This may be the king of Paranormal hot spots. Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville, Kentucky has it all. Dark history, dark energy, shadow figures, voices, and of course ghosts. Built in 1926 Waverly Hills was a hospital for Tuberculosis. It used to be a two story building that accommodated 40-50 patients; but with all the tuberculosis spreading around, they needed a bigger building. A much bigger building. So they opened the new Waverly Hospital in 1926 with over 500 rooms.
At the time, tuberculosis (also known as the white plague or the white death) was a real monster spreading throughout the United States. It’s a bacterial disease that effects the lungs. It spread and acted as if it were a zombie apocalypse. With many people catching the disease, they had to go to Waverly Hills. With no antibiotics or any kind of natural remedies, doctors believed it best for their patients to get fresh air, sun, healthy food and plenty of rest to help them get better and strengthen their immune systems. But the patients didn’t get better. It has been rumored that over 60,000 patients have died at the Sanatorium. Part of the reason for that was the unsafe experiments that doctors would perform on the patients. Of course this was to help heal the patients, but it didn’t work. Procedures such as deflating a portion of a lung or removing ribs in order to improve breathing capacity failed dramatically. There were other procedures that were much bloodier and horrific as well. Only 5 percent of patients survived these procedures.
The Body Schute, also known as “The Death Tunnel”, is one of the most infamous parts of Waverly Hills. It was originally a delivery route for food and supplies. It was even supposed to be a bomb shelter. However, the Doctors didn’t want the patients to see the dead bodies being carried out of the Sanatorium and have that image planted in their minds, so they kept deaths as discreet as possible. They would put the dead patient into a coffin and roll that coffin 500 ft. through the dark tunnel to a hearse that was waiting at the end of the tunnel. Kind of ironic, watching those movies where people say they see the light and they’re told not to go into the light.
The most talked about room though, is room 502. People believed that a nurse hanged herself in that room because she was unmarried and pregnant. It was also rumored that she had became contagious with tuberculosis, although on Ghost Adventures they pointed to further evidence saying she hung herself in the elevator. A maintenance man by the name of Mr. Thornberry found her. He had just gotten to work and was about to take the elevator. As the doors opened, she was hanging right in front of him.
The fourth floor is said to be the most active floor in the hospital. An entity called the Creeper roams around this floor. It crawls on the ceilings and walls stalking investigators. On the third floor, there has been a report of a doppleganger sighting. A tour group was there and saw a man that looked exactly like the tour guide before he arrived, with the exact same description. Supposedly, when you see your double, you’re suppose to die. The tour guide, however, is still alive.
The history of the Waverly Hills Sanatorium is definitely chilling. So if you’re looking for an active place with an abundance of paranormal activity, your next stop should be Waverly Hills in Louisville, Kentucky.