Waverly Hills Sanatorium may be the most haunted location in the world, at least according to their website. Thousands of paranormal investigators with lots of stories to tell and compelling evidence to show from inside these walls would certainly tend to agree. The massive Gothic-style building, originally opened in 1926 as a tuberculosis hospital, definitely looks the part.
Alexandria Paranormal Investigations (API), headed by founder Michael Robishaw, investigated Waverly Hills in 2010. Michael, his daughter Sara Christopher, and several other API investigators including William Van Horn, Mike Cosgrove, Leo Rogstad, and Steven Muskett made the ten hour drive to find out for themselves what Waverly Hills is all about. They were not disappointed. “I was impressed,” Michael admits. “It’s now on my top five ‘most haunted’ list.”
Michael cites a wealth of evidence and personal experiences, including mysterious footsteps that seemed to follow them throughout the building, mists that formed and dissipated for no logical reason, moans/grunts/growls throughout their investigation, and significant EMF spikes, up to 8 on several meters, in a building with no power or electricity of any kind. In addition, API – and Sara in particular – apparently attracted the attention of the infamous entity known as The Creeper. The Creeper is reported to be a type of shadow figure often seen “creeping” across the walls and ceilings. Most staff and volunteers at Waverly Hills have personally witnessed The Creeper at one time or another.
Michael’s experiences included being pushed in the Operation Room. “Someone shoved me and grabbed my shirt at the same time,” he says. “When I shined the flashlight on my arm, I could see the marks of someone’s fingers. I had a slight sunburn at the time, so the white finger marks showed up clearly.”
The hauntings at Waverly Hills seem to run the gamut, from residual to active, as well as human and animal and even possibly demonic. “I don’t say ‘possibly demonic’ very often,” Michael commented. “But I got a feeling of evil several times throughout the night, especially during our encounters with The Creeper. I don’t describe myself as a psychic, but I am able to sense various entities and electromagnetic fields. And some of the spirits at Waverly Hills do not seem to be human at all.”
Bizarre experiences in the infamous Body Chute
He, Sara, and another investigator also found the long tunnel known as the “Body Chute” to be as scary as its reputation. They witnessed dark masses moving in and out of the tunnel constantly. “It’s strange,” Michael mused. “The Body Chute is actually open at both ends. However, at one point, when we were about halfway down the tunnel, we were suddenly confronted with total blackness at both ends – as if something were blocking the entrance and exit. We took some photos, hoping the flash would illuminate the darkness as it had done in other spots. But all we saw was a type of impenetrable darkness. It was a very odd phenomenon that I can’t explain.” The API investigators had another strange experience in the Body Chute. “They told us to be sure to leave the main door to the Body Chute open,” Sara said. “When we were about halfway down, it suddenly slammed shut. Plus, we started to hear scratching on the walls, along with the sound of a gurney being wheeled down through the tunnel.”
But Michael is reluctant to say that everything they experienced win the Body Chute was paranormal. “The Body Chute opens to a wooded area and there are holes in the walls every ten feet or so. Some or all of the sounds we heard could have simply been the natural sounds of the forest at night, eerie as they might be. But that doesn’t explain the sudden absence of any light at all for a while at either end.”
Once the group finally exited from the Body Chute, Sara sensed the presence of mass graves nearby. She had experienced a similar type of feeling about mass graves – and even an actual psychic vision of the burial grounds – only once before, while investigating a Civil War battlefield back in Virginia. After that encounter, API was contacted by a shaman called Pony from rural Buffalo Gap, VA, who said he wanted to meet “the female who saw the graves.” When Sara talked to Pony, a Lakota Sioux, and later met him in person, he explained that he had also seen that same vision. He showed her a map of the battlefield and told her “this is where they buried all the bodies in a mass grave.” Research confirmed that this information was accurate.
API evidence includes photos and EVPs
Sara Christopher found the entire experience at Waverly Hills to be “emotionally draining. I was overwhelmed before we even went inside. I felt angry, upset, as if waves of emotion were literally washing over me. I invoked white light for protection and had to take frequent breaks.”
Michael thinks that The Creeper specifically targeted Sara because she was the only female in their group and because Sara is an empath. “When I was 13, I discovered that I could sense emotions, both residual and actual.” Sara explained. “I would hear angry voices and people fighting, but my parents didn’t hear anything. We did some research and later found that the apartment we were living in had been occupied by a couple who were notorious for their violent arguments. I began to realize that spirits were also drawn to me because I could pick up on their feelings. So they would tell me their stories, knowing that I would understand.” As a teenager, Sara tried to block out her ability to sense emotions and communicate with spirits because she feared being different. Eventually, she became more comfortable with her abilities and today she is an active paranormal investigator with API.
“I felt very claustrophobic at Waverly Hills,” Sara explained. “It was almost as it someone was trying to corner me.” At one point, Sara felt that The Creeper was nearby and she saw a head and shoulders directly in front of her on the upper left side of the ceiling. Others in the group also physically saw the figure on the ceiling and reacted simultaneously to it.
API has a number of excellent Class A EVPs from Waverly Hills available on their website in the “Investigations” section, including the barking of a murdered dog, recorded near the elevator area on the fourth floor. The story is that a dog was killed along with his homeless master when both were squatting in the abandoned building back in the 80s. Both dog and master were beaten to death and their bodies thrown into the elevator shaft. There are many reports of barking, both on EVPs and through physical means, from a variety of investigations that have taken place at Waverly Hills.
Their evidence photos are fascinating. They show an amazing image of a glowing hand with shackles attached, taken by API Investigator Steven Muskett in the Morgue. There's also a photo of a "visible to the naked eye orb and mist," taken by Michael in the third floor breezeway, and another photo of the same location snapped two seconds later by Michael that shows no trace or orb or mist. He has also included an enlarged photo of the orb/mist that the group saw, as well as several photos of the unusual darkness they experienced in the Body Chute.
Something followed her home
In another strange twist, Sara’s weird feelings did not end after the group returned home from Waverly Hills. Sara and her husband began to hear doors slamming in their home. They could hear someone moving things around in the living room and it sounded as though someone might be in the kitchen. The television turned on and off by itself, along with the shower. These strange events began to happen almost every night after they went to bed. Sara and her husband were low on sleep and increasingly irritable. Had The Creeper followed Sara home from Waverly Hills?
Sara knew she had to do something. Finally, she contacted the shaman she had met earlier when she had a vision of the mass burial site on a Civil War battlefield. She says she had a feeling that he would be able to help her. He recommended a purification ritual in a sweat lodge ceremony to help her release any negative attachments that she was carrying.
Visit to a sweat lodge
Both Michael Robishaw and Sara Robishaw Christopher are part Native American and often incorporate Native American traditions in their cleansing and clearing rituals. “We do whatever works with each particular client,” Michael explains. “We use blessed medals from the Vatican, as well as metaphysical and Native American practices.” API has an active schedule of private residence investigations and Michael himself is a survivor of a hostile haunting over a period of several years in one of his previous homes.
Sara describes her experience in the sweat lodge as “amazing.” She saw orbs appear and disappear and, at one point, someone unseen appeared to be trying to force open the door and come inside. Other people were involved in the purifying and cleansing ceremony being conducted and they, too, witnessed the door moving back and forth on its own. Several witnesses also described seeing white balls of light moving above their heads in a circle.
After the third round of purification in the sweat lodge, while the participants were saying prayers and making offerings of cornmeal, sage, and tobacco, Sara realized that – even though it was pitch black inside the lodge – she could see everything as clearly as though it were bright daylight. The others began to notice the same thing and asked where the bright, glowing light was coming from. Finally, someone exclaimed to Sara “It’s you!” She looked down and realized that her entire body was glowing in a kind of yellowish-orange light from head to toe. The shaman explained that the ancestors and other Native American spirits were gathering around her to protect and cleanse her. He said that something evil had attached itself to her and it was being removed.
Sara eventually drifted off into a trancelike state. When she came back to full consciousness, the ceremony had ended and she felt renewed and reborn. Since that time, neither Sara nor her husband has witnessed anything unusual in their home.
According to Michael, “Sara’s experience demonstrates how important it is to use proper psychic protection when involved in paranormal investigations. Sara’s a knowledgeable investigator, but even she apparently let her guard down at some point and this entity took advantage of it.”
Both Michael and Sara agree that their investigation of Waverly Hills Sanatorium (and the subsequent events they experienced once they returned home) were unforgettable and will continue to have a significant impact on their lives and their approach to the paranormal.
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