The hospital officially closed in 1961 but reopened a year later with a new purpose. The “body chute” or “death tunnel”, as it came to be known, was 545 feet long and used a rail car system to transport bodies from both the first floor and basement of the hospital. The volume of deaths were so high that doctors worried about patients’ morale and mental health and repurposed a tunnel that had been used to move supplies up the hill in winter into a discrete way to move the dead out of the hospital and to the bottom of the hill where they were out of sight and able to be cremated or collected by their families. The number of deaths that occurred at Waverly Hills in a year sometimes reached as high as 152 and during its operation from 1911-1961 it is believed that around 6,000 people died there. Many were treated at Waverly but died due to how advanced the cases had become by the time they arrived at the hospital. Still, even after World War II tuberculosis experienced a spike in cases when soldiers began to return home with it. It wasn’t until the discovery of an antibiotic known as streptomycin in 1943 that cases of tuberculosis really began to decline. More bloody and often deadly treatments of the disease included inserting balloons into the lungs to expand them or removing some ribs and muscles so that lungs could expand further on their own. Some patients were treated in rooms with artificial UV light meant to penetrate their lungs and kill off unwanted bacteria. Treatments included having patients exposed to fresh air, sitting out on patios and porches no matter the weather be it rain, snow, or sun. Because tuberculosis was such a contagious disease early treatments were rigorous, although in most cases, unfounded and unsuccessful. They were not completely isolated, however, as many loved ones would come during visitors’ days.
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The hospital even had its own zip code, post office, water treatment facility, gardens, and livestock so that patients had everything they needed to live removed from the outside world.
ĭue to the nature of tuberculosis the hospital operated as its own self-contained community to keep patients isolated from those without the disease.
The newly constructed hospital could now hold around 500 patients. Construction to expand the hospital began in March 1924 and ended in October 1926. The original hospital was made to handle about 40 patients but it quickly became apparent that more room was needed as cases of tuberculosis continued to increase. Louisville, Kentucky in particular had a very high concentration of the disease due to the low swamps and wetlands much of the area was situated on, a perfect breeding ground for the tuberculosis. It wasn’t until 1910 that a hospital was built on the property for the treatment of tuberculosis. The property became known as Waverly Hills after the school’s own name, Waverly School. Originally the location Waverly Hills now rests on was a homestead and home to a one-room schoolhouse. Waverly Hills has been home to an estimated over 6,000 deaths during its years in operation and many believe that this influx of tragedies may be the cause of the paranormal activity that plagues the location. Louisville in Jefferson County, Kentucky was one of the hardest hit areas and home to one of the most infamous haunted locations in the world–Waverly Hills Sanatorium. Tuberculosis causes patients pain and difficulty breathing, chills, fatigue, fever, swollen lymph nodes, and a loss of appetite that contributes to dramatic weight loss in many patients. Tuberculosis is one of the most devastating diseases to ravage the United States in the early 1900s.
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