By Jordan S. Carroll
During my visit to Waverly Hills Sanatorium I witnessed a doorindependently shut, a light flicker, a battery drain and rechargeitself, and a laser bounce off something unseen. But Waverly Hillsis more than a local legend or a supposed paranormal hotbed.Waverly isn’t just about the dead; it’s doing somethingfor the living.
Around the turn of the century, Louisville, Ky. had the highesttuberculosis death rate in the country. Waverly Hills was built in1911 but soon proved inadequate to house Jefferson County’sgrowing number of T.B. patients. So, in 1926, Waverly Hill wasexpanded to what it is today. The project took $11 million andcould house over 600 patients.
“A lot of people think this was just some chamber of horrorsbut back then it was state of the art,” said Keith Age,president of the Louisville Ghost Hunters Society.
Even with the best treatment of its day as well as experimentaltreatments, it is estimated that one patient died every hour.
“The first two or three years were really the darkest ofyears here. Roughly 10,000 people died those first two years. Atotal over 63,000 people died here all through the years but a lotof people lived, too,” Age said.
But after the discovery of streptomycin, an antibiotic, the diseasewent into decline and, by 1961, Waverly Hills was no longer neededand the patients were moved downtown.
In 1962 it became Woodhaven Geriatric Sanitarium and remained sountil 1981 when it was closed for mistreatment of its patients.
The next owner wanted to tear the building down and build theworld’s largest statue of Jesus Christ but was thwartedbecause the building was on the National Historic Register.Allegedly, in order to get around that, he allowed the building tofall into decline in hopes that it would be condemned.
Over the years, the empty, decaying building has inspired countlessghost stories and rumors. These have since drawn the attention ofghost hunters, Fox’s “World’s ScariestPlaces,” and the upcoming feature film “DeathTunnel.”
Waverly Hills remained in disrepair until 2001, when CharlesMattingly and his wife bought it and began reconstruction. Sincethen, much of the debris was cleaned off the floors, many of thewindows and the gutters were replaced, and a sprinkler system hasbeen installed. In addition, one of the outbuildings, the laundrybuilding, has been completely renovated and hooked up to a septictank.
Many of the funds for renovation were raised by the Waverly HillsSanatorium Haunted Hospital. This year is the third annual HauntedHospital. It runs Fridays and Saturdays from dusk until 1:00 a.m.and Sunday through Thursday from dusk until 11:00 p.m. with specialhours on Halloween. Admission is $15.
Waverly Hills Historical Society has also raised substantial sumsfor charities, including the WHAS Crusade for Children. But therestoration of Waverly Hills is also, in a way, an act of publicservice.
“We’d rather have it to be kind of a [public facility]because I think it was built for the public,” Mattinglysaid.
The restoration of Waverly Hills is just phase one of his plan.After the building is restored, he plans on more looking for abuyer.
“Corporations have talked to me about the possibility a yearor two down the road of turning this into a research center or achildren’s research center or just a children’shospital. [We are] just in the first stages of talking.That’s just one of the angles we’re after,”Mattingly said.
Many corporations, however, are intimidated by the fact that thebuilding still has quite a way to go before it’s completelyrestored.
To them, Mattingly said, “If you put your facility here,you’ll be a hero to the community. You’ll be preservinga [national landmark]. You’re doing all these things, too.The benefits should outweigh the cost of restoring it.”
But in Mattingly’s future plans for restoration hehasn’t forgotten the past. Special care has been taken tomaintain the historical integrity of the building. Even when thebuilding is eventually turned into a public facility, the WaverlyHills Historical Society will still maintain a presence there.
“There will be a public place to come up here and see thehistory. The reason that we want to do this is every single highschool that is here comes up here and they want tours but we have ahard time with that with insurance problems. But if we get thebuilding all secure, if we get occupancy certificates back, now wecan get insurance and we can allow all the kids to come up,”Mattingly said.
There are countless local legends and Web sites devoted to thesanatorium, many of which have no basis in fact. The projectedWaverly Hills museum room would help debunk some of thosemyths.
Unfortunately, these very myths drive many to trespass andvandalize Waverly Hills property. Because of these problems, avolunteer security force has to patrol the sanatoriumperimeter..
Waverly Hills security guard and enthusiast Ronald Parkhurst said,”When they come up, there uninvited, they’retrespassing. We give everybody a fair first chance. If theydisregard the warning and come up there again in spite of the factthat they’ve been warned, then it can mean jailtime.”
For more information on Waverly Hills and the Waverly HillsHistorical Society, visithttp://www.waverlyhillshistoricalsociety.org. For information onthe Waverly Hills Haunted Hospital visithttp://www.iscareu.com/waverly/attraction.htm.
