Phantom Trucker of Booger Mountain - between Barbourville and Corbin, Kentucky

This haunting originates back to the 1950s when the only road between Barbourville and Corbin, Kentucky was a narrow, winding, dangerous road over Gilliam Hill, known locally today as Booger (Bugger) Mountain because of some terrible things that happened there years ago.

A ghostly truck haunts "Booger" Mountain on the highway between Barbourville and Corbin, Kentucky.

Supposedly during the 1950s, when the only passage from Barbourville to Corbin was over the mountains via Highway 25.  On the downward slope, the road gets a bit curvy and dangerous.  A truck driver was coming down the mountain in his rig one night.  Whether he lost his brakes or was just plain going too fast, it is unknown.  Regardless, he lost control of the eighteen wheeler and went over the edge and down the side of the mountain.  He died in the crash.

It is said that on certain Saturday evenings if you are traveling up Booger Mountain, you will see what appears to be truck headlights coming at your or coming up fast behind you in your rear view mirror.  Now matter how hard you try to evade the lights, they seem to turn right towards you.  Then, at the last minute just when you feel you are about to crash, the lights will suddenly swerve away and go over the side and down the hill!  Others have seen a hovering light on the the road or moving along the road which appeared to have the dark shadow of a person inside of it.

Another possible reason people feel that Booger Mountain is haunted are rumors that years ago a serial killer was on the rampage in the area.  He targeted young red headed girls.  One or more of this victims were found on this nasty stretch of road.  You may get the feeling that someone is watching you as you make your way over the mountain in the darkness.  If your hair stands on end and you get an eerie feeling, be sure that it is the ghosts of booger mountain.

No matter what the cause, it is certain that Booger Road is one of the scariest night time passages around.  And as the saying goes...  Don't follow the lights!

Location: 
36° 56' 45.47" N  83° 57' 24.14" W
Barbourville Rd (Ky 1232 or old Highway 25)
Gray, KY 40734

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Waverly Hills Sanatorium - Louisville, Kentucky

In 1883 Major Thomas H. Hays purchased some land in north central Kentucky just south west of Louisville to serve as his new home.  Far away from schools, he decided to build a small school house on a hill in his property.  The school teacher he hired to run the school especially enjoyed the writings of Walter Scott through his Waverley novels.  So she named the new building, Waverley School.  Hays liked the name so he named the entire property Waverley Hills.  However, over a century later the grounds would have a more ominous reputation as host to what remains of the Waverly Hills Sanatorium.

The Waverly Hills Sanatorium circa 1926

Around the turn of the century, the ground was purchased by the Board of Tuberculosis Hospital to erect a hospital specifically for tuberculosis patients in need of special care and to keep the disease isolated.  It was expanded again in 1911 and over the years an average of one building per year was added on with a major expansion in 1924.  In all when it was finished, it could accommodate over four hundred patients at a time.  

An aerial view of Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville, Kentucky

With tuberculosis being an almost always fatal outcome for the patient, the hospital gained the dubious reputation of performing some unorthodox treatments in an effort to curb the disease which would seem barbaric by today's standards.  Sometimes the treatment was worse than the disease itself such as inserting balloons in the lungs, completely removing a lung, compressing a person's chest, and removal of ribs to allow expansion of lungs.  It was almost every other day a patient would die. A tunnel was constructed which led down the hill at rear of the hospital so that bodies could be lowered down the shaft so as not do dissuade the spirits of the other patients.  The bodies were then loaded on a train and taken away from the hospital.  Later this would get the notorious nickname of "the death chute".  Over the fifty years that the hospital was in service, over eight thousand people died there.  

At it's peak, the Waverly Sanatorium housed over 400 patients at a time awaiting their fate in the open air balconies

The onset of the advancement in science helped spell the end for the Waverly Sanatorium.  The hospital fell out of service after the 1930s when new medicines were invented to cure the disease.  In 1961 Waverly Hills Sanatorium was closed down.

The Waverly Hills tunnel nicknamed "the death chute" constructed to allow bodies to be removed from the hospital unseen by the current patients

The hospital saw new life however, when in 1962 the building was re-opened as Woodhaven Geriatrics Sanitarium.  This facility did not have a much better reputation as the first.  There were reports of patient abuse and again unorthodox treatments and experimentation such as electric shock treatment.  The conditions became worse in the hospital due to a lack of funding and 1982 the state closed the hospital's doors. Since then, there have been several owners and attempts at converting the hospital into other things such as a prison and an apartment complex but none of these ever came to light.
 

The outside entrance to The Waverly Hills tunnel nicknamed "the death chute" where bodied would be removed from the sanatorium

The building that was once Waverly Hills Sanatorium has gained a reputation for being haunted over the years from the apparition of a cook that has been seen in the kitchen to a little girl seen playing in the third floor solarium.  A young boy has been seen running through the hallways playing as if he lived there.  For many patients young and old, this was the place where they spent the last of their days alive.

Other paranormal activity such as doors opening and closing on their own and unaided and unexplained lights that have been seen in the windows of the building from afar have been reported by many.

Photo taken at Waverly Hills believed to be that of a ghost

The most haunted and highest concentration of paranormal activity seems to be located on the fifth floor especially room 502.  It is said that several nurses committed suicide in this location of the hospital.  It could be that some unnatural force is drawing people to this room to end their lives.  One nurse hung herself from a light fixture, and another jumped off of the balcony followed by others as well.  It is in this portion of the building that many claim to have heard disembodied voices.  It is believed that the TB patients who where mentally insane were kept in this part of the hospital to keep them isolated from others.  Perhaps this may explain some of the negative energy or spirits that abound on the fifth floor.

The Curse of Bobby Mackey's (aka Hell's Gate) - Wilder, Kentucky

As history goes in 1896 a young woman named Pearl Bryan, a country girl from Greencastle, Indiana, came to the Cincinnati area after sharing some news with her lover Scott Jackson, who she met in Greencastle.  The news she give him is that she was five months pregnant with his child and was hoping he would marry her.  A few days later she was found murdered and decapitated in a field near Ft. Thomas.  The murderers, who it was believed were Scott Jackson and his accomplice Alonzo Walling, were brought to justice.  However, her head was never found.  On the day that they were to be hanged for the crime, Alonzo, claiming that he was not the one who killed Pearl, declared a curse as he stood next to the hangman's noose.  His curse stated that all who set foot on this land and all who were participants in the trial would be tormented by him as he would return from the grave to haunt them.

As it turns out, all participants in the murder trial of Alonzo met an violent, untimely death.  On the he sight of the gallows where Alonzo was put to death a roadhouse was built in the 1920s. Then the turbulent history of the property began. It became a hot bed of mob activity from the Cincinnati area as this was during the prohibition era.  There were rumors of many murders taking place in the establishment but went relatively unknown until later as the mobsters would remove the bodies and deposit them elsewhere.  After prohibition was lifted, the establishment was purchased and turned into a bar called "The Primrose".  Again, the mobsters came into the picture and tried to threaten the owner for a piece of the action.  In a gunfight, one of the gangsters was almost killed and the owner of the bar was charged with attempted murder.  He gave up and sold the bar to the mob.

An artist rendition of "The Primrose"

After being closed for a while, the establishment re-opened again in the 1950's as a casino.  The daughter of the owner who's name was Johanna, fell for one of the singers who performed at the club.  The owner being very unhappy about the relationship, had the singer murdered by the mob.  Angered and distraught over the incident, Johanna made an attempt to poison her father but failed.  She then took her own life or so the story goes.  Her body was found in the basement of the casino and after an investigation it was found that she was 5 months pregnant, just like Peal Bryan when her remains were found.  There was another attempt to open the establishment as a Hard Rock Cafe in the mid 1970's, but that ended when there was a shooting incident at the restaurant and many people were killed.  The cafe closed a short time afterward as no one wanted to go there after the murders.

Country music singer Bobby Mackey purchased the property in 1978 and turned it into a Country-Western club.  This business is thriving today and it remains "Bobby Mackey's Music World". There have been many occurrences of lights turning themselves on and off and shadow figures have been seen behind the bar.  The jukebox will turn itself on and start playing music, even if it is unplugged! Some folks claim to have seen and talked to a young girl in the club, that after being described to others is believed to be the ghost of Johanna.  However, there have been many reports over the years of violent spirits with disembodied voices demanding that those in the establishment should leave.  Some victims claim to have been bounced off of walls or thrown down stairs by an unseen force.

Bobby Mackey's Music World

It is because of this property's torrid past that it has been nicknamed "Hell's Gate". Maybe also because there is a well hidden inside that some believe is a gateway to Hell. A book was written by the title "Hell's Gate, The terror at Bobby Mackey's Music World" by, Douglas Hensley.  Bobby Mackey himself has written and recorded a song based on the ghost of the girl that has been spotted in the club titled "Johanna".

Bobby Mackey

Book published about the Bobby Mackey Music Word hauntings