Spooked: The Ghosts of Waverly Hills Sanatorium

Spooked: The Ghosts of Waverly Hills Sanatorium (2006)

*** (out of 4)

Effective documentary talking about the history of the Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville, KY, which for years was used as a TB hospital where legend has it over 63,000 people died. All five floors of the building have had strange things over the years including various ghostly sightings and especially in a notorious Room 502 where legend has it a pregnant nurse hung herself and of course "The Death Tunnel," which was a 500-foot tunnel used to send the dead down. Being from Louisville I've always been interested in the history of this place and it appears that just about every show that deals with ghosts have visited and all came away saying there's some pretty strange stuff going on. This documentary is far from perfect but in the end I think it did it's job and that was to make a creepy picture. I'll start off with the negative stuff and that's all the "added" stuff that never really should have been here. This includes a few re-enactments, really fast editing that does nothing and a few moments where some heavy metal music was used. All the added effects really kill the atmosphere of the hospital itself. With that said, I found the rest of the picture to be entertaining for a number of reason. Most shows dealing with this place have shown ghostly images and other strange effects and that stuff is on display here. What really separates this documentary is that they interview several people who worked at the hospital as well as a couple who were patients there. The staff members are also interviewed and share their stories about the place. The documentary does a nice job talking about the history of the place and I think most should come away satisfied.