Waverly Hills Sanitarium

JohnHart · Mist Joined: 18 Mar 2008 Posts: 35

Waverly Hills Sanitarium

Location: Louisville, KY

History: In 1910, a wooden, two-story tuberculosis hospital opened on one of the highest hills in southern Jefferson County. Officials realized that the hospital was too small because they were housing more than 130 cases. A new building was constructed in 1924 and the new Waverly Hospital opened in 1926. Waverly Hills was considered to be the most advanced tuberculosis hospital in the country. In many cases, entire families came to live at Waverly Hills.

Ten thousand people died during Waverly's first three years alone. At the height of the tuberculosis epidemic, it is reported that one patient an hour died. An estimated 64,000 people died at Waverly before Streptomycin was discovered in 1943.

By the 1950's tuberculosis was pretty much eradicated. There was no need for such a huge facility, so the hospital closed in 1961.

The buildings were reopened in 1962 as the Woodhaven Geriatrics Sanitarium. The state of Kentucky closed Woodhaven in 1982 due to patient abuse. The buildings, contents and land were auctioned off and the doors were locked for good.

The new owner wanted to tear down the buildings, but was stopped because the property was on the National Historic Register's endangered list. Since he couldn't legally tear it down, he decided he would do everything in his power to get it condemned. He encouraged vandals to vandalize the building. They broke windows, bathroom fixtures and doors. The walls were covered with graffiti. The owner dug large holes around the foundation in an attempt to crack the foundation. His efforts failed, and he finally gave up and sold the place in 2001.

The hospital is currently being renovated. In recent years, interest has grown in the history of the building. It has been featured on Fox TV's, World's Scariest Places, and on MTV's Fear.

Haunting: The ghost of an old bleeding woman, with her hands and legs are in chains, has often been seen running out the front door. She cries for help before she dissipates into thin air.

Many people have seen a little girl, known as "Mary" on the third floor. Reports say that she plays with a ball; others have only heard the ball bouncing on the floor or down the stairs. Her ghost has been seen peering out the third floor windows.

The fourth floor is regard as the most active area of the hospital. There have been reports of ghostly shadow-like people walking the halls, and doors slamming for no reason.

The full body apparition of a female nurse in white has been seen on the fifth floor. This could be the ghost of one of the two nurses that died in room 502. In 1928, the head nurse hung herself; it is believed that she was unmarried and pregnant. It is unknown how long her body hung before she was discovered. The county coroner's office attributed her death to suicide. In 1932, another nurse working in the same room, supposedly committed suicide by jumping from the room's balcony; she died when she struck the ground.

The "body chute" is a 500 foot long tunnel with concrete steps one side and a motorized rail and cable system on the other that leads from the hospital to the railroad tracks at the bottom of the hill. When patients died they were brought down the tunnel to an awaiting hearse. This was done so patients wouldn't see the hearses or the bodies leaving. Voices have been heard along the long eerie passage.

A spectral man in a white coat and pants has been seen roaming the cafeteria and kitchen 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 hospital was closed.

Children have been heard chanting "Ring around the Rosy" on the roof.
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John Hart
Vintage Computer Collector