As Perry has written earlier, one of my favorite TV shows is
Ghost Hunters on the Sci-
Fi channel. Actually, this may be one of the few shows I even watch at all and this summer my watching has been pretty limited because of travel and the extensive furniture moving due to the painting. So I was surprised to read in the paper this
morning about one of the places
Ghost Hunters had visited here in Louisville.
Halloween two years ago (2006, when our Danish exchange student, Simon was staying with us)
Ghost Hunters had done an all night special at the Waverly Sanitarium south of Louisville. It was a
tuberculosis sanitarium for many years (the Ohio river valley being a great place for the
tuberculosis bacterium to grow). Simon our exchange student and I watched some of it after Vincent took him trick-or-treating. (Yes, they were old but Denmark doesn't have Halloween so Vincent wanted him to get the full experience.)
Waverly was a huge sanitarium with sun porches where patients could enjoy the fresh air and sun shine while trying to
recuperate. Of course from years of disuse and vandalism the sanitarium is now in pretty bad shape. Besides the sun porches large enough to house numerous beds the sanitarium had a "death tunnel". This tunnel went from the bottom of the hill to behind the sanitarium. Supplies were hauled up the tunnel and those that had died were lowered down the tunnel (partly so patients wouldn't see the number of deaths and not be affected psychologically). The tunnel has been the focus of several B-rated horror movies and my show,
Ghost Hunters, spent a large amount of time investigating the claims of
hauntings in the tunnel.
Today's paper said the Waverly Sanitarium will be renovated and hopes to reopen in 2010. This time not as a sanitarium, or the Halloween night attraction that thousands attend, and not as a one time proposed
religious center, but as a hotel for those looking for a haunting experience. The new owners even propose a spa, fitness center, and business center. It is huge and has interesting architecture, but it isn't exactly in the heart of Louisville. I'm not sure I would get a good nights sleep, but maybe that is the point. A haunted hotel for those interested in a memorable experience.
-- Stephanie
Halloween two years ago (2006, when our Danish exchange student, Simon was staying with us) Ghost Hunters had done an all night special at the Waverly Sanitarium south of Louisville. It was a tuberculosis sanitarium for many years (the Ohio river valley being a great place for the tuberculosis bacterium to grow). Simon our exchange student and I watched some of it after Vincent took him trick-or-treating. (Yes, they were old but Denmark doesn't have Halloween so Vincent wanted him to get the full experience.)
Waverly was a huge sanitarium with sun porches where patients could enjoy the fresh air and sun shine while trying to recuperate. Of course from years of disuse and vandalism the sanitarium is now in pretty bad shape. Besides the sun porches large enough to house numerous beds the sanitarium had a "death tunnel". This tunnel went from the bottom of the hill to behind the sanitarium. Supplies were hauled up the tunnel and those that had died were lowered down the tunnel (partly so patients wouldn't see the number of deaths and not be affected psychologically). The tunnel has been the focus of several B-rated horror movies and my show, Ghost Hunters, spent a large amount of time investigating the claims of hauntings in the tunnel.
Today's paper said the Waverly Sanitarium will be renovated and hopes to reopen in 2010. This time not as a sanitarium, or the Halloween night attraction that thousands attend, and not as a one time proposed religious center, but as a hotel for those looking for a haunting experience. The new owners even propose a spa, fitness center, and business center. It is huge and has interesting architecture, but it isn't exactly in the heart of Louisville. I'm not sure I would get a good nights sleep, but maybe that is the point. A haunted hotel for those interested in a memorable experience.
-- Stephanie
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