Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum - darkometer rating : 4 - A former mental hospital in West Virginia, USA , which is not only a massive neo-gothic architectural landmark but also a dark tourism destination: there are tours of the vacant long corridors and crumbling wards and even creepier night tours for those who are into "ghost hunts". > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos More background info: The building is allegedly the largest hand-cut stone masonry building in the USA (and "purportedly" second only to the Kremlin , which I find a little difficult to believe, however). It was erected from 1858 according to the so-called "Kirkbride plan" – after Dr. Thomas Kirkbride, a 19th century pioneer in mental health treatment. His standard layout for the construction of asylums "for the insane" characteristically involved long tiered wings on either side of a central administrative building, allowing for plenty of natural light coming into the wards but also for segregation of patients (according to sex as well as the nature and severity of the different mental illnesses). There are a number of other such asylums across the eastern US still standing (see kirkbridebuildings.com), of which this one is the largest. But the "Kirkbride plan" and antiquated "moral" treatment regime have long been obsolete. Most of the surviving asylums of this type have been derelict since their closure towards the end of the 20th century and too many of these grand buildings have sadly been demolished altogether. The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, then called Weston State Hospital, was closed for good in 1994, after conditions in it had deteriorated and its outdated treatment methods were phased out.