West Virginia Penitentiary Ghost Hunt, Moundsville, WV

The History

The West Virginia Penitentiary (Moundsville Prison) came about thanks to the efforts of Governor Arthur I. Boreman. He devoted the years from 1863 to 1866 doing his best to convince the West Virginia Legislature that the young state needed a penitentiary of its own to house the criminals in West Virginia. His attempts proved futile until finally, with the help of the local press in 1865, the legislature decided it was better to have a state facility than risk the escape of more inmates. With approval given, the state was allowed to purchase a plot of land, which would house the new state penitentiary.

The decision was made to purchase ten acres of land in an area of the state called, Moundsville. The capital city of the state at the time, Wheeling, was a mere 12 miles from the site of the new state prison. Prior to starting construction on the new prison, a wooden prison was built temporarily. This afforded the officials in charge of the prison’s construction with determining how it would be designed. Although no blueprints for the West Virginia Penitentiary have ever been located, the inspiration for the new prison appears to be the Joliet penitentiary in Northern Illinois. The key difference is that the West Virginia prison was built on a much grander scale than Joliet.

It took roughly ten years from the design of the penitentiary to the official opening of its doors in 1876, it was, however, established in 1866. The Gothic-style prison was built with locally quarried hand-cut sandstone. During part of the construction process prison labor was used to help expedite the process. When the West Virginia Penitentiary was completed it had a north and south cellblock. Two hundred and twenty-four prison cells measuring 7 ft. by 5 ft. were located in the South Hall. The chapel, hospital, kitchen, and dining area were located in the North Hall. The area that connected the two cellblocks was four stories in height. It housed female inmates, the administration building, as well as living quarters for the prison warden and his family.

Throughout its more than 100 years of operation, the West Virginia Penitentiary was home to 93 executions, 9 by electrocution, and 83 by hanging. Those 93 deaths were all legally sanctioned. Hundreds of other inmates living within the walls of the penitentiary had their day with fate. People not legally executed died after they were murdered when they committed suicide or at the hands of the incredibly violent punishments, they were subjected to by the members of the prison staff.

Some of the barbaric punishments were exposed to the public in 1886. The source of the violence and torture was a former superintendent of the institution. Prisoners were subjected to being restrained in contraptions such as the “kicking Jenny” and the “shoo-fly.” The “kicking Jenny” involved the restraining of a prisoner while completed nude, bending them over a machine and restraining them prior to whipping them to near death. The “shoo-fly” included restraining the prisoner and spraying them directly in the face with water from a hose until they were within an inch of death.

The West Virginia Penitentiary was also the site of prison breaks and riots. In 1979 a group of 15 prisoners managed to escape the prison. While fleeing the prison, West Virginia State Trooper Philip S. Kesner noticed the escaped convicts while driving past the area with his wife. Although he attempted to thwart their escape he was killed by one of the escapees a murderer by the name of Ronald T. Williams. Williams remained on the run for eighteen months prior to his capture.

In 1986, conditions in the prison had hit an incredible low. The prison was suffering from severe overcrowding yet again. There were countless problems with plumbing, inmates roaming free due to poor security and locks being picked, as well as a lot of illness due to the infestation of bugs.

Fed up with the poor and inhumane conditions, the Avengers, a group of 20 inmates began a riot in the mess hall. Captain Glassock, a kitchen staffer, and five officers were captured, handcuffed, and held hostage. Fortunately, the two-day riot ended with a few hostages injured, but not mortally wounded while three inmates perished. Until the day the penitentiary officially closed its doors it would see multiple escape attempts and riots.