10 Haunted Places in Seattle You Can Actually Visit
What to Do in Seattle that's Unusual?
For anyone looking to explore the supernatural and spooky side of Seattle, there is an abundance of haunted places you can actually visit in the city. Brave-hearted souls and ghost hunters flock to some of the city’s most famous tourist locations to explore the darker corners of these well-known destinations.
Take a glimpse into the city’s darker past with visits to its most haunted hotels and bewitched bars, its spooky graveyards, and its specter-filled parks. There are even the remnants of a forgotten city underground to explore if you’re brave enough to venture 6 ft under and deeper. But don’t worry, most of the ghosts seem to be friendly. At least that’s what we’re told.
1. Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour
A hidden city lost to time
Good for: History, Unusual
Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour takes visitors into eerie depths to explore what is buried underneath Seattle’s bustling streets. Millions of tourists walk the streets of the city every year, most of them unaware that beneath their feet are the intact and ghostly remnants of a long-forgotten city. When the Great Seattle Fire of 1889 destroyed most of the old downtown, city planners simply paved over and rebuilt on top of the remains, leaving a subterranean world, frozen in time, below.
The 75-minute walking tour leads visitors through dimly lit passages, past old shopfronts, and alongside crumbling sidewalks. Keep an eye out for the resident ghost, Edward the bank teller.
Location: 614 1st Ave, Seattle, WA 98104, USA
Open: Daily from 10 am to 6 pm
Phone: +1 206-682-4646
Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour
2. Pike Place Market
Spirits in the material world
Good for: Food, Shoppers
Pike Place Market is one of Seattle’s most popular and famous tourist attractions, a vibrant hive of activity with shops and restaurants, craftspeople, farmers, and several ghosts.
Notable among the ghosts is Princess Angeline, the oldest daughter of Chief Sealth, who once lived in a cabin on the land where the market was built. It’s said her spirit can be sensed wandering along the market’s lower level. Keeping her company in the spiritual realm is Arthur Goodwin, former market director, who hangs out at Ghost Valley Espresso and has also reportedly been seen in his former office nearby (now the library) practicing his golf swing. When you need a break from ghost hunting, relax at one of the nearby restaurants.
Location: 85 Pike St, Seattle, WA 98101, USA
Open: Daily from 10 am to 5 pm
Phone: +1 206-682-7453
Pike Place Market
3. Comet Lodge Cemetery
A possessed graveyard with a grim history
Good for: Unusual, Photo
A former burial site for the Duwamish Tribe, Comet Lodge Cemetery has earned its spooky reputation as one of Seattle’s scariest places due to its grim and tragic history. More than 500 people are estimated to have been buried at the site, but today only a handful of gravestones remain as the hallowed grounds have been controversially disturbed and redeveloped over the years. Rest in peace? Not here.
Visitors regularly report the feeling of being watched by restless spirits and sensing ghostly apparitions close by as they wander through the cemetery. Residents have reported seeing pioneer children playing hide and seek amongst the gravestones after dark. For a particularly hair-raising experience, plan for an after-dark walking tour around the grounds.
Location: 2100 S Graham St, Seattle, WA 98108, USA
Open: Daily from 8 am to 6 pm
Phone: +1 206-723-1663
Comet Lodge Cemetery
4. Martha Washington Park
An eerie transformation that’s night and day
Good for: Budget, Families
It’s a scenic lakefront park by day, frequented by picnickers and joggers, but at night, Martha Washington Park is transformed into one of Seattle’s scariest and allegedly most haunted places.
The spooky reputation of the park after dark is credited to it having been the longtime home of the Martha Washington School for Girls, a reform school for troubled youth, which itself had a turbulent history, blamed at the time on having been built on the site of a Native American graveyard. The combination of restless spirits from desecrated graves and tormented teens is said to create a disturbing aura that permeates the site. Visit after sundown to see if the reports of ghostly apparitions and unexplained phenomena are true.
Location: 6612 57th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98118, USA
Open: Daily from 6 am to 10 pm
Phone: +1 206-684-4075
Martha Washington Park
5. Mount Pleasant Cemetery
Tragedy by land and by sea
Good for: Unusual, Photo
The unclaimed bodies of unidentified victims of some of Washington State’s most infamous tragedies are laid to rest in the pretty Mount Plesant cemetery. Their restless souls have at least been guaranteed a scenic view as they wander aimlessly amongst the worn and weather-beaten gravestones.
Twenty-six anonymous victims of the 1906 sinking of the SS Valencia in the nearby Strait of Juan de Fuca are buried here in a mass grave. Just a short distance away are the bodies of 18 people killed in a train accident in 1910, as well as 5 workers shot in the tragic Everett Massacre of 1916. To add more depth to your visit, book a tour with the Queen Ann Historical Society.
Location: 700 W Raye St, Seattle, WA 98119, USA
Open: Monday–Friday from 9 am to 2 pm (closed on Saturdays and Sundays)
Phone: +1 206-282-1270
Mount Pleasant Cemetery
6. Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
Ill-fated prospectors that still haunt old downtown
Good for: History, Photo
Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park tells the story of wide-eyed prospectors who converged on the city on their way to the Yukon gold fields, dreaming of untold riches. At the start of the Klondike Gold Rush, many joined the stampede, but some never made it beyond the city.
The spirits of those who perished of disease or violence before venturing north are believed to still haunt the historic Pioneer Square district. Ghostly apparitions in period dress have been reported in the surrounding streets. The park staff report museum exhibits activating on their own and hearing the sounds of pickaxes striking rock after closing time. Before you leave, swing by the park store for quirky souvenirs.
Location: 319 2nd Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104, USA
Open: Wednesday–Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm (closed on Mondays and Tuesdays)
Phone: +1 206-220-4240
Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
7. Hotel Sorrento
Where you’re welcomed by a celebrity ghost
Good for: Food, Couples
An elegant hotel, dating back to 1909, the Hotel Sorrento can lay claim to being one of Seattle’s most supernatural haunts thanks to the unexplained presence of a celebrity ghost.
There have been numerous sightings of the ghost of author Alice B Toklas wandering the halls of the finely appointed hotel, switching lights on and off, spilling drinks, and playing the piano. She’s even been seen in her iconic hat and coat in the gardens. No one knows why her spirit has chosen to spend eternity at the Sorrento, as she was never a guest while alive, but her paranormal presence suggests that even in death, she has exquisite taste. Stay overnight and you might bump into her yourself.
Location: 900 Madison St, Seattle, WA 98104, USA
Phone: +1 206-622-6400
Hotel Sorrento
8. Kells Irish Pub and Restaurant
Ghosts in the shebeen
Good for: Nightlife, Food
Occupying the basement of a former mortuary, it’s little surprise that Kells Irish Pub and Restaurant was once described as “the most haunted pub in America.”
One particular ghost has been seen so many times by staff and regulars that he is greeted as “Charlie” when he appears in a mirror, often during live music performances. The chilling presence of another restless spirit, a girl in a red dress, once scared a burly bouncer so much that he fled the building. Adding to the distinctively supernatural brand of Celtic ambience are legends of glasses moving on their own and invisible hands tapping bartenders on the shoulder. Raise your glass to the visitors from the Netherworld with a “Sláinte.”
Location: 1916 Post Alley Walk Wy, Seattle, WA 98101, USA
Open: Daily from 11.30 am to late
Phone: +1 206-728-1916
Kells Irish Pub and Restaurant
9. Moore Theatre
Music venue that’s hosted living legends and is home to some dead ones, too
Good for: Families, Nightlife
Seattle’s oldest entertainment and performing arts venue, the historic Moore Theatre, has carved out a legacy as a legendary music venue over the years. It has played host to career-defining shows by the city’s top rock names, including Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Heart, and Soundgarden, as well as top national and international touring acts.
It’s become notorious for its paranormal activity too, with reported sightings of a bone-chilling selection of specters, including old-time actresses Sarah Bernhardt and Marie Dressler, and members of the Barrymore acting dynasty. Some attribute the presence of the ghosts to an interrupted seance in the 1970s, blaming it for opening a portal to the spiritual realm that has never been closed.
Location: 1932 2nd Ave, Seattle, WA 98101, USA
Phone: +1 206-682-1414
Moore Theatre
10. Merchant’s Cafe and Saloon
Historic bar that’s leaned into and embraced its ghostly reputation
Good for: Food, Nightlife
Opened in 1890, Merchant’s Cafee and Saloon proudly claims the title of “Seattle’s oldest restaurant.” It’s equally honored for its chilling paranormal history with so many reported supernatural experiences that its staff logs them in a well-leafed binder behind the bar containing handwritten stories and photographs documenting decades of mysterious happenings.
The owners are so convinced of the haunting that staff have left out tributes to keep the ghosts happy. These include a stern-faced doll to appease the spirit of a playful little girl, as well as a glass of whiskey to quell the destructive urges of the ghost of a former bar manager, Otto, from the early 20th century. Feel free to leave your own token at the bar.
Location: 109 Yesler Wy, Seattle, WA 98104, USA
Open: Sunday–Thursday from 11 am to midnight, Friday and Saturday from 11 am to 2 am
Phone: +1 206-467-5070
Merchant’s Cafe and Saloon
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