Waverley sanitarium Patch#

Fewer than 5% of patients who were taken to the hospital even survived. Those who lived long enough to not be taken by the disease jumped to their death or attempted suicide in many other fasions. The sick were experimented on, tortured and killed. Patients were operated on whilst awake and conscious. This was before the existence and use of anesthesia. This real actual outbreak was so bad emergency experimental surgeries took place daily. Thus, they approached a local builder and plans for Waverly Hills Sanatorium took hold. The dead were left at the end of the tunnel until it was time to move them.Ī Tuberculosis epidemic overtook Louisville back in the early 1900s, and the city needed somewhere to put the chronically ill patients to prevent the fast spread of the disease. The tunnel itself was 525 feet long and ran out to the bottom of the hill. Nothing that went down the death tunnel ever came back up. It was their workers that would be dispatched to gather the bodies of the dead and either burn, bury, or transport them elsewhere. The patients that passed on at Waverly Hills were left at the end of the tunnel. If you dare to step foot on the forbidden property, you will find this dark abandoned cavern nearby the path towards the light connected to the Main building via a railway system on the first floor in the original hospital. Very little of this part of Waverly has fallen down, and the structure itself is still safe. It is made with concrete all around, which makes it a very sturdy structure. it is actually a long tunnel with flooring. Many of those who know of it's existence have called this long concrete structure the Death Shute over the years. Waverly has been a tuberculosis hospital, mental hospital and geriatric center, all of which had dead transported via the death tunnel. The (TB) Tuberculosis Hospital, (also known as Waverly Hills) has been open since the late 1800's and has served many purposes over the years. The notorious 'Death Tunnel' lies deep beneath the earth on a plot of land housing one of the most haunted hospitals in the world.

You would think that any property with such a gruesome history would claim to be haunted, and you would be right.Waverly Hills Sanitarium Death Tunnel part one But none of these ideas came to fruition, and the building was left to vandals and decay for many years. There were later plans to make the building into a prison, and another scheme wanted to erect the world’s largest statue of Jesus on the site. The authorities eventually closed the place down in 1982. Those old people who went in of sound mind didn’t remain that way for long. They included strange experiments on unwilling victims and electro-shock treatments for non-existent conditions. It didn’t take long until rumors and gossip began to spread about abuses in the facility. In 1962 the sanatorium converted to a care facility for the elderly. In 1961, Waverly Hills Sanatorium closed up shop and stood abandoned. Thankfully, in the second half of the 20th century, the number of tuberculosis cases plummeted. Many patients died from these attempted “cures.” Balloons were inserted into the lungs, also in hope of progressive expansion. Other forms of “therapy” included surgically removing several ribs and muscles from a patient with the hope that the lungs would then expand further. So patients were rolled out onto porches and patios, regardless of the temperature and weather, year-round, rain or sun or snow. The medical authorities felt that fresh air, and lots of it, was the best medicine. Early Treatment for Tuberculosisĭuring the first half of the 20th century, treatment for the disease could be classified as bizarre, to say the least. Louisville, being surrounded by swamps and wetlands, received a higher proportion of patients with the disease, originally called “the white plague” - than many other parts of the country. But in 1910 a state-of-the-art tuberculosis hospital named Waverly Hills Sanatorium opened on the same grounds to serve patients of the local area.

Waverley sanitarium Patch#

Originally, a spacious mansion once stood on this patch of land in Louisville, Kentucky.