Responsible for over 1.6 million deaths in 2017 alone, it has infected billions over it’s 70,000 year life, killing Ancient Egyptian kings, described in the bible and written of profusely by Ancient Greeks and Romans. Todd’s second plan, created in order to redeem himself, was to convert the old sanatorium into apartments. Savagely infectious, 1 in 3 persons coming into contact with a sufferer were likely to contract the disease themselves. This house has been listed on Redfin since January 20, 2021 and is currently priced at $219,000. 4 It opened on October 17, 1926, and featured separate patient rooms, sunrooms, modern laboratories, and recreational spaces with room for up to 400 patients. That said, nutrition played a big role in the treatment at Waverly, with patients being fed three meals per day, despite suffering from severe lack of appetite brought on through the tuberculosis. If the disease made it to the advanced stages it could move to other organs and begin to breakdown tissues all over ones body. So exactly what is it that people see at Waverly? When Mattingly first bought Waverly, his first point of call was just to stop further deterioration to the building due to weather, along with cleaning up the mess that had been left by years of decay and trespassers. Before this time, bad smells, bad spirits, open sewers, hereditary traits, rich diet or lazy attitudes were all at one time or other blamed for the spread of Tuberculosis. It now also, finally, had space for the treatment of the black community. 45 Durham Hill Ln was built in 2007. [online] Eu.courier-journal.com. Waverly Hills has appeared on Scariest Places on Earth, Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures, Celebrity Paranormal Project, and Most Haunted (Wikipedia, Waverly Hills Sanatorium). There were woodworking lessons, along with leather cutting, toy making, book binding and dressmaking workshops, all with an aim to teach the patient a skill they might be able to utilise in the real world once their stay at the Sanatorium came to an end. It’s dilapidated walls scratching out into the grey skies above, it’s corridors vast, winding and full of history that most would rather not know, how much of the stories that surround it and add to its mystique are based in truth or exist purely in celluloid remains an unknown but nevertheless, it retains its draw for those with curious minds. They retained the name of the school built by Major Hayes and Waverly Hills Sanatorium formally opened two years after its inception and after a brief delay to its original opening ceremony date, on 12th October 1910. This was essentially the same procedure as Pneumothorax except that it involved the removal of up to eight ribs in order to access the diseased lung. Alberhasky made plans to construct the world’s largest statue of Christ on the Waverly Hills property 150 feet all and 150 feet wide. [online] NBC News. It really helps us out. Today we dig into the history of the Sanatorium and discover at least some of the realities of Waverly hills. When the land was purchased from Major Hays the Louisville government quickly built a two story wooden structure that would house forty patients (Wikipedia, Waverly Hills Sanatorium). Cheers! Tuberculosis was certainly cruel and viciously destructive, but the actual, true count is unknown. Watch the new and 7th season of BuzzFeed Unsolved: True Crime! Tuberculosis was a slow, steady killer, eating away at a victim over a prolonged period. By mid 1916 the hospital had the ability to care for around 130 patients (Wikipedia, Waverly Hills Sanatorium).. It launched into it’s epidemic state during the industrial revolution, with the vast emigration and movement of people who grouped tightly together in new cities, all with a poor understanding of infectious diseases. Chest pains, throat ulcers, coughing up blood and pale skin would follow, eventually leading to the victims infected tissue dissolving as the disease slowly ate away holes in the lungs, a common form of Tuberculosis, making it difficult to breathe or talk. After the project was abandoned, the longest patient to survive was Oliver Hazard Perry Anderson, who dies in 1845, far outliving the other 9. Mattingly and his wife, however, thought the building too beautiful to let fall to decay, “I’d heard a rumor it was for sale and I inquired to a real estate agent who sent me a picture of the building with a wrecking ball next to it. In September fo the same year, it was closed down, with the remaining patients transferred. They built the original sanatorium at a cost of $150,000 and ran in on a co-operative basis, with all large cities of Kentucky putting forth members who sat on the board. Available at: http://www.1856.org/historicalOverview.html [Accessed 25 Mar. It is listed on the National Historic Register and faced the threat of being torn down. Landlords refused to rent to the victims and beauty parlors, barbershops and health spas refused to serve them on the grounds that they were too infectious. One of the more audacious plans was proposed by Robert Alberhasky, who bought the property in 1996 in hopes of building America’s own version of the famous Christ the Redeemer that stands tall overlooking Rio. Although the entire country was arbitrarily seeing cases of the tuberculosis disease it was most prevalent it areas with the same geological makeup as Louisville Kentucky. By 1923, a further 200 staff, 80 acres of land and another 100 beds had been added to the by now, sprawling campus, that offered stays at the hospital free for long term residents of those cities whose residents had contributed to its building and expansion.