Haunted places - Waverly Hills Sanatorium, Louisville, Kentucky

Right in the heartland of the United States, in Louisville, Kentucky, lays the Waverly Hills Sanatorium. It originally opened in 1910 as two-story hospital to accommodate 40 to 50 tuberculosis patients, but the building we see today was built in 1926 and has always been dedicated to the treatment of tuberculosis patients, a fairly common disease back in the early 20th Century.

Many people lost their lives at the sanatorium. It is estimated that as many as 63,000 could have died inside the walls of this concrete building, but that’s only a legend. Some researchers say the true number of deaths is about 8,000, pretty far from the alleged 63,000.

Image left: The Waverly Hills Sanatorium from the outside.

Many of those deaths can be linked to various forms of severe mistreatments of patients and experimental research on them as well. That may well be the fuel for the reported paranormal activities, which includes unexplained voices and screams, isolated cold spots and shadows moving in the hallways.

THE “DEATH TUNNEL”

One of the more popular legends from the sanatorium is about the “Body Chute”, also known as the “Death Tunnel”, a tunnel where dead patients were tossed. When tuberculosis reached its peak, about one body per day was thrown in there. The doctors thought that this would prevent the disease from spreading any further.

The location has been a popular place for paranormal investigators. SyFy’s Ghost Hunters has investigated the place twice, including one live investigation and the place has also been investigated once by the Most Haunted crew.

Video from one of Ghost Hunters investigations: