St. Ignatius featured on ABC News, Good Morning America

It sat abandoned for nearly a decade, and now it is making headlines across the United States.

The former St. Ignatius Hospital is receiving attention as the Haunted Hospital. Colfax Unified Executive Director Valoree Gregory and a team of volunteers have been conducting tours at the hospital building for the entire month of October.

“We've done at least two a day, some days three to four,” said Gregory.

Prior to the Haunted Hospital opening up for the month, Gregory had about 30 tours scheduled. That number more than doubled to 65 as more people requested tours.

“I don't sleep a lot,” Gregory noted.

With the hype around the tours, the hospital caught the attention of reporters in New York. The hospital last week was featured on ABC News and Good Morning America.

“It was a surprise!” said Gregory. “We've gone national!”

Gregory said that on one recent tour, out of the 12 participants, not one was from Washington state. The participants were from Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Tennessee and Alaska.

“They just came for that,” said Gregory. “They all stayed at the Best Western, and they just met each other for the first time at the hotel.”

Gregory said only 15 people from Colfax have been on the tours this year. They have sold 720 tour tickets. She also said a woman in Haiti contacted her via Facebook after hearing about the Haunted Hospital to congratulate her on a job well done.

Gregory said she anticipated there would be a little more hype for the Haunted Hospital this year because of the success it had last year.

“I thought more TV stations and radio stations would pick it up,” she said.

It was a front page article in the Spokesman Review that led to her making the tours daily for the month, rather than just Thursday through Sunday. She also fits in private tours around the other tours.

Gregory said more than $20,000 has been generated from this round of Haunted Hospital.

“It's the spot to be,” she said.

The money will be split between the Colfax Downtown Association and the Colfax Chamber of Commerce. The Colfax Arts Council will also receive about $500 from the proceeds, as it is putting on the scary movie night at the hospital this weekend.

“It's really helping,” said Gregory, noting all of the money is staying in Colfax.

Last year, the Haunted Hospital raised about $12,000. Some of those proceeds went to the building owner, Anthony Girges, who lives in California. This time, however, he has already been paid.

“We paid him earlier because of the lease,” said Gregory. “I gave him a set price.”

This may be the last Haunted Hospital, though. Negotiations are currently in progress between Girges and an interested party to purchase the hospital.

“If he buys it, then we'll be shut down,” said Gregory. “We'll give him the keys.”

Gregory said that was the goal when Haunted Hospital started.

“Our goal is to save the building,” said Gregory. “It's a huge part of our history and our town.”

She said she hoped Haunted Hospital would bring the building enough attention to be purchased or to have something done with it.

“Every time there's a windstorm, more of the roof ends up in the yard,” she said.

If the building is purchased, she hopes the new owner is ready to take on a project.

“Right now, he's looking into it to see if it's feasible to purchase,” she said.

Gregory said she is thankful for the support for Haunted Hospital, as it will eventually benefit the building and currently brings people to town to help benefit local tourism.

“It's been great,” she said. “We've gotten quite a bit out of it.”