The Waverly Hills Sanitarium:
Waverly Hills Sanitarium located in Louisville Kentucky is considered
on the most haunted places in the United States. Many TV shows have filmed
there hoping to capture that elusive spirit on film. The hospital has
what every paranormal investigator hope to come across, unexplained cold
spots, disembodied voices and numerous ghost that
have been documented in one form or another throughout the facility. The
one major item it has is its history of death, it is said that nearly
64,000 people had lost their lives here.
The hospital started out in a modest form as a simple 2 story structure in 1910. The main thing about this was its location. The hospital was perched atop one of the largest hills in the area. Soon tuberculosis was becoming an issue in the area and to deal with this the hospital had a new building built in 1924 and in 1926 the hospital was officially named the Waverly Hospital.
At this early time of tuberculosis, there were no antibiotics available
which to give people suffering from this
terrible affliction. The only methods used during this time were rest,
fresh air and sunshine. Because of this the patients spent the majority
of their time in the solarium porch ways. These patients were even placed
outdoors in the winter to help with their ailments; this is why the electric
blanket was invented, so these people could stay warm.
Other than these natural remedies, there were also many experimental treatments.
Pneumothorax consisted of surgically collapsing a portion of the lung
so that it would heal; and thoracoplasty opening up the chest and removing
up to 2 to 3 ribs at a time so that the lung would have more room to expand
and heal. None of these methods were effective. In fact, fewer than five
percent of patients survived the Pneumothorax operations.
In 1943 a new medication that would eventually eradicate tuberculosis, streptomycin was discovered. In the first 3 years of operation it is estimated that Waverly lost nearly 10,000 people. By the mid 1950's tuberculosis was tamed and in 1961 Waverly hospital was closed. It reopened a year later as the Woodhaven Geriatrics Sanitarium, where there have been many tales of patient mistreatment and unusual experiments. The state of Kentucky closed it in 1982 due to patient abuse.
The buildings, contents, and land were auctioned off and the doors were locked for good. Over the next 18 years, ownership of the building changed hands many times. The second owner wanted to tear it down, but was stopped because the property was on the National Historic Register's "endangered" list. He decided that if he couldn't legally tear it down then he would do everything in his power to get it condemned.
He encouraged vandalism and people broke windows, porcelain sinks, toilets and doors. They sprayed the walls with graffiti and defaced stone and wood. The owner then dug around the foundation, in some places as deep as 30 feet, to try and make the foundation crack. If this happened, he believed, he could get the building condemned and would be able to legally tear it down. But his efforts failed, and he finally gave up and sold the property in 2001.
There are rumors that satanic rituals have taken place within its walls,
of a little girl moving about the third floor solarium playing hide and
seek with trespassers, of a little boy named Bobby playing with his leather
ball, of rooms lighting up though there was no power in the building,
of doors slamming, disembodied voices, a hearse driving up and dropping
off coffins, and an old woman running from the front door with her wrists
bleeding screaming: "Help me. Somebody save me!"
Main Entrance:
Here the ghost of an old woman has often been seen. Sometimes she runs
out the front door. Her hands and legs are in chains and spectral blood
drips from her wrists and ankles. She cries for help before she dissipates
into thin air.
The Third Floor:
Many have seen a little girl on the third floor who is known as "Mary."
Some say that she plays with a ball; others have only heard the ball bouncing
on the floor or down the stairs. This ball bouncing has also been attributed
to a little boy, but the little girl seems the spookiest. One man said
that he encountered a little girl that "wasn't normal." She
kept saying that she has no eyes. He was so terrified that he refused
to enter the building again. Some have seen the child peering out the
third floor windows.
Room 502;
Perhaps one of the most infamous areas of all in the hospital. In 1928,
the head nurse was found dead in the room. She had hanged herself from
the light fixture. No one knows why the 29-year old woman would take her
own life, but it's believed that she was unmarried and pregnant. It is
unknown how long her body hung before she was finally discovered. The
county coroner's office attributed her death to suicide.
In 1932, another nurse who worked in room 502, supposedly committed suicide when she jumped from the balcony of the roof. No one knows why. Folks have seen the full body apparition of a female nurse in white on this floor.
People have also reported that this room gives them an "unsettling" feeling of great despair. Some have heard a voice say, "Get out!
The Body Chute or Death Tunnel :
What is now called the "body chute" is actually a 500 foot long
tunnel that leads from the hospital to the railroad tracks at the bottom
of the hill. When someone died they were sent down the tunnel via gurneys
to an awaiting hearse. This was done so that patients wouldn't see the
hearses or the bodies--in order to keep morale high. Concrete steps line
one side of the tunnel while the other side consists of a motorized rail
and cable system.
Cafeteria and Kitchen:
A spectral man in a white coat and pants supposedly roams this area. No
one knows who he is but some think he's an old employee of Waverly who
contracted tuberculosis and died. The smell of food often wafts from the
kitchen though no meals have been served since 1982 when the mental hospital
was closed.
Fourth Floor :
Some regard this as the most scary and "active" area of the
hospital. There have been many reports of people seeing ghostly shadow-like
people treading the halls, and doors frequently slam for no apparent reason.
