A Dayton woman, Roquel Bain, 26, was struck and killed by a train while on a paranormal tour in Kentucky on Saturday evening.
Roquel and her husband were visiting the area to attend a paranormal tour at Waverly Hills when they decided to check out an “urban legend” at the railroad track beforehand, WLKY-TV reports.
Alicia Smiley, a spokeswoman for the Louisville Metro Police told the media that Bain and her husband were walking on the trestle in Eastern Jefferson County when Bain slipped and fell. Bain was struck by a train and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Supposedly, there have been many sightings of an urban legend near the trestle above Pope Lick Creek where Bain took her last breath. It is said to be half human, half goat and is called the Pope Lick Monster .
Bain’s husband told officials that when the train approached them, they hung over the side of the trestle; however, Bain was not able to move quick enough and was struck. She fell nearly 100 feet to her death and had blunt force trauma.
The Louisville Ghost Hunters Society claims the sight of the Pope Lick Monster is so startling that those who encounter it would rather fall 100 feet to their death than stand in its presence.
Different legends vary quite a bit. One legend claims the Pope Lick Monster is a child of a farmer who had relations with animals, however so unnatural.
A second legend claims it is a farmer who worshiped and practice Satanism and sacrificed his goats to earn power. When he was close to death, he resurrected as half man, half goat with a fate to walk the trestles.
Along with the Pope Lick Monster legend is the Ghost Train. It has been said that it suddenly appears and motion can be felt; however, no sound is made to alert anyone.
Taylorsville Road, which is close to the trestle, is a concern to law enforcement due to the high amounts of accidental deaths that have taken place.
Do you think the Pope Lick Monster truly exists? Check out this video about this urban legend .
The main reason for the couple’ visit was to attend a paranormal tour at Waverly Hills Sanatorium, which is considered one of the “most haunted places on earth.” It started out to be a tuberculosis sanatorium back in the 1800s and early 1900s when the “white death” was a huge problem. When the hospital became overcrowded, the Waverly Hills Sanatorium was built in 1926, Prairie Ghosts reports.
Although the Waverly Hills Sanatorium was considered to be one of the best tuberculosis hospitals in America, hundreds died. Many treatments were experiments and were considered just as bad as the disease itself.
For those who lived to see the outside of the Waverly Hills Sanatorium after they beat the disease, they had to make their way through the “body chute,” which was a tunnel where dead bodies were stored until a train would pick them up.
Once a cure for tuberculosis was found and the number of cases dropped significantly, the Waverly Hills Sanatorium was eventually closed down in 1961.
A year later, it was re-opened as the Woodhaven Geriatrics Sanatorium. Rumor has it, many patients were mistreated and experiments were often conducted on them.
It, too, was shut down in 1982, and the Sanatorium hasn’t been open since.
The Waverly Hills Sanatorium is said to be one of the most haunted places in America because of all the agony, pain, and deaths that have occurred behind the walls.
Rumors have spread that ghosts have been seen running around the hospital, and some claimed to have seen the hearse that dropped off coffins. Some see a woman with her wrists cut and bleeding pleading for help. Visitors claim to hear doors slamming shut and see lights in the windows when there is no power in the whole building. Also, many hear footsteps in empty rooms and other strange noises.
There was no drugs or alcohol suspected and Bain’s husband did not suffer any injuries. WLKY-TV reports that funeral arrangements have been made at Jones-Kenney-Zechman Funeral Home.
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