Places Rural Exploration VA Wants to Go

A failed utopian experiment for British expats in the American South is now a Victorian village frozen in time.

The mysterious wonder of an underground waterfall is illuminated by multicolored lights.

This former maximum-security prison is creepy, sobering, and supposedly haunted.

This abandoned nuclear cooling tower casts a shadow over a bucolic town.

One man’s religious convictions led him to build this stone castle meant to withstand an apocalypse.

All that's left of the quintessential "cabin in the woods."

Home of an evil witch famous within southern folklore.

Enormous lake at the bottom of a unique cave system.

An abandoned coal mine reached by a steep hike.

This abandoned mine and power plant was built atop land once given to Revolutionary War soldiers.

A well-preserved relic of the industrial age steel and iron works that dotted West Virginia.

A monument marks the location of the first successful steamboat demonstration.

The remains of one of the last mining camps developed on the New River.

This abandoned train tunnel has been the subject of countless ghost stories for years.

Two insane asylum bodies embalmed by an amateur.

One of the few surviving examples of the first lock and dam system built on the Ohio River.

A historic coal mine that doubles as a museum and tourist attraction.

Despite its lavish ornamentation, and wholesome lifestyle of its devotees, this mountain commune has faced its share of issues.

Hikers can still stroll beneath the long conveyer of this abandoned mining facility hidden in a West Virginia river gorge.

This abandoned dream castle and its cemetery look out over the city that once inspired their creation.

Beyond the usual stories that attend old prisons, this one has deep bloody undercurrents.

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

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

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