Spooked: The Ghosts of Waverly Hills Sanatorium

Some parts were a little "creepy", but for the most part it was brought down by interviews and talking. I was expecting some actual footage and images that would make my hair stand on end. Granted, they provided photos that claimed there were paranormal images shown...I, literally, couldn't see them. This truthfully made me more of a skeptic than anything. It made me want to buy Penn and Teller's B.S. series on DVD because they probably would have a nice comment on it. Either way, I was NOT SPOOKED by any of this. Perhaps if this material was done in a way that was shot live and first hand, then we may have something to get scared of. For example, lock the filmmakers in the rooms and have them shoot footage uncut and let us watch what's happening. Long story short, be cautious of buying this DVD and realize that it's not that scary.

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.

I am very into Waverly Hills and first watched Death Tunnel The Movie.Couldn't have been much worse. Then I heard that the documentary was coming out and got excited thinking that since it was a documentary it would be more serious and not have the horrible special effects.Wrong the same guys did the documentary and ruined it with effects instead of producing it raw the way a documentary should be.Waverly Hills doesn't need help with goofy effects its fine just the way it is. Tours are $20.00 per person and $100.00 for 8 hour overnight investigation per person minimal group of 10 for overnight investigation.Tours must be set up ahead of time. Awesome place for the Ghost Hunter!

The show was very informative and very detailed accounts of history. Interviews with past employees and patients. Many historical pictures. The pictures of ghost were hard to make out at times and the video of the shadow people goes by way to fast. The music and sound effects tended to drown out anyone who was speaking. When interviewing the elderly you cannot have loud background music. It actually took away from the scary and went toward annoying. I would have to say the computer voice introducing each floor was equally hard to understand. Example the fourth floor scenes show interview with old man in green sweater. I could hardly hear him when the music attempted to go from scary to sincere. I would like to see more shows like this.

How is this a documentary? Much more like a walking ghost tour one might take in any given Southern city. Quotes were generously dropped throughout without the first effort at identifying the source. George Orwell was the most identified quoter.

Documents were referred to without ever being produced in any form. Flat out fraudulent shots depicting period film stock were spliced aside historical film reels with no separation from reality and self-promotion. Film reels which were entirely unrealistic and improbable for the time at hand were dropped in, as if trying to ape Blair Witch, hoping to drum up a spook house on what would otherwise simply be dead real estate.

Is this not in some way a great disrespect to actual victims of TB, a dance on their collective graves for the sake of commercialism? The line between actual footage and manufactured self-service is so thin; the drippings of doubt so insignificantly played down; the scientific boundaries so blatantly ignored... how could this possibly be listed in my TiVo as documentary?

It's a vacation promo, and at that it fully succeeds.

Hell, I'd visit the joint if I could locate it on Google Earth. Not scary said a previous poster. Not too serious either, says I. Fascinating story. Flimsy film-making.