In this scene from our tour at Waverly Hills, our guide bounced his flashlight beam on the ceiling to provide some illumination as we walked (photo courtesy of Mike Whye)Īs we ended our tour, our guide explained that there is talk of renovating Waverly Hills into a hotel, which in my opinion is a monumentally bad idea. But then our guide corroborated my friend’s intuition by explaining that a great deal of paranormal activity had been reported in this room over the years, perhaps connected to the suicide of a nurse that had occurred here many years ago. So much death seemed to have steeped the walls of Waverly Hills in melancholy.Īs we entered the fifth floor, a friend in the group whispered to me that he suddenly felt an oppressive weight. While many patients who came here recovered, thousands more left via the “body chute” by the main entrance. This is billed as one of the scariest places on Earth, but to me it seemed more sorrowful than frightening. (photo courtesy of Mike Whye).Īs we walked the forlorn rooms and hallways of the abandoned sanatorium, I found myself experiencing a blend of creepiness and sadness. Waverly Hills interior provides fertile ground for feeling paranoid. On our expedition through the hospital our guide frequently stopped to tell us about these happenings-voices in empty rooms, ghostly apparitions caught on cameras and other recording devices, odd smells, and unexplained physical sensations. The main reason visitors come, of course, is not to tour a run-down building but because of the many stories of paranormal activities here. If people want to see Waverly Hills, they can take a tour instead of break in.” Part of the reason we started offering tours, in fact, was to cut down on trespassers. “We’ve gradually replaced the window panes and now we have security cameras to catch trespassers.

“When the current owners bought the place, every window was broken because for many years this was a favorite place for local kids to party,” he said. While the building seemed run-down, our guide explained that it actually had undergone quite a few repairs in the past decade. As we walked its hallways and rooms, the only illumination came from our guide’s flashlight and a half moon barely visible through the trees. Not surprisingly, those treatments didn’t work very well, and thousands of patients died during the 35 years Waverly Hills was in operation.Īs we entered Waverly Hills, it was even more eerie on the inside than it appeared on the outside, with rusted lighting fixtures hanging from the ceiling, paint peeling off its graffiti-marked walls, and a musty smell. At the height of its operations, Waverly Hills housed more than 400 TB patients and was considered a model facility using the very latest treatment methods.īefore the development of antibiotics, TB patients endured a regimen of fresh air in all seasons and the occasional surgery to remove ribs (it was thought this procedure would make it easier for patients to breathe). On a ghost tour of Waverly Hills, I learned that it was built between 1924-26 to accommodate the large numbers of area residents with tuberculosis, a malady that was particularly deadly in Louisville because of its humid climate. A ghost-hunting tour here is not for the faint of heart. Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville, Kentucky is said to be one of the most haunted places in America. Waverly Hills, a former TB sanatorium in Louisville, is said to be haunted by the ghosts of the patients who died there (photo from Wikimedia Commons).

Waverly sanitarium