Haunted places - Waverly Hills Sanatorium, Louisville, Kentucky

Right in the heartland of the United States, in Louisville, Kentucky, lays the Waverly Hills Sanatorium. It originally opened in 1910 as two-story hospital to accommodate 40 to 50 tuberculosis patients, but the building we see today was built in 1926 and has always been dedicated to the treatment of tuberculosis patients, a fairly common disease back in the early 20th Century.

Many people lost their lives at the sanatorium. It is estimated that as many as 63,000 could have died inside the walls of this concrete building, but that’s only a legend. Some researchers say the true number of deaths is about 8,000, pretty far from the alleged 63,000.

Image left: The Waverly Hills Sanatorium from the outside.

Many of those deaths can be linked to various forms of severe mistreatments of patients and experimental research on them as well. That may well be the fuel for the reported paranormal activities, which includes unexplained voices and screams, isolated cold spots and shadows moving in the hallways.

THE “DEATH TUNNEL”

One of the more popular legends from the sanatorium is about the “Body Chute”, also known as the “Death Tunnel”, a tunnel where dead patients were tossed. When tuberculosis reached its peak, about one body per day was thrown in there. The doctors thought that this would prevent the disease from spreading any further.

The location has been a popular place for paranormal investigators. SyFy’s Ghost Hunters has investigated the place twice, including one live investigation and the place has also been investigated once by the Most Haunted crew.

Video from one of Ghost Hunters investigations:

Hunting ghosts (on TV)

Today, TV is overwhelmed by programs that hunt ghosts.  We got the most famous ones like the American long runner Ghost Hunters and their British counterpart Most Haunted, which is now in their 14:th season.  But we can’t forget the newcomers. On Travel Channel Ghost Adventures was a success and a fourth season is in production, and recently Discovery Channel’s Ghost Lab concluded its first season.  And we cannot not continue without mention A&E:s Paranormal State and just started Paranormal Cops. It’s a smorgasbord for the paranormal interested.

But with a lot of competition comes a big pressure of getting results, and for a ghost hunting show the pressure is even bigger. If no ghost shows up, no one will view the show and it will probably get cancelled. So in that perspective it’s understandable that some content in the show maybe made-up on purpose. And there have been some controversial, especially on the most famous one Ghost Hunters and on Paranormal State, with content that apparently been hoaxed. 

But still, I find those shows interesting and will still tune to watch ghost hunting shows when they air.