trans-allegheny lunatic asylum

My husband and I visited the first time on our 25th wedding anniversary in 2012 and fell in love with the place! We have been on the historical tour 3 different times, visited the haunted house twice and plan on an overnight ghost hunt this year.

But hearing the stories is enough to creep you out. That, plus being there on a very dreary, misty cold fall day. Hard to believe this was a functioning facility as recently as 20 years ago.

Built in the 19th century and designed to house just 250 people, this buildings population grew to over 2,400 souls by the 1950's. You will visit to see the largest stone cut building in America and will leave with a better sense of what life was like in an asylum in the 19th century. This building intrigued me so much that I wrote about it in my 7th book. Fantastic day tours and spooky nighttime ghosthunts makes this attraction a "must see". Plan a day tour or a night ghosthunt. You won't be sorry.....

This is a must see if your in the area. The size of the building alone is amazing. Naturally the wives wanted to see ghosts so we stopped. It was a really interesting visit. The history alone is worth the visit. We signed up for the whole tour and it was well worth it. No ghosts, but the history of the place will open your eyes.

Let me start by saying I am a well seasoned and huge fan of Kirkbride buildings. But, the work that has been done to restore this hospital had my jaw hanging from the moment we walked in the front door. Our tour guide was fantastic and extremely knowledgeable about the history and urban legends of Trans-Allegheny and filled us in on some things even we didn't know about. We opted for the two hour historic tour to gear us up for an overnight investigation later this year. The sheer amount of information given to us in such a short amount of time had me running for Google when I got home to learn everything I could possibly get my hands about the place. I absolutely cannot wait to go back. The owners are some of the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure of working with and the haunted house is number one on my list of Halloween adventures every single year. Well worth the three hour drive from Pittsburgh. I recommend it to anyone with an interest in amazing history or the unknown.

This is an amazing place our overnight investigation tour guide Paul knew exactly what to do and say to get the ghosts to interact with us, there was sounds, smells, changes in temperature, and I even got starched. We used flashlights to communicate and they have avp detectors! Defiantly an amazing night I can't wait to go back! Paul is the best!!!

Me, my mom and my friend went off alone and didn't get much activity but when we decided to go along with our tour guide Paul, we got so much activity going on everywhere we went. It was my first but certainly not my last hunt at this lunatic asylum, the 11 hour drive was definitely worth it! Thanks guys!!!!

Rebecca was so nice!it was great to do a hunt with Copperhead in Big Johns room. Will go back more than once!!

My girlfriend and I visited TALA on 12/6/14The following were the "negatives" and they weren't necessarily that negative...but...1. Doors didn't open on time. The instructions indicated to be prompt...it was chilly and raining. So, it would have been nice to open at the specified time. The good...1.Haunted2. Can't say enough about our guide Zach...an extremely personable and knowledgeable individual that is very interesting and took the time to walk and talk with us. a. He set up his own equipment for us and explained each piece. b. Took us to several different spots of interest and not only explained in detail the relevance of the area but, also gave examples of personal experiences and what he has experienced in each. c. Showed true exuberance for his role as guide and also patience with the other " ghost hunters" even as they walked on the investigations he was leading for the rest of the group.Good guy!3. The place itself was incredible. A beautiful building that has been renovated in some areas to include period furniture and fixtures. 4. It's back on my list to visit again!

The full tour is well worth it. The tour guides are knowledgeable and some have a personal story to tell about either working at TALA when it was still in operation, or about relatives who were residents there. This brings a perspective to the tour and to the place that makes the tour more a personal experience than I imagined. I will visit again when I have the opportunity.

First off let me say, I read the 1% of people that gave this place bad reviews and I have to advise everyone that this is not a museum or a restored beautiful building. This is a place for people who want the real history and to see the building how it was left when it was abandoned in 1994. Most of the buildings do not have much furniture or anything except one floor in the main building which is has been re created with newer furniture to show what it may have looked like back in the day. Having that been said, if you are expecting a perfectly manicured museum, this is not the tour for you!!I did the Photography tour which they hold a few times a year for $100 per person. I was so happy to see they offered this, because I love UrbEx and I love photography. Anything abandoned and creepy is pretty amazing in my book. When I saw this tour available during my visit to Morgantown to visit some friends I had to go! If you are into UrbEx, this is definitely the tour for you! Do not try and sneak in, there are staff around the property. I know my UrbEx buds gave me crap for paying the $$ but I thought it was nice to see an owner who left the property how it was when it was abandoned. The fact that he allows the general public full access on these tours is really cool and I was more than happy to pay the amount. They offer full access to almost all the buildings for about 4 hours (photography tour only). The tour is supervised but if you let the guide know where you are going, you can stay behind on a floor for an extra few minutes. You may think 4 hours is a lot of time but you have to remember the main building is enormous and would take me 4 hours if our guide didn't keep coming to get me. After the main building there are 4 other buildings to visit with many floors and areas to explore. You have to move fast!!! The building offers some props in the main building like wheelchairs you can roll into your shots. There aren't any doors that are off limits, if the door opens you can go. This tour has minor historical information, the guide will introduce you to the building and some minimal information due to time. If you prefer to get more information they will gladly stay and talk to you (remember that you only have a short amount of time per building and per floor). I have to say our guide (I believe her name was Danielle) was very informative and answered any questions that were asked. The staff are really nice and want you to go away with a good value for your money....Even after 2 weeks of leaving this place, I still cant get it out of my head. Great experience! Thank you TALA team.PS....Wish we got to go into the TB hospital but it was being used for Forsaken which is their haunted house attraction. Next time I return to MoTown I would go again and bring my friend who live there so they can see it. Its about an hour drive from Morgantown without traffic fyi.

I just did an overnight investigation with two of my friends on Saturday night. We had a blast. We sat in on a session with our tour guide, Paul (who was awesome by the way) while he communicated with a spirit. It was the coolest experience I have ever had. When I got home and listened to my evp's, I had tons of awesome stuff that I definitely didn't hear while I was there. This place is amazing and I am already planning another visit!

I went on the photography tour. Amazing historic location with access to more than I expected. If you are into photographing both restored and urban decay this is the place for you.

So glad they have reopened this to the public. It is a wealth of information and extremely interesting. Our guide was great. He was friendly, funny and shared several stories with us. We were there for a show in the Civil War Room. The only negative I have is that I wish we'd have been told that it would be really cold in that room. We didn't know what to expect, since it was our first one, but it would have been nice to be given a heads-up that it would be really cold while we were watching the show. Otherwise, we really enjoyed it and we look forward to coming back for a more extensive tour.

We took the paranormal tour Halloween Weekend. Our guide was very knowledgeable about the asylum including it's past and current activity. I left with a similar feeling after visiting the Holocaust museum - so much tragedy and wrong doing happened here. We did not notice any paranormal activity on our tour, but our guide recounted many personal experiences. If you go in cool weather, dress warm there is no heat.