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Waverly Hills Sanatorium

11. ledna 2010 v 13:52 |  Zajímavé..

snad nevadí trochu angličtiny..

History

The land that is today known as Waverly Hill was purchased by Major Thomas H. Hays in 1883 as the Hays Family home. Since the new home was now so far away from any existing schools, Mr. Hays decided to open a local school for his daughters to attend.He started a one-room schoolhouse on Pages Lane, and hired Lizzie Lee Harris as the teacher. Miss Harris loved her tiny school nestled against the hillside, and remembered her fondness for Walter Scott's Waverley novels, so she named her little school house "Waverley School". Major Hays liked the peaceful-sounding name, so he named his property "Waverley Hill" and the Board of Tuberculosis Hospital kept the name when they bought the land and opened the sanatorium. It is not known exactly when the spelling changed to exclude the second "e" and became Waverly Hills. However the spelling fluctuated between both spellings many times over the years.

Original Sanatorium

In the early 20th century, Jefferson County was severely stricken with an outbreak of tuberculosis. There were many tuberculosis cases in Louisville at the time because of all the swampland, which was perfect for the tuberculosis bacteria. To try to contain the disease, a two-story wooden sanatorium was opened which consisted of an administrative/main building and two open air pavilions, each housing 20 patients, for the treatment of "early cases".
"In the early part of 1911, the city of Louisville began to make preparations to build a new Louisville City Hospital, and the hospital commissioners decided in their plans that there would be no provision made in the new City Hospital for the admission of pulmonary tuberculosis, and the Board of Tuberculosis Hospital was given $25,000 to erect a hospital for the care of advanced cases of pulmonary tuberculosis".
On August 22, 1911, all tuberculosis patients from the City Hospital were relocated to temporary quarters in tents on the grounds of Waverly Hills pending the completion of a hospital for advanced cases.
In December 1912 a hospital for advanced cases opened for the treatment of another 50 patients. And in 1916 a children's pavilion added another 40 beds making the known "capacity" around 130 patients. This report also mentions that the goal was to add a new building each year to continually grow so there may have even been more beds available than specifically listed.

Sanatorium expansions

Due to constant need for repairs on the wooden structures, need for a more durable structure, as well as need for more beds so that people wouldn't be turned away due to lack of space, construction of a five-story building that could hold more than 400 patients began in March 1924. The new building opened on October 17, 1926, but after the introduction of streptomycin in 1943, the number of tuberculosis cases gradually lowered, until there was no longer need for such a large hospital. The remaining patients were sent to Hazelwood Sanatorium, which was also located in Louisville, and Waverly Hills closed in June 1962.

Woodhaven Medical Services

The building was reopened in 1962 as Woodhaven Geriatrics Hospital; Woodhaven was closed in 1981 allegedly due to patient abuse. Urban myths say that during this time patients were treated for mental problems and the term "insane asylum" and other similar terms have been used to describe the hospital during those years.

Tunnel

A tunnel was constructed at the same time as the main building beginning on the first floor and traveling 500 feet (150 m) to the bottom of the hill. One side had steps to allow workers to enter and exit the hospital without having to traverse a dangerous and in some places, steep, hill. The other side had a set of rails and a cart powered by a motorized cable system so that supplies could easily be transported to the top. Air ducts leading from the roof of the tunnel to above ground level were incorporated every hundred feet to let in light and fresh air. The tunnel took on a second use since there was no cure for tuberculosis in the early days of the sanatorium. Treatment mainly consisted of heat lamps, fresh air, high spirits, and reassurances of an eventual full recovery. The sight of the dead being hauled away in full view of patients caused their morale to plummet, causing them to lose hope and become depressed, further contributing to their deaths. Therefore, when patients died, the bodies were placed on the cart and lowered to the bottom where they were placed on a nearby railroad line to be taken away discreetly, the entire process taking place out of view of patients and saving morale.


Legends

Room 502

An episode of the Sci-Fi Channel television show Ghost Hunters featured the cast's investigation of Waverly Hills, including a local myth about the death of a nurse by murder or suicide in Room 502.

Death rate

Some urban legends claim that "63,000 deaths" occurred at the Sanitorium. According to Assistant Medical Director Dr. J. Frank W. Stewart, the highest number of deaths in a single year at Waverly Hills was 152. Stewart wrote that the worst time for deaths was at the end of the Second World War when troops were returning from overseas with very advanced tuberculosis cases. Some independent researchers have suggested that 162 people died at Waverly Hills in 1945, so the highest total number of deaths possible over 50 years was approximately 8,212.

"Body Chute" or "Death Tunnel"

According to one urban legend, the tunnel was a "body chute" where dead patients were tossed, and a body thrown in would be propelled to the bottom by gravity.





 

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