The Waverly Hills Sanatorium

Located in Louisville, Kentucky, The Waverly Hills Sanatorium is known as one of the "scariest places on earth". This creepy place is home to disembodied voices, cold spots, slamming doors, and numerous ghosts that roam the building making it one of America's most reputable haunted places.

The Waverly Hills Sanatorium was used as a hospital in the early twentieth century for those suffering with tuberculosis in the area. "With so many newly infected patients admitted, and so many dying every day, hospital staff was under pressure to get rid of the dead quickly to make room for others. Further, the staff feared that the sheer number of dead bodies leaving the hospital would affect the morale of living patients, while the public feared that releasing the infected dead might be dangerous to the healthy. The solution: Dead bodies were first hung on poles in a room referred to as the draining room, and slit from sternum to groin to enable the release of all bodily fluids. The corpses were then sent down a body chute or, as it has also been called, the death tunnel, whose outlet was located near the railroad tracks at the bottom of the hill. A hearse would pick up the bodies and transport them to the crematorium. Both the draining room and the body chute are considered popular haunted spots." Horrific experimental treatments were also performed regularly on the sick by staff members trying to cure their illness. The use of electroshock therapy, thoracoplasty (surgically removing segments of the rib) , and pneumothorax (collapsing the lung) procedures often ended in death.

With the introduction of an antibiotic for the disease in the 1940's, the number of those being diagnosed with TB dropped and the hospital was no longer needed. The building closed in 1961, but shortly reopened as Woodhaven Geriatrics Sanatorium. Reports of patient abuse forced its closure in the early 1980's.

Today, The Waverly Hills Sanatorium is a popular place for paranormal investigators, ghost hunters and those seeking a good scare. Two apparitions, seen by many, have been a ghost of a little boy bouncing a ball and a women running with slits in her wrists. Also the cries of those who suffered within the walls have been heard on numerous occasions. Spooked: The Ghosts of Waverly Hills Sanatorium is an excellent documentary exposing the chilling truth behind this terrifying place.