Yesterday I spent my day at Waverly Hills Sanitarium with my oldest insta-son. He’s wanted to go there for the longest time because he loves all things paranormal and the theatrics behind their haunted house.
I purchased tickets through a specialty photography event they had set-up which gave us access to about 90% of the building.
I tried to keep it as a surprise but I broke while we were en route. He was so stoked. I was freaking out on the inside but not letting him see because I battle myself on the topic and I still don’t know if there are spirits there or if there are not.
Everything I’ve read in my life about it says there are. Everything I’ve heard gave testimony to it and every Waverly Hills worker has had a unique experience that they can only attribute to it.
It’s logical, I suppose. So many people died there and it became such a sad place; Waverly was opened for TB treatment and it closed after antibiotics were invented. The hospital transitioned to became a sadly ran elderly home that closed its doors in 1982. I just don’t believe that just because a person has died somewhere, it doesn’t make them evil. If there are spirits there it’s because they passed away there and maybe just got stuck.
One of the saddest tales I was told was about two sisters that lived on the second floor; one of them survived and the other did not. It is said that the sister that passed away looks for her sister every morning and calls out her name.
There are several bouncing balls on different floors but more are on the fourth floor because that was the children’s unit and the spirits like to play with them.
Rather than tell the more urban legends of this building, I went to photograph it. So I hope you enjoy these photos instead of more tales of ghosts. I love history and everything that the past can teach us to better prepare us for life today. So here is life there today:
I can say that I walked in to the building fearing what was to come but instead of leaving scared, I left Waverly Hills with an intense amount of heaviness. Thousands of people died there but there are a lot of people that survived as well.
I looked in the patients rooms and saw shelves and hooks where they had stored clothing or other personal items from when they were admitted into the hospital. But I couldn’t help but wonder, how many people never got to wear those clothes nor experience walking back out?
If I experienced any sort of paranormal activity it was in my imagination while I was visualizing what it once looked like as I photographed it in it’s current state. It’s hauntingly beautiful.
Respecting our history and a place where so many people lost their battle with TB or passed away from a variety of reasons when it became a retirement home, is of the upmost important duty to the owners of the building and it is hopefully a feeling that all visitors will uphold.
No matter where the spirits are that were once there or that passed away there, I hope they are able to find peace.
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