Waverly Hills Sanatorium
A huge former tuberculosis hospital in Kentucky is said to be one of America's most haunted buildings.
What was reported
Waverly Hills Sanatorium opened in 1910 and was rebuilt as a large five-storey hospital in 1926 to treat tuberculosis, then widespread in the area. Many patients died there before antibiotics made the disease curable. The hospital closed in 1961, and later became a care home until 1980.
The empty building gained a reputation for ghosts: a boy said to play with a ball, a woman in white and shadows in the long corridors. A long tunnel down the hill, used to move supplies, became known as the 'body chute'.
Explanations offered
There's no evidence for the ghosts beyond reports, many from paid tours and TV shows, which help fund the building's upkeep. Its real history is a reminder of how deadly tuberculosis once was; the death toll is often exaggerated in the legends.
- When
- Opened in 1910
- Where
- Louisville, Kentucky, USA
- Witnesses
- Visitors and ghost-tour guests
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.