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Real Places
Many of the locations within the pages of The Hospital
series are real, true-life places that you can either visit or see up close. The hospital itself, obviously, is the
most prominant of these places. Located on the Western bank of the Monangahalia River in Weston, West Virginia, the Weston
State Hospital is virtually impossible to miss.
The instituation itself has been inactive
since 1994. The facility has recently passed from state to private ownership and is currently undergoing massive landscape
and structural renovations. Also, its name has been changed back to the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic
Asylumn for business purposes.
At present, foot traffic is permitted on the front grounds of the hospital
during daylight hours, per the wishes of the new owner. Foot traffic behind the facility is discouraged due to construction. Guided,
public tours of the facility have begun again and will continue during good weather. Please consult local
authorities or organizations (several of which are listed in the LINKS section of this website) for times and dates of tours.
Also, as with any private business or building, unauthorized entry is strictly prohibited.
Weston State Hospital "Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylumn"
"To
everyone in the town of Weston, it was simply refered to as 'The Hospital'..." Page 7.
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| Hospital Clock Tower |
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| Front Clock |
Reaching 300 ft. into the air, the white-washed clock tower of the Weston Hospital is certainly
its most noticeable feature. History tells us that construction on the tower was completed in 1871 and its appearance has
scarcely changed since then. All told, three clocks adorn the tower facing south, east and west...though only the southern
facing clock still functions normally.
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| Cupola |
"At several points along its grim looking facadem its roof line curved, jutted, and raised at
symetrical angles..." Page 8.
One of the few smaller Victorian styled cupollas which still dot the hospital's extensive roofline.
Many of the small and medium sized cupollas where removed following a fire in 1935. Today, only 4 survive.
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| Tombstone in hospital cemetary |
One of very few surviving tombstones from the oldest of the hospital's three patient cemetaries,
located about 1/2 mile behind the facility past the abandoned farms.
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| 1951 Criminally Insane Building...Later State Llbrary and forensic lab |
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| Close-up, Criminally Insane Building |
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| Interior of Greenhouse 2005 |
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| Dairy Barn #1 2005, destroyed by fire in 2006 |
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| Medical Center |
The brick Medical Center was added to the Hospital's campus in 1930. In addition to being the birth
place of our story's hero Dr. Emily Flesher, in 1968, the Center served all non-phyciatric medical needs of the hospital's
patients and staff for 64 years. The Medical Center itself is located behind the one-sotry stone section at the far Western
edge of the hospital's grounds.
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| Hospital grounds, circa 1940s |
The front lawn of the Weston Hospital has changed very little since this photograph was taken in
the early 1940s. If you were to walk up the main driveway leading to the hospital's front doors, it is quite likely that virtually
everything you see here would still be recognizeable at an instant.
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| Front View...Weston Hospital |
Stepping onto the hospital grounds...between what is left of the brick pillars which once held the
main gate...this is what you would see. It is at this point that you feel something like..."An ant placed beside a very
large tree."
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| Fountain |
Restored to working order in 2003, the hospital's circular fountain has stood...in one form
or another...on this very spot since well before 1890.
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| 1940-42 Psychiatric Unit |
Constructed between 1940 and 1942, the "Phsychiatric Unit"...as it was orginally dubbed...was
built with two goals in mind. 1: The seclusion of Tuburcular patients.(Note the building's "open" verandas at
each end.) 2: A place to install the most modern in phsychiatric treatment devices. For many years, the basement of this
building housed water therapy baths, fever cabinets, and other revolutionary methods of treatment. Years later, the building
served as a center for the treament of the mentaly retarded.
Vacated around 1988, the building is now in very bad repair.
NOTE: Due to the smell of the building in its early days, many employees simply refered to
this building as the "P.U." building.
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| Oven/Bakehouse |
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