Kara McMurray was given a radio device reportedly able to pick up and detect paranormal activity and communication.
She was taking part in one of the many tour groups that visit the St. Ignatius hospital in Colfax, Washington, a derelict and abandoned building that allegedly houses the spirits of its former patients and workers.
Sam Balas | Argonaut
St. Ignatius Hospital is a haunted hospital in Colfax, Washington, that has been vacant since 2003. The hospital may soon be demolished and transitioned into condomoniums.
Armed with this device, she suddenly heard something crackle through the equipment. It was a voice, and it sounded like it commanded her to “die.”
The group halted, and one of the other tour members immediately asked the voice, what it meant, McMurray said.
“Not all of the responses through the device are very clear, but that response came through very clearly, and it said ‘You’,” she said.
Such encounters are not uncommon according to McMurray, a reporter for the Colfax paper, Whitman County Gazette.
The St. Ignatius hospital has become a strong attraction in recent months, and McMurray’s job often times includes reporting on the status of the abandoned hospital.
Thanks to reported paranormal activity inside the building, as well as the extensive coverage such activity has received, several ghost hunting shows have pounced on the chance to tape inside the building.
What was once a derelict inconvenience has turned into a major source of attention, tourist and production income for the small Washington town.
“It seemed like something that would be very beneficial to the community and bring a lot of people into town,” she said. “It’s making headlines across the U.S. right now. People are picking up on it and coming here.”
The building itself is very spooky. It spans a massive plot of land and towers above other buildings in the area.
Inside, extensive weathering has peeled away at wallpaper, insulation and even entire walls.
It does not take much of an imagination to hear, see or feel something that may or may not be paranormal, McMurray said.
Valerie Gregory is the Unified Executive Director of Colfax, and takes tour groups through the hospital.
She frequently orchestrates both private tours given to wealthy visitors from as far as Alaska and to locals. One of her premiere events is a reoccurring “sleepover” where brave visitors spend the night inside the old hospital.
Gregory was kind enough to give The Argonaut one of her private tours, which mixes interesting non-paranormal medical and local history, with the buildings ghostly mythology.
Gregory said a paranormal presence is not a possibility, it is a reality.
Gregory said she has gone so far as to prescribe personalities to certain spirits, and believes she has an almost personal relationship with some of them.
“I think he likes us,” she said. “He seems to like us when we come and talk to him.”
She said she is referring to one ghost she believes resides within a room that was found to contain a multitude of children’s toys, including several (now illegal) lawn darts.
Several videos and audio recordings of ghostly contact or communication have been used in the hospital, and even shared on its official website.
These recordings are chilling, as are Gregory’s personal stories. The worst, she said, was an event where she was giving a tour to six high school students in celebration of homecoming.
The group stopped in their tracks when they suddenly began hearing rapid running and sprinting throughout the hospital stairwells.
They quickly left the building, and waited for any potential tricksters to leave, but none came out. Further investigation of the building yielded no human perpetrators.
Although these and similar stories are worrisome to hear while standing at the same spot these events occurred, extensive audio and video recordings made by The Argonaut, using our own equipment, yielded no evidence of paranormal activity.
Whether or not ghosts or other spirits reside within the buildings walls seems secondary to the fact that the building is an important part of local history.
Built in 1893 by the Sisters of Providence, it spent decades as a hospital until 1968, when it transitioned into a home for mentally disabled adults. It served this function until 2003, and since then has been vacant, Gregory said.
As of now, the future of the building is uncertain. The owner is considering turning the lot into condominiums, which would either require destroying the building or heavy renovations.
McMurray said she was curious what the spirits in the building would think of this potential transition.
Armed with her radio device, she said she called out to the ghosts, asking them what their plans were if they gained new, more human roommates.
According to McMurray, the response she heard was short and sweet.
“Stay.”
Sam Balas
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