KY Haunted Hospital Remodel
Or, Time To Check In To The Newest Haunted Hotel
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Kentucky Haunted Hospital is on its Way to Becoming a Hotel
Written by John Albrecht, Jr. in July 2014
Owners of a Kentucky haunted hospital are working hard to make it a haunted hotel. The hospital is believed to be one of the most haunted places in the world and according to an interview from an inside source today, money from ghost tours of the hospital are being used to renovate the building and the owners hope that the hotel will be finished by 2020.
The owners of the Waverly Hills Sanatorium filed a zoning plan last spring to convert the former hospital into a hotel and in February the zoning committee voted in favor for city council to approve the zoning for the project.
Owners Charlie and Tina Mattingly have plans to turn the former tuberculosis hospital into a 120-room four-star hotel, convention center, and liquor bottling business. The hotel will cater to the haunted hotel tourists as well as regular guests.
“It’s the feeling that you get in the building and all of the odd anomalies that happen in here that most people relate that with paranormal activity,” owner Charlie Mattingly said in an interview with WRDB in June.
According to the plans, the first floor will be used for a 3,050 square foot restaurant and an 8,500 square foot conference center. The second and third floors will have 120 hotel rooms. The fourth floor will have meeting rooms and a museum focusing on the hospital.
“People won’t come here just because they need a room. They’re going to come here because they want to have an experience for the weekend,” Mattingly said.
On February 25, the Louisville Metro Council’s Planning, Zoning, Design, and Land Development Committee voted unanimously for recommendations to approve zoning for the Mattingly’s project. The Louisville Metro Council met and approved the zoning change request by a 21 to 0 vote.
The Mattinglys are working nonstop to make the hotel a reality by continuing to apply for various permits. So far they have been unable to secure any loans so all of the money from ghost tours is being used for renovations on the building. The Mattinglys make sure that they thank every tourist that comes into the hospital, and they let them know that the donations they give for the tours are turning a dream into a reality.
The Waverly Hills Sanatorium hospital was open for fifty-two years, from 1910 to 1962. It later reopened as a nursing home but it finally closed in 1982. Over the years, some of the the property’s owners have proposed to turn the building into many things, some of which include a prison and a 150-foot statue of Jesus.
The Mattinglys purchased the hospital and the 29-acre property for $230,000 in 2001, and in 2012 acquired an additional 80 acres for $800,000. They have been conducting ghost tours in the former tuberculosis hospital and they estimate that about 10,000 people come on their tours every year. The revenue from the tours is used to renovate the building and the surrounding property. The Mattingly’s say that they will continue to host paranormal enthusiasts when the building becomes a hotel.
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