We Tried It: A Ghost Hunters Set Visit Inside the Abandoned —and Haunted — St. Ignatius Hospital

What It Is: A Ghost Hunters set visit inside the abandoned St. Ignatius Hospital in Colfax, Washington

Who Tried It: Julie Jordan, PEOPLE Editor at Large

I've experienced my fair share of movie and television set visits over the years but as a lover of all things paranormal, I was ecstatic when Discovery+ and Travel Channel reached out about going to an investigation site for their hit reality series Ghost Hunters.

The latest season, which reunites original team members Jason Hawes, Steve Gonsalves, Shari DeBenedetti and Dave Tango, includes an episode about the abandoned St. Ignatius Hospital in Colfax, Washington.

Built in 1893, the hospital served patients in Whitman County until it was turned into an assisted living facility in 1964. Unused since 2003, the building was the perfect location for me to meet up with the team and experience a night for myself.

Courtesy Ghost Moms

After flying into Spokane, I drove about an hour to the small city of Colfax and pulled up to the hospital. The decaying structure looked eerily dark inside, despite a few production lights. Hawes met me outside and safely escorted me up to the second floor where I sat down with the crew to discuss their investigation.

"So much has happened here," says Hawes. "I mean, at one point, you had the mentally insane, then they moved them to a different building. But some of them, because of their issues, forgot where they lived, so they came back. One fell down the elevator shaft and died, another fell out the window and died because the place was abandoned and left open. So many people have come through here."

During the previous night, Gonsalves heard an EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) of screams in the hospital in real-time while listening to a digital recorder.

"I'm sitting right next to him," Hawes recalls. "I didn't hear anything but then he plays it back and there are screams."

Courtesy Ghost Moms Shari DeBenedetti, Jason Hawes, Julie Jordan, Steve Gonsalves and Dave Tango

Hawes founded T.A.P.S. (The Atlantic Paranormal Society) in 1990 after he witnessed what appeared to be a male entity walking before disappearing.

"I never really thought much of the paranormal until I saw something and from there, I was trying to understand how it could be real," he explains. "I just started looking. I started searching out the truth and shortly after, Steve and I met up and we started investigating. I mean, it was funny because we were looking for answers to our own questions. That's how T.A.P.S. became what it is."

As a fan of the show since it first aired in 2004, I appreciate the team's dedication to always try and debunk any activity as non-paranormal.

"I think you're always going to get your skeptics, but the fact of the matter is, we've always been about keeping it real," says Hawes. "You call me into your house to figure out if you have a haunting, you might not like what I tell you, but I'm not there to be your friend. I'm there because you called me in for help. And all of these guys and girls think the same way."

Courtesy Ghost Moms

"We're on the same page," says Tango, who became intrigued with the paranormal after having an experience where he sensed an energy in a cold spot. "We know what we're doing here. We're all doing it for the same reasons, the right reasons. And that's how I look at it as well."

Adds Gonsalves: "Some of our highest rated shows, or at least most memorable for a lot of our fans, are shows when we don't even find anything paranormal."

For DeBenedetti, whose first paranormal experience involved being grabbed by an unseen force in her house, it's all about the teamwork: "We all have the same mindset of where we need to go and how we can work together," she says.

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Courtesy Ghost Moms

While all of them are resolved to face any fear, there have been many times over the years when they've been spooked.

"Ghosts, I mean they don't scare us. It intrigues us," Hawes insists. "When a sound happens, you might get startled, but we run towards it. We're going to try figure out what it is, where the problem is."

After we finished talking, the team scattered to finish up their various production duties while I cautiously ventured into the hospital and slowly made my way from floor to decrepit floor—including the former morgue. Even with a borrowed flashlight, I was still terrified to turn each corner.

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Courtesy Discovery+ Fom left, Shari DeBenedetti, Jason Hawes, Steve Gonsalves, and Dave Tango

Having heard about all the complex's past paranormal activity — shadow figures, disembodied voices, people being touched — only heightened my senses. Every little noise made me jump.

But with Hawes' voice in my head, I forged ahead and didn't run out of the building, even when my instinct tried to convince me that was the smart thing to do. The evening left me with a new appreciation for the team's collective energy and their ability to face the unknown for the sake of their fans.

Just like St. Ignatius, every case they investigate "is so interesting because it's like we're putting pieces of a puzzle together to try to figure it out," says Hawes.

And he wouldn't want to take it on with anybody else. "I mean the most important thing is, we're a family," he adds. "We really are."

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New episodes of Ghost Hunters airs Saturdays at 9/8 c on Travel Channel and Discovery+.