(no subject)
Waverly Hills Sanatorium, with its foreboding Gothic facade, seemed from the beginning a place for haunting.
The long-abandoned hospital, sometimes described as "one of the scariest places on Earth," is the subject of an 83-minute documentary -- "Spooked, The Ghosts of Waverly Hills Sanatorium" -- that will premiere on cable television's Sci-Fi Channel June 7 at 9 p.m. Eastern time.
Opened in 1926 as a tuberculosis hospital, the existing four-story, 506-room structure is situated on a bluff in southwestern Jefferson County across the Ohio River from what is now the site of the Caesars Indiana casino. During the tuberculosis outbreak of the late 1920s, Waverly Hills treated thousands of patients.
Its so-called "death tunnel," a passageway more than 500 feet long designed for removing corpses from the hospital without other patients having to watch, has become one of several focal points of filmmakers.
"We spent over three weeks inside Waverly and over 18 hours inside the Death Tunnel," "Spooked" producer Christopher Saint Booth said from Los Angeles this week. "Let me tell you, it was crazy -- scary as well as sad and tender."
Waverly Hills and nearly 30 surrounding acres have been owned by Charles and Tina Mattingly of Louisville since 2001. "I've chased people through that building and come to a locked door, and they're gone, and I'm not the only one that has done that," said Tina Mattingly. "I honestly do believe the place is haunted."
Building partly restored
The Mattinglys use proceeds from a $20 donation per visitor to help maintain the building -- part of which they have restored, with hopes of eventually leasing the first floor as office space. The couple say they have not seen a preview of the documentary and that they have so far received no income from television productions at Waverly.
Keith Age of the Louisville Ghost Hunters Society has assisted with numerous tours and with the Sci-Fi production about paranormal phenomena at the site. "Sometimes you'll see -- it looks like -- people peering out doorways looking at you, and other times, things come right up to you," Age said.
WLKY-TV feature reporter Jim Bulleit, who has taped a number of segments at Waverly, said he was with Age in a corridor one evening when a chunk of concrete seemed to travel an unnatural path before knocking Age to the floor. "It flew forward from the ceiling … maybe as much as 7 to 8 feet and hit him in the head," said Bulleit. "I've never been up there when I didn't see something."
To learn more about Waverly Hills Sanatorium, e-mail Tina Mattingly at waverlytours@bellsouth.net or visit www.spooked.org.
The long-abandoned hospital, sometimes described as "one of the scariest places on Earth," is the subject of an 83-minute documentary -- "Spooked, The Ghosts of Waverly Hills Sanatorium" -- that will premiere on cable television's Sci-Fi Channel June 7 at 9 p.m. Eastern time.
Opened in 1926 as a tuberculosis hospital, the existing four-story, 506-room structure is situated on a bluff in southwestern Jefferson County across the Ohio River from what is now the site of the Caesars Indiana casino. During the tuberculosis outbreak of the late 1920s, Waverly Hills treated thousands of patients.
Its so-called "death tunnel," a passageway more than 500 feet long designed for removing corpses from the hospital without other patients having to watch, has become one of several focal points of filmmakers.
"We spent over three weeks inside Waverly and over 18 hours inside the Death Tunnel," "Spooked" producer Christopher Saint Booth said from Los Angeles this week. "Let me tell you, it was crazy -- scary as well as sad and tender."
Waverly Hills and nearly 30 surrounding acres have been owned by Charles and Tina Mattingly of Louisville since 2001. "I've chased people through that building and come to a locked door, and they're gone, and I'm not the only one that has done that," said Tina Mattingly. "I honestly do believe the place is haunted."
Building partly restored
The Mattinglys use proceeds from a $20 donation per visitor to help maintain the building -- part of which they have restored, with hopes of eventually leasing the first floor as office space. The couple say they have not seen a preview of the documentary and that they have so far received no income from television productions at Waverly.
Keith Age of the Louisville Ghost Hunters Society has assisted with numerous tours and with the Sci-Fi production about paranormal phenomena at the site. "Sometimes you'll see -- it looks like -- people peering out doorways looking at you, and other times, things come right up to you," Age said.
WLKY-TV feature reporter Jim Bulleit, who has taped a number of segments at Waverly, said he was with Age in a corridor one evening when a chunk of concrete seemed to travel an unnatural path before knocking Age to the floor. "It flew forward from the ceiling … maybe as much as 7 to 8 feet and hit him in the head," said Bulleit. "I've never been up there when I didn't see something."
To learn more about Waverly Hills Sanatorium, e-mail Tina Mattingly at waverlytours@bellsouth.net or visit www.spooked.org.