PORT TOWNSEND — As Halloween approaches, thoughts invariably turn to things ghostly.
And, as those of us who live on the North Olympic Peninsula well know, Port Townsend — one of Washington’s oldest cities — is famous for its ghosts.
Alas, many of the ghost stories have proven to be inventions for the tourists, while others, well . . .
Here’s a Halloween rundown of the Port Townsend haunted and not-so-haunted:
* Manresa Castle: Mansion, seminary, school and now a hotel.
In Room 302, a priest is said to have hanged himself.
Room 306 is where a young woman named Kate, a visitor when the house was a private residence, allegedly threw herself out a window after learning her fiancé? was lost at sea.
In 2003, the hotel’s former manager confessed to Peninsula Daily News reporter Jennifer Jackson that bartender Nick Gael made up both ghost stories.
Gael told his boss he did it to satisfy people who pestered him about strange things in the hotel, like footsteps in the attic and voices in empty rooms.
* The Palace Hotel, 1004 Water St.
This former brothel is now a popular downtown hotel where many guests have reported a friendly ghost called “The Lady in Blue.”
She supposedly haunts the second floor, especially Rooms 3 and 4.
Shaking beds, eerie moans and strange shadows are not unusual in those two rooms. Several guests claim to have had conversations with “The Lady in Blue.”
Members of the Amateur Ghost Hunters Of Seattle Tacoma — AGHOST — held its third annual Ghost Hunters Conference in Port Townsend last year.
They visited the hotel and, by using a “talking board,” similar to a Ouija board, they said they talked to a spirit named Betty who died at the age of 39 and another spirit who indicated his name started with F but would give no further details.
All the talk of ghosts and spirits during the conference was nothing new to the staff at the Palace.
They’ve been keeping a log book since 1987 of documented, paranormal run-ins that have taken place inside the hotel.
The book now has more than 100 different cases.
