We returned to Colfax, WA to join our wonderful guide, Valoree Hall Gregory, who is the Executive Director of Colfax, to walk thru' 4 more great, old buildings with a very gifted Psychic: Jane Stewart. You can read about the Perkins House investigation, and see the clips from the old cabin on our site (posted previously). The other 3 great buildings were the V.T. McCroskey Building, the Old Rose Temple, and the Masonic Temple. Each building still has a ghost or two, and some paranormal activity. You can read more about them below! A great big thanks to Valoree, as well as Nancy Cochran for all your help, and all the great questions during the Perkins House and the Masonic Temple investigation. You guys are great. We look forward to exploring more of these great old buildings in this cool old town of Colfax,WA.
The V.T. McCroskey building was built in 1917 by Virgil McCroskey (1876-1970), a pharmacist and conservationist. It housed the Elk Drug Store, purchased by McCroskey in 1903, but was later moved to the Deacons building next door. Mr. McCroskey created 2 state parks: The Steptoe Butte in Washington, which was dedicated in 1946, becoming Washington's 72nd state park, and The McCroskey State Park in Idaho, dedicated in 1955. The upstairs of the McCroskey building was used by doctors. The original light fixtures are still hanging in this building. According to psychic Jane Stewart, there isn't much paranormal activity in this building, though she mentioned an old man in a wheelchair. Some of the patients stayed there, so maybe he was one of them. What this building DOES have is residual energy from the days gone by. To those of us who are not psychics or sensitives, any building is just that, a building. Some may have the creep factor, such as St. Ignatius Hospital. To a psychic, on the other hand, it is much more, as they can see some of the events that took place there, and they are not always pleasant. Way back when, the doctors did not have the schooling, nor the technology available today, so their ways of doing things may seem a bit brutal today. Some may not have really known what they were doing, but still wanted to help. One of the rooms upstairs was used as a surgery room for various needs.
The Walker block, built in 1912, was remodeled into a theater in 1916, and named the Rose Theater. It was the place to be, for it showed great films of the time and informative news reels before each feature. The seating capacity in the Rose Theater in 1941 was 300. A film historian and the host of Turner Classic Movies, Robert Osborne, born in Colfax, saw his first films at the Rose and at the age of 12 got his dream job working at the theater, advancing to the ticket taker by the age of 15. In the late 1940's, the Roxy Theater opened and as the Old Rose Theater closed its doors, the Roxy changed its name to Rose Theater. The old Rose Theater still has its original chandelier, and the new owner is planning on remodeling the old place to its former glory. During our walk thru' with psychic Jane Stewart, she was able to pick up a male presence still there. No other paranormal activity was present at the time.
Located in the Fraternity block, built in 1889, the Hiram Masonic Lodge was the 1st Freemason establishement north of Snake River. It included an 8 ft. tower, which was later removed for safety reasons. It housed 3 fraternal Lodges: The Masonic Hall, The Odd Fellows Hall, and The Knights of Pythias. The Masons took over the building in the 1960's. This building is very unique. Upon entering, one has to walk up a very long corridor that feels like a tunnel of some sort, or as if you were entering some secret place. The next floor has 2 very large rooms, one of which is the Grand Lodge Hall, apparently still in use from time to time. The Grand Hall has several Masonic symbols, such as a colorless large G that they say stands for the Great Architect, or possibly God. You can also see what looks like a giant upside down hexagram, an altar with a bible and tools on the top, and lots of chairs in specific places that all have some special meaning to the masons. As psychic Jane Stewart walked thru' the building, there wasn't much paranormal activity there, but she did feel a male presence, an old mason. The Grand Hall side of the building is more active than the rest of the building . There is a lot of residual energy, once again only the psychics and sensitives can pick it up. The energy left in the Grand Hall and above upstairs rooms raises some questions of the going ons in this building. We conducted a short investigation here with Nancy Cochran,Valoree Gregory, Scott Mercer, and Grace Altman (S.L.A.S.H). We were able to pick up male voices and a female voice upstairs on our voice recorders. Using other equipment only added to the question list we already had about this place: the rituals, all the secret ways, and the possible secret meanings behind all these symbols used by the masons. What did the masons really believed the Great Architect was? All these fraternal organizations are similar, yet different, in both the symbolism they use and the values they share, and how they are set up. They all have lodges, rituals, degrees, secret passwords, and auxiliaries. You can find many articles online about these organizations, and some of them are not flattering. For example, the Cuttingedge.org calls the masons "satan worshippers," and also say that their symbols "venerate the sex act," and so on. The Catholic church seems to agree on some of these opinions. They all have done charity work, and many members belonged to 2 of the 3 organizations at the same time. There is no question about the fact that lot of secrecy surrounds these organizations, especially the masons it seems, and there are a lot of questions that will never be answered.
To see more photos from this location, click on the link below: