Bigfoot isn’t the only mysterious presence in the Pacific Northwest, as hauntings of the paranormal kind have been reported throughout the great state of Washington. Even here in the South Sound community, there have been reported sightings of ghosts, spirits, entities, and the like in various places and buildings that still consider our home theirs. Talk about spooky!
Meeker Mansion
312 Springs Street, Puyallup
Puyallup’s most significant historical building, the Meeker Mansion in the heart of downtown, is believed to be haunted by the owners of the house, who originally had it built in 1890. Original owners Ezra and Eliza Jane Meeker were influential in the city’s founding and more of the Puget Sound region operating as pioneers who helped drum up support for western expansion. Today, the mansion functions as a museum for locals and visitors alike, and they just may be in for more than they bargained for when they set out on tour.
There have been a number of claims of suspicious activity within the halls of the home, such as the strong smell of perfume coming from nowhere. Others have reported seeing full-on phantoms of Ezra and Eliza, sometimes sleeping in their old bedroom. Those who have spent the night there have claimed to hear Ezra’s ghost snoring, while others have seen him in the yard sawing logs as if he’s still working to build the land. They even have been reported to spook the guests during social events before vanishing into thin air from which they came once they’ve attracted too much attention.
Old City Hall Tacoma
625 Commerce Street, Tacoma
Since the mid-seventies, the Old City Hall in Tacoma has been the center of various reports of hauntings. Excerpts from the Tacoma News Tribune on February 18, 1974, documented that police were called to the old building repeatedly because break-in and fire alarms were being set off repeatedly. In the spirit of paranormal, no logical explanation was ever found as to why. Reports from the night also indicated that lights also flickered in rooms that had been empty, but no intruders were discovered.
Other documents of haunts in the building have been reported throughout the years, giving the old city hall the title of one of the most haunted places in Washington despite no one knowing how many spirits haunt the building or why it is even haunted, to begin with. The only entity accounted for on the premise is that of Gus, who is often active for the sake of antics and reportedly loves the attention from curious investigators.
Comet Lodge Cemetery
2100 S Graham Street, Seattle
It seems the Comet Lodge Cemetery in Seattle is haunted, but not for the reasons you might think. Rumor has it that the city decided that the land had better uses once upon a time, so they decided to move the cemetery. Simple enough plan, but it seems it was executed poorly, and the story goes that the city didn’t actually move the cemetery, just the gravestones. Yikes! It seems tombstones and human remains from the city’s earliest settlers from the late 1800s were disturbed during the move.
As a result, ghosts now frequently make their presence known in the new houses and dog park built on the land. Many of these residents tend to experience flickering lights, disembodied voices, and full-on apparitions. One family reportedly had frequent encounters with a child ghost who regularly disturbed the toys in their son’s room late at night.
Daffodil Bowl
1624 E Main Avenue, Puyallup
A bowling alley is probably the last establishment you’d expect to see on a haunted places list. Yet, surprisingly one such bowling alley in Puyallup, Daffodil Bowl, has managed to find its way onto the list. During the pandemic, the bowling alley owner began to experience things that could only be described as paranormal. Previous owners never mentioned any ghostly aspirations in the building that has been around since the 1950s, so it was quite a surprise to owner Brad Swartz and his daughter Ashley. Though both haven’t actually seen anything, they have consistently heard things that confirmed the activity.
When the bowling alley was closed due to COVID, often, the lanes would be quiet except for a sudden, loud as a pin drop crash about every 15 minutes of a ball making its way down the lane and colliding with the still standing pins. The disturbance shocked the Swartz family as they had only been running the business for the past three years, but for longtime employee Corey, who has been there for over 30 years, it was nothing new. Corey herself has had many hands-on experiences with the gentlemen ghost over the years as he often likes to come up behind her and say her name or turn the pin setters on as a way of greeting from time to time. The identity of the spirit remains a mystery to all, but many speculate that this friendly ghost was once a former loyal customer that died of a heart attack on lane one.
With all these sightings of frightful apparitions, there’s no doubt that some ghostly wanderers share our South Sound community home. Whether you believe in them or not, the fear is real and for some, that’s all it takes to enjoy these local Halloween haunts this spooky season.
