I like to scroll through Facebook events for fun and interesting date ideas for this 50 Dates personal challenge. I was intrigued by an event notice for a Haunted Ghost Tour of The Acadia Ranch in Oracle, AZ. About Acadia Ranch (from event description): In 1882 Edwin S. and Lillian Dodge opened up the Acadia Ranch. More sanatorium than cattle farm, the ranch was the headquarters for people coming to the desert in hopes the arid atmosphere would cure diseases like tuberculosis.

The Acadia Ranch in Oracle, Arizona is rumored to be haunted. Staff of the museum have witnessed and heard many strange things. Sounds of running water have often been heard and when employees check the sinks, they’re dry and the faucets are turned off. Ghostly footsteps are commonly heard when members of the staff are alone in the building. Others claimed interior doors would be slammed shut and open on their own. Knocks and bangs that come from nowhere are heard.

The building is allegedly haunted by the spirit of a nurse who had apparently contracted tuberculosis from working with the sick people. They say her spirit walks the halls tending to her patients. Others heard voices and one instance was a claim of the head and shoulders of a person walking into the hospital room. During the restoration workers heard coughing and dubbed it a ghost named George who may have been a tuberculosis patient.

There were two separate ticket options available. I could either choose the 2 hour tour, or the 4 hour paranormal investigation option. I chose the 2 hour tour because the 4 hour was going to end at 1am and Oracle is about an hour away from where I live…I’m a wuss…I didn’t want to be out that late. 😂

I arrived as they were starting to divide up tour groups. I had just walked through the door when the tour leader asked how many were with me. I did the two thumbs pointing at myself thing. A fun group of single ladies yelled, “you’re with us”! They were so welcoming and excited to have another single lady on their haunted tour and I was really happy to join them because they looked like they would be a blast. A few minutes later another “single girl” came in and we sucked her into our group too. She was nice, but all business. This girl was there on a serious mission to find ghosts. She came prepared with her own arsenal of paranormal investigation equipment and laser focus. 🙂

I wasn’t really sure what to expect on a tour like this, but was pleasantly surprised to see that this organization had all of the ghost hunting equipment. They had all sorts of cameras set up in all the rooms, infrared cameras, night vision equipment, radio equipment that lets you hear the spirits coming through with answers to your questions and ghost boxes that light up when your energy field changes, which means a ghost is touching you or very near you.

The tour guide was really excited because two of the ladies that were in our group are nurses. This was important because this was a tuberculosis hospital in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s and some of the spirits are thought to be doctors and nurses who worked there. They thought nurses in our group would ensure more ghost action.

I understand being skeptical about this sort of thing, but let me just say there was definitely a different kind of energy in this place. I could feel it in some rooms more than others. There was a shed in the back of the building called “The Birthing Room”, which is just like a large backyard shed. It was where the pregnant tuberculosis patients were taken to have their babies. They would have 8-12 women in there giving birth at a time. It didn’t seem possible that there was enough space for that much birthing activity. This room gave me the craziest sensation in my throat, like it was tightening to let out a scream that couldn’t come out, or like it was constricting. I also had goosebumps all over my body.

Our group in the darkness of the Birthing Room shed:

There was a patient room that felt incredibly creepy as well. I had the goosebumps pretty consistently in that room and felt nauseous a time or two. We heard answers to our questions on the radio thingy (technical term), and saw light blobs on the night vision camera that we were carrying around. We were also lead to a room that was roughly 8’x8′ or 10’x10′ called “The Icebox”. This was where they kept their food refrigerated, but then they ended up needing to use it to store bodies. It became their morgue. We were shut in this icebox in the darkness. That was an uncomfortable experience for sure, but I didn’t feel the oogs, another technical term, in this room as much as the others.

Patient Room:

The “Icebox”:

The girls and I decided to grab dinner together on our way home, except for the ghost hunter girl. I really enjoyed my time with them. We talked about doing other ghost tours together, which I hope we’ll do. They also love hiking…maybe a hike adventure could be in our future! I’m finding that the more of these dates I do on my own, the less alone I feel. I’m starting to approach them feeling excited about what kind of experience I might have and what kinds of people I’ll meet. I don’t have as much anxiety about being out there without the safety net of a boyfriend or a friend. I’m not saying that feeling is completely gone, but it’s definitely much less than it was. It’s a good feeling. 7 Dates down, 43 to go! Date #8 is actually complete, I just need to get it posted…stay tuned!