What could be creepier than a sanatorium? In the case of the Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville, Kentucky, not much! It opened in 1910 for tuberculosis patients. While tuberculosis can often be successfully treated today, back then, the patients were locked away. When streptomycin, an antibiotic, was finally introduced in 1943 to treat tuberculosis, the number of patients gradually fell and Waverly Hills was closed in 1961.
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However, it was reopened as a hospital in 1962, but then closed again in 1981, allegedly due to the mistreatment of patients. There was talk of turning the buildings into a prison, then apartments, but nothing panned out. In 2001, the former sanatorium was opened as a haunted house at Halloween.
The buildings have a history of tragedy that helps feed into the haunted location legend. Room 502 is one where it is believed two suicides took place. Nurse Mary Hillenburg supposedly hung herself in Room 502 in 1928 and it is said another nurse either jumped or was pushed out of the window. However, the Sci-Fi Channel’s “Ghost Hunters” were unable to find documentation on either death.
However, it is believed that quite a few people died at Waverly Hills during its 51 years of operation and many spirits still remain behind. Legend has it that the “death tunnel” was used so bodies of the deceased patients would be taken down to the bottom of the hill. The tunnel was also used by employees to get up the hill during the winter and still keep warm, as the tunnel also contained steam pipes.
There is supposed to be a small child ghost named Timmy that likes to play hide and seek. Some have seen an elderly, ghostly looking woman run from the front door with her hands bound in chains. People have reported coming upon cold spots where the temperature suddenly drops in the sanatorium. Paranormal experts and visitors both have taken photos that contain orbs (small balls of light), reported seeing shadow people (dark apparitions that appear human but dark and with no detail), and recorded electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) or voice recordings of the dead. Sometimes at night, entire rooms lighting up for no apparent reason.
Due to all the paranormal activity on the grounds, the site has been the focus of such shows as “Ghost Hunters,” “ABC Family’s Scariest Places on Earth,” and “Celebrity Paranormal Project.” The movie Death Tunnel, and a 2006 documentary titled Spooked were also filmed at Waverly Hills.
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