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All the United States West Virginia

The Atlas Obscura Guide to West Virginia

106 Cool, Hidden, and Unusual Things to Do in West Virginia


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Cities

Top Cities
Inside the Mothman Museum
Point Pleasant
Harpers Ferry
Fayetteville
West Virginia State Penitentiary
Moundsville
Morgantown
Mortar Man
Charleston
All Cities
  1. Alderson
  2. Charleston
  3. Eglon
  4. Fayetteville
  5. Grafton
  6. Green Bank
  7. Harpers Ferry
  8. Hillsboro
  9. Lewisburg
  10. Martinsburg
  11. Morgantown
  12. Moundsville
  13. Oak Hill
  14. Parkersburg
  15. Point Pleasant
  16. Shepherdstown
  17. Sutton
  18. Weston
  19. Wheeling

Popular Cities

Point Pleasant Fayetteville Harpers Ferry Shepherdstown Charleston Moundsville Morgantown Hillsboro Parkersburg Sutton Grafton Wheeling Lewisburg Martinsburg Weston Eglon Green Bank Oak Hill Alderson

Do, See, and Listen

Curated for You

Sponsored by West Virginia Department of Tourism logo
Plan Your Escape
ruins

Lake Shawnee Amusement Park

This abandoned amusement park was built on a site with a dark history.

Story

How to Explore West Virginia’s Underground Wonders

A field guide to the most invigorating subterranean adventures in the Mountain State

Story

A Cultural Historian Explores an Old Mental Hospital, and Why They Scare Us

They are haunted, but not by ghosts.

geology

Lost World Caverns

Home of a 28-foot tall stalagmite known as the War Club.

Unusual Attractions in West Virginia

Off the Beaten Path

Visit the site where Zona Heaster Shue, known as the Greenbrier Ghost, is buried.

West Virginia

Greenbrier Ghost of Sam Black Church

Here lies Zona, whose ghostly testimony led to her husband’s murder conviction.

Sponsored by West Virginia Department of Tourism
Added By
Virginia Brown
The swing ride

Rock, West Virginia

Lake Shawnee Amusement Park

This abandoned amusement park was built on a site with a dark history.

Added By
Kelsey Thomas
The main entrance into the Asylum.

Weston, West Virginia

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum

A particularly creepy abandoned hospital that sparks interest for lovers of the supernatural.

Added By
Cynthia Pelayo
Inside the Mothman Museum

Point Pleasant, West Virginia

Mothman Museum

A small storefront museum explores the history and myth of West Virginia's famous urban legend.

Added By
Jane Weinhardt Goldberg

Cameron, West Virginia

Archive of the Afterlife

The museum calls itself the "National Museum of the Paranormal" and is full of eerie oddities.

Added By
Stephen Hummel
Thurmond’s Main Street. (LeahC/Atlas Obscura)

Thurmond, West Virginia

Thurmond, West Virginia

Once connected to the outside world by a single train track, this ghost town is looked after by the National Park Service.

Added By
Leah Caldwell
Mothman statue

Point Pleasant, West Virginia

Mothman Statue

This red-eyed chrome beast pays homage to the popular modern myth of West Virginia's insectoid monster.

Added By
Eric Grundhauser

Fayetteville, West Virginia

New River Gorge Bridge

One day a year it is legal to jump off of this astoundingly tall bridge that spans an Appalachian gorge.

Added By
Michelle Dolin
See All 106 places

Explore the Map

Hidden Wonders

What Do You Want to Do in West Virginia

Ruins (8) History & Culture (8) Museums (8) Geology (5) Nature (4) Places To Stay (3)
West Virginia Department of Tourism logo

Adventure is in Our Nature

Plan Your Escape

West Virginia Stories

Articles and Podcasts

Podcast

Arthurdale

Hear the saga of an ambitious, government-backed homestead project that never quite lived up to its hype.

Read more
Written By
The Podcast Team
August 24, 2023
  • A Bridge Day base jumper.

    Podcast

    Embracing Adventure in Fayetteville

    Sponsored by GoUSA TV

  • Podcast

    The Greenbrier

    By The Podcast Team

  • Virginia Webb, right, and her husband, Carl, open up one of their 400 hives. The Webbs are one of the largest producers of honey in the Southeast.

    trees

    The Blue Ridge Honey Made ‘by Bees and Angels’

    By Rachel Kester

  • The author preps for the tasting.

    water

    What It's Like to Be a Water Judge

    By Stephanie Kalina-Metzger

  • The recently dated Pitsenbarger Farm in Franklin, West Virginia, is on the state’s list of endangered properties.

    forests

    Why Trees Are the Most Reliable Historians of Early America

    By Isaac Schultz

  •  The Weston State Hospital, once (and again) known as the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.

    abandoned

    A Cultural Historian Explores an Old Mental Hospital, and Why They Scare Us

    By Troy Rondinone

  • A cemetery surrounded by a coal mine in West Virginia.

    cemeteries

    The Mountaintop Cemeteries Surrounded by Coal Mines

    By Jessica Leigh Hester

Lists

12 Exciting Adventures in West Virginia: Wondrous and Worth a Visit

View List

20 Places to Visit Along West Virginia's Country Roads

View List

Itinerary

10 Wild Places That Define West Virginia’s Landscape

From the high reaches of the Appalachians to expansive underground caverns, West Virginia’s rich and varied natural landscape is full of surprises.
View Itinerary

Order a 2025 West Virginia Vacation Guide

Order Now

West Virginia Leaderboard

Places Added

  1. rbt45769
    11
  2. Virginia Brown
    5
  3. blimpcaptain
    5
  4. thomasharper
    3
  5. readayy
    3
Join the Ranks!
Add an unusual place to West Virginia.

Places Edited

  1. rbt45769
    13
  2. paigeelizabeth3660
    13
  3. blimpcaptain
    12
  4. rugby007
    8
  5. littlebrumble
    8
Join the Ranks!
Improve the Atlas with edits and photos.

Places Visited

  1. back2silver
    92
  2. Back2silver
    74
  3. bpowell 37b04fb0
    51
  4. susannaholstein
    46
  5. Scriv
    46

Recent West Virginia Activity

  • jetadance

    has been to Don Knotts Statue

  • hickorymartha

    has been to New River Gorge Bridge

  • emmabreuhan

    has been to Kaymoor Mines

  • snackinguy124

    wants to go to Lake Shawnee Amusement Park

  • hurstm78

    wants to go to B&O Railroad Station and Willard Hotel

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