The Waverly Hills Sanatorium - National Paranormal Day

May 3rd is National Paranormal Day, which is the perfect time to write about one of the most haunted places in America. Some people say it’s the most haunted in the world.

This place is called The Waverly Hills Sanatorium. I found out about this place today when I was on my way to school and listening to my favorite podcast, Two Girls One Ghost. (I know the name of the podcast sounds inappropriate, but it’s a great show and not as sexual as it sounds.)

The Waverly Hills Sanatorium was built in Louisville Kentucky. The first building opened in 1911 and was used as a place to keep tuberculosis patients. Since tuberculosis was getting out of control, the owners of the sanatorium had to construct a children’s pavilion and a larger hospital. The first building was two stories and kinda small, but since tuberculosis has no mercy, they had to build a five-story building.

The children’s pavilion was made for sick children, obviously, but healthy, uncontaminated children of patients in the larger buildings stayed with the sick children, too. Soon, all kids in the children’s pavilion were sick and on death’s doorstep.

According to the podcast mentioned earlier, over 6,000 people died at Waverly Hills (but many people say it was closer to 8,500.) They were losing patients at a rate of one person every three days. Death rates were so bad they had a “death chute.” This chute was made so workers at the sanatorium could throw the bodies of tuberculosis victims down to a train car so the bodies could await cremation; and the chute was 485 feet long! This method of disposing of bodies was kept covert by doctors’ orders who wanted patients to be unaware of the number of dead bodies.

After the discovery of a cure for tuberculosis, the sanatorium was closed down and quarantined. But in 1962, it was reopened and made into a geriatric facility called Woodhaven. Woodhaven was shut down in 1982 due to horrific reports of severe neglect of patients due to the place being too crowded and understaffed. There are also stories of people being experimented on, but I could not find any reports saying if it were the tuberculosis victims or the senior citizens being tormented in cruel, unethical ways. The sanatorium was once again opened for ghost tours some years later.

Now, it’s time for the ghosts. While I was listening to Two Girls One Ghost, they mentioned that someone had taken a picture in one of the buildings. It looked like a woman in a nightgown with dark hair. This ghost is known as Mary Lee.

Mary Lee was a nurse working at the sanatorium when tuberculosis ran rampant. Sadly, she contracted the disease and got knocked up by a doctor (out of wedlock, which was a huge no-no at the time.) Mary Lee stayed in Room 502 and hung herself. Her body wasn’t discovered for days, and another nurse moved into Room 502. That new nurse later threw herself out of the window. Maybe she saw something in that room that drove her to madness.

The most famous phantasms are a little boy bouncing a boy, a little girl playing hide and seek with the visitors, but the most terrifying one is an old woman that is chained up and her hands and feet are bleeding. She screams and runs from the visitors like she thinks they want to hurt her. Even though the building does not have electricity, lights are sometimes seen in the windows, just like the building is living its past again.

Since 6,000+ people have died at The Waverly Hills Sanatorium, there has to be more ghosts. Ghosts don’t always appear to us or like to make their presence known, but they will be there even if we can’t sense them.

If you want to check out this scary sanatorium, The Waverly Hills Historical Society runs tours by reservation only each year, March through August. Are you brave enough (or stupid enough) to visit this place? If you go, say hello to Mary and the children for me.

Happy Haunting ;)