Story Behind The Most Haunted Place on Earth

Most Haunted Place on Earth

The world we live in, is full of places of mystery, magic, natural and man-made wonders, interesting adventures, extensive fjord systems, dreamy waterfalls, heavenly treks, glorious beaches and what not. Also, just beside the most glowing and lighted-up streets and the most famous spots all over the world, exist the darkest of places man ever found. Places we don’t completely understand. Places that haunt even the most bravest of hearts. 

Today, let us all go deep into the history of the “Most Haunted Place on Earth“: Waverly Hills Sanatorium.

Where is the Most Haunted Place on Earth located?

Waverly Hills Sanatorium, formerly a pretty well known hospital of astonishing architectural designs, is now a well know tourist spot for all the horror enthusiasts and also the most acclaimed paranormal investigators. Located in the southwestern Louisville/Jefferson County in Kentucky. 

Nearest Airport: Louisville International Airport

Waverly Hills Sanatorium is located at a distance of 10 miles from the airport and can be reached pretty easily. 

The Story of Waverly Hills Sanatorium

Claimed throughout the world to be The Most Haunted Place on Earth, Waverly Hills was constructed in the early 20th century as a two-story building for accommodating the tuberculosis patients in the States built on the outskirts of the town of Louisville. 

“Plague of all Plagues”

During the early 1900s, the deadly White Plague or Tuberculosis was spreading rapidly throughout the country and modern Kentucky. TB or Tuberculosis is a form of bacterial infection which could spread through breathing. The “Plague of all Plagues” was a massively contagious disease which killed as many as billions of people throughout its course.

As the epidemic grew and spread throughout The States and other parts of the world, the number of patients started to grow while the facilities remained less. In 1926, the Waverly Hills Sanatorium that we know now was fully constructed – now a five-story tall building of Gothic architecture. The Hospital facility was built away from the main town in the hills surrounded by nature to keep the patients away from others due to the disease being heavily contagious. It was like a world of it’s own as the doctors, the nurses and the patients lived there for several years. The sanatorium had a capacity to keep around 500 patients at the time. 

According to the owner of the place, Tina Mattingly, the treatment was not much effective. Even the great and experienced doctors did not know how to fight the disease with no vaccine. Some of the patients started to develop the plague in their brains as well, this was tried to be treated with the help of electroshock therapies, but with no success.

The Electroshock Therapy was performed in the first floor and the room was called “the Morgue Wing“. 

After years of suffering and death, finally a vaccine for TB was formed in 1961. That was the time when the Hospital shut it doors for any other medical opportunities. 

The Body Chute

It is a debated but large number stating the deaths that occurred in the premise before it was closed: around tens of thousands of them, maybe even more. Regardless the number, death had to be a common thing since the facility even has a pretty darn horrifying area named “The Body Chute“. 

The Body Chute is basically a long tunnel where the dead bodies were carried down and disposed off (Sounds quite horrifying to me).

Imagine the dead bodies of the TB patients being dragged down through this 500 feet hell-a-creepy long tunnel of death. Maybe that’s why it has gained presence as one the most haunted spots in the entire Waverly Hills Sanatorium. It seems endless..!

It is said that this place alone has the souls of thousands of dead patients roaming around the tunnel. Some people even claim to hearing a “Whoop!” noise and some kind of screeching from the depths. You could quite possibly say, that place is like the closest thing to hell.

The countless spirits roaming around the entire facility of the Sanatorium is the reason why it’s acclaimed to be the Most Haunted Place on Earth.

The Horrors of Waverly Hills Sanatorium

You know the history now, let’s go into the horror accounts or incidents that happened in the place after its closing in 1961 till date. Most of the people, enthusiasts, paranormal investigators or even just normal tourists who came here had experienced a few common spooky things – sounds of children’s laughter, seeing faces on the windows and even the shadow people. Shadow people are basically an entity that looks like a shadow and disappears when we go for another look at it. SCARY!!

Slamming doors are stated to be a very common occurrence in several areas of the building.

The First Floor : The Morgue Wing

A well and good working morgue is also kind of a horror for many people, including me. But imagine a morgue said to be a place where dead bodies of hundreds of patients were kept. A place where thousands of TB patients’ were kept after their deaths, before dropping ’em off into The Tunnel. 

Travelers have heard many different types of noises of children laughing and running and experienced seeing shadow people many times near this wing.

The Elevator Shaft: Spirit of the Homeless Man and his Dog

The story went like this. Several years after the Sanatorium was closed, a Homeless Man happened to arrive in this glorious looking building with his White German Shepherd. He saw the sanatorium and thought “shelter!” He entered inside and roamed around for a while until he reached near the Elevator Shaft at the third floor of the place. That’s when he started to hear noises, doors shutting, even few screams. His dog started barking at seemingly empty rooms and spots along the hall. The Man held his Dog as he heard a screeching sound coming from the elevator shaft. As he leaned on towards the shaft, it is believed he was pulled down by an entity to his and the dog’s death.

The owner and manager of Waverly Hills Sanatorium, Tina herself claimed that once while having a tour of the place with her sister, she saw a bearded man with a large jacket near the third floor’s elevator shaft. She and her sister both got terrified and went towards the stairs to get the hell out of the place ASAP. That’s when they saw a figure of a White Dog sitting near the stairwell. But it vanished when they went for another look. Tina claims the Dog was a German Shepherd. 

Few have claimed that if you put your hand inside the little opening of the shaft, you might feel a sort of blow of air on the back of your hand. DON’T DO THAT !

Timmy and the Blue Ball

At the third floor itself, there is a hallway where it is believed that a spirit of a little boy who died due to TB in the hospital could be found and heard running and playing around. Many people who come here even bring Blue Balls for Timmy, the little boy. They have even stated that when they throw the ball towards a dark corner they can literally see the ball moving and stopping on it’s own. 

“Hey, it Smells BREAD in here!!”

One group of paranormal investigators once went to examine the building few years ago. They confirmed they found many spooky stuff out there. One of these, was when they were near the messed up room filled with loads of debris, which was used as a cafeteria during the active times of the Waverly Hills Sanatorium. They recorded hearing many weird voices in there, heard footsteps, a door being shut closed and the most weird thing was the smell of freshly baked bread which they felt in there. The kitchen was completely ruined, like a bomb was dropped in there. No one knows how that smell came in there and nobody understood it. And that’s the thing about horror right, people fear what they don’t understand.

Ghostly TV?

This very interesting event occurred with the security guard of the place. One night, he heard a flickering noise as the television makes, but loud. It was coming from one of the upper floors of the building. The guard even claimed he even saw one of the rooms seemed flickering with light. As if someone’s watching TV. Imagine being a security guard of the Most Haunted Place on Earth. And then imagine seeing a small room with flickering lights while the whole building is covered with darkness.

So the guard went to investigate the situation when he saw – nothing. The flicker was gone. There were broken, dust-covered and debris-filled tables and few chairs and nothing that could even feel like a television set or even lights for that matter. 

The Woman in Chains

One of the most horrifying entities recorded among thousands of others roaming around in the premises of the Most Haunted Place on Earth is the ghost of an elderly woman, bleeding from her chained hands and feet screaming for help. But when someone reaches out (WHY!?) towards the sound, thumping footsteps are heard as if someone is running away, with the sound of chains screeching through the ground. People have even heard a scream for help saying, “Help me, somebody save me!“. Even typing this down gives me the chills..!! It has mostly felt around the main entrance of the place. It is said to be inhabited by the Old Bleeding Woman.

Room 502 | The Death Trap

Room 502 is said to be one of the most famous spots on the entire building of the Waverly Hills Sanatorium since it was open for people to explore after the gap of few years since its shutting off. 

The Fifth Floor of the place used to be the ward where nurses stayed. There were many different rooms at the floor but this particular room numbered 502 is among the most curiosity-driven places to ever exist in the area. The room has been named as the Death Trap and the Suicide Room.

The story goes that in the year 1928, the head nurse was found dead hanging through the ceiling in the Room 502. It is said that Mary Lee, the nurse, hanged herself due to apparently being depressed to the core because of an unwanted pregnancy. In 1932, another of the Nurses jumped from the balcony to her death. 

Many people who went there inside the room during recent times have stated to hear, clear sound of someone asking them to get out and few even said they heard whispers telling them to jump off the roof. 

The Creeper: A Dark Inhuman Presence

Last but not the least entity in this blog is said to be a rarely sighted but the most dark, bursting out the most negative energies, and the most grim presence inside the Most Haunted Place on Earth is that of an entity called The Creeper. 

Not much has been registered about The Creeper and how it came to be, but most of the paranormal researchers had suggested about feeling the presence of a gravely grim and really, really dark presence in different parts of the Waverly Hills Sanatorium. It is said to be not human like the other spirits. It is something that never existed in our world. Many even suggest that it might be the most dangerous among all the other spirits, so much so, that even they are afraid of it. They say it might be a demonic presence.

The Creeper has been felt rarely, but sometimes in the corners of the large hall, some felt a heavy presence watching them from the ceiling. Many even claimed that it is an entity who walks on all fours – like a beast. And sometimes you feel a very negative presence staring straight into your eyes. It’s really uncomfortable.  ——————–

Conclusion

Well, so that’s the full story behind the Most Haunted Place on Earth, The Waverly Hills Sanatorium. A place which has experienced a large amount of horrible deaths, negative presence, creepy moments throughout its existence up till now. It is a very famous tourist spot now in the hills of Louisville and curiosity-driven people come here to experience the unknown and try to understand the place and it’s entities and maybe to figure out…Death itself.