The Haunted Waverly Hills Sanatorium (Kentucky,USA)

Many people believe is one of the most haunted places on earth. This has thrown up some incredible evidence over the years. The haunted Waverly Hills Sanatorium is known worldwide.Haunted sanatoriums are scary, but the spooky stories from Waverly Hills Sanatorium are downright terrifying.

The building is now primarily a tourist attraction for those with creepy predilections, it used to be a functioning tuberculosis hospital. In 1910, when the hospital was established, this meant a place where between 8,000 and 63,000 people died bloody, excruciating deaths, as there would be no real cure for tuberculosis. 

There are some treatments used by doctors in the hospital are like fresh air, sunshine, rest, and good food,  But there are some treatments which were basically torturing and very painful. Doctors would sometimes insert balloons into patients' lungs, and manually fill them with air to help with breathing. Doctors also removed ribs and muscle tissue to give the damaged lungs more room to expand. These bloody treatments were painful, ineffective, and often fatal. Despite this, they were considered some of the most advanced methods for treating tuberculosis at the time.

Until the invention of streptomycin was invented in 1943, tuberculosis was basically a death sentence. This meant that a lot of the people who entered Waverly Hills weren’t leaving alive. 

The creators of WaverlyHills-based their treatment on quarantine, fresh air, and a positive attitude. To this effect, the original facility consisted of two open-air pavilions which housed 40 victims of the disease. As the outbreak spread, the facility needed to be expanded and, in 1912, the larger building was built and patients from a number of surrounding hospitals were transferred to the facility. A children’s pavilion was also built to house not only young victims of the disease but also children whose parents were too ill to care for them. A tunnel connecting to the base of the hill was also built so that workers and supplies could be ferried to the facility at the top of the hill. 

As the state of the patients worsened, people began to die in the facility on an almost-daily basis. The number of shrouded bodies being taken away from the building began to have a dramatic effect on the morale of the victims.It was hugely problematic since this was the cornerstone of treatment. Staff didn’t want to do it where the patients could see.The administrators began taking the bodies through the hidden tunnel to hide the morbid evidence from the other tenants, earning the tunnel the nickname “the body chute.”  The “body chute” or a tunnel that led from the hospital to nearby railroad tracks. From there, a motorized rail and cable system lifted the bodies into trains that would take them away. Try not to imagine walking by the railway just in time for a delivery.

Waverly Hills was also the site of at least two suicides, which strangely enough took place in the same room. 

Room 502 seemed to be a center for disaster. According to local legend, in 1928 the head nurse of Room 502 was found hanging from a light fixture. This was believed to be a suicide.No one knows how long she hung there before somebody found her.Not four years later, another nurse who worked in Room 502 jumped off the roof patio to her death. While no records exist to explain why she did this, some believe she was pushed off the edge. Who might have done it, and why, are unknown.


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Ghost Stories of Waverly Hills

⚫ One legend stems from the experiences of the Louisville Ghost Hunter's Society. When they visited Waverly Hills, they found the kitchen in shambles. Windows, tables, and chairs were broken, and there were puddles of stagnant water everywhere, due to a leaky roof. The cafeteria was in a similar state of disrepair. Finding nothing useful, the team tried to leave, but before they could, they heard footsteps. Then they heard a door swing shut. Then they noticed the smell of freshly baked bread.No one else was in the building, let alone using the ruined kitchen to bake bread. There seemed to be no explanation for what they had witnessed.

⚫ True Ghost Tales featured a story by Joey, a visitor to Waverly Hills Sanatorium. After Joey and a few of his friends learned about the spooky history of the place, they had their own haunted experience. After touring the building, they headed to the roof to decompress. They began to see shadows moving around and started getting scared. Joey’s friend Chris got so scared he wanted to jump off the roof. The group went back inside, still pursued by shadows. They started to hear doors slamming shut, and see mysterious footprints appear from nowhere in puddles of water. Chris began to cry, and the rest of the group barely held it together, but finally, they made it out of the sanatorium and into Joey’s sister’s car.

Was this their minds playing tricks on them, or was it the miserable souls of dead tuberculosis patients? We just don’t know.

⚫ One of the saddest ghost stories is that of an elderly woman who supposedly roams the hospital, moaning and bleeding from her chained hands and feet. Though she cries for help, when outsiders approach her, she runs away screaming in terror. 

⚫ There is a well-known ghost at Waverly Hills.He is a little boy known as Timmy. Timmy was around six or seven years old when he died in the hospital. Since he died with his whole life ahead of him, his spirit can’t move on, and he wanders the hospital trying to have fun. Visitors often bring balls for him to play with, and many claims they see the balls moving, seemingly on their own.

⚫ Mary Lee was a young woman who lived in the sanatorium. On September 10, 2006, Tom Halstead of Missouri Paranormal Research took a photograph of a ghostly apparition that looked almost exactly like Mary. Some believe Mary is the nurse who hung herself in Room 502, while others believe she was the daughter of a Waverly Hills doctor, who contracted TB herself from prolonged exposure to patients. 

Today, the building is spooky enough to give anyone chills. During the Halloween season, Waverly Hills turns itself into a thrilling Haunted House. There are said to be several ghosts still haunting the echoing halls. Visitors have reported that stopping to click pictures was frowned upon by the owners.

You feel the creepiness of this place as soon as you drive up. Out of the way setting in the woods. So much fun to visit during the Halloween season. Private tours also available. Named one of America's scariest places.

It is a well known fact and well documented that this place is really haunted. Check out it's history of being an insane isylum, a tuberculosis hospital and more. Many souls died here and walk the hallways. The 4th floor, I think is where the shadow people are and trust me you can see them. At Halloween they have one of the spookiest haunted houses I have ever been to. They also have tours at night and sleep over tours. I have never done the sleep over but have the other things. My camera caught many orbs in the old cafeteria area. Naked to the eye, but caught on file. Fun and will raise the hair on your arms. The tour gives so much history, you feel like you are taking a step back in time. May the spooks be with you!

Did the 6 hour paranormal tour with my cousin and sister, wow! The place is ginormous! Had an overall Creepy feeling almost the entire time. Certain areas even more so. Our tour guide Chelsea was pretty cool, very knowledgeable, and had plenty of personal experiences to share with us. So glad I crossed this off my list of places to visit!

Facts about Waverly Hills Sanatorium

• The children’s pavilion caused more issues than solutions – the healthy children of patients with TB currently staying at the hospital were housed with sick children.

• During the 1930s, a video demonstrating the “revolutionary” new medical treatments for tuberculosis was made at Waverly Hills Sanatorium. The video featured other TB hospitals. It is one of the few films of WHS actually in use.

• Urban legend says that WHS had a death rate of 100,000 – the actual number is believed to be 8,212.

• It is rumoured that a section of the hospital will become a hotel.

• The money made from tours is put to renovating/restoring the hospital in order to keep it in a safe condition.

Q. Did they provide any ghost hunting equipment on the overnight 6-hour tour? That's what we'll be doing and I'm unclear if there's any help from them with equipment provided, etc.

A.                      Hi, They tell you to bring a flashlight, and I take all my own equipment but thinking back, I don't think they offer any ghost hunting equipment for you to borrow. It would be hard for them to keep up with it because every time I've been, there were at least 50+ people each time. Your BEST equipment is your cell phone. Use it to take lots of pictures and videos and you will be amazed at what you find later! - By Acaxochitl

Q. I was planning on visiting Waverly Hills this summer, but I have read some reviews that say flashlights or flashes from cameras are not allowed. If this is true, how are visitors supposed to find their way or get any pictures in the dark?

 A.                    They give you the opportunity to take flash pics in some areas and use a small flashlight at certain times. Your guide has a flashlight and will make sure your safe.

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