Using a motorized rail and cable system, the bodies were lowered in secret to the waiting trains. This enclosed tunnel for the dead led from the hospital to the railroad tracks at the bottom of the hill. While the patients who survived both the disease and the treatments left Waverly Hills through the front door, the majority of patients left through what came to be known as the "body chute". In fact, fewer than five percent of patients survived the pneumothorax method. And there were other dire experimental methods as well. Other treatments were less pleasant, pneumothorax, surgically collapsing or deflating a portion of the lung so that it would heal and thoracoplasty opening up the chest and removing up to 2 to 3 ribs at a time so that the lung would have more room to expand and heal. Old photographs show patients lounging in chairs, taking in the fresh air, while literally covered with snow.
#Kentucky sanitarium windows
Since fresh air was thought to also be a possible cure, patients were often placed in front of huge windows or on the open porches, no matter what the season or weather. This was done in "sun rooms", using artificial light in place of sunlight, or on the roof or open porches of the hospital. Patient's lungs were exposed to ultraviolet light to try and stop the spread of bacteria. Some of the experiments that were conducted in search of a cure seem barbaric by today's standards but others are now common practice. In many cases, the treatments for the disease were as bad as the disease itself. Many patients survived their stay at Waverly Hills but it is estimated that up to 64,000 patients died at the sanatorium, up to 10,000 patients died here in the first three years alone. In the days before antibiotics were available to treat the disease, it was thought that the best treatment for tuberculosis was plenty of fresh air, plenty of nutritious food and lots of rest. It was considered the most advanced tuberculosis sanatorium in the America, but even then most of the patients succumbed to the disease. Built on low, swampland, the area was a perfect breeding ground for disease. In 1900, Louisville, Kentucky had one of the highest tuberculosis death rates in America. This terrifying and very contagious disease, for which no cure existed, claimed entire families and sometimes entire towns. During the 1800s and early 1900s, America was ravaged by the then deadly disease tuberculosis. Waverly Hills sits on top of a hill overlooking the city, a looming fortress of gloom in its eerie, decaying state. Waverly Hills Sanatorium is located just outside the city of Louisville, Kentucky. With an atmosphere darkened by a chilling history of death and patient abuse during its latter year's as a geriatric hospital, it is no wonder that Waverly Hills Sanatorium is considered to be one of the most haunted buildings in America.
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