The West Virginia Penitentiary........a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there!

Watch out for this one!

We've been back in the Sunshine State for about a week and a half.  Before returning to Florida we spent some time at Ben's house, enjoying both him and his sweet dog Allie.  Of course anytime we're with Ben he's going to have a few activities lined up, after all, at work he is the Director of Activities.

One evening we made our way to Pittsburgh to watch the Pirates and Diamondbacks game.  Unfortunately the gods of baseball aren't smiling on either the Pirates or Diamondbacks this year.  Fortunately, this meant parking was easy, we had plenty of room to spread out and getting an extra ticket with my baseball pass wasn't a problem.  Also, any game at PNC Park (the Pirates home field) is going to be nice because not only is the stadium exceptionally nice, but the view across to downtown Pittsburgh is spectacular.   

A great view of the Pittsburgh skyline from PNC Park.  The gold bridge is the Roberto Clemente Bridge.  It crosses the Allegheny River connecting downtown to the Central Northside of the city.

In no particular order my three favorite "newer" ballparks are PNC Park (Pittsburgh), PETCO Field (San Diego) and Camden Yards (Baltimore).  Being both old and "old school" I also really like Wrigley Field (Cubs) and Fenway Park (Red Sox).  The two bottom dwellers of baseball stadiums are Oakland Coliseum and Tropicana Field, the home of my beloved Tampa Bay Rays.  Both are good baseball teams with bad stadiums!  I checked Cleveland off the list a month or so back so I'm down to two teams, Detroit and Los Angeles Angels before I can say I've seen a home game in every MLB teams city.  I don't see getting to Detroit or LA before the season ends.  Checking them all off and a dollar will get me an item off the value menu at McDonalds!

While Beth and Allie enjoyed a "girls day" at Ben's house, Ben and I did a day trip over to Canton, Ohio to visit the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  When the National Football League (NFL) decided in the early 60's to build a Hall of Fame the city of Canton lobbied and raised funds hoping to be awarded the site.  Although a relatively small city (population 71,000) it was a natural choice since Professional Football was founded there in 1920, not as the NFL but as the American Professional Football Association.  Additionally, the home team Canton Bulldogs were the first two time league champion, winning the title in 1922 and 1923.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame

It's always been a violent game!

The Hall of Fame traces the history of professional football from it's beginning to the present day.  Three hundred and forty six players, coaches, owners and others who have made significant contributions to the sport have been inducted.  Each of these are recognized with a sculptured bronze bust that is displayed in the Hall of Fame gallery.  In addition to the history and gallery there are several 15-20 minute movies including one documenting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers road to the Super Bowl Championship last year.  Although no women have yet to be inducted into the Hall of Fame there are  exhibitions highlighting the growing contributions women are making as owners, referees and assistant coaches.  

Happy Visitors to the Hall of Fame

We spent about four hours enjoying the visit which we both agreed was about the right length of time.  We also agreed that now having visited both the Baseball and Football Hall of Fames, we'd both be more excited about revisiting the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.  Of course, we're both bigger fans of pro baseball than pro football.

As far as activities during this visit with Ben, the highlight was our visit to the West Virginia Penitentiary in Moundsville, West Virginia.  Joining us for our trip to the slammer were Denny and Kathy Quigley, the wonderful owners of the campground where Ben works.  

The penitentiary is an interesting looking gothic style building operated from 1876 until 1995.  Since being decommissioned as a prison it has operated as a training facility, tourist attraction and even been used as a filming location for numerous television and movies.  The prison is still owned by the State of West Virginia, but the tours which are offered throughout the day are conducted through the local Economic Development Department.

West Virginia Penitentiary

Interesting building from the outside..........

........not real nice accommodations on the inside!

On the ninety minute tour our guide told numerous stories mostly about events that occurred within the walls of the prison that helped it earn a spot on the United States Department of Justice list as one of the ten most violent correctional facilities in the country.  In addition to the ninety four state conducted executions that occurred in the prison there were thirty six documented homicides of prisoners who were killed by other inmates, a prison break in 1979 that resulted in the death of a local state trooper and a prison riot in 1986 in which three inmates were killed.

Surprisingly for as notorious a reputation as it had, there was one inmate at another facility who wanted to be transferred to the West Virginia Penitentiary.  Charles Manson wrote a two page letter to the warden asking him to assist him in getting a transfer from San Quentin Penitentiary in California to the cozy confines of West Virginia.  Manson spent much of his childhood in nearby McMechen, West Virginia and wanted to serve his sentence "closer to home".  According to our guide his two page letter to the warden received a two word reply and the second word was NO!

We vouched for his good character and they let him out.

The prison recreation field and chapel.  Our guide told us the chapel is frequently requested for weddings.

Several of the inmates were quite artistic and had painted numerous murals on the walls.  This one was painted by an inmate who had been a truck driver.  In the angel wings on the lower right he put the name of his wife.  His reason for being in jail........killing his wife!

A replica of "old sparky"...........

The real "old sparky".  Nine prisoners were executed in this electric chair.  Earlier executions were by hanging.

Of course with such a violent history and a little imagination there's plenty of opportunity for paranormal activity, which the good folks at the local Economic Development office have capitalized on in a lucrative manner.  In addition to tours during the day, there are night tours, escape rooms and a Dungeon of Horrors event that is wildly popular around the Halloween season.  We really enjoyed our ninety minutes behind bars during the middle of the day.  As for a night tour or the Dungeon of Horrors, we'll leave those for others to enjoy! 

The kitchen area is supposed to be one of the areas with the highest concentrations of paranormal activity.  Thankfully, we didn't see, hear or feel anything!