So here is what happened to me the other day. We went ghost hunting at this abandoned TB hospital[/URL] that we go to every once in awhile. We never made it to the hospital tho. There was a driveway acrossed from the driveway to the hospital that went up into the woods so we turned up there to see what was there. We were very surprised at what we found. Back a little ways you come up to, I guess the best way to discribe it is, a little abandoned village. There was about 12 or more houses that all looked very similar and they were all abandoned! Not bad looking houses either probably about 30 years old. So we went up to the last one and got out to explore. I kept telling the girls I was with that it reminded me of a movie but I couldn't figure out what one. Later on while watching the video we had made it hit me. It wasn't a movie at all.. it was a dream that I have had several times. I have dreamt of that place before but I have never in my life been there! I can't totally remember all of the dream but I know that everytime I have it I wake up in a panic and have to keep the lights on the rest of the nite! Something bad happens in that dream.. does that mean I should stay away from this place?

When I get my pix developed of this place I'll post them for all to see!

WOW! That is eerie!! We too have an old and huge abandoned TB hospital here in Louisville called WAVERLY HOUSE. IT is supposedly one of the most haunted places here. It gave me the creeps to see it. It sits up on a huge hill. A guard sits outside so that vandelists or thrill seekers can't go inside. It is pretty run-down in places. They use parts of it that are safe to walk around in as a Haunted House every Halloween. It made Americas most haunted. (a silly show-but it made it).
Your dream is very interesting! Maybe something unsavory happened there. families may have lived in the little village to be close to loved ones in the hospital. You know-with TB-people were hospitalized for months. Many experimental and inhumane things were done to those poor patients. You didn't have STATE coming in to check like now. Bad things went on! I will be interested to hear more about this! great story!!

Annabel Lee

To be safe maybe you should stay away from the place.
I've found that in the precog. dreams I've had the feelings of fear and dread don't usually come from things that provide a danger to me. Many times they come from other things like your sensitivity to the energy of the place or reading past events of the place. You could be sensing the fear someone had when they were there.
I've found the best way to figure out what you should or shouldn't do is look at the details of precog. dreams.
Let yourself dwell on the dream without trying to force your mind to focus on it. Particular details will come up. You may see people in the dream. Maybe they'll be in period dress which would suggest it's from the past. You may notice something different about the place that doesn't match it's current state. You may recall in detail something about the place or dream that will key you into what it means the next time you are there.

Thanks for the comments! Yeah I have to sit down and see if I can remember anymore of that dream.

Here are some pix I took of the place when we had gone up during the day:

This is a view from the street the abandoned houses are on looking towards the Hospital[/URL] .

Picture 1[/URL]
Picture 2[/URL]
Picture 3[/URL]
Picture 4[/URL]
Picture 5[/URL]
Picture 6[/URL]

Tell me what you think of these!

Also here are two links to pictures of the hospital itself!
Hospital 1[/URL]
Hospital 2[/URL]

Wow! That feels eerie to me! I really feel like people stayed in those houses who either worked at the hospital or were families. I have a link below to the Waverly Hills Sanitarium(not "House" as I incorrectly wrote above). You can view pics of the hospital and read some history. This is so eerie! TB Clinics were big at the time and now there are many abandoned ones. Many tortured souls around. See what you think!

Annabel Lee

Guess what? I forgot to add the link!! Sorry!! long day at the hospital!! Here it is:

http://www.prairieghosts.com/waverly_tb.html[/URL]

Annabel Lee

I'm not sure if this is the right place, but I heard of a abondoned village of about 12 houses that is haunted. They call it "Demon's Alley" There have been many occurences of evil spirits there.

Annabel thanks for the link! It gives me a good idea of what went on at our TB hospital. I don't understand why they would use shock therapy on TB patients tho? I thought they only did that in the mental hospitals (which wasn't right either). It's so sad that those people suffered with that horrible disease then also had to be tortured by cruel treatments.

I'm kinda thinking that the family's used to stay over there too. I think I might go to the town hall and see if they can tell me anything about it.

So this Waverly Hills was on tv for being haunted? You know... I wish there was a way to do an investigation at our hospital. I'm not quite sure that we could get permission to do that. They have fenced in all the driveways and put up no trespassing signs. How do you go about getting an investigation done? If one goes on there I have GOT to be a part of it!

Annabel - have you ever been into Waverly Hills? You said you've seen it. Do you think it's haunted?

It would be interesting to find out why those houses were abandoned. They look like they just need a little bit of work and they could be liveable.

Hi Candi!
My husband and I drove up to Waverly Hills, and the guard took us around. He wouldn't take us inside, because of liability(if someone should get hurt), but you could see into parts of the building where it has gotten so run down. The guard told us of many ghostly occurrences he has seen and heard about. A nurse who worked there years ago, apparently hung herself in one of the rooms, and he told us that there have been many sightings of her. It is very eerie there, and gothic looking! I could FEEL the energy,still remaining around that building. So much happened there.It is eerily quiet and you can hear the wind whistling through and around the hospital. I have never been lucky enough to witness a ghost, but if I ever did-I think it would be there!
As far as an investigation-I'll bet if you contact a parapsychology group-or even students from a University studying parapsychology, you could get them interested, and with permission from the state or whoever owns it, they may just let you guys do a study. You could even talk to your local TV station-they may help get something done. If anyone on here knows how to get an investigation going-please let us know!

Annabel Lee

I am sorry to see how badly you have been misinformed.
There were no horrific experimental procedures. All of the procedures were well accepted treatments for tuberculosis worldwide. Yes, some of the operations had high risks, as they were lung surgeries and highly intrusive such as
Thorcoplasty, which has been portrayed by those ignorant of the facts as a morbid procedure that removed ribs and muscles to allow the lung to expand. In reality it was the removal of ribs and using the muscles to permanently collapse a lung that was too far gone to save. Yes, alot of people went home with no ribs on one side, but they went home. The alternative was the grave. In order for this procedure to have been used the person would have to have one foot already in the grave. This was a last ditch effort to save a life. Yes, some estimates say that there was about an 80% mortality rate, but considering that the patient would have certainly died without it we see that 20 out of every one hundred were snatched from death. I have spoken with several former patients of Waverly Hills as well as former staff members. Everyone I spoke with had nothing but praise for the treatment given there. The staff members were heroes who risked their lives daily to save others and should be remembered as such, not as mad scientists tormenting people.
As far as electro-shock therapy, that is just a legend derived from the misconception that sanatorium means mental hospital. The truth is that sanatorium was a common name in older days for anyplace in which one would go to "cleanse the body". Even health resorts were commonly called sanatoria. Mental patients with TB were housed in a TB ward at Central State Hospital (a mental institution) which was also in Louisville, not at Waverly Hills.
I'm not trying to belittle you at all, as I said, you were sorely misinformed. It's the people that spread these half truths and whole lies that should be ashamed. If someone claims to be teaching people the facts, it is their responsibility to actually know them first.

As far as the cottages, some tb hospitals did have them for patients that were nearly recovered and soon would be going home, and for staff members so they could live nearby. Pretty much anyone that worked at a tb sanatorium lived on the grounds to help prevent further spread of the disease. As I said before, they were exposed daily to a very deadly illness and I have seen documentation that some staff members did contract tb and sometimes even died from it.

[ January 02, 2005, 09:04 PM: Message edited by: TruthSeeker ]

Thank you for clarifying this TruthSeeker. I had never had a chance to read the link that was provided on Waverly Hills until just now. I believe you are correct -- electric shock treatments were at one time, an accepted treatment therapy for patients with mental and emotional disorders -- but certainly not TB!

As for the claims of horrific experimental treatments, I suspect that the procedures performed in leading medical care facilities today will be regarded as primitive 100 years from now. Technology changes and our understanding of medicine and medical practices change with it. I'm sure the health care professionals of that era would be astounded to see how far things have come today.

I'm curious -- how did you come about your research on this? I had several relatives in the 1930's who suffered from TB and lived for some time in a facility in Colorado.

You are very welcome. Here are some of the sites I found in my research:


Here is a very good site about the history of the fight against TB in Canada: http://www.lung.ca/tb/index.html[/URL]
Here is their page about Thoracoplasty:
http://www.lung.ca/tb/tbhistory/treatment/thoraco.html[/URL]
Same site's images page with many good photos from the sanatoria era:
http://www.lung.ca/tb/images/[/URL]

Another very informative site:
http://www.wits.ac.za/myco/html/h_tb.htm[/URL]

Hope this helps you. I also interviewed several former patients and staff from Waverly Hills.
One of my favorite stories that I learned was about a couple that met while both were patients. Both recovered and married, then they both stayed on as staff members (unlikely if the treatments were as horrific as legend claims). A few years ago I interviewed Doug, the husband, who worked in X-ray. At the time of my interview, both he and his wife were alive, well, and together. Doug has to carry oxygen with him because he lost a lung to tb. Lobectomy and Pneumoectomy are the removal of part of an infected lung or the whole lung, respectively. These procedures replaced Thoracoplasty when doctors realized that it was better to remove the infection completely. These operations, btw, are still used today.
I also learned that it is very important that the facts about this disease be passed on correctly, as it is having a comeback here in the US. Some new strains of tb are even resistant to the modern treatments.

I've also heard that cases of TB are on the rise, so it is important that the public be informed.

Interesting links. I recall my mother saying that her great-aunt and uncles (I believe three were in treatment) underwent "gold therapy", which does correspond to the information in the links you provided. They survived the disease and went on to live out their lives in Colorado because they felt the climate was better there.

Neat story about the couple! What a way to meet the love of your life.

If you don't mind me asking, are you in the medical field, or journalism? You mentioned having done some interviews with people who were associated with Waverly Hills, and you seem very well versed in the medical procedures . Just being nosy!

I don't mind you asking at all.
I am neither in the medical field nor journalism. I have a paranormal research group and a major part of our investigation process is obtaining a fairly detailed historical account of what really happened at the site rumored to be haunted. Being able to have factual information that either confirms or disproves legends is very important to eventually finding the truth.
I have shared my findings and compared notes with medical professionals, local historical society leaders, personnel from state tuberculosis awareness groups, the local American Lung Association, and various area archives and libraries as well as the before mentioned former patients and staff of both Waverly Hills and Woodhaven geriatrics home which is what Waverly Hills became after the TB hospital closed. One person in particular that I spoke with was Dr. Milton Miller prior to his passing over a year ago. Dr. Milton Miller at the time was the only living son of Dr. Oscar O. Miller who was one of the many medical directors at Waverly. In fact, Dr. Oscar Miller was very responsible for the erection of the main building. Dr. Milton Miller not only grew up in a house on "The Hill," he also later studied pulmonary medicine as an intern at Waverly in the process of his medical training. He, of course, had many interesting stories to share. All seemed to be impressed with my knowledge and agreed with my findings. In fact you are not the first person to ask if I had studied medicine, which I take as a huge compliment.
I'm glad to hear that your ancestors recovered from tb. I can see why they would decide to stay in Colorado. The common belief in those days was that breathing out the "germs" and breathing in fresh air was very important to recovery. That's why most sanatoria were located on hilltops in a country setting.
As far as the couple, yes it was a neat story, but not nearly unique. I have spoken with several former patients that met future husbands or wives while they were patients. And many staff members were former patients. Sometimes they were there for years so it is not suprising to see that the place that cared for them so well would be such an important part of their life even after their recovery. The building was a beacon of hope for them. One woman used to tell her daughter, years after she recovered, that the day she went to Waverly Hills was one of the best days of her life. It was the day that she began to believe she would live. Her daughter shared photos with me of her mother and her friends lounging on the fifth floor which was a ward for patient that were close to going home and NOT mental patients, as rumor has it. I have even more evidence that that legend is false, but I will end this novel and save that for another time.

Wow! Great research, TruthSeeker. I think you went above and beyond in historical research for your group. I'm working on some projects currently where I will be doing some historical research myself. My degree is in historical studies, so I really enjoy doing that type of thing.

I look forward to more posts from you! If you get a chance, go to the "Introduce Yourself" forum and give everyone a chance to say hello!