It was between 7:30 and 8 P.M., right about the time it started getting dark and also about the time the most haunted place in the state of Kentucky, had opened its gates. My mom, my boyfriend, my brother, and I all decided that we wanted an adrenaline rush and wanted to spend our night excitingly. Since it’s October and it was almost Halloween, we knew exactly what we wanted to do. Well, what comes along with Halloween? You might ask yourself. Haunted houses of course. So we narrowed our decision down to the most haunted place in Kentucky, Waverly Hills Sanatorium. I don’t know which was the scariest, the experience we had or knowing the history behind Waverly itself.

            Lets start off with the history. Tuberculosis was beginning spread in the 1900’s because, according to Charlie and Tina Mattingly, the owners of the Waverly Hills Sanatorium,

           

Tuberculosis is a deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacterium. Tuberculosis most commonly attacks the lungs (as pulmonary TB) but can also affect the central nervous system, the lymphatic system, the circulatory system, bones, joints and even the skin. Those afflicted with the disease had to be removed from the general public and quarantined somewhere that had the ability to care for them properly. The large Sanatorium that you see at the top of this page was constructed for that purpose.
Construction began in March of 1924. It opened on October 17, 1926 to administer patients. With over 500 beds available this state-of-the-art facility was populated with citizens of Louisville and other parts of Kentucky as well as people from all over The United States. All of which went there in hopes of being cured of Tuberculosis. This was unfortunately not the case as thousands of people suffered and died of TB at Waverly Hills. To cope with the large numbers of deaths and to avoid hurting the morale of other patients a 500 foot long tunnel that was originally used as a supply tunnel was converted into a “Body Chute”. The bodies of the deceased would be lowered down the tunnel via rail-tram system to train cars at the bottom of the hill.
Waverly functioned as a tuberculosis hospital until 1961, when it was closed down to be quarantined and renovated to be opened again in 1962 as Woodhaven Medical Services. The facility remained a geriatrics center until 1980, when it was closed by the state for alleged patient abuse (pg. 1).

 

            We came up on, what looked like, an abandoned street. It was dark and was surrounded by a forest of trees. The first thing we came to was a white booth, in which you had to stop at to pay for parking. I was expecting just a regular person to be taking up money, but no, it was some scary, nasty, ugly, creature; that really started our haunted house experience off right.

            Getting out of the car was another adrenaline rush experience. You could just capture the scent of death from where you were standing. Standing in line to get tickets, you would think, would be dreadful and boring. Absolutely not! I don’t know which was the most exciting, the chainsaw guy chasing you all over the sanatorium grounds or the haunted patients literally grabbing you and shaking you, asking you to help them.

            The tour of Waverly was absolutely astounding, I loved it. When we first walked in we took a ride in the elevator to the first floor, with a creepy looking character; who almost smashed my foot with his metal cane. As we walked through these rooms there were many moments when I thought my heart was going to jump out my chest. We had people jumping out at us left and right. I finally realized every bit of this actually represented close to what actually happened to the patients that resided in this hospital, because within each room there were patients screaming for help and grabbing begging you to get them out of that hospital.

            This was definitely an awesome experience and if I ever have a chance to go back I will, without any hesitation. Yes, it was close to 35 degree’s outside, but it was more than worth it. If you are looking for an adrenaline rushing, heart pumping night, go to Waverly Hills Sanitarium.