Title: Ghosts of the Past
Rating: PG-13 ish…
Description: Mulder and Scully investigate one of the most haunted buildings in America. Waverly Hills Sanatorium, a place where 63,000 people died. Will Mulder and Scully be confronted with the truth about the paranormal or will their eyes play tricks on them again?
Disclaimer: I don't own Mulder and Scully of course and I don't own the right to write about Waverly Hills Sanatorium which is an actual place in Louisville Kentucky.
Author's notes: The information is accurate in regards to the history and the hauntings that go on. I've been there. I've seen things that are unexplainable. It's an amazing building and if you are into this kind of thing go to Waverly's page (google it) and ck out more about the history of the building. I'm going soon for an overnight and I can't wait!
Anyway, I'm just throwing this out there. Tell me if you think I should continue.
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May 15th 2000
Waverly Hills Sanatorium
Louisville, Kentucky
A red Ford Taurus pulled into the gravel parking lot behind an enormous building that was silhouetted by the midnight moonlight. The driver placed the car in park and looked over to his sleeping companion. He watched her sleeping form momentarily and then lifted his hand to brush away a stray hair away from her eyes. A tiny moan escaped her lips and her eyes fluttered open. She looked up at her partner and took in her surroundings.
"Mulder, what are we doing here?" She asked quizzically.
"This is Waverly Hills Sanatorium. I was contacted by the owner of this building because of a high amount of paranormal activity that occurs here. It-" He was interrupted.
"Mulder, please don't tell me this is another ghost hunt like on Christmas."
"No, and let me finish." Scully opened her mouth to say something but closed it again, a laugh slipping through her lips. "Back in the 1920-1960's this building was used as a TB hospital. It was considered to be the most prestigious hospital of it's time and people would come from hundreds of miles to be treated here. They used what we believed, at the time, to be cutting edge procedures like actually inducing a pneumothorax to give the infected lung a change to heal. They also used a procedure 'thoracoplasty'"
"They would remove the ribs of their patients?" Scully asked.
"Good, that saves me that the time in having to explain that one." Mulder chuckled. "And yes, they did. They believed the less room in the chest would give the lungs more room to heal. Many patients died form the procedure but it was never considered to be a place of despair or misery. They used many forms of entertainment to keep moral up and believed that fresh air, good food, and sunlight was the cure of tuberculosis. However, despite their best efforts, at the height of the epidemic they were seeing a death every hour. It's estimated that over sixty three thousand people died here and so they created a tunnel going from the morgue to the rear of the building where a train would come and pick up the bodies of the dead. It was affectionately known as the 'Death Tunnel'.
Once the cure of TB was found the hospital closed down and was turned into a geriatric hospital where things turn dark. The doctors would actually 'forget' to tend to the patients and leave them in their beds for days without tending to them at all. When word was put out about the way people were being treated, they came in and shut it down in the 80's. It's been closed ever since." Mulder concluded his historical rant.
"Ok, that was a well told history lesson, Mulder. But where does the paranormal come into why we are here?"
"Well, as I was saying, I was contacted by the owner of the building because of the high amount of paranormal activity that occurs here. During it's time, as I said, thousands of people died here and not just patients. One woman killed her self on the 5th floor. It was said that she was pregnant by a doctor and aborted the pregnancy and hung herself right in front of room 502. Then another nurse actually jumped out the window to her death. It's believed and reported that women in white are seen walking from 502 to another nurses station across the hall. Also, on the forth floor you can supposedly stand there and watch people walk up and down the hallway." Scully rolled her eyes. "What, you don't believe it?"
"Mulder, what makes you believe in these kinds of things. The aliens I can semi understand and the government conspiracy, but what makes you think that there are actually ghosts among us?"
"You don't believe what you saw that night?" Mulder asked.
"You yourself said YOU didn't believe that that happened. It was our mind playing tricks on us. We can only hear so many ghost stories before our mind tries to create something that isn't real. I'm sure that is what is happening here." Scully combated.
"There are documented reports that seem to be substantial claims that there is paranormal activity here." He retorted.
"Like what?"
"On the third floor there is a ball that sits in the hallway. Ghost hunting groups have made many efforts to dispute the claim that a little boy still plays with that ball. They placed the call in a bucket, upside down, and placed a camera towards it and left it there. When they came back the ball was moved and there was no one on the tape moving the ball."
"Did you ever think that someone may have messed with the camera?" Scully asked.
"There was no time loss on the tape. It was clean. Will you just, come check it out with me. If we don't find anything we'll go home tonight." Mulder got out of the car without giving her a chance to respond. Sighing heavily Scully exited the car and followed her retreating partner.
"Mulder, this is silly. What exactly are you hoping to find out here?" Mulder stopped suddenly, his eyes fixed upward. "What is it?" She asked when she caught up to him.
"Look at that." He said pointing up to the 5th floor. She glanced up and saw a bright blue light from one of the rooms.
"Someone leave a light on?" She asked honestly.
"There hasn't been power to this place in years." Mulder whispered.
"Maybe someone is up there?" As she asked that the light grew brighter and brighter and then suddenly faded back into darkness.
"Ever seen a flashlight do that?"
"Maybe it was a lantern or something."
"Maybe…" He said as he walked away towards the building.
"Mulder, I'm sure there is a logical explanation for the light." He didn't respond. "Mulder wait!" She shouted and ran after him. Suddenly through the night, echoing off the walls of the vacant building they heard something that made Scully's blood run cold.
A blood curdling scream.
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What do you think? Should I go on?