I caught my first glimpse of Waverly Hills Sanatorium as we rounded a curve on the narrow road. I had waited six years to mark this site off my bucket list and craned my neck to see around the trees, barely making out the imposing building from behind the locked gate. Waverly Hills, opened as a state of the art TB hospital in 1926, had earned the reputation of one of the “most haunted places in the United States.” I had been interested in the historical aspect of the building, but finding historical tours were only offered one Sunday afternoon a month, I signed Bryan and myself up for the two hour paranormal tour, offered on Friday and Saturday nights. My hopes for learning indepth history were dashed when the first question, asked in utter seriousness, was, “Have you seen any elementals, you know, those little fairies, out in the woods?” Assured that no elementals had been sighted, we began our tour in the infamous “body chute” or “death tunnel.”
TB was known as the white plague, highly contagious and deadly. When the death toll at Waverly reached 1 person per hour, the doctors noticed patient’s morale dropping. To combat this, they began sending the bodies down a supply tunnel where the living patients never had to see the corpses. Our tour continued into the Morgue, where autopsies were performed on people who were not believed to die of TB and into the electroshock room, where mentally unstable patients who suffered from TB of the brain received brutal treatments in hopes of finding a cure. This is where we supposedly experienced our first paranormal sighting when the guide’s flashlight turned off in the middle of her discussion. By this time I had been repeatedly blinded by the person in front of me who kept turning on his flashlight, although we had been asked to keep our flashlights off, and suspected it was him, blinding me once again. I was glaring at him when the guide exclaimed, “I was still using that!”
Our tour proceeded to the third floor patient rooms. The patient beds were pulled onto a huge open air breeze way each day, summer or winter, to allow them fresh air and sunlight, believed to be good for curing the lungs. During this explanation, the first person of the evening promptly had a dramatic fainting spell. While we waited for the EMS, one group of people tried to convince a child’s ball to tell them if Argentina would win the World Cup. I wandered around taking pictures.
Continuing to the 5th floor, we stepped outside onto the rooftop playground used by the Children’s ward and toured the room where the mentally unstable TB patients were kept. This floor is also home to the infamous 502, the site of either a murder or suicide by one of the nurses who found herself unwed, pregnant and with a TB diagnosis. Because TB was such a dreaded disease, Waverly Hills was kept as a contained community. Nurses and doctors risked their lives at this hospital and didn’t leave because of the risk of spreading TB to their families. This information brought about another fainting spell from one of our tour group members.
We concluded our tour on the 4th floor, reputed to be the most haunted and filled with dark forces. The surgery room, where ribs were removed to allow the diseased lungs to expand, is located on this floor, and sightings of shadow people are reported to be common. Several people claimed to see shadows and sense a presence. I couldn’t see anything in the dark and the only thing I felt was aggravation from being jostled, poked and blinded repeatedly during the tour.
Our tour guide did a wonderful job explaining the history and the paranormal presence at Waverly Hills, but the tour group was large and unruly. For anyone serious about experiencing either the history or the paranormal, I suggest the 4 hour tour from Midnight to 4 AM. The cost is $50 per person and all participants must be 18 or older. A guide stays in the building, but participants are allowed to wander and experience the building on their own.
If you go:
- 2 Hour Paranormal Tours are $22 a person. Children 10 and up can attend when accompanied by an adult. If the children are easily scared, I wouldn’t recommend the tour. I will say I didn’t take any of my children.
- Wear comfortable shoes. The tour includes five flights of stairs in the main building.
- Bring a small flashlight, which can only be used on the stairs, for safety.
- There are no bathrooms inside Waverly Hills, only one in the outbuilding, so plan accordingly.
I’m sorta obsessed with ghost programs and I saw this place on ghost hunters, but I dont think I’m brave enough to go in =)
This would be really cool! I would enjoy it! I would do the midnight one for sure!
Your very brave. I would of never done this. The wind could blow while I was visiting and I’d think a ghost touched me haha. Nope totally not for me…lol 🙂
Kind of scary, but it looks like a great tour! However, I’m not sure if I could do this tour myself!
Oh wow! That would be so much fun to tour and get to hear all the history. My ghost hunting daughter would absolutely love it.
These kinds of tours always fascinate me. I don’t know if I could ever do one, but look so amazing! Would love to visit!
This would really be an interesting place to visit. I know I would love it. Too bad about the unruly group and I think you are right about spending a little extra and taking the other tour.
Oh I love to go to haunted places!! How fun and scary looking!
Wow – even though photos freak me out! I’m not sure I can handle this one.
You are so much braver than I am. I get scared if I see this stuff even on TV. 🙂
i’m dying at your description as always pam. you are SO FUNNY!!
and i would never, not ever. unless you paid me many dollars. i have a tendency to see things i’m not always prepared to see — i’ve caught things in videos of others i’ve never met and stuff.
This is SO cool! Now this is something I would thoroughly enjoy going to. I love this type of history and find it fascinating, especially the spooky aspect!
I think this tour would freak me out. My kids could probably handle it better than me!
I love haunted tours but I like smaller groups. This place does sound fascinating!
I would LOVE that! I am totally into all that kind of haunted, paranormal type of stuff. Very cool tour.
I’ve always wanted to do one of these kind of tours. There’s one in Canada that over heard of that really have sightings which is on my bucket list. Sorry your tour wasn’t what you expected.
I’ve just shared your article to twitter http://twitter.com/@WETCOWSONLY4ME
I’ve seen many spirit sightings in broad daylight. My advice to you is to have a talisman around your neck [Chi-ro] it means no evil can exist in it’s divine light! wearing this you’ll need no holy water or a cross as this talisman represents the Creator.
while watching your post online my computer shutdown explaining the memory had been below normal. know this even evil can show itself in broad daylight or in a church but it does fear the icon of jesus Christ!