Waverly Hills Sanitarium
Haunted Parkersburg Ghost
Hunters will be having a ghost hunt
at the Waverley Hills Sanitarium in Louisville Kentucky
It is an old TB sanitarium and is now open for tours and ghost hunts
Here is the official site
http://www.waverlyhillstbsanatorium.com
And Ghost Hunter Sites
Louisville Ghost Hunters Society - Waverly Hills Sanatorium
http://www.westvirginiaghosthunters.com/waverly.html
http://www.prairieghosts.com/waverly_tb.html
Photogallerys
http://www.louisvilleghs.com/waverly_gallery.html
Waverly Hills
Sanitarium Investigation - Louisville KY - West Virginia Ghost Hunters
The tour starts at midnight and lasts till 4 am
The cost is $50 paid at the door
We could have spent the whole night but that cost $120 a person and I
cant afford that, especially after driving clear down there.
If you are interested, please let me know because I have to give them
a number of people who will be attending
Also, I would appreciate it if only serious ghosthunters would attend
last year at the Moundsville hunt several people showed up drunk and
embarrassed the heck out of the group
If you want to go drunk ghost hunting, do that yourself, alone
How do I get to Waverly Hills?
The Waverly Hills property is accessed by entering the road (Paralee Lane) that goes into Bobby Nichols Golf Course, which is on East Pages Lane. When you turn into Bobby Nichols Golf Course......just simply stay on the road as it takes a sharp left veer and goes uphill. When you get to the top of the hill, you are at Waverly.
Once I'm Up There....Where to Next?
Once you have arrived for your tour(s), you'll park in the rear gravel lot which
is the backside of the sanatorium. Walk the black top paved area along the side
of the north wing to the end, and you'll see the historical laundry room
building at the right hand corner. There are steps that go down. Once at the
bottom of the steps, there is a door to your right. Open it on up and come in to
a beautifully restored building, where you will pay your donation and get ready
to watch an introductory video.
Imagine yourself choking. Not being able to get air in to your lungs because your throat is closing up inside from something unseen, congesting and constricting the tissues like invisible hands. Your chest feels like it’s ready to explode and your lungs feel like they are on fire. Finally, able to cough, clumps of bright red blood spew from your mouth as the inner walls of your lungs have started to disintegrate. The buzzing and dizziness that you feel in your head is from the constant fever you keep and made worse by the lack of oxygen going to your brain. Capillaries explode in your eyes due to the violent coughing spells and leave your eyes spotted with broken capillaries or a violent crimson red. Your skin has now turned a ghastly pasty white color because your body has stopped producing enough red blood cells to keep the pigment in your skin. - Troy Tayler
Horror Movie DEATH TUNNEL was filmed in this historic, haunted site
The movie is (loosely) based on some of the ghost stories surrounding the sanitarium
It is available to rent on DVD on Feb 28th 2006
For the official site of the movie, click here
LOCATION: Louisville, Kentucky.
DESCRIPTION / HISTORY
Unfortunately, the climate and water/ land geography qualities of Louisville Kentucky offered the perfect conditions to grow the TB bacteria, which resulted in whole families coming down with this very contagious disease, which was in its heyday from 1910-1936, though it was still a threat up until the discovery of the vital antibiotic which became a formidable foe and defeated TB. This insidious disease, named the "white plague" eventually destroyed the lungs, slowly suffocating people who caught the TB bug. TB also sometimes infected bones and larynx.
In 1910, a small 140 bed Waverly Hills Sanitarium was opened outside of Louisville on an isolated hilly area, where fresh air blew freely, and a caring staff tried their best to nurse the afflicted back to health.
However this "white plague" swept over the population, and by the 1920's, TB outbreaks grew, overwhelming this small facility. It is said that more people died from TB than Americans who died in WW1. It was decided that a much larger hospital dedicated to the fighting of this horror should be added to the already existing facility.
So in 1926, a five story, stone, gothic structured, 500 bed, state of the art hospital (for its time) opened, built around the needs of patients and staff in fighting this "white plague" in the search for a cure. The dedicated staff also lived in residence at the hospital, dedicating their careers to the management and defeat of the TB bacteria. A major effort was made to make the public aware of the first signs of the disease, which if caught early, the patient had a much better chance of beating it.
The Sanitarium was a self-contained city, offering everything a person needs. A kitchen, barber shop, laundry, dentist, library, etc., were available on site.
Because there were no antibiotics invented yet, the standard treatment basically revolved around natural cures; lots of rest, good diet, plenty of sun and fresh air, with the idea of boosting the infected patient's natural defenses. Also, as it was discovered that ultraviolet light could kill the bacteria infecting the body, so this hospital had this tool to combat the disease as well. While these methods were effective for some patients, who recovered and went home, many died in the hospital, despite the best efforts of the medical staff.
It was reported in an article found on the official web-site, that of the patients who were admitted to this TB treatment hospital, only 25% were in the first or early stages of the disease, 27% were in the second stage and a big whopping 47% were in the advanced, last stages. It is no wonder that around 60,000 people died here. The early stages are painless, easy to pass off as a bad cold. As the disease took hold of the body, pain came with the invasion however.
The staff did their very best in trying to help the sick, and found a need to come up with new medical treatments to help the people in the middle to late stages of the disease, which needed something else than the cures mentioned above. The alternative would be to just let these people die, which goes against the oath taken by doctors, and the strong drive many in the medical field have to find a cure through medical procedures.
Experimental treatments and operations were performed, and much was discovered and learned about treating the TB infection in people. Some medical treatments which were developed helped and some were disastrous. They did come up with a list of surgical treatments which did help some people. Minor Surgery: An Artificial Pneumothorax procedure collapsed the diseased part of the lung, so that it could heal.
Major Surgery; For patients in the advanced stages of the disease: Thoracoplasty, Pleurectomy, Lobectomy, Pneumonectomy, and Phrenicotomy ( Phrenic Nerve Crush).
These following questions were thought about and answered with planned procedures and a practical way to do so, before patients were even admitted, with both the living patients' well being and the general public's health in mind.
1) How to remove all the dead who died from TB?
As not to crush the human spirit to fight the disease, the dead were not carried out in front of the other patients who still had their hope intact. A patient's mental state was an important factor in fighting the disease. Psychologically, it was thought it would be counter-productive, and the patients needed all their psychological strengths to fight their infections. Nothing like looking at a dead body of a person who lost the battle drive away in a Hearse to boost one's will to fight and survive!!!
2 How to make the corpses safe for the living?
Another problem concerning the dead; the dead bodies were thought to be still contagious because of the bacteria-filled bodily fluids.
The hospital came up with two solutions. First, the dead bodies were hung up, slit from sternum to groin area and drained of all fluids after the autopsy. The bodies were then sent by cart down an underground tunnel which ran 500 feet underground to the receiving station down the hill. The bodies were taken by the surviving family members or cremated.
What finally stopped this scourge in its tracks for good though was the discovery of the antibiotic which could defeat TB. In 1943, a brilliant American Ph. D candidate at Rutgers University, microbiologist Albert Schatz, discovered Streptomycin, a very powerful drug that kicked TB in the pants, ending its reign of terror! Nineteen years later, this Waverly Hills TB Sanitarium was able to close because of a lack of patients; What a joyful day that must of been! The buildings and the 29 acres they sat on were sold to a private owner, who opened up The Woodhaven Geriatrics Sanitarium in 1962.
The Woodhaven Geriatrics Sanitarium in 1962 - This institution didn't have such a great track record with its patients. A few bad apples on the staff abused patients and the Sanitarium was closed via court order in 1980.
From 1980 to 1998 the building slipped into disrepair and ruin. Building was taken over by vagrants, cultists, teen parties. Windows were broken, and the place was looted of anything valuable. Lucky for us, the huge amount of money used to build this huge building was well spent. This stone, gothic building is and was a burn-proof, sturdily built fortress.
It was finally sold to people who wanted to restore the place, dedicated to its preservation. Because of its history and the hauntings, they started to raise money to start the long process of renovation. In 1999, the "Awakening of Waverly Manor" began with the lobby, first floor and east wing being opened to the public for tours, and started an annual Halloween party event with a concert of local bands, all to raise money. A TV Show segment for "The Scariest Places on Earth Series", was shot here. This was the first of several film projects made on this location, which also helped raise some money, to continue to fuel the renovation efforts.
-http://www.hauntedhouses.com/states/ky/house3.htm
The doctors and nurses volunteered their
lives to try and find a cure for this disease. Many of them lived and died there
with the patients. A number of different experiments were attempted in search
for a cure. Some of these experiments may sound barbaric, or even pointless, by
today’s standards, but others are now common practice. The lungs were exposed to
ultraviolet light to try and stop the spread of the bacteria. This was done in
early versions of “sun rooms”, using artificial light to mimic the effects of
sunlight. Patients were also placed on the roof or on the open porches on the
upper floor to take in air and sunlight. Keeping in mind that fresh air was
thought to be a cure for the disease; the patients would often to be placed in
front of the open windows in both summer and winter. Photographs exist that show
many of the dying literally covered in snow but still placed outside in hopes
that their lungs would expand in the clean, country air.
Many of the treatments were much harsher -- and much bloodier. Balloons were
surgically implanted into the lungs and then filled with air to try and expand
them more, often with disastrous results. Hydrotherapy often caused pneumonia.
But some experiments were useful and these procedures are still used today.
Pneumothorax was a procedure that consisted of deflating the infected area of
the lung for a period of time and then letting it heal. Thoracoplasty was a very
invasive surgical procedure where the chest of the patient was opened and then
cords of muscle and up to seven ribs were removed. The opening was then closed
up with the idea that the lungs would then be free to expand further and allow
more oxygen into the lungs. This bloody procedure was only attempted as a last
resort because fewer than 5% of the patients ever survived it.
In many cases, entire families came to live at Waverly Hills. Some were cured
but many others left the hospital through what was called the “body chute”. This
was a tunnel that led from the hospital to the railroad tracks at the bottom of
the hill. It consisted of a motorized rail and cable system where the bodies
were placed and lowered down on one side of the tunnel and steps led up and down
on the other. A small steam plant on the property heated the tunnel, as well as
the hospital and provided warmth for the maintenance workers that lived off the
property. This was their entrance and exit for work. The tunnel was totally
enclosed from the Morgue wing of the hospital. The purpose of this was so that
the patients couldn’t see how many bodies were leaving the hospital. It was
believed this would negatively affect their morale as the doctors discovered
early on that the mental health of the patients was just as important as their
physical health.
Because of the procedures and experiments that were performed at Waverly Hills
and other hospitals around the country, tuberculosis was declining worldwide by
the late 1930’s. It wasn’t until 1943 though that a young graduate student at
Rutgers University by the name of Albert Schatz discovered Streptomycin, the
first real medicine against the disease. By the mid 1950’s, tuberculosis had
been largely eradicated because of this antibiotic. In 1961, Waverly Hills
Sanatorium was closed because there was no longer a need for a tuberculosis
facility. The buildings were reopened in 1962 as Woodhaven Geriatrics
Sanitarium.
There have been many tales of patient mistreatment and unusual experiments that
have filtered down from the hill over the years. Some have been proven false,
while others unfortunately have turned out to be true. Electroshock therapy was
widely used, although it was considered to be a very effective treatment in
those days. Even today, it has been used with great results but now, as it was
then, tragic losses sometimes occurred. During the 1960’s and 1970’s, a time of
budget cuts for facilities of this type, there were many well documented cases
of horrible conditions and unusual treatments at mental institutions all across
the country. Apparently Woodhaven was no different because the state of Kentucky
closed it down in 1982 due to patient abuse. The buildings, contents and land
were auctioned off and the doors were locked for good.
The building and land changed hands several times over the next 18 years. The
second owner of the property wanted to tear all the buildings down to construct
the world’s largest statue of Jesus Christ. He succeeded in demolishing all of
the buildings except for the main hospital and was only stopped by an injunction
because the building is on the National Historic Register’s “endangered” list.
He then decided that if he couldn’t legally tear it down then he would do
everything in his power to get it condemned. He let vandals come into the
building and tear it up. After breaking windows, porcelain sinks, toilets and
doors, they began spraying graffiti on every available wall. The owner then dug
around the foundation, in some places as deep as 30 feet, to try and make the
foundation crack. If this happened, then he believed he could get the building
condemned and would be able to legally tear it down. Fortunately, the structure
refused to give way and his efforts failed. The area where his extensive digging
took place can still currently be seen.
By 2001, this once regal and majestic hospital had been ravaged by time, the
elements and vandals and was a shell of its former self. Waverly Hills had now
become every town’s “haunted house”. Vagrants took to living here and kids broke
in for the rush of finding a “ghost” or just to get high. It started to get the
reputation of being haunted and rumors had it that satanic rituals were taking
place within its walls. There were tales of a little girl running up and down
the third floor solarium playing hide and seek with trespassers, of a little boy
playing with his leather ball, of rooms lighting up as if there was still power
to the building, doors slamming, disembodied voices, a hearse driving up and
dropping off coffins and an old woman running from the front door with her
wrists bleeding screaming “help me, somebody save me!” The years went by and the
owner decided to sell the property to the new owners, who took possession in
2001.
In that same year, the Louisville Ghost Hunters Society was asked to come to
Waverly Hills to find the “hot spots” for Triage Entertainment, who were
producing a segment of Fox Television’s “Worlds Scariest Places”. LGHS Vice
President Jay Gravatte, founder Keith Age and several other members arrived in
the early evening. Jay would be featured on the show as the Waverly “historian”
and his task would be to guide the girls through the building.
-http://www.prairieghosts.com/waverly_tb.html