Standing on a high ridge in southwestern Louisville, this massive Tudor Gothic structure was built in 1926 to combat a devastating tuberculosis outbreak. While popular lore claims 64,000 deaths occurred here, actual medical records from assistant director Dr. J. Frank Stewart suggest a count closer to 6,000 to 8,212. However, the weight of the site comes from the “inhumane” treatments of the era—including collapsing lungs and placing heavy sandbags on patients’ chests. The most notorious feature is the “Body Chute” (or Death Tunnel), a 500-foot concrete transit ramp. Originally used for supplies, it was later repurposed to discreetly remove deceased patients via gurneys to a waiting railway spur at the bottom of the hill, ensuring the living patients never saw the constant flow of bodies leaving the facility.

The “hotspot” for intelligent phenomena is the 5th Floor, specifically Room 502. This was the nurses’ station and the site of two documented tragedies: the 1928 suicide of a head nurse who reportedly hanged herself from a light fixture, and a 1932 incident where another nurse jumped to her death from the balcony. Visitors here report a pervasive “unsettling” feeling and voices that command them to “Get out!” On the 4th Floor, researchers document “Shadow People”—dark, humanoid silhouettes that pace the long corridors and peek out of vacant doorframes. The most famous resident is Timmy, a six-year-old boy ghost who is frequently engaged by investigators using trigger objects like bouncy balls; sightings of him are concentrated in the central hallways, accompanied by the sound of rhythmic, playful footsteps.