Mare Mare’s place to ramble on…..

We went, we saw, and we conquered!  This last Wednesday a group of people I work with, some of their friends, and a group of my Hicksville/Bryan  buddies ventured down to Louisville, Kentucky to spend the evening at one of the top 5 haunted places in the WORLD…..Waverly Hills Sanatorium.  We have been planning this trip since February, and the day finally came! 

The trip down was fun and went rather quick with only a few potty breaks and a chance to stretch!  Thanks to Megan and GPS we made it there in good time!  There were three vans full making the trip, and we all agreed to meet at a Texas Roadhouse restaurant not far from Waverly Hills.  The meal was great and a shout out to my new buddy Stephan for being a great waiter!!!

We had some time to kill before being allowed on the property, so our van decided to do a little site-seeing of the city.  I have never been to Kentucky in my life, so this was extra fun for me.  There are real hills in Kentucky…they looked like Mountains!!!!  We got a little mixed up with directions, and ended up driving around in a circle….but all was well, and our van had a good time making fun of business signs we saw on the way. 

It was finally time to head back and check in.  There was a very pleasant looking golf course on the drive back to the property….then the path got a little “tangled” looking and not as well manicured….and up the hill we go.  When we reached the clearing I was shocked at how big this place was.  Gi-normous doesn’t even describe it! Greeting us at the corner of the building was a large gargoyle with a sign “STAY OUT!”  (Except for us, of course!)  Apparently, and understandably, they have a lot of problems with trespassers.  It’s a shame, but I think if I had a place like that in my neighborhood to trespass, I’d do it too…..

We were instructed to take our coolers, blankets, and supplies down some stairs and  into a building that was separate from the main hospital.  This building was formerly the laundry room, but the owners have transformed this building into a “safe room” of sorts.  It has electricity, air conditioning, a lot of tables and chairs, and some relics from the hospital to view in cases.  There’s also a gift shop and two very nice restrooms.  There is a basement in this building where the owners of the property actually live!  (Brave souls!)  In this building we met our “guide” for the evening.  Her name was Julie and was very good at her job.  Let me add that all of the people that work there are volunteers.   They do this for a multitude of reasons.  Julie stated (if I remember right) that she had family that were patients there and also died there.  After a few rules…that I don’t really remember, it was time to go.  OH BOY!!!

Julie unlocked a door and she led us through a tunnel that leads to the main hospital.  Way cool stuff….she recommended we try not to use our flashlights, as eventually our eyes will adjust to the dark, and the flashlights tend to “turn off” any spirits if used the entire time.  She was right.  the moon was fairly bright most of the night, and the only time we really needed the lights were to go up and down the stairs and sometimes there were spots on the lower floors that were pitch black and nothing could be seen.  Not even a spirit!   Julie gave us a nice long tour of the entire building while it was still light.  She herself has had many run-in’s with spirits and shadows and she was very happy to share them with us.  I’m not saying I 100% believe every story she told us, but I appreciated it none the less, as it got my head set as to what floor I thought was going to be the scarier floor over another.  She also shared the real history of the place and the procedures that were used to treat patients.  The building was mainly used as a tuberculosis hospital, in which patients were kept comfortable and were happy, received the absolute best care available.  In the later years, it was a nursing home facility, and she didn’t get into it much, but said that it was not a happy place, and people were not treated well.  As a TB hospital, it was estimated over 20,000 people died.  20,000!  Amazing! 

After her tour, which I estimated at about an hour, it was still light.  She gave us the opportunity to do some roaming inside or outside on our own and get some pictures.  Our group headed outside, and did a walk around of the building.  Once it got dark, all of the groups met back at the “safe house” where Julie took us to the “Body Chute.”  This is a tunnell that leads from the back of the hospital near the morgue all the way down the hill to where there was a drive leading to a road.  To keep the spirits high of the patients, the staff decided it would be harmful to their recuperation to see the multitudes of corpses being carried out of the hospital.  One side of this tunnell is steps, and the other side is a flat slope, which the gurneys with the dead would be wheeled down the hill to a hearse.  I believe initially the tunnell was used for getting supplies up and down the hill in the winter time, and also staff members would use it to get to work in the winter.  It was kinda neat and again, Julie was very knowledgeable on the death tunnell…..

After the tunnell tour, we were set loose on our own until 4am….

This post is already too long….SO……

TO BE CONTINUED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Peace & Love!!!!!!!

Mare