What’s hiding under your bed may be the least of your worries in West Virginia, a state full of urban legends and ghost stories.

West Virginia ranks as one of the most haunted states, home to two of the nation’s most haunted locations, the Moundsville Penitentiary and Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. Although ghosts are not the only spooky beings to inhabit the state, West Virginia has its own collection of urban legends to keep you up at night.

“Urban legends, ghost stories, dare tales, friend of a friend tales, rumors, all of these oral traditions have things in common,” said Beth Toren and Kurt McCoy, WVU librarians and folklore experts. “Most are partly based on facts and retold as oral history in stories that can take on a life of their own. They reflect historic and cultural beliefs and play many roles in society.”

Urban legends may be thought of as stories that were created long ago, but these oral traditions can surface at any time, as seen with the clown epidemic of late 2016. Tales that were once passed down orally can now reach a broader audience through the internet and social media to keep their popularity and continue plague the dreams of those who come across them.

“The internet and social media enabled new ways to pass around these stories, (they) impacted the spread of a cultural meme,” Toren and McCoy said. “Creations of the collective imagination manifested on the internet include the digital folklore cases of the Slender Man and black-eyed children.”

However there are stories living closer to us than through our computer screens, even living alongside us everyday at the University. A quick Google search will reveal the number of ghosts that reside in the buildings on WVU campus students use everyday, from janitors to children to cats.

The surrounding rivers and local areas are even said to be plagued by monsters, figures, and spirits. The stories of these beings and creatures all developed and passed down for different reasons, to warn, to educate and for pure entertainment.

“The story of two beheaded, hitchhiking students can be used as a warning about the dangers of hitchhiking,” Toren and McCoy said. “The case involves a possible fake confession, is still used a teaching case in the WVU Forensics courses and left a ghost story. This is an example of the common occurrence where the haunting or legend becomes more memorable than the original crime.”

We live alongside these legends everyday, but rarely shed light on them unless impacted directly or a noise is heard in the dark of a dorm room. And while we may not think of them all the time, they are an integral aspect of West Virginia and its culture.

Here are the top 5 urban legends and hauntings in the state:

1. The Ouga River Monster, Monongalia Co. 

Something may be lurking deep in the waters of the Monongahela River waiting for a lonely student, or deer, to pass by.

The legend of a river creature with a 15 foot tail was once told by natives to ward away white settlers along the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers, but a documented sighting may hold proof that the beast is more than fiction.

The monster was named the Ouga by the Natives who used it to protect their homeland. It is rumored to look like a large, mutated turtle with two heads, keeping to the water by day and sliding onto land by night to hunt.

The monster is said to feed on deer in its nighttime land ventures. It waits for them in the brush and when a victim passes by uses its tail to sweep the deer into the water and devour it.

It may sound like just a tall tale, but the WVU Manuscript Collection holds the details of an accountant in a letter written by a man staying at Fort Hamar. The man saw the creature in action and ran back to the fort to gather the men he was staying with. The report ends with the group of man clubbing the creature to death, but the legend still lives on.

Tracks and sightings of large alligator figure have been reported along the Monongahela in recent years. In April 2015 an influx of reports of an alligator like creature began to surface, yet no one could catch the creature.

Regardless of if you believe the creature was killed, something lives on in the Monongahela River. Keep your eyes peeled on your next riverside walk, or you might catch it on a day when it’s craving some a little different than deer.

2. The Headless Students, Monongalia Co.

While hitchhiking back to their Evansdale dorms in 1970, two female WVU students disappeared and were found headless only months later.

It is believed that they were on their way back from a movie when they were picked up downtown and never made it home.

The decapitated bodies of the two girls were discovered along an old mining road near Fairmont, and though the murderer confessed years later, their heads were never found and the case was never put to rest.

Witnesses say they’ve heard growling, screams and whistling coming from the nearby woods of the Cheat Lake area, where the girls reportedly wander in search of their heads.

Car accidents in the area have been blamed on shadowy apparitions of the two girls running back and forth through the woods.

3. Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, Lewis Co.

The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, previously known as the Weston State Hospital, is a former psychiatric hospital located in Lewis County. It is allegedly haunted by former patients.

Construction of the hospital was authorized by the Virginia General Assembly and began in late 1858. The building construction was halted by the Civil War in 1861. The building is the largest hand-cut stone masonry in the nation.

The asylum opened in 1864 and was operated by the West Virginia government. It was originally designed to hold 250 patients, but at its peak held more than 2,400 patients in overcrowded conditions.

In 1871, the famous clock tower was completed. The grounds’ total acreage finished at 666 acres.

Due to changes in psychiatric care, as well as poor building conditions, the hospital closed in 1994.

In 2007, the WV Department of Health and Human Resources auctioned the building. Joe Jordan purchased the building.

Today, paranormal activity is often reported. Multiple TV shows, such as Ghost Stories and Travel Channel’s Ghost Adventures, have filmed episodes from inside the asylum.

Guided tours of the building are available, and you can even spend the night inside the building. Tickets can be purchased at http://trans-alleghenylunaticaslym.com.

4. The Sodder children disappearance, Fayette Co.

While there are many mysteries in West Virginia, the disappearance of the Sodder children is perhaps the most brutal. 

On Christmas of 1943, the family of two Italian immigrants who settled in Fayetteville suffered an unimaginable tragedy: A fire that burned their house to the ground. 

George and Jennie (the parents) and a few of their children managed to escape the flames, but that wasn’t true for all of the Sodders.  Five of their children ranging between 5 and 14 years old, were lost. For the children that were lost, there are some serious questions as to how it happened. 

The official cause of death for the Sodder children was the fire, an electric fire. But the Sodder family, many of its neighbors, and plenty more on the internet afterward would disagree.

What seemed like an incredibly unlucky tragedy might actually be part of a group of murders or kidnappings. 

George, as an Italian immigrant, harbored negative views of Benito Mussolini and his government. Some believe his outspoken criticism triggered the disaster at the hands of Sicilian mafia, who perhaps kidnapped the children before the fire was even started.

The evidence for this is in the lack of evidence of the children’s death in the flames.

Depending on the account of the story, there were no remains found of the children in the house fire. 

This opened a search conducted by the family along with federal and state efforts, thinking at least some of the children were still alive.

Since, the investigation has ended, but the mystery itself still lives on. Sylvia Sodder Paxton, the last of the surviving children, has continued her efforts in publicizing the mystery in hopes of an answer.

5. The Legend of Screaming Jenny, Jefferson Co.

Going along the railroad tracks on a late night in Harpers Ferry, WV, might just provide one of the most frightening moments of a person’s life.

Those tracks are home to the legend of Screaming Jenny, a tragedy that took place in the mid-19th century near the old storage sheds by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.

The story goes that Jenny, who lived alone in a small shed, didn’t have much. She didn’t have a family, was forced to find a job wherever she could work and sustained little money. Her only shelter was the small shed, which provided her a place to sleep and a small fireplace, of little but enough help to keep her warm during the cold winter months.

However, one fire she lit turned into a tragedy. It was late in the fall, and she was shivering due to the temperature and drinking broth out of a wooden bowl. A spark from the fire reached her skirt and put her and her clothes into flames.

Unfortunately, Jenny didn’t notice the flames beginning to surround her. She wasn’t aware until they burnt through the wool of her skirt and reached her skin.

Jenny would then throw her broth over the flames, but to no avail. She ran outside, hoping to find help, but that was also to no avail. She kept screaming and screaming out of horror.

Then the end was near, when Jenny moved toward the train tracks. She was a “ball of fire,” and didn’t notice the headlights from a train passing on the track. That train would run over her, leading to her tragic passing.

One month after the incident, one train driver was passing along the same part of the tracks where Jenny was killed. It was too late to stop when he notice that “ball of fire,” so he stopped when he could.

When the driver went back to try and hopefully aid the victim, nobody was there. Now, that same tale strikes on the anniversary of her death every year.

Jennifer Gardner, Joel Whetzel and Brandon Ridgely contributed.