     
      |
 |
THE
PHANTOM ZONE FOR THE PHANTOM ZONE ARCHIVE OF PAST COLUMNS CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW CURRENT THE PHANTOM ZONE |
JULY
24th, 2006 |
WAVERLY
HILLS SANITARIUM Waverly Hills is an abandoned tuberculosis hospital located in Louisville, Kentucky. It is actually a quite beautiful old building. It is also reported to be one of the most haunted places in North America. Waverly has been featured on a Sci-Fi Channel special entitled 'Spooked', 'The Ghost Hunters' and also on Fox’s 'Scariest Places on Earth'. Waverly Hills first opened in 1911. At this period of time, tuberculosis was an epidemic. There were no antibiotics so the only “treatment” for the disease was fresh air and sunlight. Of course, there was also a need to keep those infected isolated from the general public. When Waverly first opened, it was only equipped to hold 40-50 patients. As the epidemic spread, it was quickly seen that a much larger building was needed. In March 1924 construction began and on Oct 1926 the gothic style sanitarium opened equipped to hold over 400 patients. As I have mentioned, treatments during this period were primitive at best. Therefore, it shouldn’t be surprising that a number of deaths occurred while the sanitarium was in operation. Exact numbers of deaths are not known but the estimation is at least 16,000. At the height of the epidemic, it is reported that one death occurred an hour. Due to this high death rate, an underground tunnel was constructed so as to sneak the dead out without the other patients seeing. This tunnel is known as “The Death Tunnel”. By the mid-50's, antibiotics had largely eradicated the tuberculosis epidemic. In 1961, Waverly closed its doors and then reopened in 1962 as the Woodhaven Geriatrics Sanitarium. It has been said the patients were grossly mistreated. Electroshock therapy was widely used on the patients. In 1982, the state of Kentucky closed its doors. The building has since changed hands several times and some of the owners were very unkind to the old building. The current owner is Tina Mattingly and she is undertaking the task of restoring the historic building–despite the ghosts. Activity is reported on every floor of the building and in The Death Tunnel. Activities reported have been phantom smells, cold spots, hot spots, “shadow people”, full bodied apparitions, objects moving by themselves, high EMF readings, apparitions caught on film and video, and voices caught on digital recordings. Specific ghosts reported are that of a young child seen bouncing a ball; a young girl with no eyes; a homeless man and his dog; and an elderly woman running out of the main entrance wrists in restraints, bleeding profusely and begging for help. Particular areas to visit are room 502 where a nurse supposedly took her own life and of course, The Death Tunnel–but as I stated before every floor of Waverly has reported activity. If you want to experience a haunting, this is the place in Kentucky, if not North America, to visit. Waverly is open to the public and tours are currently being booked for those who wish to go. Overnight and half night tours are available but the weekends are booked for the season. Weeknights are still available but your group must include at least 10 people. Prices are as follows: Overnight (midnight-8am) 100 per person, half night (midnight-4am) 50 per person. Those interested can book a tour by calling (502)417-4526 between the hours of noon-6pm on Mon., Wed, Thurs, Fri and Sat. Visit the Official Website: http://www.waverlyhillstbsanatorium.com/ I am definitely interested in attending one of the tours. Anyone who would like to try to get a group together (or for anyone who would like to trade ghost stories) email me at docharvey@hotmail.com. For those of you who would like to know more I can get a copy of the Spooked special that the Sci-Fi channel aired sent to you. Happy Ghost Hunting Next Article : Bobby Mackeys Music World |
JUNE
26th, 2006 |
AN
INTRODUCTION TO GHOST HUNTING When I first mentioned starting a column on Ghosts, Greg Stamper replied, “I didn’t even know that this was something you were interested in”. The truth is that I have always had a fascination with Ghost Tales. There is a library of Ghost story books at my home that have been accumulating since I was twelve years old. All this time, I have read these tales and thought, “Wouldn’t it be great to visit these places?”. Then came the advent of shows like THE GHOST HUNTERS. I have to confess that if the idea had occurred to me that I could hunt Ghosts and make a living doing it–then Vet School would have been a distant memory (sorry mom)! The idea of trying to obtain scientific proof of hauntings completely intrigues me. So, last year I took my first Ghost Hunting trip. My sister and I went to Camp Nelson (a Civil War Fort in Nicholasville) last fall to take part in a Ghost walk hosted by the Kentucky Ghost Hunters Society. We only had some minor experiences–phantom smells, orbs caught on camera-but it was fun. So what I am going to attempt to do in my future columns is to discuss some of the more haunted places in Kentucky and what I would like to do is actually visit these places. For all of you who are interested in this type of thing, I would hope that you would also come. I started this week by trying to research an area close to home–Red River Gorge. I wasn’t able to find a great number of haunted areas but a couple of areas did come up. First of all, there is the Nada tunnel. The tunnel was constructed to haul logs from timber operations in the gorge. Construction began in December 1910 and was completed in September 1911. Rock and dirt were removed by dynamite, steam drills and hand tools. There was one death during construction when a worker attempted to thaw frozen dynamite by sitting it near a fire. This may be the reason for the haunting. However, I did find another story reporting that a rock climber fell near the tunnel and died. I haven’t been able to verify this information but according to the legend, the tunnel glows a 1:17 a.m. because that is when the man died. I have also found a reference to a haunting in Stanton. Lions Club Park in Stanton has some reported activity. The claim is that if you park your car in the back of the park and listen that you can hear people walking around when no one is there. There are also reported to be odd sounds heard in the nearby Graveyard and a Phantom Horse running. I am hoping to check these areas on the next camping excursion [RRS: TRINITY] and hopefully some of you will come. For those of you seriously interested, there is some recommended equipment: 1) Digital Camera 2) Video Camera (Infra-Red is Best but Expensive) 3) DVR 4) EMF Detector 5) Digital Thermometer I have several of these devices that I will be bringing but feel free to bring your own. Happy Ghost Hunting - Danika Next article: Waverly Hills Sanitarium (the Holy Grail of all Ghost Hunts in Kentucky) |
