Lost and abandoned america
We made another trip out to waverly hills this,weekend It opened in 1910 as a two-story hospital to accommodate 40 to 50 tuberculosis patients. In the early 1900s, Jefferson County was ravaged by an outbreak of tuberculosis (the "White Plague") which prompted the construction of a new hospital. The hospital closed in 1961, due to the antibiotic drug streptomycin that lowered the need for such a hospital. Plans have been developed to convert the sanatorium into a hotel and conference center In the early 1900s, Jefferson County was severely stricken with an outbreak of tuberculosis. There were many tuberculosis cases in Louisville at the time because of all the wetlands along the Ohio River, which were perfect for the tuberculosis bacteria. To try to contain the disease, a two-story wooden sanatorium was opened which consisted of an administrative/main building and two open air pavilions, each housing 20 patients, for the treatment of "early cases".
In the early part of 1911, the city of Louisville began to make preparations to build a new Louisville City Hospital, and the hospital commissioners decided in their plans that there would be no provision made in the new City Hospital for the admission of pulmonary tuberculosis, and the Board of Tuberculosis Hospital was given $25,000 to erect a hospital for the care of advanced cases of pulmonary tuberculosis.
On August 31, 1912, all tuberculosis patients from the City Hospital were relocated to temporary quarters in tents on the grounds of Waverly Hills pending the completion of a hospital for advanced cases.] In December 1912 a hospital for advanced cases opened for the treatment of another 40 patients. In 1914 a children's pavilion added another 50 beds] making the known "capacity" around 130 patients. The children's pavilion was not only for sick children but also for the children of tuberculosis patients who could not be cared for properly otherwise. This report also mentions that the goal was to add a new building each year to continually grow so there may have even been more beds available than specifically listed.
Waverly Hills Sanitorium
One of the legends told of Waverly Hills involves a man in a white coat who has been seen walking in the kitchen and the smell of cooking food that sometimes wafts through the room. During their initial visit, they found the kitchen was a disaster, a ruin of broken windows, fallen plaster, broken tables and chairs and puddles of water and debris that resulted from a leaking roof. The cafeteria had not fared much better. It was also in ruins and the team quickly retreated. Before they could do so though, several of them reported the sounds of footsteps, a door swinging shut and the smell of fresh baked bread in the air. A quick search revealed that no one else was in the building and there was certainly no one cooking anything in the kitchen. They could come up with no logical explanation for what had occurred.
Ghost researchers are always drawn to the fifth floor of the former hospital. The fifth floor consisted of two nurses’ stations, a pantry, a linen room, medicine room and two medium-sized rooms on both sides of the two nurses’ stations. One of these, Room 502, is the subject of many rumors and legends and just about every curiosity-seeker that had broken into Waverly Hills over the years wanted to see it. This is where, according to the stories, people have jumped to their deaths, have seen shapes moving in the windows and have heard disembodied voices that order trespassers to “get out”.
There is a lot of speculation as to what went on in this part of the hospital but what is believed is that mentally insane tuberculosis patients were housed on the fifth floor. This kept them far away from the rest of the patients in the hospital but still in an area where they could benefit from the fresh air and sunshine. This floor is actually centered in the middle of the hospital and the two wards, extending out from the nurses’ station, is glassed in on all sides and opens out onto a patio-type roof. The patients were isolated on either side of the nurses’ stations and they had to go to a half door at each station to get their food and medicine and to use the restroom, which was located adjacent to the station.
The legends of the fifth floor are many:
Stories say that in 1928, the head nurse in Room 502 was found dead in Room 502. She had committed suicide by hanging herself from the light fixture. She was 29 years-old at the time of her death and allegedly, unmarried and pregnant. Her depression over the situation led her to take her own life. It’s unknown how long she may have been hanging in this room before her body was discovered. And this would not be the only tragedy to occur in this room.
In 1932, another nurse who worked in Room 502 was said to have jumped from the roof patio and plunged several stories to her death. No one seems to know why she would have done this but many have speculated that she may have actually have been pushed over the edge. There are no records to indicate this but rumors continue to persist
Though death estimates vary widely, at least 6,000 people died at Waverly Hills during its 50+ years in operation. Patients often suffered through agonizing treatments during their time at Waverly, including electroshock therapy and experimental surgeries that involved collapsing a lung. The practice of placing heavy sandbags on a patient’s chest was also common. More often than not, the excruciating treatments were not effective.
So many people were dying that they got worried about other patients and vistors seeing the bodies being taken out that they made the body tunnel they would take bodies down the long tunnel to waiting hearses on the other side.
Ghost of Waverly Hills
Timmy:
One of these tales involves a ball-rolling child named Timmy.Legend has it Timmy was a six or seven-year-old boy who died at Waverly but has yet to move on. Visitors often bring toy balls to the hospital and invite the ghostly child to play. The balls sometimes move, seemingly of their own volition
Room 502
Another creepy legend involves a pregnant nurse who allegedly committed suicide in Room 502. Some tales claim a doctor impregnated the nurse and then wanted nothing to do with her. Devastated, the woman hanged herself from an exposed pipe or light fixture. Other versions claim it was the hospital’s owner who impregnated the woman and that she jumped from the room rather than hanging herself. Regardless of the tale, many Waverly visitors are convinced that an anguished entity lurks in Room 502.
The Death Tunnel
An underground tunnel leads from Waverly’s main entrance to the bottom of a steep hill some 500 feet (or 150 meters) down. Staff used the tunnel to receive supplies in the winter when the hill was both inconvenient and difficult for suppliers to ascend. However, it’s likely that doctors also used the tunnel to get rid of bodies. One legend claims that tuberculosis claimed one patient per hour during the height of the epidemic and that doctors used the tunnel to remove the dead without upsetting the living.
The so-called “death tunnel” is now a paranormal hotspot, visitors say, complete with eerie shadows, unexplained footsteps, and disembodied voices. It’s also known among investigators for providing chilling EVPs.
Mary Lee was a former unwed nurse who became pregnant by a doctor and killed her self in room 502. Her body laid undiscovered for a long time. in the same room another nurse took her life bu jumping out the window.