Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
COLFAX — St. Ignatius Hospital, once a beacon of healing in the remote Palouse region, now stands as something else entirely—a decaying relic, steeped in forgotten history and shadowed by an unsettling presence.
The hospital, though abandoned for over half a century, is far from empty. It has new residents now, those who never left.
During the Halloween season, St. Ignatius is far from silent.
The spirits of its past occupants seem to wake, welcoming visitors to explore their home.
Ghost tours wind through its eerie halls, as curious thrill-seekers clutch their flashlights and ghost-hunting equipment.
But here’s the chilling part: the residents, the unseen souls of the hospital, seem to enjoy the company.
They whisper from shadowy corners, brush against your skin, and breathe down your neck as you pass through their territory.
As a reporter for the newspaper, I was drawn to St. Ignatius’ haunted reputation.
I wanted to experience it for myself, document what it felt like to step inside a place that’s more alive than it seems.
Last year, I walked through the darkened nuns’ quarters, where the Sisters of Charity once lived and prayed. At first, it was quiet—too quiet.
But then, as I ventured deeper, I heard faint whispers.
My heart pounded in my chest, and I told myself it was just the wind.
But when something unseen tugged at my shirt, pulling me back, my blood ran cold.
The sensation was too real to be imagined, too intimate, too deliberate.
I promptly put in my earbuds, blasted music, and hurried out of the quarters, shaken and unnerved.
And that’s the thing about St. Ignatius—it *feels* alive. Despite its crumbling walls, its rotting floorboards, and the peeling, uncovered wallpaper in the chapel, the building has a soul.
It breathes through the stairwell, where old patients may have once limped, their footsteps now replaced by eerie echoes.
It lingers in the hospital’s grand chapel, where ancient, faded wallpaper peeks through the years of decay, almost as if the past is clawing its way back to the surface.
And in the nuns’ quarters, where prayers and secrets were whispered long ago, it still pulses with energy—like the very walls are watching you, waiting for your next move.
The building’s current owner, Austin Storm, is trying to restore what he can, but no amount of reconstruction can erase the eery soul of St. Ignatius.
It’s in the air. The hospital’s new life may be filled with curious visitors and ghost-hunting teams from shows like “Ghost Files” and “Ghost Adventures”, but to the spirits who call this place home, they are merely guests.
The ghosts of patients, nurses and even the unfortunate souls like F.E. Martin, who met his end in 1893, have made this place their final resting ground—and they’re not going anywhere.
So, as the annual haunted tours continue this Halloween, remember: St. Ignatius Hospital is still very much alive, just not in the way you’d expect.
Step lightly, because the residents are always watching, and they’re waiting for you to join them.
Olivia Harnack is a Journalist at the Whitman County Gazette. Olivia is enrolled at University of Idaho and is majoring in digital film studies. She serves in the United States Army National Guard and is proud to serve Whitman County.
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