Is This the Most Haunted Town in Idaho?
We've all heard the tales of ghosts haunting the "Murder House" on Linden or strange things happening inside the Egyptian Theater, but Boise isn't the most haunted city in the Gem State!
No, the most haunted city in the state of Idaho has just 267 full time residents and is almost a three hour drive from the Treasure Valley. Only in Your State has named the .47 square mile town of Albion as Idaho's most haunted. It all ties back to the legend behind a haunt that draws people from all over the state to Albion every Halloween season.
Which haunt am I talking about? The Haunted Mansions of Albion at 437 E North St. The haunted attraction pops up every October at what used to be the Albion Normal School. According to Southern Idaho Tourism, the school operated under the state from 1893-1951. It remained empty until 1957 when Magic Valley Christian College leased the campus. The school was only there for twelve years. While the official reason behind the school closing its doors was a lack of financial support, others suspected there may be something supernatural playing a factor.
According to Southern Idaho Living, the campus remained sealed and closed to the public until the Mortensen family from Boise bought it. They've taken pride in cleaning it up and showing the public the historic buildings but have chosen to leave Comish Hall, the women's dormitory, untouched. Comish Hall attracts paranormal investigators from all over the world because some areas are of it so "supernaturally charged." Some believe that its because the school's former cook haunts the basement. There's also been reports of eerie voices and ghostly animals in the building. It's included as one of the available haunted attractions each October along with the Clown House, Creature House, School of Chaos and Old Steam Plant.
Not surprisingly, Comish Hall is the building that attracted the Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures to the Gem State in 2017! Zak Bagans and his team stopped through the property this summer to see what type of paranormal activity they could find and experienced the campus's dark energy first hand. Last year's episode will re-air on the Travel Channel on Saturday, September 15 and Sunday, September 16, so I won't spoil anything for you if you didn't have a chance to DVR it last fall.
If you'd like to explore Comish Hall (which is creepy on its own, there's no actors in that building) or any of the other historic buildings, you can check out the Haunted Mansions of Albion Fridays and Saturdays from 7 a.m. - 11 p.m. beginning September 28. The haunt will also me open to the public, 7-9 p.m. on October 25, 29, 30, 31 and November 1.