Yesterday was my birthday. No, you don’t need to know how old I am.
Hub was out of town playing The Demon in the KISS tribute band Almost Human. Breathing fire and spitting blood in Butte, Montana. That’s my rock star Hub. It’s all good; he was making money and I was partying with my friends. And by partying I mean going to a late morning breakfast with friends, napping and reading all day, then dinner and a ghost tour that night with another friend. Living that rock’n’roll life!
My friend Kim and I took the 8:15 tour with Spooked in Seattle. I’ll say it right now, if you’re in Seattle, take this tour. A little history, a little spookiness and the chance of getting some paranormal activity. Which we did. Yes, I’ll get to that. Jerome was our guide; he was funny, theatrical and did a great job.
This is a walking tour, and the sidewalks and establishments of Seattle are treacherously cobbled charmingly rustic in spots, so stilettos are not recommended. Haunted spots visited highlighted a blend of older spirits dating back to Seattle’s founding to more modern spirits from just a few decades ago. With a tablet and speaker, Jerome shared with the group EVP’s caught by their professional ghost hunting team and pictures taken by tour guides and guests alike showing paranormal activity.
Spooked In Seattle tours are given by “real ghost hunters.” This group offers more than just to tour you around haunted places, they actually conduct paranormal investigations that you can participate in. The tours take you inside a couple places that are notorious “hot spots” of spirit activity, the Merchant Cafe and Spooked in Seattle’s portion of the Seattle Underground, but time there is limited. Jerome informed us that on an investigation the group spends a few hours in one location, late in the evening – minimizing distractions and sounds from other patrons. Kim and I decided we need to go on an investigation next.
The Merchant Cafe is the oldest continuously operating restaurant/bar in Seattle, and it has several resident spirits. It also has this picture hanging toward the back of the room on the main floor. While my lowly iPhone took what I’m sure most people get – a picture of the woman with reflections in the glass – we were shown something that I had never seen or heard of before.
To just look at the picture, all you see is the woman against a flat, featureless black background. In photos, you get either the reflections like you see in my pic from the room and it’s lights if you don’t use a flash (that’s my hand holding my iPhone off to the left), or flash glare from the glass if you do. Except for one photo Jerome shared with the group in which the black background is replaced with a shadowy room showing among other things a ladder and a chair – which do not match the room’s environment at all. No flash was used, and there’s no reflection from the room and lights as you see in my picture, yet a very different room from the one the picture actually rests in was clearly visible in this one picture. It was eerie and beautiful.
It was while we were taking pictures of this haunted picture that Kim had a touch from the spirit realm. She held her phone up to snap the pic and felt the pressure of a presence near her head and heard a woman’s voice speaking. Kim couldn’t make out the words, but she said it was so clearly a woman’s voice she thought for a moment she’d turned on a video. But when she checked her phone no other apps were open.
The tour concluded in a portion of Seattle’s Underground that forms part of Spooked in Seattle’s Pioneer Square location. There they have Seattle’s only Death Museum which displays a rather chilling collection of haunted dolls, mourning jewelry (made from human hair!), mortician’s equipment, and other artifacts of death and dying.
I call that a successful ghost tour! Good, true stories plus a little brush of paranormal activity. Happy birthday to me! Yes, it was a great one!
Have you taken a ghost tour? Have you experienced anything paranormal? Tell me about it below!
Breakfast with pals, reading and a ghost tour – that would be up there on my list of best day ever!
I’ve taken 2 ghost tours in Edinburgh that were great spooky fun. I’d love to do one in New Orleans – if I ever manage to get there.
Ooooh I did a ghost tour in Edinburgh in 2002. Super spooky – it was the one that goes into a crypt in that big cemetery. The hype for the tour is that this crypt has been the site of multiple attacks on tourists; scratched, hit, even knocked out. I can’t even write about that night yet.
Thanks for stopping by!
I’ve taken the Seattle Underground tour. I’ll definitely have to add this one to my list the next time I visit. Oh, and the one in Edinburgh, yikes. I think I might have to. I’ve taken a few tours in New Orleans. I’ve found I stumble across more when I’m on my own, away from a large group. Tameri and I visited a local battle site when we were there and I could hardly walk. I could feel them clutching at me. Worse feeling ever.
Yikes! It’s terrible when they grab at you! Poor things.
Did you get any vibes on the Underground tour? It was too crowded and the energy was too messy last time I went.
Next weekend my friend Kim and I are doing an overnight ghost hunt with the same group that runs the Spooked in Seattle tours. I’ll be writing about that one too.
Can’t wait to read about your adventure.
No, I didn’t feel anything on the Underground tour. Too many people. Like I said, I feel more when I’m alone or with a much smaller group. There was a street in New Orleans that really bothered me, aside from the battle field. I much actively sought out the paranormal, but I can tell you there is something about the Myrtle’s Plantation that bothers me. When alone, I would rush in and out of the house as quickly as possible.