The Stone Giant

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum—also known as Weston State Hospital—is the largest hand-cut stone building in North America and one of its most haunted. Designed for 250, it housed 2,400 in conditions so horrible that thousands of spirits remain.

The Building

Architecture:

• 200,000+ square feet
• Hand-cut stone
• Kirkbride Plan
• Gothic style
• 1864 completion

Original Design

The intention:

• Humane treatment
• 250 patients maximum
• Natural light
• Fresh air
• Reform psychiatry

The Decline

Reality:

• Severe overcrowding
• 2,400 patients
• Abuse normalized
• Horrific conditions
• 130 years

Walter Freeman

The lobotomist:

• Visited facility
• Ice pick procedure
• Trans-orbital method
• Destroyed minds
• Celebrated at the time

Treatment Methods

What patients endured:

• Electroshock
• Ice water baths
• Physical restraints
• Lobotomies
• Experimental procedures

The Wards

Sections:

• Civil War veterans
• Criminally insane
• Women’s ward
• Children’s area
• Each haunted

Ward R

Criminally insane:

• Most dangerous patients
• Maximum security
• Violent history
• Most aggressive ghosts
• Don’t linger here

Civil War Ward

Soldier section:

• PTSD patients
• “Shell shock”
• Untreated trauma
• Suffered greatly
• Still march

The Deaths

Who perished:

• Thousands
• Disease
• Violence
• Neglect
• Suicide

The Cemetery

Graves:

• Behind building
• Numbered stones
• Names forgotten
• Mass burial
• Unmarked mostly

1994 Closure

The end:

• Finally closed
• Condemned
• Preserved later
• Now historic site
• Open for tours

Lily

Child spirit:

• Young girl
• Most famous ghost
• Plays with visitors
• Loves balls
• Responds to toys

The Shadow Man

Dark entity:

• Ward R area
• Follows visitors
• Aggressive presence
• Male figure
• Threatening energy

The Nurse

Staff ghost:

• Still working
• Night shift
• Footsteps
• Door checks
• Dedicated eternally

Investigation Evidence

What teams find:

• EVP recordings
• Full apparitions
• Physical contact
• Equipment manipulation
• Consistent

Ghost Adventures

Famous episode:

• Zak Bagans visited
• Extensive investigation
• Compelling footage
• Physical effects
• Multiple returns

Current Use

Today:

• Ghost tours nightly
• Investigation events
• Public hunts
• Preservation
• Tourist attraction

Significance

130 years of asylum horror in America’s largest stone building creating concentrated paranormal activity.

Legacy

Trans-Allegheny proves that institutional cruelty creates permanent hauntings—the thousands who suffered and died within these stone walls remain imprisoned by something other than locks.