West Virginia: The Most Haunted Place In The United States

Is West Virginia the most haunted place in the United States? Many would say yes.

Having conducted several interviews in recent years on the paranormal activity in the Mountain State, I’m almost convinced now that it is the epicenter of high strangeness.

Check this list for examples of West Virginia paranormal hits:

The Flatwoods Monster, Mothman, the Grafton Monster, the White Thing, the Snarly Yow, large flying creatures, dogmen, Bigfoot, the Wampus Cat, the Bat Boy, the Lizard Man, giant serpents, mysterious giant skeletons and there are many more.

That’s just the monsters. Then you have the UAP/UFO activity. Paranormal researchers, I’ve spoken with name West Virginia as one of the first places they visit when the wild and weird require investigation.

Ron Lanham and Joe Perdue, the founders of Wild & Weird WV and Wild & Weird Radio, are passionate about the paranormal. They are West Virginians who “fly the paranormal flag” for the Mountain State.

Lanham and Perdue are both artists and researchers who draw inspiration from real-world encounters to create art and sculptures in various forms and media.

With their backgrounds in research and investigations of paranormal phenomena, they use their art and business to connect with people who may have experienced something they cannot explain.

Their commitment to community growth and finding answers to all things paranormal led them to establish the West Virginia High Strangeness Collective in 2020.

This joint research project aims to provide rapid response data collection to sightings in West Virginia.

Ron and Joe are also the hosts of the popular podcast “Wild & Weird Radio,” where they explore various paranormal topics from around the world.

Their dedication to paranormal research was recognized when they were named the Bigfoot Researchers of the Year by BigfootForums.com in 2022.

The Most Haunted Place In The United States

No one really knows why West Virginia is possibly the most haunted place in the United States.

Ron Lanham was hooked on the paranormal after seeing a ufo as a very young man.

He seems to have been preordained to research the paranormal although he did try to walk away from it in 1999.

But an unseen force seemed to pull him back into the world of the weird and unexplained and along with Joe Perdue, their mission is to investigate and reveal the answers to the mysteries of West Virginia.

But that’s only if the answers are there to be revealed.

“We don’t know what we’re dealing with. And I think that’s one of the biggest problems. It’s such an unknown thing”.

“I did see what we would call a ufo that did lead me down a path to where I was having these dreams. And those dreams would expand outward, and then that would lead me to another thing. It was almost like I was being led”.

“I did leave this by the way. That was around somewhere around 1999/2000. I walked away from it, but something just kept pulling me back”.

“It was almost like there was a coincidental thing that kept pulling me back in”.

“And it was just now that I look back at it and I’ve talked to other researchers and they’re like, ‘oh yeah, that happens”.

“It’s almost like we’re meant to follow this path, and it’s this craziest thing. I mean, it really is”.

“And once I gave into that,  well, here we are, and look what we’ve done at this point”.

Ambassadors To The Paranormal

Lanham and Perdue detail a lot of their findings on their website and podcast. They describe themselves as ambassadors to the paranormal.

I’m not sure that West Virginians would accept the tag as the most haunted place in the United States but so far, the evidence is almost unsurmountable.

But why West Virginia? Why is the Mountain State such a hotbed for paranormal activity including ufo/uap sightings and contact experiences?

“That’s such a good question. We were actually asked that recently during the filming Small Town Monsters did On The Trail Of UFOs part two, Dark Sky”.

“That is one of the questions that was asked. Why West Virginia?”

“They have a few theories. Our theory is that it is an old land mass.  The mountains here, the whole Appalachian range when everything was underwater originally, those were above water”.

“So you have to imagine if there’s a landmark that something seen at some point visited this place, that would still be there to this day”.

“So I really think that has something to do with this”.

“I think this is an ancient place and there may be ancient markers that point to this area”.

“We do know that it has a rich history and from UFO sightings to the paranormal, we’ve had everything here, literally. And in my opinion, it’s just as significant as Roswell or any of the other hotspots that are more well known”.

“And I think they’re finally starting to capitalize on that. That’s not a bad thing”.

“The whole thing with para-tourism is huge, and it is kind of, ‘hey, people used to run from these things…they don’t run from them anymore’.”

The Mothman Legacy

The Mothman is one of West Virginia’s most enduring mysteries. It was brought to life in the movie, The Mothman Prophecies starring Richard Gere in 2002.

It put the small town of Point Pleasant on the map during a period covering thirteen months in 1966 and 1967.

And Ron Lanham says there’s definitely something there from his own firsthand experience. But he’s not prepared to say it’s the Mothman.

“Got to say that there’s actually something there. It’s real. There are too many people who have seen something”.

“I’ve actually seen something myself, and that’s still to this day, very strange to me. That was also covered in The Mothman Legacy, also by Small Town Monsters”.

“And if I hadn’t seen this myself, I may say it’s all fantasy, but I saw something. I’m not willing to say it’s Mothman. To this day, I will not say that. But it definitely follows the pattern”.

“And then I met a lot of other people who said it’s the same thing. Well, is it? I don’t know”.

Lanham expands on his thoughts about The Mothman in the following interview. This is the full interview with Ron Lanham recorded in 2021. It’s the first time the interview has been released in full.

Lanham also talks about several of the other West Virginia monsters and the ufo activity that takes place. His description of the Flatwoods Monster is fascinating.