"The Haunted History of the West Virginia Penitentiary" by Sherri Brake

I picked up "The Haunted History of the West Virginia Penitentiary" by Sherri Brake because I figured it would be a good book to read before visiting the site.

This is a massive book clocking in at over 600 pages.  Author Sherri Brake has covered EVERYTHING in this one volume.  Seriously, this is more like 4 or 5 books in one.

I did want a book that was more history and less haunting.  Personally, I have no desire to ever read another book full of people taking photos of orbs, or mediums getting strange feelings.  I want solid, documented history in my books, MAYBE with a few ghost stories thrown in for fun.

This book is so comprehensive though- you get a lot of everything.  Sure, there is a section (that is large) on peoples ghostly experiences, but there are other sections covering a ton of great stuff- like the history of the Moundsville area, and a nice section on the Mound.  In fact, there is at least a books worth of info on the history of the general area before Brake even starts to discuss the Penitentiary!

Once you get to the part about the prison, you realize that Sherri has done a lot of work on research.  There are very interesting sections where she has reprinted old articles about crime and punishment in the area.  She also includes information on formal (and informal) executions in the area, along with other stats.

And she does have a large section where visitors discuss their personal  (mostly supernatural)experiences at the site.  These are fun to read, even if you aren't a believer.  I personally enjoyed the fact that I recognized some of the story tellers in this section (like John Kachuba, who is an author I admire who has written on similar topics).

Anyway, this is a great, COMPLETE volume about a fascinating location!