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due to the hunting nature of these hunted places.

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Listener discretion is advised.

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I'm your host Mark and today I want to tell you about one of the most hunted places in America.

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Formerly known as the Western State Hospital, the Trans-Elegany Lunatic Asylum sits in Lewis

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County, West Virginia. Today it has zero patients but you can still hear patients roaming the halls

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of the asylum. When you arrive to the Trans-Elegany Lunatic Asylum you will be stunned by the size

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and appearance of the building. It's the largest hand-cut stone masonry building in North America

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and the second largest in the world. Thousands of patients, many of them severely mentally and

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emotionally disturbed came and went in the century plus history of the asylum.

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The Western State Hospital played a role in the treatments of the mentally ill but during

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get-starker years, electroshock, water, and lobotomy treatments were conducted on patients there.

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The asylum is now a hub for ghost hunters and history buffs. You can take tours of the asylum

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and even stay the night. During the month of October they host multiple events throughout the month.

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When you do a tour at the asylum you will hear stories about a few of the patients that never

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left the halls and today I'm going to tell you two stories from the asylum that I heard when I did a

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night tour in August. Lily is one of the most popular spirits in the asylum. Lily is said to

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have haunted the fourth floor in Ward R before a fire gutted it. The original design was changed

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in the 1930s yet her strong energy still remains. Always talking with ghost hunters that are

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investigating the building there are two origin stories for Lily. The first says that she was a

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former patient she spent her short life inside the asylum. The second says that she was born to a

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female patient then she was kept safe in the hospital getting to walk around and play with the staff.

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She is said to have died from pneumonia at only nine years old however she got into the asylum.

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There is no denying that she is still around today. Ghost hunters and guests make contact

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with the spirit on many occasions. They also leave toys for her to play with. When you walk

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into the room there are toys everywhere. Lily has been known to move them around rolling them back

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to the ghost hunters.

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When you visit the kitchen you feel like you're being watched not only at night but in the day as

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well. Imagine being a tour guide at night closing up the asylum and making your rounds to make sure

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everyone is out. I know that I couldn't do that alone. A man named Jack is known to haunt the

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kitchen. When he was a patient he would cook and prepare food for the day. Jack is very fond of women.

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He is known to turn on a flashlight when asked if he thinks a woman is pretty. It's said that a

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little person's spirit is with Jack. In life Jack looked out for his little friend and in the afterlife

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he still does. Jack does not like anyone making fun of him. Jack is also very fond of children

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offering them chocolate milk. My tour guide said that one night he was doing a tour in the kitchen

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when he asked a question. Jack slammed hard on a metal sink and knocked things off. During the

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tour you could feel a heaviness in the kitchen. I felt like I was being watched the entire time I

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was in there. Tour guide asked a few questions and the flashlight would dim and get bright again.

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I highly suggest if you love haunts and history to visit the Trans-Elegany Lunatic

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Asylum. There's so many stories I didn't even know where to begin for this episode without

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making it over an hour long. Don't worry this isn't the last time we will be talking about the asylum.

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Thank you so much for joining me during Mountain State Mysteries State Haunts Month. I'm so excited

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to be returning to the Mountain State Mystery Studio with Courtney bringing you new episodes

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very soon. Don't forget to follow Mountain State Mysteries on Instagram at Mountain State Mysteries

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For more check out our website at MountainStateMysteriesPodcast.com