This was my second time at Trans-Allegheny and it truly never disappoints! The first time I went, my 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! read more

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me - Weston, West Virginia

Easily one of the best tours I've ever taken. 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. read more

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Unique experience We took the 4 level tour that last around 90 minutes. It is a walking tour that explores all the floors and several wards of the asylum. The information was really interesting and shows how much the healthcare industry has changed over the last hundred years. There is a gift shop and small museum on the main floor. We purchased our tickets on the day of. They have tours that leave frequently. read more

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We had an absolutely wonderful experience at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum! We took the 90-minute History Tour, which covers all four floors of this incredible and fascinating historic building. Our tour guide, Jessica, was fantastic! She was extremely knowledgeable, friendly, and entertaining, and she did an amazing job bringing the history of the asylum to life. The tour covered so much more than we expected, including the incredible architecture, patient history, the influence of the Civil War, medical procedures and treatments, and so many other fascinating details about the people and events connected to the asylum. There was so much to see and learn that the 90 minutes flew by! If you enjoy history, architecture, or just visiting places with a truly fascinating story, I highly recommend taking the History Tour. And if you get Jessica as your guide, you're in for a real treat! Definitely worth the visit and drive if you are not close, and we would love to come back and explore more of what Trans-Allegheny has to offer! read more

Stopped here on my way from Pittsburgh to New River Gorge. Humor & knowledge all rolled into an awesome tour guide with Jeremiah - highly recommend him! Planning on returning for the haunted tour at some point! read more

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Great experience, staff was very friendly and fun. I would definitely come back ! It was spooky and educational. read more

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum - Beautiful architecture - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me - Weston, West Virginia

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I really appreciated the tour guide they made the walk through the four floors informative and entertaining. With both a mixture of local history and the history of mental health it's definitely worth the time. We took the 90 minute tour and felt it was well worth the time. We would come again for the others as well. read more

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me - Weston, West Virginia

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Some tours get boring, but this was one, even having taken the longer option, where the entire way through I felt I wish I had more time. This abandoned psychiatric hospital is architecturally impressive, offers a compelling window into the history of psychiatry, and is a compelling aesthetic experience. Tours are offered in 45 minutes or 90, and if you're wondering whether the full 90 is worth it, the upper floors of the hospital are radically different than the main level and outside grounds which comprise the initial tour. I found our tour guide a bit stiff; it felt like she was rushing the entire way and trying to get people to keep up, and there was only the briefest opportunity for questions. But that is still better to me than being bored. It's the kind of tour where you see the building in dilapidated areas as well as splendidly restored ones, and we got to go out on a balcony and go up a narrow fire escape stairway. Our guide casually mentioned not to go in one room because the roof was not stable (it's easy to see why they make you sign a waiver at the beginning). The lack of safetyism is kind of retro, but it is appealing to me. The hospital dates to an era before medication, before medical imaging, and before some sort of due process rights existed for people committed to such facilities. There are ghost tours at night, but the daytime history tour probably undersells the level of tragedy which must have unfolded at such a place. The issues the place raises remain important. The town is really rural WV and it's about halfway in between Morgantown and Charleston, so presumably most people coming here are coming specifically to see this attraction. I have not been inside any comparable building during my extensively documented travels. For me, it was easily worth the trip. read more

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My tour guide kaylee was incredible and super nice. I don't recommend the paranormal tour though. It was very obvious staged up and uneventful. If you make this trip, take the historical tour. read more

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me - Weston, West Virginia

Great place to learn about the early history of treating patients with various mental illnesses. The 4 Floors tour Tour is the best one to take for a great overview of the asylum. read more

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We decided to do the 90 minute tour without the paranormal stuff. Miranda was our guide and she was amazing. She was so knowledgeable about the place and the history of the area. She was able to answer any questions that we had. I highly recommend going here just to understand mental healthcare and how it has changed throughout time. read more

This was a fabulous tour for very little money. It is amazing the renovation they have done to certain areas to bring back its former glory. Ashley, the tour guide, did a great job. There are a multitude of tours available and the museum is worth the admission price. You won't go wrong with this piece of history. read more

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nick was an amazing tour guide. he wore an assassin's creed outfit and omg it made the tour. he's a talker, but in the best ways. the 90 minute 4 floor tour was AMAZING. very thorough, intense history, and all the photo opportunities. they accommodated our disabled uncle with wheel chairs on every floor. the one level tours are completely wheelchair friendly, but the 4 floor tour has stairs to every floor. luckily this did not hold us back, but it is something to keep in mind. you can explore almost everywhere on the tour and take all the pictures you want, just no video/audio recording which is understandable. they even have a gift shop!! 10/10 establishment/staff/tour read more

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I came to WV to visit from Arizona and had an Amazing tour from Ashley !! Very educational! Thank you !!! Ashley was very patient and took her time to answer questions ! read more

As soon as you walk in; it's a trip through time. The entire experience is phenomenal, with moments of mystery and solemn. Some spots of the hospital you do feel a "chill" and I think it just adds to the feeling of how foreboding this hospital is. Never had a bad tour, every tour guide seemed knowledgeable and friendly. Flashlight tours are definitely an amazing experience. I just wouldn't go so close to December lol! It was colder inside than it was outside. read more

5 stars! The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum opened in the mid-1800s and housed patients until the 1990s. Today, it is a historical museum that offers tours. On the day of my tour, I purchased tickets in person. The museum was offering six different tours: a 45-minute tour of the first floor, a 90-minute tour of four floors, a 90-minute VIP Gothic tour (?), an 8-hour overnight Ghost Hunts tour, a 90-minute paranormal tour, and a 60-minute Criminally Insane tour. Prices ranged from $10 to $100. I chose the 90-minute tour of four floors for $30. My tour guide was a family member of the owner. She was, of course, very knowledgeable about the building and history, and she even gave us an extra 30 minutes of information for free. I felt very interested in walking around the hallways, patients' rooms, doctors' apartments, nurses' quarters, medical center, etcetera. I felt very interested also in learning about the patients' living conditions and medical treatments. The building was designed to house 250 patients, but it was so overcrowded that it housed up to 10 times as many patients! The hospital was very underfunded and understaffed. A physician had performed lobotomies that resulted in brain damage and infections, and physicians also prescribed poisons such as arsenic and strychnine! read more

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It's been on my bucket list for several years to visit this haunted insane asylum. I was lucky enough to tie it into a rafting trip this past weekend and I was blown away because the facility is massive. We went on the daytime paranormal ghost hunting tour and they walked us through all four floor is the facility and told interesting stories of some of the nefarious activities going on during this time. I think that I want to come back during Halloween and do the haunted house which is in the old tuberculosis center and my wife would really love to do a history tour of the facility as well. There are multiple tours the guides are fantastic and you can easily spend several hours in this facility read more

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum - I captured a couple orbs during the daytime in this closet. The story goes that "Frank" locked himself in this closet and suffocated. - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me - Weston, West Virginia

this is our second time doing this tour and John was again our tour guide. He is amazing and very knowledgeable and friendly.

We did the 90 minute non paranormal tour. Our guide Jeremiah was great. He was very knowledgeable and even provided information that he has researched on his own time. It's a really cool walk through history. read more

Awesome place, great tour (we did 90 minutes with John), lots of information to think about. I will recommend visiting this place to everyone! read more

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me - Weston, West Virginia

Omg!!! This is a place every person in todays world must experience. this location and this very real historical institution for the mentally ill is a day long trip through time and technology, barbaric processes that for some reason were at one point deemed therapeutic. Today we label these barbaric. This location, of course, has its haunts and myths, which make it even that more fascinating of a visit, but it is also a lesson learned in trial and error of mankind's attempts at figuring things out. there was a lot of tragedies that occurred here, and one can only hope that history does not repeat itself. But I do believe that a visit to the trans Allegheny lunatic Asylum will definitely help to insure that each visitor that does go will not allow a repeat of this history. 5 stars to the docents, the exhibits, the vast array of information and the layout of each of the tours that are available. It's worth very Penny to go on any of the tours offered read more

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We took the VIP with Greg and was very pleased. He was very knowledgeable and entertaining. VIP tours are only on Wednesday and Saturdays but you get a little history and paranormal instead of just one or the other. read more

During our visit we were privileged to have had an exceptional experience, largely due to the unparalleled expertise of our tour guides, Savanna and Connie. We took the 1ST FLOOR TOUR (with Connie) and THE CRIMINALLY INSANE TOUR (with Savanna). Their extensive knowledge and informative insights not only enhanced our understanding of the historical significance of the asylum, but also provided us with a richly captivating and fun experience that we will not soon forget! Thank you! read more

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me - Weston, West Virginia

Feels like home went for an overnight investigation. Everyone that worked there was great with sharing the history and telling you the best locations to investigate. They let you roam free on your floor and meet back after a time and move to other areas and it was just amazing. read more

So spooky! lots of options for tours, history or paranormal. Such a sad place. Staff was very nice and knowledgeable.

It was a dark and stormy day... Please forgive the cliche, but that's how you would describe the weather the day we toured the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum (TALA). Absolutely perfect weather! We had some time to kill, so we decided to take a couple of tours at the TALA, of which there are many to choose from. We intended to focus on the Paranormal Tour, which is 90 minutes long, but had almost a full hour before that tour would start. So, we opted to fill out time with the 45 minute historical tour. Rose, our guide, was a exceptional, and she knew the answers to all our questions, and never once said, "I'll have to get back to you." She was a fount of knowledge, and a delight to hang with. This tour focused on the origins of the hospital/asylum, the highlights of its darkest and brightest days, and what lead to it being abandoned, and later bought by private citizens for historical purposes. This tour was enjoyable, and we learned some astounding facts about life at the TALA, especially in the early years. Our next tour was the Paranormal, which focused on the--unexplained. I'm not a hard "no" when it comes to the supernatural, but I'm not an easy sell, either. Let me say this: if ever there was a building haunted by its past, this would be it! The tour almost completely avoided the history of the building, and focused on the more colorful historical accounts that lead to hauntings and ghost sightings. We toured every floor in this behind the scenes exposure, and we loved every moment! To our delight, our guide, Alysa, greatly reminded us of Wednesday Adams, but was eager to answer questions and offer some interesting interpretations of the unexplainable. We did NOT see any haunts, but there were rooms that were creepier than others, and I'm leaning toward reluctance if asked to spend the night by myself! They had a collection of photos snapped by tourists that were certainly compelling, to say the least. The weather made our trip amazing, but Alysa made it legendary. Somehow, she seemed to possess the ability to anticipate blasts of thunder, and timed her deliveries with impactful timing! If I could, I'd return on Halloween--but only if she could be our tour guide again. #todaysdiscovery #traviswinmanauthor read more

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We enjoyed the 4-floor tour very much. I learned a great deal about the horrific practices in vogue during the years the asylum was functioning--the procedures were gruesome and barbaric, yet advertised as desirable and producing "successful" results--now that is terrifying, even more so than ghosts, at least to this reviewer! I was very moved by the suffering as well as the resourcefulness of the many patients who were involuntarily committed (and according to one report many thousands died here...difficult to believe there are other places even larger, with even higher death counts than this asylum...) I also noticed the considerable discrepancy in the patients' stark living quarters and the comparative spaciousness and luxury of those "in charge." I would be interested in going back to visit the other buildings or taking the 5-hour tour....there is so much history here. The tour guides are friendly and very knowledgeable, and will share many colorful and interesting local facts and stories. The local area is quirky (we found it interesting how closely the surrounding neighborhoods bordered the grounds of the asylum). No doubt, the asylum is a grim place with a highly disturbing past--and the information can be a little overwhelming at times--but I'm so glad this is here and open to the public as a reminder of a sordid but important chapter in history. Well worth a visit. (If you have time, the Museum of American Glass is not far away, and also worth a visit...) A great, quick and close food option is Dave's Famous T and L Hotdogs....I was also happy to find a Long John Silvers in town, which seem to have become nonexistent in the DMV area...next time I hope to spend more time not only touring the asylum but also around town... read more

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me - Weston, West Virginia

Fascinating and sad historical building and treatment of the mentally ill. Beautiful historic Kirkbride style building that fortunately has been preserved.Also of note is the patient's art- some by children.? Beautiful grounds- highly recommend., read more

Absolutely fantastic place and a very well ran ghost hunt. My husband and I took the overnight tour in the main building with Lakesha as our tour guide. She was very informative and respectful of the spirits and made sure others were also which was much appreciated. We got some great evidence and I can't wait to share on our Facebook page. We actually had our guides name come thru the ghost box and she said that was her first ever hearing it. Would love to get the video to her! Thank you guys again and we will definitely be back!! 5 stars is not enough! read more

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me - Weston, West Virginia

Closed despite hours on website and sign out front. Drove all the way from Philly. What a joke. Unprofessional

Eye opening tour. The first floor tour is easy for mobility impaired, but does include some steps. read more

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I toured here back in June and spent over $1,000.00 here on my tour and in the gift shop. The tour was great. However, I placed an order online for two books on 6/18/25 and never received them. I have reached out numerous times inquiring about my books. I received an email on 7/15/25 stating that they had been busy and out of the office but my books had been mailed to me on 7/11/25. I sent another email on 7/19/25 because I still hadn't received my books and never received a response. I've called multiple times as well due not receiving my books. Today 7/25/25, I spoke with someone and was told my books were never mailed out. Not one time did she offer to make things right or apologize. She never offered me my money back but agreed to refund me after going back and forth about a refund. She wouldn't allow me to speak to her supervisor or anyone who can look into this and make things right. This place thrives off of the tourists who spend money here and this is how the employees are able to be employed. Treating a customer poorly isn't good business nor is it going to help the employees maintain employment. read more

Please see my full online review at phantommemorandum.com I feel like I hit a gold mine in West Virginia. I visited some of the places I've been wanting to visit for years, and Trans-Allegheny was no exception. Stunning architecture in the vast building. Interesting stories. I took the paranormal tour and it was one of the best tours I've ever taken. Valerie is nothing short of fantastic. read more

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This was an awesome experience! I've always wanted to check this place off of my WV list, and our tour guide Jill knocked it out of the park. What a great/ educational experience. read more

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We drove 4 1/2 hours to take my husband here for Father's Day. He, our 6 year old daughter and myself all loved it! It's a beautiful building, I can only imagine how amazing it was back in its prime. We took the 90 minute history and paranormal VIP tour. Our guide was fantastic and we also got to meet her husband in passing. In one of the doctors private offices we first went into I had an overwhelming urge to throw up and I thought I was going to pass out. As soon as we left that room I was perfectly fine for the rest of the tour. I never said anything until later to my husband and told me he had a similar feeling in the same room! Now i wish we had said something. My daughter requested that we return closer to halloween so she can talk again to Lily. read more

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum - Pulling in - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me - Weston, West Virginia

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Amazing experience today taking the 4 floor historic tour with John, he was extremely knowledgeable as well as entertaining. 90 minutes went very quickly in learning the history and background of this unique and sometimes disturbing institution. No spoilers, but you must go and your see for yourself. Wonderful way to see this odd period in the history of mental health. East to show up and take a tour. Halloween events look more limited so plan accordingly! read more

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Great history lesson on treatment of mentally ill in the last part of nineteenth century through the 1990s. I'm glad this place has been preserved. Go when not too hot or cold. It's a large open building with no heat or air. Several tours available. read more

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4-stars for the educational bits and history and the gentle push to learn the truth about the (mis)understanding and (mis)treatment of mental health issues and self-serving initiatives. 1-stars for the side-show atmosphere that necessarily runs through it; kinda pathetic that it has come to this. 4-stars as a reminder for the ages of the bad results that flow from good intentions. I'm not sure what I was hoping to see here and for the most part I am satisfied that I won't. It started out as a 'Who dat?' moment... which led to a morbid curiosity about stereotypical inmates and their "treatments" and ultimately to a rational curiosity about irrationality in a not too distant past. We arrived late in the day after following the signs, too late for any tour. The magnificence of the compound itself cannot be denied, someone put a lot of thought and effort into building this place. The couple of historical displays up front provide impetus for further research and kudos for that. A more complete review of the available materials is necessary before putting this one to rest... read more

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum - Historic marker for Weston State Hospital - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me - Weston, West Virginia

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This was such an awesome tour. Our guide, Amy, was amazing. She went way above and beyond to ensure that we got to see everything we were interested in, answered all of our questions, had some great jokes, and interesting stories about paranormal investigation/experiences had at this site over the years. She was so knowledgeable and all of the staff members were so nice. It's a great touch that the tour guides are all dressed as nurses from the 50s-70s era too! The tours are cheap and well worth the trip. It also doesn't hurt that the route to get to Weston, WV is gorgeous! I wish we lived closer because I would definitely love to go back again! read more

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What an experience! We decided to stop here on our way back home from our road trip to New River Gorge National Park. There is just so much history in this place, along with some horrid details from the past. This place really puts in perspective how much we as a society have advanced in patient care, as well as employee welfare. There are multiple different tours with some midnight options to really increase the spook factor. Loved the fact that this place allowed us to bring our Corgi for the tour. Highly recommended from BringFido and definitely didn't disappoint. read more