My Haunted Hometown - Waverly Hills

'Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this world.                                                                           

                                                                     ~William Shakespeare

In the early 1900's, Northern Kentucky was ravaged by an outbreak of the "White Plague" otherwise known as tuberculosis. This prompted the construction of a new state of the art TB hospital.

The building that still stands in Louisville, Kentucky, was opened in 1926 with 435 patient beds, but by 1932, patient numbers had increased to 480 with nearly 100 applicants on a waiting list.

The sprawling 160,000 square foot facility was comprised of five stories and a basement. Like other tuberculosis sanatoriums, it was situated on a hill because elevation to drier, purer air was thought beneficial to sufferers.

Nearly 8000 patients died there from 1926 to 1961 when the hospital was closed. In order to keep up patient morale, a body chute was constructed to dispose of the dead so they would not be visible to the remaining patients. This "death tunnel" stretched 525 feet underground to the bottom of the hill where the bodies of the deceased were collected by the family or cremated.

The sanatorium currently hosts tours with all proceeds going to restoration of the building. The current owners plan on turning it into a bed and breakfast for ghost lovers. If you visit Waverly Hills today, there is a good chance you might run into the spirit of a child that haunts the third floor and has been known to play with toys brought in by visitors. You might also hear the disembodied voices of children chanting "Ring Around The Rosy" up on the roof, encounter an apparition of one of the two nurses who died in room 502, or cross paths with the shadow people of the fourth floor.

The sanatorium has been featured on Ghost Hunters, Scariest Places On Earth, Most Haunted and The Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures.

Waverly is open to the public year around for tours and overnight stays. And don't expect to be able to go whenever the mood strikes because there's a waiting list.

Are you adventurous at heart? Would you spend the night at Waverly Hills?

My Haunted Hometown - Colville Covered Bridge

Gravedigger, when you dig my grave could you make it shallow so that I can feel the rain?

                                                           Dave Matthews, lyrics from "Gravedigger"

Just a short ride to the East brings us to the next location on My Haunted Hometown tour, The Colville Covered Bridge in Bourbon County, Kentucky.

Built in 1877, the bridge is 124 feet long, 18 feet wide and crosses over Hinkston Creek near the city of Paris. It is one of the few Kentucky covered bridges still passable by car.

Of course, traversing through this piece of history is not for the faint at heart.

In the past eighty years, at least three travelers who entered on one side, never emerged from the other, and it's said their spirits haunt the space in between.

All three deaths occurred in the 1930s. A young couple on their way home from prom lost control of their car and plunged into the water below. They were found the next morning drowned in the front seat.

Then there was the elderly Sarah Mitchell who headed out across the bridge by foot on the way to the doctor, but fell dead before she made it to the other end.

Even today, nighttime travelers make their way to the center of the bridge only to see light coming through the floor beneath them as if a car had gone into the creek and the headlights were shining up through the water. Or they hear an elderly woman coughing and crying out for help.

I doubt the living linger too long though. Would you?

My Haunted Hometown - The Seelbach Hotel

The murdered do haunt their murderers, I believe. I know that ghosts have wandered on earth. Be with me always -- take any form -- drive me mad! Only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you!

                                                                   Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights

The Seelbach Hotel, located in Louisville, Kentucky, was opened in 1905 with an original cost of approximately $990,000.

The rich and infamous have visited the hotel over the years, including Al Capone and F. Scott Fitzgerald, who even featured the hotel in his novel The Great Gatsby as the location of Tom and Daisy Buchanan's wedding. The Hustler starring Jackie Gleason and Paul Newman featured scenes shot in the old Seelbach billiard room (now known as the Oakroom, the hotel's 5-diamond restaurant).

But perhaps the most famous resident of the hotel is Patricia Wilson, also known as the lady in blue. In 1936, Wilson, age 24, had moved to Louisville from Oklahoma with her husband. His work schedule wreaked havoc on their relationship and by 1940 they were separated.

In an attempt to work things out, the couple agreed to meet at the Seelbach for a romantic weekend, only Patricia's husband never showed. He was killed in a car accident on the way to their rendezvous. Patricia was devastated by the loss. Later that day, her body was found at the bottom of a service elevator shaft in the hotel. No one seems to know whether it was an accident or if she deliberately jumped.

In 1987, different staff members reported seeing Patricia Wilson on both the Mezzanine Level and the eighth floor. In both cases, a woman in a blue dress with long black hair was seen walking into the elevator, despite the fact that its doors were closed.

In April 2004, a couple on their honeymoon awoke to find their room freezing cold and the overpowering scent of a woman's perfume in the air. Others have reported disembodied footsteps in the hallway and electrical objects turning off and on. The sightings continue to this day.

For over 100 years, the Seelbach has been a place for the weary traveler as well as the unexplained.

I've been there several times including my senior prom, but have yet to experience the lady in blue. While it's thrilling to think about, I would probably be terrified. I'll stick to watching Ghost Hunters.

My Haunted Hometown - Fairview Cemetery

It's no accident that the church and the graveyard stand side by side. The city of the dead sleeps encircled by the city of the living.

                                      Diane Frolov, Northern Exposure, Lost and Found, 1992


 

Historic Fairview Cemetery, New Albany, IN, started as five acres of land on the edge of the city. First known as the Northern Burying Ground, it is the final resting place for the majority of the town's earliest families.

Now covering 85 acres, the cemetery holds the entire Culbertson family, whose house we visited earlier in the week, fourteen victims of the Lucy Walker Steamship Explosion of 1844, and several Revolutionary War soldiers.

One of these soldiers, Richard Lord Jones, born 1767, joined the army as a fifer at the age of ten and served three years during which he was captured by the British. Legend says after dark you can still hear him playing his music throughout the cemetery grounds.

It is my plan to visit Fairview on All Hallow's Eve to see if we can pick up anything digitally if the kids don't chicken out on me before then ('cause I'm not going out there alone).

Has anything not easily explainable ever happened to you in a cemetery?

My Haunted Hometown

Behind every man now alive stand 30 ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living.  

                                           ARTHUR C. CLARKE, 2001: A Space Odyssey

The Culbertson Mansion in New Albany, Indiana, was the home of William Culbertson, once the richest man in the state. Built in 1867 at a cost of $120,000, this French Second Empire-style mansion has 25 rooms within 20,000 square feet, and was completed in November 1869.

Features within the three-story edifice include frescoed ceilings, a carved rosewood and mahogany staircase, marble fireplaces, fabric wallpaper and crystal chandeliers. The tin roof was imported from Scotland.

The house has seen many owners and changes since Culbertson and his family roamed the hallways. At the time of his death, William Culbertson willed the home to his third wife who sold it at auction in 1899 for $7,100. During the past century it has belonged to the American Legion and would have been torn down to make way for a gas station if the local historical society hadn't intervened in the late 1960's.

In 1985, the carriage house behind the mansion was opened as a haunted attraction during the month of October. It has raised nearly $600,000 since, with all the proceeds going to a restoration fund. The first floor of the mansion is completely finished and the second floor is well on its way.

Every year, the kids and I head over to the main house for ghost stories. For the admission price of two dollars, we get to trek by candlelight up the long winding staircase to the attic. There we hear about all the odd happenings that have taken place in the mansion including a small stuffed doll that moves from bed to bed in the children's room, and Misty the ghost cat, a favorite of the Culbertson family, that has been seen walking up and down the main staircase when the moon is full.

There have been inexplicable noises -- footsteps, murmurs, and doors slamming -- and sightings of a ghost dubbed the "lady in gray" that some believe is Culbertson's second wife, Cornelia, who died of cholera in 1880. Of his three wives, she lived in the house the longest.

Cornelia Culbertson

The creaky floorboards and the wind whistling through the lone attic window always add to the experience. Every year as we're making our was back down the steps, I tell the kids not to step on the cat. I've never seen Misty, but I figure it's good to be prepared.

I'll be back with another spooky stop in my haunted hometown on Thursday.

My Haunted Hometown - The Culbertson Mansion

Behind every man now alive stand 30 ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living.

                                                         ARTHUR C. CLARKE, 2001: A Space Odyssey

The Culbertson Mansion in New Albany, Indiana, was the home of William Culbertson, once the richest man in the state. Built in 1867 at a cost of $120,000, this French Second Empire-style mansion has 25 rooms within 20,000 square feet, and was completed in November 1869.

Features within the three-story edifice include frescoed ceilings, a carved rosewood and mahogany staircase, marble fireplaces, fabric wallpaper and crystal chandeliers. The tin roof was imported from Scotland.

The house has seen many owners and changes since Culbertson and his family roamed the hallways. At the time of his death, William Culbertson willed the home to his third wife who sold it at auction in 1899 for $7,100. During the past century it has belonged to the American Legion and would have been torn down to make way for a gas station if the local historical society hadn't intervened in the late 1960's.

In 1985, the carriage house behind the mansion was opened as a haunted attraction during the month of October. It has raised nearly $600,000 since, with all the proceeds going to a restoration fund. The first floor of the mansion is completely finished and the second floor is well on its way.

Every year, the kids and I head over to the main house for ghost stories. For the admission price of two dollars, we get to trek by candlelight up the long winding staircase to the highest room in the home. There we hear about all the odd happenings that have taken place in the mansion including a small stuffed doll that moves from bed to bed in the children's room, and Misty, the ghost cat, that has been seen walking up and down the main staircase when the moon is full.

There have been inexplicable noises -- footsteps, murmurs, and door slamming -- and sightings of a ghost dubbed the "lady in gray".

The creaky floorboards and the wind whistling through the lone attic window always add to the experience. Every year as we're making our was back down the steps, I tell the kids to watch out for the cat. I've never seen Misty, but I figure it's good to be prepared.

My Haunted Hometown - Waverly Hills

'Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this world.
~William Shakespeare

Waverly Hills Sanatorium

In the early 1900's, Northern Kentucky was ravaged by an outbreak of the "White Plague" otherwise known as tuberculosis. This prompted the construction of a new state of the art TB hospital.

The building that still stands in Louisville, Kentucky, was opened in 1926 with 435 patient beds, but by 1932, patient numbers had increased to 480 with nearly 100 applicants on a waiting list.

The sprawling 160,000 square foot facility was comprised of five stories and a basement. Like other tuberculosis sanatoriums, it was situated on a hill because elevation to drier, purer air was thought beneficial to sufferers.

Nearly 8000 patients died there from 1926 to 1961 when the hospital was closed. In order to keep up patient morale, a body chute was constructed to dispose of the dead so they would not be visible to the remaining patients. This "death tunnel" stretched 525 feet underground to the bottom of the hill where the bodies of the deceased were collected by the family or cremated.

The sanatorium currently hosts tours with all proceeds going to restoration of the building. The current owners plan on turning it into a bed and breakfast for ghost lovers. If you visit Waverly Hills today, there is a good chance you might run into the spirit of a child that haunts the third floor and has been known to play with toys brought in by visitors. You might also hear the disembodied voices of children chanting "Ring Around The Rosy" up on the roof, encounter an apparition of one of the two nurses who died in room 502, or cross paths with the shadow people of the fourth floor.

The sanatorium has been featured on Ghost Hunters, Scariest Places On Earth, Most Haunted and earlier this month on The Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures.

Are you adventurous at heart? Would you spend the night at Waverly Hills?

Monster Mash

I'm headed to my local Harvest Homecoming festival this weekend and intend to eat my way through it. The downtown streets are closed and vendors from all across the country converge on our quiet little community. There are 352 booths this year that peddle everything from apple dumplings to authentic gyros. There are handmade crafts and jewelry, but the food is the big draw. The kids and I wouldn't miss it and the weather is supposed to be spectacular.

There is a wonderful giveaway going on this week that I wanted to pass along. Quinn over at Seeing, Dreaming...Writing has reached 100 followers (yay Quinn!) and is giving away a $40.00 Amazon gift card plus a query or chapter critique in celebration of this momentous occasion. Contest ends 10/9 so hurry!

I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to Carolyn V. who awarded me the One Lovely Blog Award. Her own blog is simply wonderful. You should check it out.

I am going to be part of the Tales From Under The Grave blogfest that will run from October 22nd through the 31st. I promise giveaways, ghost stories and CANDY! More details to come as the date looms closer...muwahahaha!

The week of October 17th, I will be doing a series of posts about My Haunted Hometown. I had no idea the places around me were so scary. So cozy up to the screen and share some truly terrifying tales with me over a cup of hot chocolate or a glass of wine (hmmm...choices, choices).

I'm closing in on 100 followers myself. Of course there will be a contest, but I can't decide on a prize. That's where you come in. Tell me which new book you've been dying to read. The one at the tippy-top of you list. We'll see how things turn out. Maybe I'll give away several.

As always, have a great weekend!