Waverly Asylum TAPS investigation

[GirlInBlack]

TAPS is going to investigate Waverly on Halloweeen as I am sure many of you already know. This has me excited because they are very near to where I live. I have driven past the asylum before on several occasions. Since I am all hyped up on TAPS coming here I decided to give you all a little information about Waverly to whet your appetite.

The Waverly Hills Sanitarium in Louisville Kentucky has it all-- cold spots, disembodied voices, and ghosts roaming the halls. It sits on a great hill overlooking the city and seems like a reigning fortress of gloom in its eerie, decaying state. The atmosphere is further darkened by a chilling history of mass death and of patient abuse during the years it was used as a geriatric hospital.

In 1910, a wooden two-story hospital was built on the site, which was the highest elevated hill in southern Jefferson County, but with tuberculousis rampant in the area, the building wasn't big enough to house all of the patients. And so a new building was constructed in 1924, and the new Waverly Hospital opened in 1926.

Treatment for the dreaded disease was primitive at that time. Without antibiotics, natural cures provided the only available defense. Health care providers believed that rest and plenty of fresh air and sunshine was the answer, and thus the patients spent the majority of their time in the solarium-like porch ways. You can see in the picture above that the patients are just outside of their rooms on an enclosed porch. The large windows had no glass and were screened. Even in the winter, patients would be placed outdoors with heating blankets (such tuberculosis treatments were the reason why heating blankets were invented.).

Besides such natural remedies, there were also many experimental treatments which were downright dangerous including: pneumothorax, surgically collapsing or deflating a portion of the lung so that it would heal; and thoracoplasty opening up the chest and removing up to 2 to 3 ribs at a time so that the lung would have more room to expand and heal. And there were other dire experimental methods as well. None of these methods were effective. In fact, fewer than five percent of patients survived the pneumothorax method.

Thousands of people died at Waverly before streptomycin was discovered in 1943--some estimates are as high as 64,000. Ten thousand people died during Waverly's first three years alone. But by the 1950's, tuberculosis was nearly eradicated thanks to the antibiotic. As a result, the need for such a huge facility to handle tuberculosis patients was no longer necessary, and the hospital closed in 1961.

It reopened a year later as the Woodhaven Geriatrics Sanitarium, where there have been many tales of patient mistreatment and unusual experiments. The state of Kentucky closed it in 1982 due to patient abuse.

The buildings, contents, and land were auctioned off and the doors were locked for good. Over the next 18 years, ownership of the building changed hands many times. The second owner wanted to tear it down, but was stopped because the property was on the National Historic Register’s “endangered” list. He decided that if he couldn’t legally tear it down then he would do everything in his power to get it condemned.

He encouraged vandalism and people broke windows, porcelain sinks, toilets and doors. They sprayed the walls with graffiti and defaced stone and wood. The owner then dug around the foundation, in some places as deep as 30 feet, to try and make the foundation crack. If this happened, he believed, he could get the building condemned and would be able to legally tear it down. But his efforts failed, and he finally gave up and sold the property in 2001.

Efforts are now being made to renovate the hospital, and in recent years, interest has grown in the history of the building. It was even featured in a segment of Fox Television’s, World's Scariest Places, and on MTV's Fear. A documentary is now in the works called, Spooked, and the feature film Death Tunnel should hit the theatres around Halloween.

There are rumors that satanic rituals have taken place within its walls, of a little girl moving about the third floor solarium playing hide and seek with trespassers, of a little boy named Bobby playing with his leather ball, of rooms lighting up though there was no power in the building, of doors slamming, disembodied voices, a hearse driving up and dropping off coffins, and an old woman running from the front door with her wrists bleeding screaming: “Help me. Somebody save me!”

Ghosts have been seen in the form of shadow people and ectoplasm clouds, and even in full apparition form. Cries and screams are frequently heard in the lonely, moldering halls.

Hauntings

Here are some of the most well-known supernatural occurrences in the building:

Main Entrance:

Here the ghost of an old woman has often been seen. Sometimes she runs out the front door. Her hands and legs are in chains and spectral blood drips from her wrists and ankles. She cries for help before she dissipates into thin air.

The Third Floor

Many have seen a little girl on the third floor who is known as "Mary." Some say that she plays with a ball; others have only heard the ball bouncing on the floor or down the stairs. This ball bouncing has also been attributed to a little boy, but the little girl seems the spookiest. One man said that he encountered a little girl that "wasn't normal." She kept saying that she has no eyes. He was so terrified that he refused to enter the building again. Some have seen the child peering out the third floor windows.

Roof

Some have heard children chanting verses here such as: "Ring around the Rosy." But why would the spirits of children be on the roof? When the hospital was a tuberculosis facility, children were taken up to the rooftop for "heliotherapy," in which they were exposed to the supposed healing rays of the sun.

Room 502

Perhaps the most infamous area of all in the hospital. is room 502. The story goes that In 1928, the head nurse was found dead in the room. She had hanged herself from the light fixture. No one knows why the 29-year old woman would take her own life, but it's believed that she was unmarried and pregnant. It is unknown how long her body hung before she was finally discovered. The county coroner’s office attributed her death to suicide.

In 1932, another nurse who worked in room 502, supposedly committed suicide when she jumped from the balcony of the roof. No one knows why.

Folks have seen the full body apparition of a female nurse in white on this floor.

People have also reported that this room gives them an "unsettling" feeling of great despair. Some have heard a voice say, "Get out!"

The Body Chute or Death Tunnel

What is now called the “body chute” is actually a 500 foot long tunnel that leads from the hospital to the railroad tracks at the bottom of the hill. When someone died they were sent down the tunnel via gurneys to an awaiting hearse. This was done so that patients wouldn't see the hearses or the bodies--in order to keep morale high. Concrete steps line one side of the tunnel while the other side consists of a motorized rail and cable system.

Voices are often heard along the long eerie passage.

Cafeteria and Kitchen

A spectral man in a white coat and pants supposedly roams this area. No one knows who he is but some think he's an old employee of Waverly who contracted tuberculosis and died. The smell of food often wafts from the kitchen though no meals have been served since 1982 when the mental hospital was closed.

Fourth Floor

Some regard this as the most scary and "active" area of the hospital. There have been many reports of people seeing ghostly shadow-like people treading the halls, and doors frequently slam for no apparent reason.

Other Oddities:

A guard saw a floating head in one of the rooms late at night. He screamed and rushed downstairs where he passed out. He was so terrified that he never returned to the sanitarium.

Many people have also reported that they've seen lights in the building at night though there had been no electricity in the building for many years and no glass to reflect light. A security guard once reported that he'd seen a television playing in a room on the third floor. From outside, he could see what appeared to be the distinct flicker of a television in a dark room. He went upstairs to investigate but found nothing out of the ordinary.

Troy Taylor of the Louisville Ghost Hunter's Society investigated the building in 2001 and captured a strange photo of a light burning in a stairwell though there were no lights in the building at the time and no light hanging in that spot. See that photo and many others here. In addition, he got several very odd readings from his EMF meter--a piece of equipment that detects disruptions in electro-magnetic fields, which is often associated with hauntings.

Here are some photos with orbs etc...

Edited October 21, 2007 by GirlInBlack

[GirlInBlack]

These last 2 are probably my favorites ones so far...

Here is a nice overview video of the place...http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2153605260738613955&total=36&start=10&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=3

I am looking forward to Halloween ;-)

[JustNormal]

WOW Thanks Girl. I have seen a few investigations of that building before and it is SO haunted, and there seems to be so many tortured souls grounded. I am looking forward to it, thanks again..JN

[NoahJaymes]

Yeah this is definately something I am looking forward to. This will blow most haunted out of the water. One good thing about a live event, is that it shows you how the investigation really are. Mostly slow moving, rarely anything happening. Much like last year when taps went to the hotel for their live investigation. Also gives you a good feed on the methods that taps actually uses, that not every waking moment they have something moving in the background, or whatever. Makes you appreciate Ghost hunting a lot more.

[MasterPo]

Waverly is an awesome place. We're working to try to get 2 nights investigation there next year.

[NoahJaymes]

My last group was in works of a documentary involving waverly last year which would have taken place this past spring. However I moved and the talks stopped. A lot of people from UM were actually involved. Would have been nice.

[dani10]

Oohh darnit! I have basic cable now, no sci fi for me! damnitt! im going to miss the halloween special yet agaaaain :'(

[MasterPo]

There was a movie "Death Tunnel" that was filled in the tunnel at Waverly. While the movie is "weak" in my opinion, at the same time a documentary about Waverly as filmed and that is awesome!

[JackalnChainz]

Oohh darnit! I have basic cable now, no sci fi for me! damnitt! im going to miss the halloween special yet agaaaain :'(

You can come over to my house and watch it ~Jackal

[Stubbly_Dooright]

Like last year's Ghost Hunter's Halloween special at the Stanley Hotel, Ghost Hunters have been to the Waverly Hospital before. A few experiences did happen to them, during their first investigation. I think they did two nights there too.

These last 2 are probably my favorites ones so far...

These two photos have got to be the creepiest photos for me to view!!

Are you one of the ladies in those photos, and if you were, didn't you feel anything at the time this photo was taken?

[MasterPo]

We're very psychiced to go even thought it's a 14 drive from LI!

[JackalnChainz]

Nice presentation girlinblack. I've always loved any investigation at Waverly. I'm not thrilled with TAPS, but they are ok. I wanted to bring up the last time they were there. I don't remember what floor they were on, but something about three feet tall ran across the hall. They caught it on their heat cam (infra-red). You could see the little legs running and everything. And I've always found this astounding, that more wasn't made of this. There are terms used like "imps" where Waverly is concerned. I've seen alot of talk lately about little people too. There is a frightening video on YouTube that shows one. I saw the original episode, and I freaked! It went from one empty escape proof room across the hall to another empty escape proof room. It wasn't visible to the naked eye, but it was blatant and defined on FLIR. I can't wait to see if there is going to be an encore on Halloween. ~Jackal

[JustNormal]

We're very psychiced to go even thought it's a 14 drive from LI!

Can I go too?

[GirlInBlack]

Like last year's Ghost Hunter's Halloween special at the Stanley Hotel, Ghost Hunters have been to the Waverly Hospital before. A few experiences did happen to them, during their first investigation. I think they did two nights there too.

These two photos have got to be the creepiest photos for me to view!!

Are you one of the ladies in those photos, and if you were, didn't you feel anything at the time this photo was taken?

Nope, neither of those people are me. Those photos are from a local Kentucky ghost hunters group. I know a person who investigates with them and that is how I came across some of these photos.

Yeah TAPS did visit Waverly once before and they had a nice apparition on infa red. The legs were red hot and the upper body was very cold blue. It was a fantastic find. I hope they stay for 2 days this time too.

[NoahJaymes]

I just cant wait. Sounds like a perfect day to call off work lol

[JustNormal]

I just cant wait. Sounds like a perfect day to call off work lol

LMAO

[The AD Project]

I'm looking forward to this too, but it better be better than that most haunted one I was watching the other night.

[NoahJaymes]

I will put an entire years salary saying it will blow MH out of the water.

[tahari01]

I will put an entire years salary saying it will blow MH out of the water.

Somehow, I don't think you'll have to worry about losing that salary to anyone, lol. MH is the poorest excuse of a show that's ever been in tv history! I am really looking forward to TAPS show though. I love that show!

[NoahJaymes]

Good, the last thing i want is to be broke lol

[trickyhomunculi]

I wanna go there soooo bad, I live about 30 mins away from louisville

[Mr Honeybadger]

Some of you may know this answer. Do places like Wavery Hills or the other places that Taps investigates charge Taps to let them film there. It just seems like alot of these places could make a fortune renting time out to Taps or other ghost hunting organizations.

[NoahJaymes]

A lot of places do charge unless they contact the group personally. It seems as though any place TAPS has investigated, they do charge.

[JustNormal]

A lot of places do charge unless they contact the group personally. It seems as though any place TAPS has investigated, they do charge.

Hey EnJay, what time does the show begin, do you know? JN

[Barek Halfhand]

shouldn't this thread be in the paranormal TV, books and movies section? ...

Mr Halfhand TSB

Edited October 22, 2007 by Barek Halfhand