This was my second time at Trans-Allegheny and it truly never disappoints! The first time I went,…read moremy mom, dad, and I did the 4 floor 90 minute tour. We were the only ones on the tour, which truly made it an even better experience! This time, my mom, aunt, and I did the First Floor North and South tours. The South tour was given to us by Madison and she was a fantastic tour guide! She provided us with so much information and some information we did not hear on our first tour there! We were also the only ones on this tour, which was nice. The second tour of the day was the North tour and this tour is new to the asylum! It opened this year and it gives insight as to where the criminally insane patients were housed after the Criminally Insane Building was shut down. This tour was given to us by Jasmine and she was amazing as well! This tour was a group, but it was still very interesting! I am looking forward to going back for an overnight tour and/or the haunted house!! Highly recommend!

Easily one of the best tours I've ever taken…read more I knew this would need to be part of our WV itinerary as soon as this place's existence became known to me while I was planning a possible trip. Just the name is enough to grab you but it certainly delivers. The thought of doing a paranormal tour intrigued me but I was also interested in the history. We arrived at 2:20 and were informed the paranormal tour wasn't starting until 4. Did we really want to wait until 4?! The very nice man provided descriptions of all of the tours and the paranormal one just sounded so interesting that it didn't seem like a real debate. We bought tickets and were considering how we would kill time but it turns out, they have a very interesting museum about the place's history on the first floor that someone entertained my ADHD ass until 3:55. It was incredible. As if that couldn't get any better, the tour was absolutely fascinating. We were taken throughout the museum and our guide, Brad, was impressively knowledgeable about the place, answered every question in exquisite detail. The only disappointment was that instead of experiencing anything paranormal, we were just told stories about things other people have experienced. Don't get me wrong, this was captivating but I was hoping to experience something for myself which I did not. An absolute must visit if you are interested in this kind of shit and are anywhere remotely in the vicinity.

We recently road-tripped our way from Buffalo NY down to WV for no better reason than to visit a…read morenew place together. We stayed in Bridgeport WV, about a half hour from Weston WV, where Appalachian Oddities is located. Weston WV has many paranormal ties, including a huge historical asylum that dovetails with civil war history, too. So a mystic shop like Appalachian Oddities fits right in here in Weston. When we first walked in, we actually weren't sure if it was a shop or a museum, as the entry vestibule is staged so well as an undead parlor, haha. But we were soon warmly greeted by the shop owner, and welcomed inside to take a look around. Appalachian Oddities is inside a repurposed house that still has much of the original footprint and charm. So each area of the store is in a different room of the house, with lots of peculiar gifts to explore in each space. I ended up purchasing a couple gifts here, one a prayer-style candle for my horror-movie-loving brother that had a Freddy Krueger design on it. I also purchased a necklace for my daughter that had a lovely etched wood raven pendant. Our twelve-year old son went to town here with his Christmas money, and bought a board game called "Pandemic", and a local artist print of a painting of the Joker, Jauqiun Phoenix's rendition. As it turns out, the asylum in Weston is a short-listed film location for the next Joker movie. In addition to the shop, Appalachian Oddities has an escape room attraction. We did not participate in the escape room when we were there, but did see a family going in, and could overhear the screams, scares, and fun coming out of the escape room. I overheard the cost was $25 per person, and the people going through seemed to be having a great time well worth the cost. My husband spent some time chatting with the very friendly owner, who also runs a paranormal enthusiast group out of their meeting space in the back of the store. The group ghost hunts together in the area, and have had some intriguing close encounters! If you live in this area and are interested in paranormal sightings, definitely check out this group. If you are visiting Weston WV for the asylum tour or any of the other area attractions related to the mysterious unknown, (i.e., ghosts, aliens, cryptids, etc.), Appalachian Oddities is a great gift shop stop! Even if ghouls aren't your thing, it is still fun to stop in for a peek at the paranormal.

The owner is an absolute sweet heart and the staff is just as kind and knowledgeable! They have a…read morewide variety of strange and unusual items and it's definitely worth stopping in and checking out! They host many events and even do in house tarot readings.

One of my favorite parks in West Virginia, but they could do a little better at keeping their…read morebathrooms clean and make sure the soap and hand sanitizer is always full. I've been here a lot over the years to ride the rail trail from here to Morgantown and back and it's beautiful. I've did the tours and they are great and very insightful. It has beautiful grounds in general plus a nice gift shop. I really enjoy riding the rail trail towards Fairmont too even though it's short it's paved and the tunnel is nice and cool on a warm day. It's a great place with tons of history. Check it out and make sure to bring your bike to enjoy the rail trail and a cooler to have a nice picnic. Enjoy :D

On the way back from Morgantown yesterday Tony and I decided to stop at pricket's fort State Park…read morein Fairmont we had never been here before this was going to be a nice little afternoon adventure. The weather was lovely it was a very mild low 80° sun was Shining, flowers blooming , bees a buzzing....feels like summer finally! You found the park rather easily even though they don't have a lot of signage once you get off the interstate. The park is free to enjoy and walk around there's a couple of hiking trails and a very old cemetery. There is a really nice bathroom area near the museum and the museum is free to enjoy. There is also a gift shop. Now if you want to tour the actual fort which is a reconstructive for it which also includes the family job pricket brick house or Mansion whatever you want to call it there's a fee of $8. And seniors are six I believe. They also offer bike rental which I found to be very nice even though we were not riding bikes this day. The fort is a self-guided tour and they have people in costume to talk to show you around and answer any questions you may have. But they do not currently have a blacksmith. The job house is scheduled with a scheduled tour three times a day 11, 1 and 2:30. Since we missed the tour for the house we decided not to purchase the ticket for the fort, because the fee covers both. So our plans are to go back soon and plan our day so that way we can enjoy both the fort and the house. The staff that is working there is very friendly and will answer any questions you may have. The museum has quite a few artifacts in it and a 20 minute film talking about the fort, how it was used, and how it was very important to the frontier home life in that area at the time. I definitely highly recommend you going if you're in the area. I know Tony and I are definitely going back again. There's a lot of great things to see there, a lot of family historical information for the area, and some really neat things in the gift shop. Hope you go and hope you enjoy your day at the fort and the park.

While driving back from the east coast, my son wanted to see a paranormal museum. I googled the…read moreterm in each state we went through and found this place. It's not more than a 20 minute drive off Interstate 70. The proprietor, Steve, and his friend Vickie were working this evening. They were very friendly and accommodating. I had called earlier in the day to make sure they were open and he gave me detailed directions to find him. The museum is a fairly decent size collection of macabre artifacts and allegedly haunted items. There is a good collection of prison memorabilia. Plenty of explanatory signs for each. If you want to know more, Steve is more than willing to discuss what he knows. I really appreciated his sincerity and passion for The collection is in an older school building turned community center, which frankly was slightly creepy itself. This was just a very fun detour off the highway and well worth the time. Fun fact: you go through Glen Dale, WV to get there: hometown of Brad Paisley and George Brett if that interests you at all.

Some really interesting s**t!…read more Friendly curator who is very passionate about the Archive. I stopped in to take a break from a road trip and it was totally worth it.

This place is a great stop for information and souvenirs! There are tons of foot and hand casts,…read morestories, and all big foot gifts for family and friends! They even have a reading room in the back where you can cozy up on the couch with a book.

The diminutive but fun West Virginia Bigfoot Museum isn't always open, so check the days of…read moreoperation. It's a small museum tucked away, part of a space that also has a cafe and a gift shop. And admission is free. The Bigfoot Museum itself is probably about 1/3 museum (photos of Bigfoot, some information, copies of reliefs of footprints, charts, and so forth) and 2/3 Bigfoot paraphernalia and gifts, t-shirts and knick-knacks, all done in good fun. I don't know that Bigfoot has actually been sighted in WV, but with all the cryptids in the area, who cares? It's all part of the fun. And if you are into cryptids, you're in luck since the Flatwoods Monster Museum is a block away. Even better, the cafe in the same space is super friendly and serves things such as mini-pepperoni rolls with marinara sauce. How can you go wrong?

This is such a neat place!! We went here for a field trip with our homeschool group. There's so…read moremuch to see and everything is set up beautifully!! The employees are helpful and kind. The museum is free which I thought was really nice.

I'm a big glass aficionado, but usually in a much different way. Our fam' is from Buffalo NY, and a…read morefavorite hobby of mine is treasure hunting for beach glass on Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Walking into the Museum of American Glass during our recent holiday road trip to WV, my initial reaction was--"THROW IT ALL IN THE LAKE!!" :-O :-P ;-) But of course, not really, hahaha. That would be a tragedy, as this museum is FULL of SO MUCH beautiful glass!! It is free admission to explore the many aisles of absolutely gorgeous, intricate glass pieces, some of which were manufactured right there in Weston WV. Case after case after case showcases different glass producers. You'll see many usable pieces like dishes, teacups, vases, and pitchers. Then there are tons of purely decorative pieces too, glass statues in all colors, shapes and sizes. I ADORE cobalt blue glass (I used thrifted pieces I found to decorate our wedding centerpieces, I LOVE IT so much!), and there were several cases dedicated to my favorite blue hue. I was also particularly fond of the case of two-piece glass hen-shaped covered dishes in a rainbow of colors, some swirled milk glass. There are also displays about the glass manufacturing process itself. In the back there is some of the machinery used, as well as giant hunks of raw slag glass. I had to drop to my knees to hug one of those big bad boys, as if I ever found anything like that in the lake I would keel over! :-O One other absolutely INCREDIBLE piece on display is a HUGE glass dollhouse. Well, a HUGE glass doll MANSION!! It is really an amazing piece of art, from the unbelievable glass house itself, to the fully staged inside with furniture pieces meticulously placed and styled. Taking zoomed-in photos of the rooms of the house, it almost looks like a real house, the miniature pieces are so true-to-life in their design! The museum also has a gift shop that consists of a large assortment of glass pieces for sale. There were so many lovely items in the gift shop, it is like another display area of the museum in and of itself! My teen daughter, also a glass lover, purchased a beautiful red glass teacup and saucer for herself, and a red glass votive candle holder. I bought a beautiful mint green two-piece bunny dish, a gorgeous bubblegum pink pedestal foot bowl, and a gift for my parents, a teal glass insulator. The bunny now resides in my grandmother's shadow box. The pink glass bowl is filled with walnuts on my dining room table, and my parents loved their insulator. They are also glass hunters, and much of the teal glass that comes out of the lakes is from blown insulators. WOW, what an absolute TREAT it was stumbling on the Museum of American Glass in adorable Weston WV on our road trip. The town itself is super cute, with a nice coffee shop (The Coffee House), other cute shopping (check out Appalachian Oddities!), a few eateries, plus a huge historical asylum that has ghost tours, if you are into that sort of thing. I LOVED exploring the Museum of American Glass, and if I ever find myself back in Weston, I would definitely stop in again, so much to see SPARKLE and SHINE! :-D