Ward 1A cantankerous older patient named Ruth was transferred to Ward 1 (1st floor, south corridor) from Ward C for violent women. She was often strapped into a wheelchair and stationed in the hallway where she proceeded to yell obscenities at passersby. Many believe old Ruth still haunts Ward 1, shoving tour guides because she can't verbally thrash them.
Other paranormal events on Ward 1 have taken place in the "stretcher" room, the mirror in the bathroom and the dorm room at the end of the hall. Apparitions in Victorian dress and a shadow man have also been spotted on the ward.
Civil War WingWhen the Civil War began in 1861, the asylum was still in the early stages of construction, and Virginia's secession from the Union brought all non-war-related work to a halt. Colonel Erastus Bernard Tyler marched his Union soldiers into Weston and turned the partially built asylum into Camp Tyler. Control of the asylum would change hands several times throughout the war, and the tolls of war would fill its beds with soldiers suffering from trauma-induced mental illness.
The asylum's single-story Civil War Wing consists of the LOVE corridor and 3 "fingers": the barracks, the original kitchen and pharmacy, and the training rooms.
Considered by many to be the most haunted area in the Kirkbride Building, some tour guides refuse to enter the wing alone or at night. They have reported having their hair pulled, doors slamming, horrific smells and physical attacks.
One tour guide claims to have played ball with a spirit she believes to be the ghost of a little girl named Lilly. She would roll the ball and an unseen force would throw it back to her.
Ward 2A double-suicide hanging and a homicidal stabbing have made Ward 2 (2nd floor, south corridor) of the Kirkbride Building investigation-worthy.
Asylum staff discovered 2 patients hanging from the pipes in an apparent double suicide in room 408.
An enraged patient ambushed another patient near the urinals in the men's bathroom and stabbed him -- 17 times -- to death with a homemade shiv.
Ward 5Ward 5 is on the 3rd floor in the south corridor of the Kirkbride Building. Today it's full of crumbling wallpaper and chipped paint; presumably it had a sunnier look for its younger patients back in the day. It also has more common areas and open spaces for greeting visitors, watching TV, socializing or the random game of cards.
BallroomIf there were ever a perfect place for a residual haunting, the ballroom on the 3rd floor off the atrium of the Kirkbride Building would be it. This 2-story room was where the patients and staff gathered for activities, movies, to celebrate holidays and for special events. It had a stage, a projector room (above the ballroom on the 4th floor) and a sound system.
And it didn't stop there; the outside community used the ballroom for balls, cotillions, banquets, parties and weddings. The local high school even used it for their proms. In a building filled with so much death and suffering, it's interesting to imagine the patients lying in their beds listening to the squeals, laughter and music of carefree teenagers just steps away.
Even though years of neglect and water damage has taken its toll on the ballroom, and yellow tape now warns visitors to keep off the wooden floor, one can't help feeling the haunting presence of the past.
Ward CThe most dangerous female patients at the asylum didn't have far to go to find someone of the opposite sex they could relate to. Ward C (3rd floor, north corridor) of the Kirkbride Building was next to where the most violent male patients were kept on Ward F. The 2 wards were separated only by a locked door. Before entering Ward C, armed guards would first look through the small window on the door to make sure there were no patients lurking in the hallway. Female patients on Ward C were known for their stealth maneuvering and surprise attacks.
This room on Ward C was used for bathing unruly female patients. Their hands were bound and attached to this apparatus above their heads so they could be safely hosed off and cleaned.
Ward FStories from Ward F (3rd floor, north corridor) are not for the faint of heart. Keep reading only if you've become desensitized to extreme violence.
As recently as 1987, 2 patients tried to kill another patient by hanging him from a pipe in seclusion room 1. When that didn't work, they proceeded to take him down and finished him off by crushing his skull under the leg of a bedpost.
One of the same patients involved in the "bedpost" murder snuck out of his room during a shift change one night and beat another patient to death in the hallway.
Tour guides and visitors have reported being tapped on the shoulder by an unseen force, hearing the sound of invisible gurneys rolling down the hallway and a male voice whispering sinister warnings in their ear.
4th-Floor WardsThe 4th floor consists of homier hardwood floors, skylights and small apartments (think college dorm rooms) where visitors and family members stayed at the asylum, as well as the less-threatening alcoholics and functioning mental patients with day passes.
Sounds nice, right? Well think again, because there's an extreme level of paranormal activity on the 4th floor.
Tour guides have watched the door to room 688 slowly open and close by itself. They've also heard what sounded like a shotgun blast from behind the same door.
All the doors on a ward can be shut tight and found wide open an hour later. Tour guides have actually been chased off wards by what sounds like running footsteps behind them.
One visitor tells a story about a white light or orb as large as a soccer ball forming and moving down the hallway before spreading out into a fog and dissipating.
Another visitor believes an entity entered her body. She couldn't breathe and almost fainted before it left her feeling completely drained.
There's even a large fan in the wall at the end of Ward T (south corridor) that can communicate. People have asked it questions, and it answers "yes" by slowly rotating to the right or "no" by slowly rotating to the left. Here's the funny thing about the fan: Its blades are too heavy to move without electric power, and there's hasn't been any power on the 4th floor in years.
Arts and Crafts WingThe Arts and Crafts Wing extends from the north site of the Kirkbride Building. Here patients were taught how to paint, sew, make leather goods, weave rugs on a loom and make ceramics in a kiln. Arts and crafts were used as therapy, and the patients enjoyed working with their hands, sharing and sometimes selling their products to the staff and family members.
In recent years there's been a considerable amount of break-ins on the north end of the Kirkbride Building, so the owners of the asylum decided to secure the building 24/7 and rescue a dog at the same time. Their security comes in the form of a giant Great Dane named, "Boo." During the day, Boo hangs with the tour guides, greets visitors and plays in his large fenced-in yard, but at night, he roams the Arts and Crafts Wing, ready to protect the ghosts from the ghost hunters.
