Are You Brave Enough to Ghost Hunt at Idaho's Haunted TB Hospital

After freaking out eight minutes into an episode of Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures featuring the historic building, I don't think I could!

The current Gooding University Inn wasn't always a haunted hospital. The building was originally part of the Gooding College campus, but the school eventually fell on financial hardship and ceased operations in the late 1930s.

Get our free mobile app

The History of the Idaho State Tuberculosis Hospital

According to the inn's website, the Methodist Church owned the property and gave it to the state in 1941 so that they could create a tuberculosis hospital. MagicValley.com explains that there was a huge gap in tuberculosis care in that part the state. WWII slowed down the completion of the hospital. While the medical community waited for it to open, patients were sent to St. Al's in Boise or a hospital in northern Idaho. The two facilities had a limited number of beds available for TB patients. When this facility eventually opened in 1947, it could care for 150 patients.

It eventually closed in 1976 and has since been renovated into the Gooding University Inn. Throughout it's years as a hotel, it's spawned dozens of stories of hauntings by what could be former patients of the tuberculosis hospital or children who died on the property. Were talking everything from disembodied footsteps, to full figure apparitions and scary sounds throughout the halls.

Hauntings Attract Attention of the Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures

In fact, it spawned so many stories that Zak Bagans, the host of Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures brought a crew to investigate the stories. I tried to watch it and couldn't make it further than 22 minutes into the episode. The crew almost immediately tried to communicate with spirits through Electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) and picked up an unexplainable dark voice answering Zak's question "Is there something evil here?"

EVP scares the living crap out of me, so I couldn't take anymore. If you want to watch the episode you can log-in with your TV provider and see how it plays out by clicking here HERE.

You Can Conduct Your Own Ghost Hunt...If You Dare

If you're brave enough to do some ghost hunting of your own on the property you can click HERE. A company by the name of Ghost Hunts USA is offering a handful of brave souls the chance to be part of a tour of the hotel that includes a vigil lead by a psychic medium, group seances, structured vigils, use of ghost hunting equipment like trigger objects and EMF meters. You also get some private time to conduct your own hunts and vigils.

The opportunity is offered quite a few times between now and Halloween weekend. There are options for non-sleepover hunts (ending at 4 a.m.) and sleepover hunts (ending at 10 a.m.) These are the 2021 dates:

Friday, August 13
Saturday, August 14
Friday, September 10
Saturday, September 11
Friday, September 24
Saturday, September 25
Friday, October 8
Saturday, October 9
Friday, October 15
Saturday, October 16
Friday, October 22
Saturday, October 23
Friday, October 29
Saturday, October 30

After hearing the EVP recordings from Ghost Hunters, I don't think I'm brave enough to stay there but the Gooding University Inn does have an excellent 4.8 star rating on Vrbo. You can see some past investigations in the video below!