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Dean Metheny 1937 - 1987

Dean D Metheny of Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia was born on October 20, 1937 in Brucetown Mills, Preston County to Pauletta Pearl Metheny and Lewis Russell Metheny. He had a sister Lillian Pearl Metheny. Dean Metheny died at age 49 years old in September 1987 at Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum Ward F: Seclusion Dormitory, in Weston, Lewis County, and was buried in 1987 at Shady Grove Cemetery 17840 WV-26, in Bruceton Mills, Preston County.

Dean D Metheny

Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia 26452

October 20, 1937

Brucetown Mills, Preston County, West Virginia, United States

September 1987

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum Ward F: Seclusion Dormitory, in Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia, 26452, United States

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Dean Metheny Dean Metheny (1937 - 1987)

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Dean D Metheny's History: 1937 - 1987

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Introduction

Dean Metheny was the son of Lewis Russell Metheny (1912-1993) and Pauletta Pearl Metheny (1916-1945) and had three sisters, including Lillian Pearl (1941-1987) and Mary Jean (born in 1935). In the 1940 federal census, Dean was 2 years old and living with his grandfather and parents in Grant West Virginia. His grandfather, Russell, was the head of household and worked as a carpenter. Also in the home were siblings Mary, Patricia, and Joan. Dean's father, Lewis, worked as a farmer at the time. Dean was mute and had an intellectual disability which caused him to act like a young child and occasionally become aggressive. He lived at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, which later became known as the Weston State Hospital that operated from 1864 until 1994. Some rather horrific stories and documentation show that treatment of the patients was particularly cruel. Dean lost his life in what would be known as the "Bed Post Murder" in 1987. He was a patient in Ward F which housed the more violent patients. After coloring for most of the day under nurse supervision, he found himself alone with 25yr old David Mason and 30 year old James Woods. The two hung Dean with a bed sheet, repeatedly raising and lowering him. They also brutally beat Dean in between being raised and lowered. See WESTON PATIENT DIES AFTER FIGHT; SECOND DEATH WITHIN A MONTH for details. Both men were later charged with murder but never tried as they were deemed incompetent to stand trial. Another account of Dean's murder can be found at Murder of Dean Metheny. The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum is believed to be haunted and has attracted the interest of numerous paranormal researchers.
10/20

1937

Birthday

October 20, 1937

Birthdate

Brucetown Mills, Preston County, West Virginia United States

Birthplace

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Ethnicity & Family History

Dean was Caucasian. Both of his parents had been born in West Virginia.
Nationality & Locations

Dean was born in Brucetown Mills in Preston County West Virginia, and lived with his grandparents in Grant West Virginia when he was a child. He later lived in the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Ward F: Seclusion Dormitory that was located in Weston in Lewis County West Virginia. He died there at the age of 49, murdered by two other inmates. He is buried in Shady Grove Cemetery in Bruceton Mills, Preston County, West Virginia.
Early Life & Education

Dean was an in-patient in a Psych ward and wasn't educated.
Professional Career

Dean never worked, he was a patient at Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, which later became known as the Weston State Hospital and resided there all of his adult life.
Personal Life & Family

Dean had a learning disability during the 1940s-1980s and was taken care of by the nurses at Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum during the 1980s.
09/dd

1987

Death

September 1987

Death date

Pulmonary Edema, Lacerated Liver.

Cause of death

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum Ward F: Seclusion Dormitory, in Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia 26452, United States
Death location

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1987

Gravesite & Burial

1987

Funeral date
Shady Grove Cemetery 17840 WV-26, in Bruceton Mills, Preston County, West Virginia 26525, United States
Burial location
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5 Memories, Stories & Photos about Dean

Kathy Pinna

31.2k+ favorites

08/04/2023

Murder of Dean Metheny

One of the most tragic and infamous deaths at Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum was the Bed Post Murder that happened in the 1980s in Ward F, which housed the most violent patients. Dean Metheny was a mute man with severe intellectual disabilities that lead to child-like behavior and occasional violent outbursts. Metheny spent most of the day innocently coloring with one of the nurses before leaving to one of the more secluded rooms of the ward. It is here that 25-year-old David Monson and 30-year-old James Woods decided to end Metheny’s life. For no apparent reason at all, Monson and Woods snuck up behind Metheny, wrapped a bed sheet around his neck, and strung him up on a pipe that went across the ceiling of the room. However, they did not have the strength to keep Metheny suspended in the air long enough for his demise, so they decided to improvise. One of the barbarians held Metheny down while the other grabbed a nearby bedframe, positioned it over Methany’s head with the post on his temple, and then the killer stomped down on the other side of the post forcing it to propel through Methany’s skull. This horrible tragedy is just one of the many brutal deaths that occurred within the stonewalls of Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.

- From "Bump in the Night Society Adventures" A Mysterious History of Death and Art

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Kathy Pinna

31.2k+ favorites

07/19/2022

Dean D Metheny Gravesite

The grave of Dean D. Metheny in Shady Grove Union Cemetery in West Virginia.

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

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Kathy Pinna

31.2k+ favorites

02/23/2021

So much tragedy - Mom dying of TB in the State Hospital when he was only 8. :(

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Daniel Pinna

9.25k+ favorites

02/20/2021

The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum has a rather notorious history. It was the home to exploring lobotomies as a measure to reduce the number of patients in overcrowded asylums. A joint project between the state of West Virginia and Walter Freeman.

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Daniel Pinna

9.25k+ favorites

02/20/2021

WESTON PATIENT DIES AFTER FIGHT; SECOND DEATH WITHIN A MONTH

Thanks to Theresa's blog (Haunted History of the tri-state) she found the following article written on September 29th 1992 for the Charleston Gazette newspaper written by Dawn Miller:

A patient at Weston State Hospital died Sunday night after a fight with another patient who was charged with murder five years ago, according to state police in Lewis County.

This was the second death at the mental hospital within a month.

George Edward Bodie, 46, of Parkersburg received several injuries during a late-night fight and died, apparently as a result of those injuries, said Sgt. B.B. Flanagan of the Weston detachment of the state police. There were no weapons involved in the fight, he said.

According to police, David Michael Mason, 29, of Moundsville, also a patient at the mental hospital, tried to choke Bodie with his hands during a fight at about 11:30 p.m. on a third-floor ward.

Charges against Mason were pending until an autopsy is done and police talk to the Lewis County prosecutor, said Trooper R.W. Hyre of the Sutton detachment.

In 1987, Mason and another man were charged with first degree murder in the death of Dean Metheny, 49, and with the malicious wounding of Raymond Diller at the same time. They were declared incompetent to stand trial in 1988.

Dr. Carole Boyd, a medical examiner in Morgantown, examined the body, but would not answer questions Tuesday afternoon, a secretary said.

Hyre said he had talked to Mason, but still didn't know what the fight was about or how it started. Mason remained at the mental hospital and was being watched Sunday night, Hyre said.

"I'm not so sure it was too much of a fight, really," Hyre said. "There was a struggle, but they weren't standing fist to fist, fighting."

Weston Administrator Rein Valdov did not return phone calls to his office Monday.

Earlier this month, a guard found the badly decomposed boy of Brian Scott Bee, a 21-year-old patient who had disappeared eight days before. Authorities at the time suspected the death was a suicide.

In September 1987, another patient at the 250-bed hospital was killed.

Mental health advocate David Gettys said he and his consumer group are concerned about so many deaths.

"What does the state plan to do about this," said Gettys, director of the West Virginia Mental Health Consumers Association.

That group planned to meet today with Don Weston, state secretary for health and human resources.

The state has been arguing with mental health advocates and lawyers for years over whether to rebuild the Weston facility, a 19th-century building that is under court order to close by 1996.

The state is continuing with plans to build a new central mental health hospital, a major employer in Lewis County, although a court ruled that the hospital should be replaced with a network of community facilities.

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