Categories: History

Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville, Kentucky

The Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville, Kentucky was once a school. Major Thomas H. Hays bought the land for it in 1883, and had a one room school house. Lizzie Lee Harris was the teacher there, and she loved the writings of Scott Waverley, so the school was named “Waverley School”. Somewhere along the line the spelling was changed from “Waverley” to “Waverly”.

The Board of Tuberculosis Hospital bought the land and construction on the sanatorium began in 1908. The Waverly Hills Sanatorium was opened in July, 1910. It was designed to house forty to fifty tuberculosis patients, who had to be isolated before antibiotics were discovered. The number of patients eventually swelled to over 140, and a new building was constructed in the 1920s. This building is Waverly Hills Sanatorium as it is seen today.

With a maximum capacity of about 400 patients, the sanatorium continued to operate until 1961. In 1962 t was reopened as WoodHaven Medical Services, and functioned as a geriatrics center until 1980. It was then closed by the state of Kentucky and hasn’t been used since.

Over the years at Waverly Hills Sanatorium, many patients were cured and eventually released. Others weren’t so lucky – it is estimated that many thousands died there. Treatments were unsophisticated and often harsh. Balloons were sometimes surgically inserted into lungs and inflated in an attempt to increase lung capacity. Hydrotherapy was also used but often just led to pneumonia.

A procedure called ‘pneumothorax’ was sometimes performed here too. This involved deflating the area of the lung that was infected, then letting it heal. Another operation, called ‘thoracoplasty’, involved opening the chest and removing up to seven ribs. This procedure was a last resort at Waverly, and less than 5% of patients even survived it.

Patients who weren’t fortunate to live were disposed of through the “body chute”. A tunnel ran from the morgue to nearby railroad tracks. A motorized rail and cable system moved bodies along. This was used so that Waverly Hills patients couldn’t see how many patients hadn’t survived.

Given the building’s past, it isn’t surprising that many think Waverly Hills is haunted. Many have reported seeing “shadow people” and a little boy playing on the third floor. There has even been a report of a woman running away from the hospital, screaming for help as chains dangle from her bleeding wrists.

Room 502 seems to have paranormal activity also. This room was a nurses station, and it has been said that two deaths occurred here – a nurse hung herself, and another jumped out a window. The jumping has not been confirmed, but a nurse did hang herself in the foyer right outside of room 502.

Paranormal investigators have had some luck finding disturbance at Waverly Hills Sanatorium. Some say they have recordings of someone telling them to leave. Others have had their electromagnetic field readers pick up electricity. This is odd because the building has not even had power lines running to it since the early 1980s. Other investigators have found that the shadow people set off motion sensors.

Waverly Hills Sanatorium is private property today. However, tours involving a partial or complete overnight stay are available if scheduled in advance. (The overnight stays are booked for the rest of 2007). Two hour tours are still available. The current owners also do a haunted hospital each Halloween that is free and does not require reservations.