The Ghosts of Waverly Hills Sanatorium

The Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville, Ky., first opened in 1910 as a small two-story hospital for tuberculosis patients. As the TB epidemic spread, the need for a larger facility became apparent, and an enormous gothic style hospital was opened on the property in 1926. The hospital remained open until 1961, when TB was largely eradicated in the United States. Waverly then served as a geriatric hospital from 1962 until 1980.

While many TB patients survived their stay at Waverly, hundreds died there, and the spirits of many are said to remain. The deaths were so frequent during the TB epidemic that the hospital contains a tunnel through which the bodies of the deceased were lowered by a motorized rail and cable system to trains waiting on railroad tracks at the bottom of the hill. Not surprisingly, this area is said to be haunted by the spirits of those who passed through. According to American Hauntings, visitors have also reported children running through a third-floor solarium, men in white lab coats appearing and disappearing, an old-fashioned hearse delivering coffins at the back door, and the sounds of slamming doors and footsteps in empty rooms.

One of the most notorious ghosts at Waverly is that of a nurse who is said to have hanged herself in 1928 in room 502. Many visitors have reported seeing the figure of a nurse in white on this floor. A man in a white coat and pants is said to roam the cafeteria and kitchen areas, where the smell of food cooking is often present even though the cafeteria has not been in use since the hospital closed more than 40 years ago.