Stage Manager Moe says Shorty makes a lot of mischief at the Capitol Theatre, a renovated vaudevillian playhouse in Yakima. He hides tools and messes with props and randomly switches the lights on and off. He once even reversed the state and national flags on the stage. Only trouble is, Moe can’t find Shorty to say “quit”. Or to thank him for saving a girl’s life. To inquire about the phantom of the old organ loft, call 509-575-6251.
In Snohomish, there's an unsolved mystery at the Blackman House Museum, built in 1878 for the town Mayor and then occupied by his daughter who, it is told, locked the door one day and vanished. The Oxford Tavern, circa 1889, also in rural town is frequented by a local policeman named Henry whose picture hangs inside this lively eatery. Trouble is, he died some time ago. After fueling up here (Mondays feature a spaghetti feed), head for the Cascade foothills through Silverton to the ghost town of Monte Cristo with its abandoned Mystery Mine long played out of silver and gold. Mountain bikes work great on the last 4-mile dirt road up to the mines at Barlow Pass.
Step into the lusty 19th century in Bellingham's Fairhaven District, noted for shady ladies and "Dirty Dan", an 1880's real estate developer-come-rum-runner who was determined to turn this port town into the “Chicago of the West.” A handy walking guide is stocked by most merchants in this bustling neighborhood of art galleries, antique shops, bookstores and pubs.
The first trial ever held in the Puget Sound area, a murder trial, convened at Fort Steilacoom in 1849 and concluded with a hanging. By 1858, the fort had been built up to protect American interests and provide refuge for Northwestern settlers. Only a decade later, with the infantry gone east to fight in the Civil War, the fort was abandoned and the ground deeded to the Washington Territory for “use as an insane asylum.” Today, Western State Hospital is a treatment center for the chronically mentally ill. Visitors to Fort Steilacoom often wander into an abandoned wing at the historic hospital. Civil war battle reenactments take place every Memorial Day. Call the local Historical Society for details: 360-866-6640. While in Steilacoom, pop over to ER Roger's restaurant and inquire about its ghostly past...and present!
Once a silver baron's mansion and now Spokane's most famous restaurant, Patsy Clark's has been the scene of odd occurences, including a ghostly busser, who helped clear tables. Spokane has other strange stories. Butch Cassidy, reportedly shot in a gunfight in Bolivia, completed his life as a respectable businessman — right in Spokane where he died in 1937! Enough reports of a paranormal presence at Gonzaga University's Monaghan Hall, a mansion built in 1898 and later converted into a concert hall, prompted Jesuit priests to say ritual prayers of exorcism, even while they struggled to prevent the crosses they held in their hands from swinging wildly.
Eerie tales from the past are re-enacted by Vancouver's theater troupes and Heritage Players on the elegant porches and in the parlors of Victorian homes in Ghost Stories on Officer's Row. Locals still report apparitions at Vancouver's historic Barracks, especially at the Grant's House, well known for its resident spook. (360-696-8297).