COLFAX
ST IGNATIUS HOSPITAL
1009 South Mill Street
Status: Former Hospital; Former Assisted Living Facility; Historical and Ghost Tours Are Available
History
In the late 19th century, a need for a hospital in Eastern Washington State was identified by the Roman Catholic Church. The Sisters of Charity of Providence in Portland, Oregon heeded the call and Colfax put up the most in donations.
On April 17, 1893 construction of St Ignatius Hospital was begun. Three sisters worked out of a small wooden building while the main building was constructed. The main hospital opened in 1894 with additions made in 1917 and 1928.
A nursing school was opened on site in 1911. The first 2 male nurses in Washington State graduated from it in 1941.
In 1964 the hospital was closed when the Sisters can no longer afford to modernize it due to low donations. The building was converted into an assisted living facility.
In 2000 the facility was closed down the building was abandoned in 2003.
IN 2021 a new owner bought the property with the intention of restoring it. They will be continuing both the day tours and overnight investigations.
Paranormal Activity
Despite the many stories surrounding this location hospital records indicate, while many people did die here, they died in their rooms from there injuries or illnesses. There is no record of any suicides nor anyone falling down the elevator shaft.
The most famous ghost in the building is that of FE Martin who was crushed between two railroad cars and became the first person to die within the hospital walls. It is said he still wanders the empty halls and rooms of the former hospital. His apparition has been many times and he is thought to be responsible for some of the paranormal activity.
Reported Activity During Investigations: apparitions of former patients and staff including apparitions appearing in reflections; touches, pushes and kicks from unseen entities; disembodied voices; shadow figures; numerous captured EVP’s; phantom footsteps; unexplained noises from loud bangs to faint whispers and everything in between; light anomalies and feelings of not being alone.
PORT TOWNSEND
MANRESA CASTLE
651 Cleveland Street
Status: Former Residence; Former Jesuit College; Hotel
History
This mansion was built in 1892 as the residence of Mr Charles Eisenbeis and his wife, Kate. He designed it to be modeled after castles in his homeland of Prussia.
Mr Eisenbeis owned a number of businesses in Port Townsend and would become it’s first mayor. At the time it was the largest residence in the town – 30 rooms and was called the Eisenbeis Castle. In 1902 Charles died and Kate remarried – the house was left abandoned.
In 1925 the home was bought and converted into a vacation home for nuns teaching school in Seattle. This was a very short chapter in the story of the castle and in 1927 the Jesuits bought the building and converted it into a training college for priests even increasing its size in 1928 and adding an elevator.
Priests in their 16th, and final year, of training came to the college. It was Jesuits who first used the name Manresa after a town in Spain where their order was founded. They called it Manresa Hall.
In 1968 the building was sold again and converted into a hotel – which it remains today – and named Manresa Castle. There have been 3 owners and a number of renovations since this conversion.
Paranormal Activity
In the past the hotel has been open about its hauntings and paranormal activity experienced by both staff and guests although there is no longer any mention of it on their website so that may have changed.
They even had a logbook of people’s experiences in Room 306 but that has disappeared as people were purposely requesting not to stay in that room.
The are 2 stories regarding the hauntings in the building although neither can be confirmed.
Hotel management is said to deny these stories; saying they were made up by a bartender to romanticize the ghost stories and decades of reported paranormal activity.
1) In 1921 a young woman named Kate ended her own life by jumping out of the window of Room 306. She either did this because she found out her fiancé’s ship had sunk – tragically he was picked up by a ship after her suicide or; she had gotten lonely during the fiancé’s voyage and found herself pregnant and actually killed herself upon finding out he had survived the sinking. Unable to face the shame she jumped.
The timeline certainly doesn’t match as in 1921 the building was not being used at all; let alone as a hotel – not until 1968. The closest use was from 1925-27 when it used by nuns who do not have fiancés and, generally, do not get pregnant.
2) No year given but, assumedly, it was while the Jesuit College was open. A priest was having a crisis of faith and having “unsupervised” visits with a nun living in town. When he was caught, he professed innocence saying they were only talking as friends, but – as these things go – he was accused of having carnal relations with said nun.
He is said to have hung himself in the attic turret right above Room 302.
There is no record of either of these suicides. Of course, suicides would caused a large amount of negative innuendo – especially in a Jesuit College – so they may have been covered up.
In Room 306 the apparition of a young woman with long dark hair in a flowing white dress has been reported. She is most often seen near the window but also is known for sitting on the bed while guests are sleeping. She is also reported as going through your stuff while you’re not in the room – this is evidenced by belongings being moved slightly when guests return.
If she likes you the room is said to filled with phantom pleasant smells – no stories on what happens if she doesn’t like you. She also likes to open the dresser drawers and sing in the bathroom in the middle of the night.
In Room 302 people hear phantom footsteps in the unused attic above them. There a sense of some kind of paranormal energy in the attic and an EVP was recorded in a male voice saying, “I’m not here.”
A photo was taken in the dining room of a woman appearing in a Victorian gown as well another captured EVP. This time a woman speaking German saying, “everything will be alright.” This could be Kate Eisenbeis herself or perhaps a servant or family member.
In the former Chapel – which has been converted into an event hall – glasses have shattered – even when people were holding them. They have also been turned upside on their own when set on tables. Again, large amounts of energy are felt here by sensitives here. There are also numerous reports of feeling of being watched even when alone in the room.
Other Activity: phantom breaths felt on people’s shoulders; doors open and closing on their own; electrical disturbances; light anomalies and feelings of not being alone.
SEATTLE
GEORGETOWN CASTLE
(The Gessner Mansion)
6420 Carleton Avenue South
Status: Former Gambling Saloon; Former Brothel; Former Boarding House; Private Property
This article contains stories of self-harm as well as of harm to children. Reader discretion is advised.
History
This 3-storey mansion was built by a blackjack dealer named Peter Gessner in 1902.
Gessner set up the house as a gambling saloon and a brothel and moved onto the second floor. He didn’t get to enjoy his castle for very long though; in 1903 he killed himself on the second floor. He did this by drinking carbolic acid which would have been extremely painful burning his face and lips and then disintegrating his internal organs. When he was found, he had begun to dissolve.
At least it was ruled as a suicide and all suggestions of murder were swept under the carpet. You see Gessner’s wife – Lizzie – had just left him for a chicken farmer of all people.
There are multiple stories of murder, rape and infanticide surrounding this house.
The mansion was left abandoned for almost 2 decades after Gessner’s death. By the 1920’s it was running as a brothel again. Some time in the 1950’s -60’s it was converted into a boarding house; this is when the stories of the house being haunted began to surface.
By the 1970’s it was abandoned again and began to fall into disrepair. It was briefly used as a business called Georgetown Catering in the 1980’s
It now privately owned – since 2004 for the current owners - although its unclear if anyone actually lives in the house. The current owners have restored the mansion back to it’s former glory.
Paranormal Activity
Gessner, himself, haunted the second floor of the mansion. By all accounts he is not a happy ghost and all reported accounts of meeting him are terrifying and more than a little unsettling. With no public access to the house, he is most now reported in the windows of the second storey glaring out at the world.
A former owner found a secret room in the house which it is thought was used for running illegal card games. The room is inexplicitly much colder than the rest of the house; this is thought to be the ghost of Gessner making himself known.
The second ghost in the mansion is Mary Christian who is said to be a former employee (prostitute) who was either strangled by a magician (?) or shot by a pimp. She’s been seen dressed in a white gown with long thick red hair. Despite her violent end Mary is said to give off an air of tranquil energy and quite pleasant to encounter.
There is also a legend of an unwed mother – who may have been Gessner’s niece – who was imprisoned in the home’s tower and separated from her baby. Her baby is said to have been murdered – possibly by a pimp but some say by Gessner himself – and buried on the property.
The phantom sounds of the baby crying are heard from underneath the house’s porch at night. The ghost of the baby’s mother is seen as a woman dressed all in black with coal black hair, pale skin and black sunken eyes.
The woman’s ghost has been named Sarah and is described as quite insane as she surely became before her death. Occasionally, her unearthly wails will be heard coming from the house.
Other Activity: disembodied voices, phantom footsteps, light anomalies, unexplained mists, shadow figures and feelings of being watched and not being wanted.
SEATTLE
KELL'S IRISH PUB
1916 Post Alley
Status: Former Mortuary; Pub and Restaurant
By <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/people/29311691@N05">how_long_it_takes</a> - <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/4496228711/">Kell's Irish Pub</a>, CC BY 2.0, Link
History
In 1903 Butterworth & Sons Mortuary moved into this building. It was the first location to become a permanent mortuary in Seattle and as such did all business around the subject of death. A loved one’s entire funeral could be done in this building from purchasing a coffin to burial in the cemetery of your choice.
The building even had the first elevator on the west coast for easy movement of the deceased remains.
The bodies were brought in through the basement; brought in through the door that is now used by customers to enter the pub.
The Mortuary moved to a bigger location in 1923.
Founded in 1983 the basement of the building was opened as Kell’s Irish Pub and Restaurant. A great place to grab a pint or a scotch with a meal and perhaps run into one of the former customers of Butterworth & Sons.
Paranormal Activity
There are 2 ghosts here that are referred to as the regulars:
1) A little girl with red hair who is known for playing pranks on adults but she is most active during the day when there are living children in the pub. She loves to play with these children and will even move toys. She is thought to be one of the victims of the 1918 influenza epidemic and one of the friendliest ghosts in all of the locations on the website.
2) Then we have the pub’s most famous ghost. An elderly man named Charlie and seems to thoroughly enjoy that he’s now haunting a pub. Charlie most often appears as reflection in the Guinness mirror – usually smiling, wearing a double breasted white coat and wearing a derby hat – who appears most often when live music is playing at the pub.
Other Reported Activity: apparitions of the mortuary’s other customers, mirrors shattering; plaster unexplainably falling; disembodied voices; unexplained banging; faint whimpers that are believed to come from a suicide victim; shadow figures; glasses moving on their own; light anomalies and feelings of being watched and not being alone.
SEDRO-WOOLEY
NORTHERN STATE HOSPITAL
(Northern State Recreation Area)
25625 Helmick Road
Status: Former Psychiatric Campus; Government Facility; Parklands; Cemetery On Site
By <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Shauxgirl&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="User:Shauxgirl (page does not exist)">Shauxgirl</a> - <span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
History
The economic crisis of 1893 left the small town of Sedro Wolley struggling to survive so they came up with a plan to create jobs and bring in money. Despite there already being two other hospitals for the criminally insane in the area they decided to build a hospital for the insane and purchased 800 acres of land in 1906.
In 1910 the first building was opened which functioned as an administrative and construction office.
By 1912 the first 200 hundred patients were admitted and the hospital quickly became famous for its humane treatment of the mentally ill – quite a difference from previously opened institutions.
The hospital also did its job in bringing the local economy to life; soon the town became very dependent on it.
Only one murder has survived the historical record; it was in 1922 and is described as patient against patient violence.
In the 1940′s the hospital took a new surgeon on staff, Dr Charles H. Jones, who perfected the frontal lobotomy operation here. There are some rather bleak stats during Dr Jones time at the hospital – on average 650 patients were admitted a month with 400 being released and 200 listed as either have been transferred or dying. It is theorized that many patients died while Dr Jones perfected his inhumane treatment.
The total number of people who died at this facility is unknown (as with most mental health facilities in the early to mid 20th Century) but there is an unmarked graveyard behind the gymnasium containing at least 1,000 bodies. The actual death toll is thought to be easily in the thousands.
In 1976 the hospital was officially closed. By the time it was closed it occupied over twice the amount of land that was originally bought in 1906.
Today some of the buildings are in use as a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center and a Job Corps.
You can hike the trails on the former hospital grounds. Rumor has it some of the buildings are now open to the public and there is the occasional tour given.
Paranormal Activity
The most well known ghost of the old hospital grounds has been nicnamed “Fred”. Fred likes to throw objects around including sheets, bedpans and nurse’s clipboards and play other tricks on people.
In the former hospital building there have been reports of intense cold spots experienced even at the height of summer. The apparition of a nurse hanging from the rafters have been witnessed at an old nursing station. In the old superintendent’s building bright and colored lights shine out of the second floor windows when the building is empty.
The apparition of a little girl with a red ball is frequently seen in the old nurse’s dormitory as well as an apparition of an older man who seems to be eternally searching for her.
People have reported almost every paranormal activity in the old gym which is located near the unmarked cemetery.
Down in the tunnels there are reports of feelings of intense unease and of being watched, apparitions of former patients and staff, shadow figures and touches by invisible presences.
Other activity: light anomalies, disembodied voices, whispers and laughter, electrical disturbance, feelings of being watched, not wanted and unease/anxiety and pretty much every other paranormal activity possible.
SNOHOMISH COUNTY
MONTE CRISTO GHOST TOWN
Only Accessible by Foot or Bike via the Monte Cristo Trailhead
Mountain Loop Highway
Status: Former Mining Boom Town; Former Tourist Attraction; Ghost Town
By Kirk - <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://content.lib.washington.edu/wastateweb/index.html">Washington State Localities Photographs</a>, Public Domain, Link
History
In the late 19th century, a belt of mineral deposits – including gold and silver – was found in the area and boom quickly began. In 1889 it was discovered that belt went through the area where Monte Cristo would be built.
By 1891 a mining camp had been established with 13 operational mines based on 40 claims – by 1893 there were 211 claims. Money from the East began to pour into the area – mostly from John Rockefeller himself – to build the infrastructure to mine the minerals out.
By 1894 – at the height of the boom – it was hoped Monte Cristo would prove to be the biggest lead-silver deposit in the western hemisphere. A railway was built to the town and over 230 tons of ore were being mined daily. The town’s population reached just over 1,000.
1895 and 1896 also proved to be prosperous years but floods in 96 destroyed swaths of the rail road and much of the infrastructure. Replacing everything the floods had destroyed cut deeply into the profits. 1897 brought more floods and issues with the mining equipment that effectively ended the boom.
By 1900 most of the miners had left for the newer more prosperous mines in the Yukon Territory, British Columbia and Alaska. In 1907 all mining operations had ceased; despite huge surface deposits it was discovered mining any deeper than 500 was a waste of time and effort. The huge deposits hoped for were just on the surface.
What was left of the town limped on for decades as a tourist destination but it was only accessible during the summer due to the harsh climate and continued flooding. In 1983 the last business in town – a hotel – burnt down and all efforts to keep the town accessible were abandoned.
The road is now only useable by hikers and mountain bikers and most of structures have collapsed but Monte Cristo is the only ghost town in Washington State so it still draws visitors. There are also 4 abandoned mines in the area that haven’t collapsed yet.
Paranormal Activity
Even today mining is far from a safe activity. In the 19th century – with no government interference or safety laws – it was almost downright suicidal.
Visitors say the former townsite is quiet during the day with barely a hint of the ghosts said to still linger in the area. At night is a different story, though.
Misty apparitions of miners and other mine employees are seen although they do not seem to be aware of the living; disembodied voices echo in the dark woods; perhaps the most chilling reported activity is gurgling sound that is said to be miners who drown in the floods eternally fighting for their last breaths; light anomalies; electrical disturbances and feelings of being watched.
WHIDBEY ISLAND
DECEPTION PASS BRIDGE
Washington State Route 20
Washington 98277
Status: 2 Lane Cantilever Bridge; Multiple Suicides Site
This Location is Extremely Dangerous
The Highway is very busy with an average of 20,000 cars crossing everyday
The sidewalks on the either side of the bridges are only 3 feet wide with very low safety railings
Pay Attention to the physical world; you want to investigate the site not become one of the ghosts
By Craig M
History
In 1792 Captain Vancouver, during his exploration of the west coast of North America, proved that this body of water actually connected the Juan de Fuca Strait and the Saratoga Passage. Previously the original Spanish explorers had claimed it was a just a bay.
This is why the body of water was named Deception Pass.
In truth there are 2 bridges here: the north span is over Canoe Pass and the larger south span over Deception Pass.
Construction of the bridges began in August of 1934 and were finished in July of 1935.
Before the bridges a ferry had to summoned by banging a hammer on a saw.
The cost to build the bridge was $482,000 ($10,761,000 in 2023 dollars) and was covered by the federal government – under President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal – and by the County.
In 1982 the bridges were repainted which cost more than the original construction. The bridges were also repainted in 1997.
From 2019 – 2021 the bridges were repainted again, and corroded iron sections were removed and replaced.
The deck of the bridge – depending on tide levels – is about 180 feet (55 metres) above the water’s surface.
The span of both bridges is 1,487 feet (453 metres) long.
A conservative estimate is that there have been at least 500 suicides from the bridge. All by jumping and the majority have been successful.
The only records available are from 2009 (12 suicides) and 2010 (15 suicides).
A small handful of jumpers have been rescued by boats below the bridge that happened to be on site. The water below the bridge is extremely turbulent – during tidal changes it can form whirlpools and is some of the most violent water in America – and quite deep on average.
Those who survive the fall will quickly drown.
Paranormal Activity
The most common reports of paranormal activity is an overwhelming feeling of sadness similar to many other suicide sites. Also, like other suicide sites involving water – like Niagara Falls and the Golden Gate Bridge – people report feeling an etheric calling for them to jump; an almost voice that would certainly convince you should you already be thinking of it.
There are also reports of feeling as if you are being both watched and followed.
On foggy days, and especially nights, shadowy human shaped figures are seen in the fog moving on the bridge; if approached they will fade into the mists.
Infrequently; people, usually those on a boat below the bridge, have seen replays of the suicides with people seemingly falling from the deck but disappearing before striking the water.
Disembodied voices and whispers are reported as well.
Team Experiences
We investigated this site in January of 2023. The investigation was done by our Founder and Lead Investigator/Medium and another Senior Team Member.
First of all, this location is absolutely stunning with an almost hypnotic and overwhelming beauty. It is easily one of the most scenic places we’ve ever seen on the planet.
The powerful and very sorrowful energy was immediately apparent upon first seeing the bridges, even from a distance.
The etheric whispers indicating jumping from the bridge might be a good idea were felt and heard as soon as we stepped onto the bridge. Having investigated many other suicide sites, we were able to push them aside.
That being said we did keep our distance from the safety rails as the closer you got the insistent the urges became.
There is a small island that separates the 2 bridges that allows you to go underneath the Deception Pass Bridge as well as go to the other side of the highway – this is the only safe way to do this – and provides you with an unparalleled view into the pass. It also provides the only access to the water, although it is a long way down a steep slope.
One member of our team was unable to go down below the bridge as she is extremely sensitive to etheric energy and became overloaded. In this area the entities – which remain unseen, although ripples of energy are visible in some of the photos above, and could only be felt – seemingly become aware of the living and coming closer.
Shortly after going under the bridge it began to feel as if we were completely surrounded by ghosts. While they did stay with us back across the bridge they did not interfere with our movement or act threatening in any way.
They left us as soon as our feet left the bridge and seemed to either unable or unwilling to leave the bridge.
Unfortunately, and despite several attempts and methods, we were unable to communicate with them.
There were also some disembodied whispers that were too low to understand and they did not appear on any of the recordings.