6 of the most haunted places to explore in Seattle & Tacoma

Oct 10, 2014, 6:00 AM | Updated: 8:48 am

Comet Lodge Cemetery
Located at: 2100 S Graham St, Seattle

How we know it's haunted:
According to Ross, Comet Lodge Cemetery went uncared for quite sometime and eventually the city decided the land was more important than the cemetery, so they moved it.

"There are many beliefs that (the city) didn't move the cemetery, they just moved the gravestones. That might sound familiar for many people who are "Poltergeist" fans," said Ross.

He said some houses were built over a portion of the cemetery where children had once been (or, if you believe the rumors, are still) buried. "There was a family living in one of the homes and late at night the parents would find toys all over the place." The parents would blame their young son, who was getting into quite a bit of trouble about the toys. According to Ross, "He would keep saying it's not him. He would talk about seeing a little boy in his room at times, and come to find it wasn't him. It was the child ghost that was playing around with his toys."

Old City Hall in Tacoma
Located at: 625 Commerce Street, Tacoma

How we know it's haunted:
One of the most told stories about Old City Hall was how the clock tower would chime on its own - even when it was shut off," said Ross. "One of the building managers once spent the night there and he refused to stay there alone in the dark, ever again."

Ross has also investigated the building, first about 10 years ago when a restaurant was in the bottom floor and there were offices upstairs. "The owner of the restaurant called us in because they were experiencing a lot of poltergeist phenomena. Glasses were flying off the shelves and shattering. Wine bottles being thrown off the shelf. Pots and pans being thrown. They named the ghost Gus," Ross said, though he's not sure where the name came from. Later, when the building housed the AIDS Foundation offices in Tacoma, his ghost investigation team had access to old jail cells located in the building's basements. On that occasion Ross said, the team captured the image of a shadowy figure wearing a hat at the end of the hall.

Spooked In Seattle Tours & Museum, Pioneer Square
Located at: 102 Cherry St, Seattle

How we know it's haunted:
The starting point for Ross' ghost tours in Pioneer Square is here, and it's a space he said he was interested in for a long time, because of known paranormal activity.

"Before Spooked in Seattle took over, it used to be a restaurant (DeNunzio's)." When they moved, Ross found a kid's chair he took a liking to, but the chair never managed to stay in the same place. He suspected it was a girl he'd heard about when he first investigated the restaurant.

"The staff had talked about seeing a little girl. She'd been known to go up and down the staircase, talking, giggling," Ross said. He decided to make her feel more welcome by getting her a doll that had a wind up music box inside it.

Ross said he's been closing up at Spooked in Seattle by himself and has heard the doll's music playing. And just recently, "We offered a public ghost hunt and sure enough, there was a group in a room with the chair and the doll and all of a sudden we captured with the recorder the doll-playing music box," said Ross. "What is really cool is one of the investigators was trying to get everyone else to be quiet so he says, 'hush,' and right when he says that, the doll stops too."

The home of Bertha Kludt and her daughter, Beverly June
Located at: Central Tacoma

How we know it's haunted:
Jake Bird, a 45-year-old transient, broke into the Kludt house in Tacoma on October 30, 1947, and killed the mother, Bertha, and daughter, Beverley, with an axe that he found on their property. Police were called to the scene because of screaming that came from the house then chased Bird down, and arrested him.

Bird admitted to, or told police that, he had committed over 80 murders. (If true, he would be the deadliest murderer in the U.S.)

Bird was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. According to Ross, at the time of his execution, Bird put a curse on anyone who was involved in his execution. Within a year of his death, the following five men died from heart attacks, according to HistoryLink.org:
Edward D. Hodge, Pierce County Superior Court Judge, age 69, died January 1, 1948.
Joseph E. Karpach, Pierce County Under-sheriff, age 46, died April 5, 1948.
George L. Harrigan, Pierce County court reporter, age 69, died June 11, 1948.
Sherman W. Lyons, Tacoma Police Detective Lieutenant, age 46, died October 28, 1948.
James W. Selden, Bird's defense attorney, age 76, died on November 26, 1948.

While Ross hasn't had the opportunity to investigate the Kludt house, he has heard reports of possibly paranormal activity.

*This home address is unlisted because it is a private residence.

Richard Hugo House
Located at: 1634 11th Ave
Seattle

How we know it's haunted:
The house, now home to a literary arts center named for a Seattle-born poet, was previously occupied by the Bonney-Watson mortuary and funeral home.

"We were doing an investigation there for "Nightline" about 10 years ago," said ghost hunter Ross Allison. "The film crew was following us around when we went into one of the rooms upstairs and all of a sudden all of our equipment was drained of power. Even the camera crew's equipment, they were able to catch what had happened just as their equipment started draining as well, very rapidly. We couldn't figure out what caused that."

Ross also said his crew was able to record some interesting EVPs, or, electronic voice phenomena, which are sounds found on electronic recordings resembling speech, but are not the result of intentional recording or rendering, and are often a sign of ghostly presence.

Ross said that at the time he was there, "they took us down to the basement, and in the basement they still had a coffin for an infant."

University Heights School
Located at: 5031 University Way NE, Seattle

How we know it's haunted:
The school, which was later converted into a community center, is believed to have a young boy that haunts its halls, according to Ross. "He's believed to be one of the students from when it was a school. There's also a lot of strange noises. Some people claim to hear children having fun in the middle of the night, giggling, playing having fun.
We've done investigations there, many years ago, and have captured some pretty interesting things, such as EVPs."

Whether you’re a believer or not, ’tis the season for ghosts. But where do you find them? Expert ghost hunter, Spooked in Seattle tour guide and author Ross Allison shared six of his favorite places to hunt for paranormal activity.

You can find out more about ghost hunting from Ross Allison by going on one of his Spooked in Seattle tours.

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