, sometimes evidenced by an inmate’s initials or mark left on a stone block, which was how they gained credit for their work. The prison was modernized in the early 1900s, and believe it or not, the West Virginia Penitentiary was among the first state prisons in the country to provide running water and electricity to its cells.
Death as Entertainment
The site in Moundsville eventually became the epicenter for executions in West Virginia. Prior to the penitentiary, executions were public affairs held on the front lawns of local courthouses. The last public hanging occurred on December 16, 1897. At the execution of John Morgan in Ripley, between 4,000 and 5,000 tickets were sold, with the most expensive going for $18 a piece in 1897. The money generated from these events went to the county.
In 1899, executions moved entirely inside the prison walls to the newly constructed Death House in the North Yard. Even then, spectators were still permitted to buy tickets to witness the hangings until June 31.
“Put yourself in the condemned position. You know, you’re thinking, okay, well, you know what’s about to happen to you and then you know that all these people are there. They paid money to the state to be there and your death is entertainment for them.”
During the period from 1899 to 1959, 94 men were executed at the penitentiary. The practice was often far from humane, however. Frank Hire, who murdered his wife, was decapitated during his 1931 hanging because the rope was measured too long, giving him too much momentum. This chaotic event prompted a ban on selling tickets to witness executions. Conversely, serial killer Harry Powers, hanged in 1932, was strangled for over 10 minutes because the rope was too short.
The gallows were used until 1949, when Warden Oral Schem decided to switch to the electric chair, believing it was more humane. The chair, nicknamed “Old Sparky”, was built by an inmate carpenter named Paul Glenn, who made drawings of Ohio’s electric chair after visiting Columbus. Nine men were executed by electrocution between 1951 and 1959.
The Perfect Recipe for a Haunting
Jason McKinney, a native West Virginian, began investigating paranormal locations as a teenager around 2007. His first visit to Moundsville in 2009 was so impactful that he described it as his “Disneyland”. He later spent seven years working at the penitentiary, first as a historical tour guide and later picking up paranormal night shifts. He describes the Moundsville facility as having a pervasive “heaviness” or palpable air pressure.
“If it’s possible for anywhere on this planet that a place to be haunted, it’s going to be a place like Moundsville Penitentiary because you’ve got the perfect recipe.”
Jason believes the location provides a perfect recipe for a haunting due to several factors: the facility may be built on Native American tribal graves, directly across from the Grave Creek Mound (largest conical-shaped Native American burial mound in North America); the building itself is made of sandstone, which some believe holds metaphysical properties; the nearby Ohio River can carry supernatural energy; and, most compellingly, the documented presence of 998 deaths from 1920 to 1995, including 94 executions, about 36 murders, and 45 to 47 suicides.
Jason shared a terrifying personal experience where he encountered a “solid black, humanoid like figure” in North Hall, B Block, while alone in the dark. This encounter happened outside Cell 17, the former residence of Kenneth Chance, a murderer known for his serious involvement in devil worship, who even sued West Virginia for the right to perform rituals. The cell still bears a pentagram on the wall.
Beyond the spirits, the sources reveal the incredible ingenuity of the incarcerated men, who found ways to occupy themselves and create weapons despite the harsh conditions. Jason has collected shanks made from plumbing fixtures and sheet metal. Inmates were so ingenious they could cut through bunk steel using dental floss coated with an abrasive like comet or toothpaste. They also crafted beautiful items, such as a purse made entirely out of 20-cent postage stamps and wallets woven from Camel cigarette wrappers.
Ready to Dive into the Dark Side of the Mountain State?
The history is heavy, the stories are wild, and the walls of the West Virginia Penitentiary hold countless secrets. If you want to hear more about Thomas Drescher (the Hari Krishna hitman who cooked vegetarian meals in the prison kitchen) and see the incredible inmate-made artifacts like shanks and stamp purses, be sure to watch the full episode! You won’t believe what else we uncover.
