The Waverly Hills Sanatorium

Originally the site of a school, which was named after Walter Scott's Waverley novels, the Waverly Hills Sanitorium land was purchased by the Board of Tuberculosis Hospitals and opened its doors to patients in 1910.

Tuberculosis was by far the biggest killer in Jefferson County at the time, and a number of hospitals were built in an attempt to contain it. A horrific, ravaging disease, it was contagious and deadly, and affected people of all ages and from all walks of life.

Those infected died painful, protracted deaths and this, along with the stories of bloody, agonising experimental cures and the horror story of the 'draining room', a place where, rumour had it, the bodies of the dead patients were slit from top to bottom to empty them of fluid, making them lighter to transport, probably led to the development of the numerous ghost stories associated with the building.

Aside from the ghosts of the suffering patients, two nurses are believed to have committed suicide in the same room, 502 - one hanging herself on discovering that she was pregnant out of wedlock and the other throwing herself from the balcony with an unknown motive.

There have been reports of considerable poltergeist activity as well as full apparitions, particularly of a small boy leaning on a crutch, though the building is now very open to the elements, which may explain some of the noises and movement often attributed to paranormal activity.