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Explore 55 haunted places in West Virginia. Read ghost stories, local history, source notes, and visiting information in the PHASM Haunted Atlas.
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Holden, West Virginia · Road or bridge
Local lore says Mamie Thurman’s spirit remains near the road where her body was discovered in 1932. Clio records 22 Mine Road, 22 Mountain and Trace Mountain as names locals use for the same haunted place.
Buckhannon, West Virginia · Other
Students have linked the dormitory’s fourth-floor disturbances to Agnes Howard, the former student commemorated in its name. Theresa’s Haunted History records beds shaking sleepers awake and voices calling residents by name. Some experiences resemble sleep paralysis; the identification of the presence as Agnes belongs to campus folklore.
Martinsburg, West Virginia · Theater
A former manager is said to stand outside the theater smoking a cigar, even when nobody is physically there. Witnesses also report smelling his tobacco. Haunted Places preserves these paired sightings and smells as the venue’s recurring ghost story.
Clifftop, West Virginia · Natural landmark
The New River Gorge visitor bureau recounts a woman in a nightgown looking through the cabin window and sobbing heard inside. The story is linked to the killing of a woman in the cabin. An early investigator report also described unusual photographic mist around the porch and reports of a woman appearing nearby.
Berkeley Springs, West Virginia · Castle
The local tourism bureau records four reputed residents: Rosa Suit, Colonel Suit, a man called Jawbone and a little girl heard singing or giggling. Employees and visitors describe footsteps, loud upstairs crashes, displaced furniture and unexplained reflections in dining-room mirrors. Their identities and dramatic backstories remain part of the castle’s lore.
Parkersburg, West Virginia · Hotel
A gray-clad man is said to frequent the second floor, where the elevator reportedly stops without being summoned. Haunted Places also describes a crying woman and a young boy. The woman’s connection to an alleged fatal accident at the entrance is part of the hotel’s ghost lore rather than a verified identification.
Parkersburg area, West Virginia · Historic house
A white-clad woman with flowing brown hair is said to walk the island or stand beside the river as though waiting for someone. Local lore identifies her as Margaret Blennerhassett; some sightings include floral perfume or the smell of horses.
Charleston, West Virginia · Theater
The theater’s folklore names John Welch and his daughter Molly. A child believed to be Molly is said to watch performances from the front row of the balcony. Their supposed connection to an earlier mansion on the lot is part of the story; this research does not establish that mansion or the family’s biography.
Glenville, West Virginia · Other
University employees have described sounds like metal furniture being thrown or chains dragging when Clark Hall was otherwise empty. Campus lore associates the disturbances with Sarah Louisa “Sis” Linn, a former teacher and boarding-house keeper murdered nearby. One staff account says prolonged crashing stopped just as the witness considered that explanation.
Dingess, West Virginia · Road or bridge
In a firsthand community account, a couple approaching Dingess Tunnel said the coal truck ahead of them vanished into the hillside near its entrance. They described losing sight of the vehicle where they expected it to continue along the road.
Hillsboro, West Virginia · Other
Local accounts describe Civil War soldiers appearing as mist rolls across the battlefield, with some figures said to be headless. Haunted Places attaches the sightings to the landscape where the Battle of Droop Mountain took place in 1863.
Huttonsville, West Virginia · Hotel
The house’s unusual haunting story concerns the smell of baking bread at about five in the morning, despite a closed kitchen and cold ovens. Haunted Places records the account under its former bed-and-breakfast identity. No named spirit or verified baker is attached to the report.
Shepherdstown, West Virginia · Hotel
Historic Shepherdstown recounts footsteps, moans and sounds of objects moving at night in the former inn. The museum’s best-known candidate for the ghost is Peyton Bull Smith, who was brought there after a duel and died upstairs. The organization itself presents the identification as one possible explanation for the building’s phantom.
Shepherdstown, West Virginia · Historic house
Historic Shepherdstown preserves a local tradition that a murdered cobbler haunted this small house. No name or detailed encounter accompanies the tale. The cottage, distinct from the Entler Hotel, later served a variety of college uses.
Salem, West Virginia · Road or bridge
A 2026 public discussion recounts reports of voices, unusual mist and phantom train sounds at the tunnel. One participant described hearing a clear train horn on an old recording despite the route’s conversion to a trail. These community accounts attach to Brandy Gap Tunnel 2, also known as Flinderation Tunnel.
Huntington, West Virginia · Other
The former bowling alley’s tavern is said to retain the presence of an owner called Mr. Frankel. Reports include cherry-pipe smoke, heavy steps from the stockroom, a voice calling people by name and a kitchen door that swings then slams. These accounts concern a business that has since closed.
Huntington, West Virginia · Hotel
In a personal account submitted to West Virginia Ghosts, Erika described lobby music abruptly cutting out, a woman’s scream filling the empty building, and the music resuming at the same point. On another visit she heard footsteps and jangling keys, but found nobody when she opened the door.
Glen Ferris, West Virginia · Hotel
The inn’s playful ghost is nicknamed the Colonel, a bearded Confederate soldier whose apparition is sometimes seen only from the waist up. Accounts describe his footsteps, doors closing behind guests and water in a birdbath inexplicably bubbling. Haunted Places presents him as a familiar, generally friendly presence.
Elkins, West Virginia · Hotel
Haunted Places names three presences in the mansion’s ghost stories: Grace, Senator Henry Davis and a former servant called Katie. These figures are said to linger at the inn, although the directory gives little detail about individual encounters.
Talcott, West Virginia · Road or bridge
John Henry’s hammer is said to keep ringing inside the mountain after his death. Accounts summarized by West Virginia Explorer describe a steel-driver figure at the eastern portal, sometimes swinging two hammers, and workers reluctant to enter because they feared his ghost. This is the historic tunnel associated with the evolving John Henry legend.
Smoot / Meadow Bluff, West Virginia · Cemetery
Zona Heaster Shue’s grave commemorates the woman known as the Greenbrier Ghost. Her mother said Zona returned after death to explain that her husband had killed her, a story connected with the investigation that followed. The cemetery is the identifiable memorial destination for that legend; the account does not establish that the apparition occurred at the grave.
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia · Historic house
GhostQuest records apparitions associated with Robert and Rachel Harper in clothing from the late eighteenth century. The figures are said to appear at the historic house bearing their name. Other town retellings identify a woman at an upstairs window, watching the garden, as Rachel.
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia · Hotel
Accounts collected by Haunted Places describe a hostile man in an ornate vest, a woman in gray accompanied by a child, and a shadowy gravedigger carrying a body. The man is sometimes said to shove guests at this Washington Street guest house.
Ansted, West Virginia · Natural landmark
Lovers’ Leap has several incompatible versions of a tragic-couple legend. Haunted Places records alleged screams around the cliff and a glowing white horse seen in the park. The couple’s identity and whether their story describes any historical event remain uncertain; the overlapping tales are kept together as one location.