History OF THE HILLS

It has a long and grueling history, but now it’s a fun place to bring the family.

What happens in Waverly Hills hasn’t always been as positive as it is now.

Waverly Hills Sanitorium has been through many phases in its history. Many of these phases haven’t been particularly pleasant, and a lot of the information has been withheld from the public. The current owners are changing that and dedicating themselves to providing accurate education about the building to the public.

In the year 1910, tuberculosis had taken over the city of Louisville and hospitals were overrun with patients. To relieve the stress on local hospitals, and to stop the spread of the disease by isolating the patients, the city decided to create a sanatorium, which is a hospital that is designed to treat a specific illness. This hospital was called Waverly Hills Sanatorium. From the opening date to when it closed in 1961, the hospital treated tens of thousands of patients. When it was initially built, tuberculosis was the second leading cause of death in the United States, and before the sanatorium’s closing, nearly 50,000 people would die inside of the building.

For the patients living in the hospital, their stay was not a pleasant experience. “My grandfather (Homer Herron) was in a ward with 16 other men. He was the only one who made it out alive,” Patricia Warren-Brown said. Warren-Brown’s grandfather was one of the few people who made out to tell his story. The horrific experience that her grandfather and all the other patients of Waverly Hills had was something that most people can’t comprehend. Patients were unable to see their friends and family for months at a time. They watched their friends they had made at Waverly suddenly disappear, knowing they had probably died, but a lot of the time never getting it confirmed. They all knew that their chances of survival were low, but the nurses and doctors around them gave them false hope in an attempt to raise their morale to help them fight off the disease.

by Brandon Mudd

After tuberculosis had run its course on the city of Louisville, Waverly Hills Sanatorium was officially closed, but it was soon turned into a nursing home. It reopened in 1962 as Woodhaven Medical Services, a geriatric facility. However, its time as a nursing home was short lived. The building was seen as severely overcrowded and understaffed by the Division of Health Care, the branch of the state that regulates and certifies nursing homes in Kentucky. That, in combination with the multiple reports of patient neglect and abuse, warranted the state to shut down the operation in 1981.

From 1981 to 2001, when the current owners purchased the building, Waverly was left completely abandoned. During this time period, many people had a fun time sneaking in and exploring the place. “I actually rode through the building with one of my friends on our four wheelers,” Stephen Mudd said. At the time, many of the people breaking into the building, like Mudd, didn’t think twice about what really happened. “Looking back on it, I did know what had happened there, but I could definitely see how it probably wasn’t the best idea, and it could have been seen as disrespectful,” Mudd said, “I just think the main thing is to leave the place like you found it. It becomes disrespectful when you start destroying things.” While some people broke in to do crazy stunts like riding their four wheelers through the building, others simply wanted to have a thrill like Stephanie McGarry. “The first time I went to Waverly was in 2001. At that time, there were no tours or haunted houses yet, and it was just an old, creepy, broken down hospital. I went with 16 other girls and walked up. We didn’t see anything ghostly, but we did have a lot of fun looking around,” McGarry said. This sort of experience was common for teenagers and young adults to have while Waverly was still abandoned.

Currently, Waverly Hills is owned by Charlie and Tina Mattingly who are under the supervision of the Kentucky Historical Society. The current owners use the building to hold both paranormal and historical tours throughout the year and educate the public about what happened there. Mudd went not only when the place was abandoned, but he also went last year while the building was under the control of the new owners. “I feel like I learned a whole lot about the place while I was there. Even if someone is just going to do the paranormal tour they still give you a whole lot of cool historical information,” Mudd said. Before the current owners took over the building, most of the information about Waverly was unexposed to the public, and a lot of the information that was floating around was pure speculation and flat out myth. “It’s crazy that all this information used to be hidden, and now the owners are bringing it to light,” Anh Ho said. Not only is concealed information about Waverly’s history being revealed under the new owners, but they are also discovering brand new information. Their dedication to learning and sharing their knowledge is one of the main focuses of the current owners.

50,000 people died in Waverly Hills

Source: Waverly Hills Sanatorium: A History by Lynn Pohl