What's in a Name? Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, West Virginia

Asylum's Renaming Insults Advocates



WESTON, W.Va. - It's an intriguing and provocative name that translates to Web hits, phone calls and tour tickets: the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum

To some, the title acknowledges history by readopting one of the many names previously held by the long-vacant, 19th century mental institution known most recently as Weston Hospital.

But others say the new owners of the massive Gothic Revival hospital have gone too far, disparaging the suffering of former patients and reopening wounds with planned events like "Psycho Path" dirt bike races on the grounds.

The hospital is one of the world's largest hand-cut sandstone structures, a National Historic Landmark that once housed more than 2,000 patients but has stood largely silent since 1994.

After struggling to find a suitable, sustainable use, the state sold it at auction last summer for $1.5 million to Jordan's father, Joe, an asbestos demolition contractor from Morgantown.

The Jordans plan events on the grounds year-round: "mud bog" races, in which trucks try to speed through a pit without getting stuck; a reunion of former employees; "Hospital of Horrors" haunting tours in October; and a "Nightmare Before Christmas" tour on Dec. 23.

But their approach to marketing "cheapens and denigrates the whole field of psychology," argued Jerry Kirkpatrick, an international business and marketing professor at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

Historian Joy Gilchrist-Stalnaker has worked for nearly a decade to save the building where three of her ancestors died. She said the new name serves as a reminder of a past no one should forget.