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Hurry up and test your bravery before Halloween is over!

Waverly Hills is a former sanatorium that rests in the outskirts of Louisville. It’s known for its rich history and suspected paranormal activity.  

Before the building became known as ‘one of the most haunted locations in the world’ Waverly started out as a hospital in the outskirts of Louisville. The property where the building rests was bought by Major Thomas H. Hays in 1883 as his family’s home. He would eventually name the property ‘Waverly Hills’  In the early 1900’s, Louisville was struck with a tuberculosis epidemic,  due to the wetlands near the Ohio River, which spread the bacteria to more people. To fight against the contagious disease, construction for the hospital began in 1908 and officially opened its doors on July 26th, 1910. The hospital quickly reached full capacity and another section was added on October 17, 1926, to house up to 400 patients. “Eventually Hay’s property was chosen for several reasons; its distance from the city, its picturesque tranquil view, as well as its high altitude with increased airflow. The Board decided to keep the name Waverly, as it had a peaceful sound to it,” Kentucky Historic Institutions said. Waverly turned into a place far from peaceful. 

It became a self-sustainable community; the property had their own farmland, butchery, maintenance garage, and post office. Once you were in, there was little to no chance of getting out. Doctors resorted to what would be considered  barbaric to today’s standards by performing experiments on their patients to find a cure. They would expose their lungs to UV light to help stop the spread of bacteria. In more serious cases, doctors would take out ribs and muscles to surgically implant balloons into a patient’s lungs to help them expand further. Very few lived after the surgery. 

Since many of the patients died at the hands of tuberculosis, the employees started to use an enclosed tunnel that became known as the ‘body shute.’ Bodies were transported through the tunnel and away from Waverly to be cremated or buried. The main goal was for employees to not cause panic among the patients at Waverly. While Waverly was open , tens of thousands of  people died within its walls. Fortunately, new medicines were created in the 1940’s to combat tuberculosis. The population at the hospital slowly declined until Waverly closed its doors in 1961. “With the advancement of tuberculosis treatments, people no longer need the hundreds of sanatoriums that existed around the world, and Waverly Hills would close their doors in 1961,” Waverly employee Courtney Lewis said. 

 The purpose of the huge building changed for numerous reasons over the decades. In 1962, it reopened as Woodhaven Geriatric Center, a nursing home for the elderly and severely mentally handicapped. It later closed due to patient abuse and the degrading states of the facilities in 1982. Developer J. Cliffard Todd then tried to turn the building into a prison for inmates, but after massive protest from the community, he abandoned the project. In 1996, Robert Alberhasky bought the property to construct a Jesus statue and turn the building into an arts and worship center. His efforts failed because of a lack of funding and the property was eventually sold to Tina and Charlie Mattingly, the current owners of Waverly Hills.

 On the fifth floor, in room 502, an unmarried nurse hung herself after she found out she was pregnant in 1928. Her body was found hanging from a pipe on the ceiling. Many have said to hear the voice of a young woman and feel a heavy, depressing weight when they enter the room. This is one of the many things that people experience when they visit Waverly Hills. 

Rumors of Waverly being haunted have swept through the nation. With the amount of people that suffered torture and death, even non-believers in the paranormal can admit that there’s a heavy energy at Waverly Hills. Many people have reported strange things like lights flickering, hearing disembodied voices, footsteps, doors slamming, the air feeling cold and other strange occurrences. People have also claimed to see figures appear in windows and rush down the hall into the darkness. Other ghost figures include a little boy rolling a leather ball to quests, a doctor walking into a kitchen, and a woman with bleeding wrists crying out for help. 

Courtney Lewis, a passionate employee of Waverly Hills, has worked guiding tours through the old hospital for years. She has always dreamed of working at Waverly, and even wrote short stories of her “ghost hunting” there. “I have seen tons of shadows come out in the hallways, touching guests and staff. Hearing my name being called knowing I was the only one in the building, and even had a ball rolled up to me when I was locking up. After all the investigations I’ve done, nothing seems crazy to me anymore. To the normal person, all of my stories would probably give someone goosebumps,” Lewis said.