ALBION
ALBION STATE NORMAL SCHOOL
(Magic Valley Christian College)(Albion Campus Retreat)
437 W North Street
Status: Former School; Large Group Accommodation/Event Site; Halloween Attraction
By <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ntsimp" title="User:Ntsimp">Ntsimp</a> - <span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>, CC0, Link
History
This school was opened in 1893 as 1 of 2 Normal Schools in the State. The other one is now the Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston.
The school granted 2 year diplomas to become teachers for the State’s rapidly growing population. The school survived both the Great Depression and World War II with dwindling enrollment numbers by being creative. Before closing in 1951 they were granting 4 year degrees.
The school was used as the Magic Valley Christian College from 1958-1969. Ownership then passed to the City of Albion who kept up the grounds while researching ways in which the property could be given new life.
In 2007 it was sold for $810,000 to the Mortenson family who refurbished the campus into the Albion Campus Retreat with large group accommodations and events including a Halloween attraction called Haunted Mansions of Albion.
Paranormal Activity
Reported Paranormal Activity:
Pushes, touches and pulls by unseen presences; disembodied voices; phantom footsteps; objects moving on their own; unexplained smells including fresh dough in a kitchen that has been unused for years; light anomalies and feelings of being watched.
BOISE
BOISE MURDER HOUSE
(Chop Chop House)
805 West Linden Street
Status: Murder Site; Residential Property
History
Built in 1910 this house had nothing happen to it or in it for the majority of it’s existence.
But on June 30, 1987 three men got into an altercation of which only 2 men walked away. Daniel Rodgers (37) and Daron Cox (31) shot Preston Murr (21) in the head killing him. The worst part of it was Murr could have been saved.
During the fight Murr left the house after being shot in the shoulder and fled to a neighbor’s house. Pounding on the door and asking for help before he was dragged back into the basement and murdered. The neighbor didn’t open the door but he did call the police and make a report.
The police did not respond to the call and Murr was killed. It was later determined that Rodgers pulled the trigger and he is serving life without parole at Idaho State Correctional.
Rodgers and Cox cut Murr’s body up with an axe and a knife wrapped his pieces up in plastic and then drove to the Idaho-Oregon border and dumped his body parts in the Brownlee Reservoir.
The same neighbor called the police again that morning concerning blood on his screen door. The police finally decided to show up and found blood not only on the neighbor’s house but on the sidewalk and on at least one other house as well.
Rodgers would later try to get a retrial saying the search of his house was illegal. This failed.
Property records obtained online indicate James Howell who rented the house out– mostly to Boise State University students – although it is unclear if he is still the owner at this time. Most reports indicate the house is abandoned and in a rather bad state currently.
Paranormal Activity
There was a rumor started that sometimes blood could be seen running down the walls of the basement. This has been long since proven untrue and just an attempt to scare college students.
Although no apparitions have been seen there are many reports of the basement just not feeling right and making people feel very uncomfortable. To be fair there’s also one tenant who denies there’s any paranormal activity in the basement or the house.
Another tenant’s story is of hearing noises making them think someone was breaking into the house. When they went out on the porch there was nothing to be found but what was described as a black oily looking thing was seen in the window of an upstairs bedroom. A ball of oily blackness then slid across a mirror on the porch and through the witness.
Other Reported Activity: shadow figures; light anomalies; empathic feelings of unease and feelings of being watched.
BOISE
OLD IDAHO STATE PENITENTIARY
2445 Old Penitentiary Road
Status: Former Penitentiary; Historical Site; Open 12pm - 4pm Daily; Scheduled Paranormal Investigations
By Peter Wollheim - Idaho Issues Online <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.boisestate.edu/history/issuesonline/spring2005_issues/gallery-correction/gallery_correct1.html">http://www.boisestate.edu/history/issuesonline/spring2005_issues/gallery-correction/gallery_correct1.html</a>, CC BY 2.5, Link
History
Built in 1870 as a territorial prison it only consisted of one cell block. Over the years it was expanded greatly to include a death row, gallows and a solitary confinement area called “Siberia”.
Most of the construction was done by the convicts themselves. Its history included many riots, mostly due to the living conditions, but in 1973 one riot did $100,000 worth of damage and the facility was closed down in December of that year.
The area now known as the Rose Garden is where 6 of the 10 executions that took place in the prison were done.
The old penitentiary is now managed by the Idaho State Historical Society and is open to the public.
Paranormal Activity
A feeling of intense sadness and dread when approaching death row. This has become so serious for some people that they had to leave before becoming physically ill. A feeling of heaviness is felt through the prison complex.
The phantom footsteps of guards on patrol are still heard echoing through the hallways. Wails of grief are still heard in the prison. The explanation for these hauntings is thought to be from the tremendous energy this site absorbed during its long history.
This facility is often described as the most haunted location in the state.
GOODING
GOODING UNIVERSITY INN
(Idaho State Tuberculosis Hospital)
301 University Avenue
Status: Former School; Former Hospital; Operational Hotel
History
First opened in 1920 as the Gooding College – the only higher education institute in the area. The school, unfortunately, closed down in 1938.
In the 1940’s the building was converted into tuberculosis sanatorium. Apparently, it was a very good hospital and the staff did their best with the patients. However, tuberculosis was untreatable and often fatal before the advent of the correct antibiotics in the 1970’s. As with other similar hospitals they death rate would have been tragically very high.
The hospital closed down in 1976 and the building remained abandoned – largely gaining a reputation as the local haunted house - until 2004 when it opened as the Get Inn Bed & Breakfast.
The B&B embraced the haunted history of the former hospital allowing overnight investigations.
The B&B was closed down in 2012 and the current owners bought the building and kept it as a hotel. It is now called the Gooding University Inn focuses on giving guests the chance to sleep in a modernized but historical dormitory.
There is an old cemetery – deceased are identified by numbers - on site from the building’s time as a tuberculosis hospital.
Paranormal Activity
The apparition of an elderly man in a white coat who may have been one of the doctors. The apparition of woman in the company of a little girl. Other apparitions of former patients and staff have been seen in the building and on the grounds – most commonly in the cemetery.
Disembodied voices most often heard as whispers. Phantom footsteps in the hallways are commonly heard.
Other Activity: feelings of not being alone, being watched and being followed, light anomalies, objects moving on their own.
POCATELLO
POCATELLO HIGH SCHOOL
325 North Arthur Avenue
Status: Historical School
By <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Beantwo&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="User:Beantwo (page does not exist)">Beantwo</a> - <span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
History
The original school built here in 1892 went under the name of West Side School and contained all grades from 1 through 12. In 1914 a fire started in the boiler room and the school was burnt to the ground; it is unclear if anyone died in this fire but it is brought up as one of the reasons its haunted.
The replacement school – the one that’s there now – was rebuilt in 1916 in the exact same location. It has been heavily renovated and modernized in both 1939 and 1996 as well as a new gym built in 2004-06.
Apparently, the old gym wasn’t much of a prize as students called it The Pit.
Paranormal Activity
Although it cannot be verified it is said that two teenage girls made a suicide pact sometime in the 1940’s or 50’s. One girl went through with it and hung herself from her locker; the other girl didn’t.
The smell of the girl’s perfume was often reported in the area where her locker was prompting the school to remove her locker. To this day custodial staff report being blasted occasionally with the same smell while cleaning at night. The apparition of the girl is also seen forever walking the halls of the school.
The phantom sound of an alarm going off is heard at night where the old gym used to be
The phantom sound of a piano playing is reported in the school’s auditorium.
People have also reported seeing apparitions in the library after hours when looking through the windows from outside.
In 2014 the school became famous when a security video taken on winter break when the school was empty showed a shadow figure walk into and then out of the bathroom before going down the hall. The lights in the hallway are also seen flickering unexplainably on the video.