6hrs at Waverly Hills
Let's get para-normal
The Waverly Hills Sanitarium is one of the most haunted places in America. I've heard the stories and I've watched the shows. The Hills were on my paranormal bucket list for quite some time, luckily I was able to check them off!
Before I get ahead of myself we need to backtrack. Let's dive into some of the history behind the haunt. The Waverly Hills Sanitarium once functioned as a tuberculosis hospital with cutting-edge treatments and technology to fight "the white plague". TB was spreading rapidly and Over 8,000 people took their last breath in the Sanitarium. Doctors became more and more desperate to find a cure. This lead to many painstaking and questionable procedures on patients. Another thing worth mentioning is TB is an airborne disease. Therefor, anyone who decided to dedicate their time to helping those who feel victim to the illness also put their own lives at risk. Many who worked at Waverly Hills ended up contracting the disease themselves. Once you moved to the Hills there was no turning back. The bodies of those who did not beat their battle with TB were sent down the body chute. The chute stretched 525 feet underground leading from the hospital to a pair of railroad tracks at the bottom of the hill.The facility closed in 1961 after a cure for tuberculosis was discovered.
Who would have thunk, all these years have past and people still flock to Waverly Hills. This time for a much different purpose. Every patient, doctor and nurse who walked through those doors physically left Waverly behind. However, it seems some spirits had an easier time departing than others. Where ever there are tragedies ghosts seem to like to linger behind, Waverly Hills is no exception.
This old Kentucky hospital is most notorious for the many shadow figures that are often be seen on the 4th floor. There is also an entity tour guides refer to as "Big Black", another shadow figure that engulfs the entire hallway in darkness as it makes it's way towards you blacking out each doorway that it passes. On the third floor dwells a spirit that is referred to as "Timmy". Timmy is thought to be the spirit of a child who is known to play and communicate with guests using small rubber balls. If you find yourself in room number 502 be sure to keep an eye out for the nurse who hung herself outside of the elevator shaft back in the day. Legend has it that had contracted TB and was also pregnant out of wedlock. Disturbed by this series of events she took her own life. Apparently just the night before I took my tour of the facility a group of ladies were taking pictures next to room 502 and caught a full body apparition in their photo.
Now, for my experience! Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you... a night at Waverly Hills!
Months prior to the night itself my husband and I booked our reservation for a 6hr overnight investigation at Waverly Hills. They have shorter tour options too (2hrs and 4hrs) but we figured go big or go home, right? Alas, we waited many months until the day finally arrived! I'm not much of a night-owl myself so the thought of pulling an all-nighter had me a little concerned. Equipped with Red Bulls, a digital camera and a crappy spirit box app for Android we were ready to go!
Our tour began at 11:30 p.m. To my surprise Waverly isn't in BFE like I'd always imagined it. Actually, there are homes built up right to the property line. Despite this the night was still very calm and quite and we were ready for our adventure. At the beginning everyone met in the gift shop. There were a lot of people there, some looking very legit and ghost hunter-esque with their fancy cases full of gadgets and gizmos. Then there were the people more like us who were ill-equipped but still ready to party. We split into two smaller groups and were ready to begin our very own investigation of Waverly Hills! *Eeeekk*
My first thought as we headed into the ruins of the once mighty hospital were, "oh man, what have I gotten myself into...6 hours is a looooong time. Idk if I'm ready for this, this is super intense...". I was low key geeking out, the Red Bull didn't do much for my nerves either. As the night went on I attributed part of my nervousness to the tour guide's eerie stories. The tales of what others have seen in those halls are enough to make anyone a little bit paranoid. My visit to Waverly was by far the most extreme thing I've done as a paranormal enthusiast. The building stands 6 stories tall and this place is massive! We had free range of the entire property including the body chute. Our guide once again broke us up into smaller groups and assigned us each to different floors. I'm not going to give you a play by play of each floor because that would take an eon to type up. However, here's how things went down. We had 6hrs and 6 floors, this allowed for a little less than an hour on per floor for each group. We had a break back in the gift shop at 3:30 a.m.
I became surprisingly comfortable in the building as the night went on. I started the eve clinging close to those with a flashlight in hand and by the end of the night we were cruising the halls in pure darkness. We spent some time in the body chute and interestingly enough the vibe was quite peaceful. We sat perched a top the first step and gazed down into the seemingly infinite darkness within the chute. I didn't experience anything too odd here aside from seeing a black that was almost blacker than black. I know it's a strange thing to envision, but a few times I saw something coming up the chute that seemed to take this form. I later talked to my husband about this feeling and he said he'd seen the same, spooky!
We explored the inner-workings of the facilities old morgue and even spent some time in an old safe. But the most action we experienced throughout the night occurred on the infamous 4th floor. The 4th floor definitely gets a lot of the glory when it comes to scary stories at Waverly. (recap: this is where the shadow figures are most commonly seen). The shadow figures here are a little bit goofy as many of them stand around 3ft tall. People have reported seeing them scurry across doorways, crawl on the ceiling and make their way down the hallway. The experience is strange. It definitely seems like these things know when you're looking for them and they're down to clown. You'll catch a glimpse of one out of the corner of your eye or see something strange in the distance and not be quite sure what to believe. After spending our hour on the 4th floor everyone in my little group had seen a shadow figure at one point or another, my husband even saw one on the ceiling (gross). Rather than being scary the feeling almost comes as a rush. After people start seeing things one by one it's straight-up exhilarating to see them with your own eyes.
Another experience worth noting was not one of my own but someone else's in my group. Something I didn't mention up top is that Waverly Hills is also quite famous for doppelgangers. As you can see in the pictures the building is full of tons of windows, none of which have window panes in them today (unless you're on the first floor). Well, we were up on either the 3rd or 4th floor and someone in our group stopped in confusion. "That's so weird," she said, "I could have sworn I just saw my reflection in this window." Perhaps the best thing about this is this woman had little knowledge about the lore behind Waverly! She said she was interested in visiting the property because she was a nurse and the medical history of the Sanitarium peaked her interest. I like to think what she saw was real and I'm still geeking out about the fact that I was a first-hand witness of someone who experienced the phenomena.
Eventually 6 a.m. drew near. I wasn't tired as I feared I would be and the time flew by. Almost as soon as I left Waverly I found myself wanting to go back. My mini-lockdown was a fantastic experience and I will return in a heartbeat when presented the chance! If you have even the slightest teeny tinyyyy tidbit of interest in this kind of stuff I would definitely suggest you make a visit to Waverly, it will affirm your beliefs and fill you with wonder.
Stay Spooky.
The Waverly Hills Sanitarium is one of the most haunted places in America. I've heard the stories and I've watched the shows. The Hills were on my paranormal bucket list for quite some time, luckily I was able to check them off!
Before I get ahead of myself we need to backtrack. Let's dive into some of the history behind the haunt. The Waverly Hills Sanitarium once functioned as a tuberculosis hospital with cutting-edge treatments and technology to fight "the white plague". TB was spreading rapidly and Over 8,000 people took their last breath in the Sanitarium. Doctors became more and more desperate to find a cure. This lead to many painstaking and questionable procedures on patients. Another thing worth mentioning is TB is an airborne disease. Therefor, anyone who decided to dedicate their time to helping those who feel victim to the illness also put their own lives at risk. Many who worked at Waverly Hills ended up contracting the disease themselves. Once you moved to the Hills there was no turning back. The bodies of those who did not beat their battle with TB were sent down the body chute. The chute stretched 525 feet underground leading from the hospital to a pair of railroad tracks at the bottom of the hill.The facility closed in 1961 after a cure for tuberculosis was discovered.
Who would have thunk, all these years have past and people still flock to Waverly Hills. This time for a much different purpose. Every patient, doctor and nurse who walked through those doors physically left Waverly behind. However, it seems some spirits had an easier time departing than others. Where ever there are tragedies ghosts seem to like to linger behind, Waverly Hills is no exception.
This old Kentucky hospital is most notorious for the many shadow figures that are often be seen on the 4th floor. There is also an entity tour guides refer to as "Big Black", another shadow figure that engulfs the entire hallway in darkness as it makes it's way towards you blacking out each doorway that it passes. On the third floor dwells a spirit that is referred to as "Timmy". Timmy is thought to be the spirit of a child who is known to play and communicate with guests using small rubber balls. If you find yourself in room number 502 be sure to keep an eye out for the nurse who hung herself outside of the elevator shaft back in the day. Legend has it that had contracted TB and was also pregnant out of wedlock. Disturbed by this series of events she took her own life. Apparently just the night before I took my tour of the facility a group of ladies were taking pictures next to room 502 and caught a full body apparition in their photo.
Now, for my experience! Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you... a night at Waverly Hills!
Months prior to the night itself my husband and I booked our reservation for a 6hr overnight investigation at Waverly Hills. They have shorter tour options too (2hrs and 4hrs) but we figured go big or go home, right? Alas, we waited many months until the day finally arrived! I'm not much of a night-owl myself so the thought of pulling an all-nighter had me a little concerned. Equipped with Red Bulls, a digital camera and a crappy spirit box app for Android we were ready to go!
Our tour began at 11:30 p.m. To my surprise Waverly isn't in BFE like I'd always imagined it. Actually, there are homes built up right to the property line. Despite this the night was still very calm and quite and we were ready for our adventure. At the beginning everyone met in the gift shop. There were a lot of people there, some looking very legit and ghost hunter-esque with their fancy cases full of gadgets and gizmos. Then there were the people more like us who were ill-equipped but still ready to party. We split into two smaller groups and were ready to begin our very own investigation of Waverly Hills! *Eeeekk*
My first thought as we headed into the ruins of the once mighty hospital were, "oh man, what have I gotten myself into...6 hours is a looooong time. Idk if I'm ready for this, this is super intense...". I was low key geeking out, the Red Bull didn't do much for my nerves either. As the night went on I attributed part of my nervousness to the tour guide's eerie stories. The tales of what others have seen in those halls are enough to make anyone a little bit paranoid. My visit to Waverly was by far the most extreme thing I've done as a paranormal enthusiast. The building stands 6 stories tall and this place is massive! We had free range of the entire property including the body chute. Our guide once again broke us up into smaller groups and assigned us each to different floors. I'm not going to give you a play by play of each floor because that would take an eon to type up. However, here's how things went down. We had 6hrs and 6 floors, this allowed for a little less than an hour on per floor for each group. We had a break back in the gift shop at 3:30 a.m.
I became surprisingly comfortable in the building as the night went on. I started the eve clinging close to those with a flashlight in hand and by the end of the night we were cruising the halls in pure darkness. We spent some time in the body chute and interestingly enough the vibe was quite peaceful. We sat perched a top the first step and gazed down into the seemingly infinite darkness within the chute. I didn't experience anything too odd here aside from seeing a black that was almost blacker than black. I know it's a strange thing to envision, but a few times I saw something coming up the chute that seemed to take this form. I later talked to my husband about this feeling and he said he'd seen the same, spooky!
We explored the inner-workings of the facilities old morgue and even spent some time in an old safe. But the most action we experienced throughout the night occurred on the infamous 4th floor. The 4th floor definitely gets a lot of the glory when it comes to scary stories at Waverly. (recap: this is where the shadow figures are most commonly seen). The shadow figures here are a little bit goofy as many of them stand around 3ft tall. People have reported seeing them scurry across doorways, crawl on the ceiling and make their way down the hallway. The experience is strange. It definitely seems like these things know when you're looking for them and they're down to clown. You'll catch a glimpse of one out of the corner of your eye or see something strange in the distance and not be quite sure what to believe. After spending our hour on the 4th floor everyone in my little group had seen a shadow figure at one point or another, my husband even saw one on the ceiling (gross). Rather than being scary the feeling almost comes as a rush. After people start seeing things one by one it's straight-up exhilarating to see them with your own eyes.
Another experience worth noting was not one of my own but someone else's in my group. Something I didn't mention up top is that Waverly Hills is also quite famous for doppelgangers. As you can see in the pictures the building is full of tons of windows, none of which have window panes in them today (unless you're on the first floor). Well, we were up on either the 3rd or 4th floor and someone in our group stopped in confusion. "That's so weird," she said, "I could have sworn I just saw my reflection in this window." Perhaps the best thing about this is this woman had little knowledge about the lore behind Waverly! She said she was interested in visiting the property because she was a nurse and the medical history of the Sanitarium peaked her interest. I like to think what she saw was real and I'm still geeking out about the fact that I was a first-hand witness of someone who experienced the phenomena.
Eventually 6 a.m. drew near. I wasn't tired as I feared I would be and the time flew by. Almost as soon as I left Waverly I found myself wanting to go back. My mini-lockdown was a fantastic experience and I will return in a heartbeat when presented the chance! If you have even the slightest teeny tinyyyy tidbit of interest in this kind of stuff I would definitely suggest you make a visit to Waverly, it will affirm your beliefs and fill you with wonder.
Stay Spooky.
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