By: Holly Freeland
Holly@louisville.com [3]

Waverly Hills Sanatorium opened in1926 as a four-story hospital [4] for patients suffering from tuberculosis.  At that time, the city of Louisville had the highest rate of TB cases in the country.   Being a low valley area and prior to major developing of the city, the area was basically swampland that was a perfect breeding ground for the tuberculosis bacteria.

Antibiotics were not available at this time to treat patients, so the doctors and nurses used basic and somewhat primitive measures in order to lessen suffering.  Part of those remedies included keeping them around as many open breezes and as much sun as possible.  While most patients were bed-ridden, the hospital was designed with many open areas with large windows, porches and balconies for the patients to have access to fresh air.  The thought was that whatever was coughed, sneezed or exhaled out would be replaced by natural, fresh air and would allow them to heal.  Indoor sunlamps and various surgeries to help lung function were also used to try to treat the inflicted.

Tuberculosis, or 'consumption' as it was commonly known, killed as many as 1 in 5 people in the United States at that time.  It was rumored that Waverly Hills often had as many as many as one person an hour die in the height of the epidemic (but was later discovered it was more like one a day) in the facility from the effects of TB.  Not knowing what influences might help or harm a person suffering from the disease, it was decided that the patients didn’t need the depressing and sad sight of seeing person after person being picked up by a hearse.

By design, the hospital had walking tunnels that were used for many purposes including the transportation of supplies by workers to and from the hospital, for employees to use in inclimate weather and even for steam-powered piping for the facility.  In keeping the morale of the patients high, these tunnels also were used as a transportation system for the patients who died there.  In turn, these tunnels were called “body chutes” as the workers would put the bodies in the tunnel and transport them down the tunnel to the bottom of the hill for the hearses to pick up. These “chutes” in addition to the amount of people who died at the hospital are the foundation of the thought that Waverly Hills is haunted. 

By the mid 1950’s, tuberculosis had been largely eradicated due to the discovery of the antibiotic, Streptomycin.   In 1961, Waverly Hills Sanatorium was closed because there was no longer a need for a tuberculosis hospital. The hospital and surrounding buildings were reopened in 1962 as Woodhaven Geriatrics Sanitarium.  During the 60’s and 70’s, budget cuts were rampant for mental facilities of this kind as the view of these types of hospitals were negative at best.  The result was well-documented mistreatment of patients and horrible conditions at the location that caused the state of Kentucky to permanently close the facility in 1982.

Over the next 25 years, the owners of the site have switched hands several times.  During these years, few measures were taken to protect and secure the site and constant vandalization and destruction ensued.   In 2001, a private owner purchased the hospital with plans for renovation and celebration of the facility and its history.

Most people are now familiar with Waverly Hills because of its reputation for being haunted.  It has been highlighted on ABC/FOX Family Channel’s Scariest Places On Earth and also on the Sci Fi Channel’s Ghost Hunters among others.  Many experts and enthusiasts have visited the site and have documented and told stories of strange occurrences from seeing ghostly apparitions and various lights to hearing doors slamming and other strange movements from inside.

The site itself has indirectly benefited from the newfound interest in the possible haunting of the old TB facility.  Private tours are now available and they help to finance the upgrading and renovation of Waverly Hills.  New windows have been installed and many exterior improvements have been made under the current owner, Charlie Mattingly.

While Waverly Hills may be getting a facelift, it’s not too late to fill your own curiosity and see the facility and feel its history for yourself.  Information on tours for 2008 are available now, and if you are so brave, you can even sp/files/storyimages/half a night or a full night there!

The two-hour tour of Waverly Hills is $20 a person and you can choose between a Paranormal Tour or a Historical Tour of the facility; dates and times vary.  To sp/files/storyimages/the night, the cost is ? night (4-hour stay) is $50 per person and the full night (8-hour stay) is $100 a person.  Call the Waverly Hills Historical Society at (502) 933-2142 for more information about visiting the facility.

Whether your interest of Waverly Hills is of a historical nature, or one of a more paranormal curiosity, the past of the facility is one of infinite fascination and stories!

For more information on the Waverly Hills Historical Society:

http://www.waverlyhillstbsanatorium.com/