Waverly Hills Sanatorium

Kentucky · United States · Sanatorium

Waverly Hills Sanatorium — Kentucky · United States · Sanatorium

Through the "death tunnel" thousands of bodies were lowered in secret — and in Room 502 a voice is said to scream "Get out!".

Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville, Kentucky was built to treat tuberculosis at a time when there was no cure, and thousands died there during the years of the "white plague". It later served as a geriatric facility. It has a crematorium and, notoriously, a tunnel running down the hillside that staff used to remove bodies from the building — the so-called death tunnel, or body chute.

It was built that way deliberately. Patients who could see the dead leaving through the front door lost hope, so the dead left another way.

In the tunnel, visitors describe dragging sounds, whispers and figures in the dark, and several cold spots are reported through the building. In the infamous Room 502 an unseen voice is said to have screamed at people to leave.

A young girl has been seen on several floors, most often in the basement and on the third. A young boy with dark hair, in old-fashioned clothes and a hat, is described near the main entrance by the golf course, and visitors are warned that he approaches people and asks to go home with them.

Various claims circulate about the doctors here. The documented history of what tuberculosis did to people in this building needs no additions. It is one of America's most notorious haunted sites.

FAQ

Where is Waverly Hills Sanatorium located?

Waverly Hills Sanatorium is in Kentucky, United States.

More haunted places in Kentucky

Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.

Image: Royasfoto73 / CC BY-SA 4.0 — Wikimedia Commons