From the Palace to Waverly Hills, 5 seriously haunted places to visit in Louisville

It's October, which means it's the perfect time to do something spooky, like visit any of the 11 haunted house attractions around the area.

But what about visiting some actual haunted locations around Louisville? We dug into the Courier Journal's extensive archives and unearthed five tales about haunted locations in Louisville you can visit this Halloween — or anytime you're looking for a scare.

Happy Halloween!

The Brown Theatre

The Brown Theatre, which celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2025, has a long history as a playhouse, a movie theater and a community space for the arts. The Grand Dame of the Louisville arts community seats 1,443 patrons and according to those that work there, is home to a pair of star-crossed lovers who now haunt the venue, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

According to a history of the Brown Theatre written by Clyde Luther, "an actress and a theatre employee fell in love during an ill-fated affair. But the love affair was not to be, the theater employee was already married. The girl either hanged herself on a spiral staircase backstage or fell to her death. The distraught fellow committed suicide, shot himself."

Luther continues, saying "the lovers have been seen at night in the theatre. She in a flowing white gown standing on the stage, right loft. He, in tails and formal attire on the stage, gazing up at his lover. He has also been seen wandering the lobby. They are dressed for their wedding, which never took place."

Macauley’s Theatre, located on Muhammad Ali Blvd (then Walnut Street) closed in 1925, and its equipment was moved to the new Brown Theatre on West Broadway.

Late at night, stagehands have reported footsteps directly above them when no one else should have been in the building. There are also reports of an apparition standing near the theatre's loading door at night.

"I have not seen the ghosts myself," said Will Richards, manager of the Brown Theatre. "But we had a father and son who cleaned the theater at night. On one occasion, when the theater was empty, the son looked up from main floor where he was cleaning and saw a lady in white on the balcony. When he looked again, she was gone. He ran out the front door of the theatre and did not come back."

Louisville Palace

The Louisville Palace Theatre sign on Fourth Street in downtown Louisville, Ky. The music venue opened in 1928. Jacket Dec. 9, 2019

The most prominent is believed to be the spirit of Fred Frisch, who was the theater's longtime chief engineer. Frisch had a heart attack and died in the downstairs maintenance room on Oct. 27, 1965. Several staff members have reported seeing an apparition of an older male in a plaid shirt with a flat top and thick, black-rimmed glasses. The description resembles a photo of Frisch that Frisch’s grandson gifted to the theater, which now hangs in the downstairs catering room.

The staff at the Palace think of Frisch as more of a guardian angel than a ghost. He tends to appear or make himself known when the building, or someone, in it is in trouble. A few years ago, the Palace’s general manager Johnny Downs was closing up the theater, and every light in the theater began to flicker. That didn’t make sense because many of those lights were on different circuits. So, Downs headed backstage to check the electricity, and realized that a pipe was leaking. Once he fixed the pipe, the lights stopped flickering on their own. If that water had run overnight, it would have flooded the back part of the theater.

The Palace also has a residual spirit, which means the ghost appears doing the same motion on multiple occasions. Several employees have seen “The Lady in Gray,” who wears a high-collared 1940's era dress, holds a program for a show and has her hair in a bun. She’s either seen walking up the stairs near the Palace’s entrance or coming down one of the aisles in the theater itself. She usually takes about five steps and then disappears.  

There’s a third spirit that’s been spotted near the stairway that leads to what used to be gentlemen’s lounge. Men used to smoke up there, and now, all these years later sometime this spirit brings about the scent of a freshly smoked cigar.

Those are most recognizable ghosts, but there is plenty more supernatural activity at the Palace. Women working in the production area have reported feeling someone tug their ponytails, only to discover no one is there. Staff has also reported hearing mysterious child-like laughing, and Downs has two theories about who those kids might be. In the late 1800s, a tornado blew through this part of downtown, and it wiped out what used to be a hospital as well as the original site of St. Joseph’s Children’s Home. There’s also a part of the theater near the main floor bar area that was once part of a music store, and that business offered music lessons to children.  

Seelbach Hotel

Patrick Rhodes is a security guard with the Seelbach Hotel. He's experienced paranormal activity inside the legendary hotel and call himself the 'ghost whisperer.' He says there has paranormal activity in the Rathskeller area, which is the hotel's basement. Oct. 2, 2022

The Seelbach Hotel in downtown Louisville was founded by Bavarian-born immigrant brothers Louis and Otto Seelbach and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. During its years downtown, it has had many guests report strange sounds and activity during their stays, including the mysterious “Lady in Blue” who haunts the floors. She was there to meet her husband at the hotel, but he was killed in an accident and she allegedly threw herself from a stairwell.

There have also been reports of televisions turning on at a loud volume early in the morning and the sound of running footsteps on wooden floors.

"The building is very haunted," night security guard Patrick Rhodes previously told the Courier Journal. "Between Al Capone and the gangsters (staying here), World War I and II and the Great Depression and the age of the building, there's lots of different things that have happened here."

The Seelbach Hotel in Louisville has an active paranormal presence there, according to the security guard Patrick Rhodes and guests who have stayed there and seen things. Oct. 2, 2022

The Seelbach's ghost lore has been well documented, and U.S. News & World Report featured the hotel in a story titled "The 27 most haunted hotels in America." People regularly visit the Seelbach specifically to experience its supernatural energy. Mediums, ghost hunters, and witches have all visited and asked Rhodes to take them on a late-night ghost tour.

"I've heard doctors, lawyers, construction people, grandmothers, everybody in every realm that have reported doors opening and closing, lights flickering on and off, or the smell of perfume," Rhodes previously said of the infamous "Lady in Blue." "Maybe a blue streak of light going across a room. I have thousands and I'm still adding to the stories."

Speed Art Museum

The storage area in the basement area of the Speed Art Museum has reported to have paranormal activities, according to the staff that works there.

The Speed Art Museum houses tons of artifacts, many of which are tied to dark chapters in America's history, such as the Native American genocide and the Civil War, that many believe could be linked to ghosts.

"Ghosts and spirits, apparently, are attached to things," Steven Bowling, the museum's chief marketing officer, previously told the Courier Journal. "So, I think that's why, a lot of times, people think museums are haunted. They have these things that are ancient."

Aside from some spooky objects, the museum itself also has a resident ghost.

According to legend, a female spirit haunts the hallways and the basement of the building. While there's no evidence that the glimpses of shadowy figures or the flickers on security cameras belong to the museum's founder, Hattie Bishop Speed, some staff members wonder if she's still wandering the halls 80 years after her death.

For Bowling, whenever the elevator opens unexplainably on a random floor, he just shrugs and tells Hattie to "come on in."

Waverly Hills Sanatorium

The Waverly Hills Sanatorium opened in 1910 as a two-story hospital to accommodate Louisville patients struck by a tuberculosis outbreak. The tuberculosis hospital closed in 1961 and reopened in 1962 as Wood Haven Medical Services, a geriatric facility. Woodhaven had numerous complaints over patient neglect and was closed by the state in 1982.

After closing, Waverly Hills gained a reputation for being haunted. Volunteers working on the building's restoration have reported hearing ghostly sounds and slamming doors, seeing apparitions in doorways and being struck by invisible hands, according tokentuckyhauntedhouses.com.

Waverly Hills attracts tourists from around the country with its paranormal and historical guided tours. It also allows private paranormal groups to host investigations of the facility, many of whom claim to have experienced inexplicable paranormal activity during their visits. Waverly Hills has also been featured on ABC/FOX Family channel's "Scariest Places on Earth," VH1's"Celebrity Paranormal Project," Syfy's "Ghost Hunters," and HuLu's "Living for the Dead."

Features Clerk Gege Reed contributed to this report. Reach lifestyle and entertainment reporter Kirby Adams at [email protected]. Reach Courier-Journal reporter Maggie Menderski at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: From the Palace to Waverly Hills, 5 seriously haunted places to visit in Louisville