Waverly Hills — One of Kentucky’s Most Haunted Locations — Evacuates Guests Into Body Chute During Tornado Warning [VIDEO]
I suggest spending a Halloween weekend in Louisville. Not only do the city's many organizations produce some of the best haunted houses you'll ever visit, but it is also home to one of the most haunted locations in the Commonwealth, if not the world.
If you love non-stop thrills at the scariest time of the year, you couldn't do much better. And as far as how scary Waverly Hills Sanitorium is, they couldn't do much better either. But of course, Waverly Hills comes by its terror naturally. And on Friday night, it seriously got real.
SEVERE WEATHER/TORNADO THREAT MARCH 18TH, 2022
As you'll recall, on March 18th, our tri-state area was under a Level 2/Slight Risk for severe weather. We were fortunate that only a few severe thunderstorm warnings were issued. It was a much more frightening situation in the Louisville metro, where multiple tornado warnings were issued. In fact, an EF-1 tornado TOUCHED DOWN in Washington County.
The severe weather threat, however, did not stop thrill-seekers from touring the wildly popular Waverly Hills Sanitorium that night. I can imagine how that must have felt, touring one of the scariest places on Earth and THEN hearing the civil defense sirens go off.
WAVERLY HILLS GUESTS EVACUATED INTO CREEPY BODY CHUTE
Waverly Hills had no choice but to evacuate guests into the old body chute.
From the Waverly Hills staff:
"To all of our guests that were evacuated into the Body Chute last night during the tornado warnings. Thank you all for your cooperation and understanding. Safety for our customers and staff is our number one priority at all times. We appreciate every single one of you! To anyone that was affected, our hearts and prayers go out to all of you, we hope everyone made it home safe."
THE HISTORY AND PURPOSE OF THE WAVERLY HILLS BODY CHUTE
When Waverly Hills was an active tuberculosis hospital way back in the day, not much was known about the deadly disease, so treatment was fairly rudimentary. For that reason, a lot of patients died from TB. In order to keep this grim reality from the public, bodies were wheeled out of the facility by way of the body chute. It was also used to deliver supplies to the hospital. And during World War II, it doubled as an air raid shelter.
I can imagine how eerie it was hanging out in that tunnel until the threat had diminished. Still, it looks exactly like the kind of safe place you'd want handy should you hear those terrifying sirens.
I mean, it's not like Waverly Hills isn't already terrifying ENOUGH.
It does make you wonder how many tourists thought the tornado siren was a part of the tour.
[SOURCE: WDRB-Louisville]