Haunted Hospitals, Part 1

When you think about it, all hospitals have a somewhat creepy aspect to them. After all, so many people breathe their last on a hospital bed. Now, think about the possibility that maybe, just maybe, some of those who have died in a hospital refuse to, or cannot, depart ….

We have all heard ghost stories and we have all made up our minds about whether or not we believe. There are, however, a number of old hospitals that have experienced strange, unexplainable, and seemingly out-of-this-world events that have caused many to mark them as being haunted.

Ghosts? You will have to decide for yourself whether you dare to believe or not.

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The Waverly Hills Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Louisville, Kentucky

History

The Louisville Ghost Hunters Society (LGHS) website provides plenty of information on the Waverly Hills Sanatorium. In 1900, Louisville had the highest tuberculosis death rate in the United States. A hospital to treat TB had been constructed in 1910; however, because it was too small to accommodate the growing number of patients, a new, larger structure – Waverly Hills Sanatorium – was completed in 1926. Though thousands of people died – perhaps 5,000 to 6,000, according to Waverly Hills researcher John Amerine, who has investigated numbers using sources such as a former assistant medical director's autobiography, microfilm of death certificates, and fiscal reports – over its decades in operation, Waverly was, for its time, the most advanced TB hospital in the country.

The new facility had a tunnel built leading from the building to the railway tracks at the bottom of the hill; it was a steam tunnel, and was used for transportation of supplies and for worker access. However, the tunnel was also used, reasonably, to transport bodies of deceased patients from the sanatorium, out of the view of other patients, in order to keep up morale. The latter use has caused the tunnel to take on the sensational names of "the body chute" and the "death tunnel." So perhaps not surprisingly, the tunnel is considered a haunted spot. But who can tell whether this is due to overactive imaginations running wild in the dark, or to the deceased not having actually departed the sanatorium through the tunnel as planned ….

With cases of TB in decline following the discovery of streptomycin in the 1940s, the Waverly Hills Sanatorium closed in 1961. It reopened a year later as the Woodhaven Geriatrics Sanitarium, but closed in 1982 because of reports of patient abuse. The Ghosts-A-Go-Go website tells us that, in 1996, the facility was purchased by a local resident who had plans to demolish it and build a statue of Jesus Christ and a Christian meditation center in its place. His plans were disappointed after learning that Waverly Hills is listed on the National Historic Register's endangered list. In response, the owner opened the building to vandals who sprayed graffiti everywhere and destroyed anything they could. It was at this time that reports of strange activity began.

In 1999, the owner of Waverly Hills held a Halloween party at the institution. The ghost stories that surfaced here were surprisingly similar to each other. For instance, more than one person saw a little boy playing with a ball on the third floor and a woman running out of the building, bleeding from the wrists, and shouting, "Help me!"

Real-life Ghostbusters?

In 2001, members of the LGHS paid a visit to Waverly Hills. The LGHS conducts scientific-based investigations of possible paranormal activity, using photographs, audio and video equipment, and electromagnetic readings, without mediums or psychics, and free of charge. The LGHS reports that true paranormal activity occurs only about 1% of the time.

There had been no electricity in Waverly Hills since the 1980s. All electrical wires had been cut and all poles removed. The LGHS members took with them all of their equipment, including an electromagnetic field (EMF) meter. As Ghosts-A-Go-Go explains, the meter should remain inactive, and no sounds should emanate from it, unless it encounters something magnetic. Considering Waverly Hills' lack of electricity, it should, therefore, have remained silent during the LGHS's visit. However, relying on the theory that ghosts are a form of energy that disrupt the electromagnetic field when present, activity from the meter would be a good indication that something was present.

The atmosphere of the sanatorium – dark and dilapidated – can send a chill up the spine of even the most fanatical skeptics. When the LGHS members entered the morgue wing, the EMF meter began to detect something moving, and they followed the signal into a small room. There, the meter spiked and released a high-pitched noise. Down the hall, the crew disturbed a large colony of bats (which to some people would be more frightening than any ghost!).

In the cafeteria, footsteps and the closing of a door were heard, and the smell of baked bread pervaded the air. There is no explanation for this. The kitchen had been completely vandalized, and parts of the ceiling were caved in.

The EMF meter sounded again as the crew passed a stairwell. There seemed to be nothing around, but the crew took several pictures. Only after the pictures were developed did they notice what appears to be an activated light bulb at the landing of the stairs that was not visible before. Remember that there had been no electricity in the building for 18 years, and there was no glass in any of the windows to reflect anything.

At that point, the crew went back and climbed every stairwell. On the fourth floor, the meter went off again and a number of temperature drops were recorded. (The fourth floor, which housed major and minor surgery areas, recovery rooms, a waiting room, patient rooms, nurses stations, and a kitchenette and dinette, is reportedly the most haunted.) On the fifth floor, more strange things occurred. As the crew stepped into room 502, the EMF meter went off and the temperature rose from 86F (30C) to 98F (37C), and continued to rise until the crew left the room. When they returned, the temperature dropped to 68F (20C), while the meter continued to sound. They searched the room for an explanation, but found nothing. Legends tell that the source of the fifth-floor hauntings may be a nurse who in 1928 committed suicide by hanging herself in room 502; however, according to Amerine's investigation of death records for the year, while there were indeed two nurse deaths that year, both occurred due to comparatively mundane pulmonary TB, likely contracted while caring for patients, not suicide. So while a nurse (or two) may haunt the facility, her means of death was not as sensational as the tales tell.

The LGHS reports that visitors have occasionally reported sightings of ghostly children and adults, seen sometimes as shadow people, and some have experienced strange phenomena, such as doors closing on their own or debris moving without a known cause.

New owners bought the Waverly Hills Sanatorium in 2001, and they are trying to restore it. They hold tours to raise money for its restoration. In 2004, a movie called The Death Tunnel was filmed on location at Waverly Hills, based on local history and legends.

For more information see the Official Waverly Hills Sanatorium/Woodhaven Geriatric Center Memorial & Historical Resource.

See the next installment, Haunted Hospitals, Part 2.

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