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INVESTIGATION #017
Waverly Hills Sanatorium
Louisville, Ky.
Date Of Investigation: August 3, 2008
Time: 8:00 pm - 4:00 am
Investigators on Scene: Marty Seibel, Lisa Rose, Kelley Davis, Steve Losh, Jesse Johnson,
Shea Willis, Candace Mitchell, Randall Paugh, Todd Wolfe, Nancy Wolfe, Kelli Jones,
Curtis Jones, Michelle Chase, Bob Woodruff, Candy Woodruff, Laura Eggleston,
Josh Spradlin, Ron Tapley, Robin Tapley, Alan May, Julie Parr
Weather: (8/3/2008) Partly Cloudy, 86 degrees, 47% humidity, Winds East 8.1 MPH
Moon-- waxing crescent with 6% of the Moon's visible disk illuminated
Background History
Waverly Hills Sanatorium, located in Louisville, Kentucky, opened in 1910 as a two-story hospital to accommodate 40 to
50 tuberculosis patients. It has been popularized on television as being one of the "most haunted" hospitals in the
eastern United States, and was seen on ABC/FOX Family Channel's Scariest Places On Earth as well as
VH1's Celebrity Paranormal Project. It was also seen on the Sci Fi Channel's Ghost Hunters.
Unfortunately, the climate and water and land geography qualities of Louisville offered the perfect conditions to grow the
TB bacteria, which resulted in whole families coming down with this extremely contagious disease. This disease, named
the "white plague" eventually destroyed the lungs, slowly suffocating people who caught the TB bug. TB also
sometimes infected bones and larynx.
In 1910, a small 140 bed building called Waverly Hills Sanitarium was opened outside of Louisville on an isolated hilly
area, where fresh air blew freely, and a caring staff tried their best to nurse the sick back to health.
However this "white plague" swept over the population, and by the 1920's, TB outbreaks grew, overwhelming this small
facility. It is said that more people died from TB than Americans who died in WW1. It was decided that a much larger
hospital dedicated to the fighting of this horror should be added to the already existing facility.
So in 1926, a five story, stone, gothic structured, 500 bed, state of the art hospital (for its time) opened, built around the
needs of patients and staff in fighting this disease in the search for a cure. The dedicated staff also lived in residence
at the hospital, dedicating their careers to the management and defeat of the TB bacteria.
As not to crush the human spirit to fight the disease, the dead were not carried out in front of the other patients who still
had their hopes of surviving. A patient's mental state was an important factor in fighting the disease. Another problem
concerning the dead; bodies of the dead were thought to be still contagious because of the bacteria-filled bodily fluids.
The hospital came up two solutions.
First, the dead bodies were hung up, slit from sternum to groin area and drained of all fluids after the autopsy. The bodies
were then sent by cart down an underground tunnel which ran 500 feet underground to the receiving station down
the hill. The bodies were taken by the surviving family members or cremated.
Hauntings
Apparitions and shadow people are often seen on various floors, hallways and the cafeteria. A young girl in a blue dress,
no eyes who is carrying a round object has been seen as an apparition. Another apparition of a young boy carrying a
leather ball has also been seen. Another young boy, known as Timmy has been encountered.
Apparitions have been seen looking out the windows. Many people experience the feeling of being watched as well as being
touched or poked. Cold spots are often felt and voices are heard, evps are often recorded. Rubber balls left out in the
hallways for children are often seen to move.
Room 502
There is much in the way of speculation about this area but what is known is that mentally insane tuberculosis patients were
housed on the fifth floor in rooms 502 and 506. In 1928, the head nurse in room 502 was found dead in this room. She had
hanged herself from the light fixture in an apparent fit of depression. According to further research, she was 29 years-old
at the time, unmarried and pregnant. It is unknown just how long she may have been left hanging in this room before
her body was finally discovered. Her death was ruled a suicide by the county coroner’s office.
In 1932, another nurse who worked in room 502 jumped from the balcony of the roof that leads from the room and was
killed when she struck the ground several stories below. We have yet to find any records that indicate why she did
this act. There are also no records, despite what the legends say, that anyone other than the above mentioned nurse
was ever pushed or jumped from the roof of Waverly Hills. People have seen the full body apparition of a female
nurse in white on this
floor. Many people report this room gives them an "unsettling" feeling of great despair.
Some have heard a voice say, Get out!
Investigation Data
We were able to investigate Waverly from 8 pm until 4 am and since we had scheduled for an off night, we had the entire
building to ourselves. The Waverly staff basically told us we could have the entire building and if we needed any help,
we could radio them as they stayed in the shop. A dream come true, we could investigate on all floors and divide
our group up, which is exactly what we did.
With 21 people on this investigation, we divided our group into three groups of 5 and one group of 6. Each group would
start on one floor, after an hour and a half, the group would then rotate to the next floor. We set our dvr system with
cameras up on the 5th floor and later in the morning hours, we would move it down to the fourth floor. Also, we had
scheduled an afternoon tour of the building and this was most helpful. It gave us a great idea of where we wanted to
begin and a feel for the layout of the place. I must say, Waverly Hills is absolutely enormous. There is no other way
to describe it. It is intimidating to say the least.
Photograph Results:
Bob and Candy Woodruff took this most unusual photograph during of what appears to be a man looking out
the top window to the far left.
SVPS Waverly Hills Sanatorium Photo Album
Click Here
Audio Results:
Audio Clips from Waverly Hills
Numerous audio recordings were attempted through out the building with the most success on the 3rd, 4th and 5th floors. Ron
Tapley and Marty Seibel were able to capture children's voices on the 3rd and 5th floors.
| Child's voice on 3rd floor"Mom.............all gone........ " Waverly Hills Sanatorium (Louisville, Ky) Recorded by Marty Seibel 8/4/2008
| | Child's voice on 3rd floor"Mom.............all gone........ " Waverly Hills Sanatorium (Louisville, Ky) noise reduction and amplified
| | Male voice on 3rd floor"Walt................Ross" Waverly Hills Sanatorium (Louisville, Ky) Recorded by Marty Seibel 8/4/2008
| | Male voice on 3rd floor"Walt................Ross" Waverly Hills Sanatorium (Louisville, Ky) cleaned..(noise reduction and amplified)
| | Male voice on 3rd floor"Walter" Waverly Hills Sanatorium (Louisville, Ky) Recorded by Marty Seibel 8/4/2008
| | Male voice on 3rd floor"Walter" Waverly Hills Sanatorium (Louisville, Ky) cleaned..(noise reduction and amplified) evp only
| | Moaning on 3rd floor Moaning Waverly Hills Sanatorium (Louisville, Ky) Recorded by Shea Willis 8/4/2008
| | Moaning on 3rd floor Moaning (cleaned) Waverly Hills Sanatorium (Louisville, Ky) Recorded by Shea Willis 8/4/2008
| | Male voice on 5th floor"yeah, un huh" Waverly Hills Sanatorium (Louisville, Ky) Recorded by Ron Tapley 8/4/2008
| | Male voice on 5th floor"yeah, un huh" Waverly Hills Sanatorium (Louisville, Ky) cleaned..(noise reduction and amplified) evp only
| | Child's voice on 5th floor"Oh nooo" Waverly Hills Sanatorium (Louisville, Ky) Recorded by Ron Tapley 8/4/2008
| | Child's voice on 5th floor"Oh nooo" Waverly Hills Sanatorium (Louisville, Ky) cleaned..(noise reduction and amplified) evp only
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Video Results:
8 hours video using 4 Channel Digital Video Recorder w/USB & CD-RW & 160 GB Hard Drive (6 hours on the 5th
floor and 2 hours on the 4th floor -- No Results) 4 hours video using Sony DCR-HC38 Video Recorders on 2nd, 3rd
and 4th Floors -- No Results.
Personal Experiences
Several of our members had personal experiences in Waverly during both the daytime tour and night investigation. On the
day tour, we had a few members who were touched, one in particular of a member whose shirt was tugged at, almost like
if a child were to pull at your shirt to get your attention. This member is very much a skeptic and he was noticeable
affected by the incident. Other members were touched on the tour as well as on the investigation. During the
investigation on the first floor, Julie felt a gentle touch upon her face and hair.
Shadows/shadow people were seen on the first and second floors.
Ron Tapley and another member actually chased after
a shadow figure that took off. However, it just quickly vanished. We had numerous members get sick through the course
of the night, so much that three actually had to drop out of the investigation. This was pretty much to blame on the
intense heat. It had been an extremely hot and humid day and the building upon entering was very warm to
say the least. It stayed that way the entire investigation.
Final Conclusion : Haunted!
Waverly Hills Sanatorium is classified as one of the most haunted locations in the country if not the world. With such a
huge media build up, many groups go in to Waverly already proclaiming it haunted based on its reputation. While we
admit the chance to investigate this place is very exciting and a thrill, we tried to keep things in perspective and
concentrate on capturing concrete evidence to prove that Waverly is indeed haunted.
Our personal experiences were few and in some ways you could say we felt let down based on everything we had heard
and read from past experiences and the way the hospital is protrayed. You could say for the most part it was a quiet
evening/investigation. It did not feel as active as we had hoped. However, once we began to analyze our data, we
found we collected some fantastic evidence ranging from many evps to a personal experiences. After sorting through
all the data combined with our personal experiences, we found out that Waverly was actually very active that
night. Bottom line, we believe Waverly Hills is haunted, very haunted! If you have the opportunity to
investigate the hospital, by all means do it!
Copyright © Marty Seibel
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