On October 31, 2006, the members of T.A.P.S. (The Trans-Atlantic Paranormal Society) traveled to the Stanley Hotel in Colorado for a LIVE! Ghost hunt on Halloween Night. The special episode of Ghost Hunters aired on the Sci-Fi Channel and led to TAPS catching some good bits of paranormal evidence. Ghost Hunters had filmed at the Stanley Hotel for one of their previous episodes, had some good stories and footage, so decided to go back. It’s one of the most famous haunted locations in the U.S. Things from sounds of children running to doors opening and closing on their own, have given the Stanley quite the reputation.
Author Stephen King stayed at this hotel, and his visit inspired him to write one of his most famous works, The Shinning.
TAPS picked a helluva place to host their LIVE ghost hunt, to say the least.
This year, Ghost Hunters will be airing another LIVE special, but have chosen a location far more intimidating as their host.
On Halloween night, TAPS will be heading to the Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Kentucky. Like the Stanley Hotel, TAPS has visited this location before, and was able to catch some impressive evidence on video and audio, and had several personal experiences to go along with it….
If you don’t know a whole lot about tuberculosis, imagine yourself choking. Not being able to get air in to your lungs because your throat is closing up inside from something unseen, congesting and constricting the tissues like invisible hands. Your chest feels like it’s ready to explode and your lungs feel like they are on fire. Finally, able to cough, clumps of bright red blood spew from your mouth as the inner walls of your lungs have started to disintegrate. The buzzing and dizziness that you feel in your head is from the constant fever you keep and made worse by the lack of oxygen going to your brain. Capillaries explode in your eyes due to the violent coughing spells and leave your eyes spotted with broken capillaries or a violent crimson red. Your skin has now turned a ghastly pasty white color because your body has stopped producing enough red blood cells to keep the pigment in your skin.
These graphic descriptions can only provide the modern reader with a hint of what millions suffered from in the early history of America -- the dreaded and deadly “white death” known as tuberculosis. The plague swept through the country for centuries, claiming entire families and sometimes entire towns. It was a terrifying and very contagious disease for which there was no cure.
The hospital, known as Waverly Hills, was opened in 1926 and was considered to be
the most advanced tuberculosis hospital in the country. Of course, treatment in those days was primitive at best, meaning that many simply came here to die. Records have been lost, but it is estimated that tens of thousands died at Waverly. At the height of the tuberculosis epidemic, it is reported that one patient an hour died. A number of different experiments were attempted by doctors and nurses in search for a cure. Some of these experiments may sound barbaric, or even pointless, by today’s standards. Many of the treatments were very harsh -- and very bloody.
In many cases, entire families came to live at Waverly Hills. Some were cured but many others left the hospital through what was called the “body chute”. This was a tunnel that led from the hospital to the railroad tracks at the bottom of the hill The tunnel was totally enclosed from the Morgue wing of the hospital. The purpose of this was so that the patients couldn’t see how many bodies were leaving the hospital. It was believed this would negatively affect their morale as the doctors discovered early on that the mental health of the patients was just as important as their physical health.
Because of the procedures and experiments that were performed at Waverly Hills and
other hospitals around the country, tuberculosis was declining worldwide by the late 1930’s. It wasn’t until 1943 though that a young graduate student at Rutgers University by the name of Albert Schatz discovered Streptomycin, the first real medicine against the disease. By the mid 1950’s, tuberculosis had been largely eradicated because of this antibiotic. In 1961, Waverly Hills Sanatorium was closed because there was no longer a need for a tuberculosis facility. The buildings were reopened in 1962 as Woodhaven Geriatrics Sanitarium.
There have been many tales of patient mistreatment and unusual experiments that have filtered down from the hill over the years. Some have been proven false, while others unfortunately have turned out to be true. Electroshock therapy was widely used, although it was considered to be a very effective treatment in those days. During the 1960’s and 1970’s, a time of budget cuts for facilities of this type, there were many well documented cases of horrible conditions and unusual treatments at mental institutions all across the country.
The building and land changed hands several times over the next 18 years. The second owner of the property wanted to tear all the buildings down to construct the world’s largest statue of Jesus Christ. He succeeded in demolishing all of the buildings except for the main hospital and was only stopped by an injunction because the building is on the National Historic Register’s “endangered” list. He then decided that if he couldn’t legally tear it down then he would do everything in his power to get it condemned. He let vandals come into the building and tear it up. After breaking windows, porcelain sinks, toilets and doors, they began spraying graffiti on every available wall. The owner then dug around the foundation, in some places as deep as 30 feet, to try and make the foundation crack. If this happened, then he believed he could get the building condemned and would be able to legally tear it down. Fortunately, the structure refused to give way and his efforts failed. The area where his extensive digging took place can still currently be seen.
By 2001, this once regal and majestic hospital had been ravaged by time, the elements and vandals and was a shell of its former self. Waverly Hills had now become every town’s “haunted house”. Vagrants took to living here and kids broke in for the rush of finding a “ghost” or just to get high. There were tales of a little girl running up and down the third floor solarium playing hide and seek with trespassers, of a little boy playing with his leather ball, of rooms lighting up as if there was still power to the building, doors slamming, disembodied voices, a hearse driving up and dropping off coffins and an old woman running from the front door with her wrists bleeding screaming “help me, somebody save me!” The years went by and the owner decided to sell the property to the new owners, who took possession in 2001.
With the amount of death and disease associated with this place, it’ll give you an eerie feeling to begin with. When you throw in alleged hauntings, then it gets about as scary as you can get.
Be sure to catch Ghost Hunters on Halloween Night. I have a feeling they’re going to catch some pretty cool stuff.
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