F.E. Martin
Summary
Historic Background: In June 1893, just two months after St. Ignatius Hospital opened its doors under the Sisters of Charity of Providence as Whitman County’s first primary hospital, rail worker F.E. Martin was caught in a horrific industrial accident and crushed between railroad freight cars. He was rushed up the hill to St. Ignatius, becoming the hospital’s first recorded fatality. Haunted Phenomenon: Martin is frequently reported by investigators inside the abandoned corridors of St. Ignatius Hospital. Witnesses report a mangled, disfigured silhouette pacing near former trauma wards, accompanied by heavy dragging footsteps and abrupt drops in temperature. Haunted Site: Old St. Ignatius Hospital (1099 S. Mill St, Colfax, WA). Burial / Memorial Location: Cemetery: Colfax Cemetery / Whitman County Cemetery Ground (Whitman County, WA). Most early transient rail workers and unclaimed victims from the hospital's first decade were interred in local county plots or the town hillside cemetery.