West Virginians are all too familiar with otherworldly phenomenon. From urban legends (think Mothman) to haunted hotels, and even a haunted, abandoned amusement park, you’re living in the right place if you love all things paranormal. However, if creepy goings-on send the not-so-good kind of shivers up your spine, then you may not want to explore our most haunted tunnel alone or ever.

The legend behind the haunted Hempfield Tunnel actually began in 1810, forty years before the tunnel was built.
Google Maps/R Matt Branson
In 1810, the town of Wheeling was growing at a rapid rate and a desperate need for a cemetery was filled through the generous gift of a local family who deeded land to the mayor in order for the town to designate a cemetery. It was placed near the town for easy and convenient access for family members to visit grave sites. For more than 35 years, bodies were interred in the Hempfield Cemetery, which just happened to be located...
On the top of the hill where, in 1850, a train tunnel would be built.
Google Maps/Hale Knox
If you're thinking the city left those bodies up there undisturbed, then you'd be at least partially incorrect. Prior to the start of construction, a local man was hired to dig up the bodies and move them to two other nearby cemeteries. And this would be where things get a bit dicey:
Most accounts about the moving of the dead bodies say the man (the one digging them up... ) got MOST of them. Meaning, yes, there are bodies still buried over top of the tunnel.
Google Maps/don mew
Apparently those bodies (or more specifically, the ghosts of those departed Wheeling residents) are credited with many of the weird and bizarre things that happen in and around the Hempfield Tunnel (a.k.a. Tunnel Green). The tunnel is 470 feet long and although, to its credit, it has dim lights high above the surface, those lights tend to only exacerbate the spooky, unexplained shadows regularly reported inside the tunnel. And they do nothing to calm the urge to run for your life when the sounds of disembodied voices cry out from those shadows.
Equally disturbing, is the moisture and dampness in the tunnel.
Google Maps/Misty Chain
Looking up at the cut stone arch that lines the ceiling of the tunnel, it's common to feel uneasy when you think of the water that seeps through the stones. Is it... could it possibly BE?!?! Some visitors who've experienced the paranormal inside the tunnel recollect a green slime oozing from the overhead arch. To that, we say: Ewwwwww!
There are instances throughout the years when the tunnel was in use by trains, where at least a couple of men, on separate occasions, were hit by an oncoming train and killed inside the tunnel.
Google Maps/R Matt Branson
Of course, that could mean they're trapped in there forever — meaning their ghosts are part of the unexplained haunts that occur here in the most haunted tunnel in West Virginia.
For many who don't believe in ghosts, and those who do and simply aren't spooked by them, the Hempfield Tunnel is a welcome experience along the beautiful Wheeling Heritage Trail.
Google Maps/Bryan K
Just steps before the entrance to the tunnel, the old railroad trestle over Wheeling Creek is a beautiful contrast to the "spirited" 470 feet that lay ahead inside the tunnel and underneath the old Hempfield Cemetery.
Want to explore it yourself? We recommend you take a friend along for support! It's easily accessed via a staircase that ascends up to the trail from Tunnel Green Park. Or, you can park at a hiking sign on Rock Point Road and hike approximately one-half mile to the east entrance of the tunnel.
Google Maps

Are you among the lucky souls that have never sensed anything paranormal inside this haunted tunnel? Or, to the contrary, do you have a haunted experience from Hempfield Tunnel to share? We’d love to hear all about it in the comments!

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