The Shadows of Waverly Hills Sanatorium

While I am obsessed with the morbid and creepy, I have found it hard to believe in certain things, particularly things I cannot see. I know that seems a little odd. I'm here to talk about things like spirits, and yet I don't believe in such things. I would like to believe. I really would. And I love to creep myself out thinking that such things could be real. However, I will say that I have seen something that made me question my beliefs or lack thereof. My meeting with the devil that one time sealed the deal. Just kidding. The devil and I only text back and forth sometimes, but he's bad at responding in a timely manner. Jerk. (As a side note, if the devil looks like Tom Ellis in Lucifer, I am TOTALLY down to go to Hell. My god! I mean... my devil!)

Seriously though, only once did I see such a thing, and that was at Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville, Kentucky. It is rumored that about 64,000 people died at Waverly, so it makes sense that if I were to ever see something, it would be there. Let's take it back a little bit, and give a little background information on Waverly Hills.

Now, I'm from Kentucky, so I've heard a lot about this building through the years. You don't need to know specifically what town in Kentucky I'm from. I have my eye on you stalkers out there! Ha ha. Yeah, nobody would ever stalk me. I'm just trying to make myself feel better. *Cries in a corner in the fetal position.* Anyway, back to Waverly, and not how pathetic I am.

Waverly Hills Sanatorium was a tuberculosis hospital that opened for business on July 26, 1910. At the time, TB was a very serious disease. It was quickly becoming an epidemic in Jefferson County. To make a long story short, (you can google Waverly, I'm too lazy to include every single detail of the building) the antibiotic that cures TB, streptomycin, was not around yet, so there was no cure at the time. A lot of experimental treatments took place that obviously didn't keep the body count down. . . you know, the bodies they transferred down the death tunnel. Yes, death tunnel. Google that shit. I've walked all the way to the end of that thing, and it's a bitch to get back out of. Not just because of all the ghosts trying to fuck with you, but you know, it's a long, steep son of a bitch. I was almost attacked by a bat, too. I could have gotten rabies. You feel bad for me now, don't you? You should.

That brings us to the present day. Now the building is owned by Charlie and Tina Mattingly. They open the building up around spring and summer time for historical and paranormal tours, and around Halloween time, they have a haunted house that is incredibly popular among the masses. People even come from different states just to visit.

I have been on the Waverly Hills paranormal tour about three times. A couple of times, I never really saw much of anything. . . nothing besides that demon that I begged to take me away from this sad, awful world. Wow, that got dark. I don't really have a death wish. . . right now. Ask me again in an hour.

At times, it did seem like I saw some shadowy shapes, but it was so dark, it was hard to tell what anything really was. However, on one tour, I did see something I cannot explain. Toward the end of the tour, the group headed up to the fourth floor. Our tour guide asked for a volunteer. The volunteer was to walk down the hallway by themselves with their arms stretched out to their sides like a kid playing airplane. This was so we could see shadows walking around them. Or demons. Or the devil. (Still looking at you, Tom Ellis.)

Our tour guide picked an eager teenage boy. Teen boys are always so enthusiastic. . . at first. The guide had the boy walk all the way down to the end of the hall, in the airplane pose, then stand in a door way where lights from the city shown through. After the boy did as instructed, the tour guide told us to look closely around his legs and arms. We could see what looked like shadows walking back and forth in front of and behind the kid. I can't say for sure that it was the spirits of Waverly Hills. I could have been hallucinating. Or drinking. Who knows. *Takes sip of whiskey out of flask.* What? What are you looking at?

Anyway, the tour guide then told the boy to walk back slowly, then stop right in the middle of the hall. The kid did as instructed, but once he stood in the middle of the hall, he said he didn't like the way he was feeling and he wanted to come back. See? Not so enthusiastic anymore. Right at that moment something shadowy shot down from the ceiling and went down to the floor beside the boy. The entire group saw it and screamed. Even I'll admit I jumped a little. I was with my ex-boyfriend at the time. It's shame I didn't send him down the hall to the demons.

Anyway, after that shit scared the piss out of everyone, the boy booked it back pretty fast. The tour guide was so nonchalant about it. Like, "Oh, yeah. That happens sometimes." What. The. Fuck. I bet if a ghost had just run up and smacked someone's ass, he would have been like, "Yep. That happens sometimes." Needless to say, I couldn't explain what I saw, and I had a few nightmares that night. No Tom Ellis dreams, though. Very sad.

Now I've told my story. If anyone wants me to go into more details about Waverly, such as the history, and the rumored ghosts that haunt the hallways, let me know. Drop a comment down below, and I'll try to get off my lazy ass to do it. Or nap. Or die. Dying sounds relaxing right now. Next time I'll probably talk about the time I went to the haunted bridge in Bowling Green, Kentucky. I'm off to die now!

-Morbid Mallory