Snohomish County is an area of Washington State both deeply rooted in history and the strange, dark, and mysterious. Whether you’re a ghost hunter, paranormally curious, or a history buff simply looking for an excuse to walk through the ages, consider paying the following haunted places in Snohomish County a visit this October in the spirit of the Halloween season.
Rucker Mansion, Everett
At the corner of 412 Laurel Drive in Everett rests a 100-year-old, very haunted, house named the Rucker Mansion. The original owners of the mansion, the Ruckers of course, played a prominent role in paving Everett’s history when they migrated to the Pacific Northwest in the 1880’s in search of investment opportunities.
Alongside Tacoma Lumberman Henry Hewitt the Rucker family founded the Everett Land Company which dealt with timber and real estate in the region and gained the investments of big names like John D. Rockefeller and Charles Colby, among others. The woman of the house, matriarch Jane Rucker, committed suicide in 1907 by jumping out of her bedroom window. To this day, guests and residents alike have spotted Jane’s ghost appearing in the dead of night to play the piano and hover around the window where she leapt to her death.
Oxford Saloon, Snohomish
Considered one of the most haunted placed in Washington, the Oxford Saloon in Snohomish was built in 1900 and has had a violent history since. Multiple murders have occurred on site, over the last 122 years, many of them taking place in the basement which used to operate as a bar and card room. One notable victim of these crimes was a local Police Officer named Henry who allegedly tried to break up a fight between two drunken patrons, arguing over a card game, and was stabbed to death in the process. To this day visitors have spotted Henry’s ghost hanging out on the stairs leading to the basement and several women have complained about being “pinched” by who they believe to be Henry lurking in the lady’s restroom.
The second floor of the Saloon, now rented out as offices, also has frequent ghost sightings from a man wearing a bowler cap and a woman resembling a prostitute named Amelia whose body was found curled up in a closet on the second floor.
Beginning in 2005, the Oxford Saloon has been the site of multiple paranormal investigations conducted by the likes of the Washington State Ghost Society, Weird Washington, and others. These renown ghost hunters were successful in getting photos of manifestations and recordings of disembodied voices – not all of them welcoming.
Visit the Oxford Saloon if you dare at 913 First Street.
The Bush House Inn, Index
Built in 1898, Index’s Bush House Inn has seen its share of history over the years. From mining camps to housing descendants of the Gunn/Doolittle families; to surviving a devastating earthquake; to serving as a popular, scenic, destination for weddings, artists, hikers, and kayakers in more recent years. However, not all its history is bright.
According to a local legend, a young woman named Anabel committed suicide upon hearing that her lover had died. The rumor ended up being untrue and, when her lover returned and discovered her body, he also ended his life out of grief. It is said that the ghosts of this double suicide still haunt Room 9, on the third floor – where the couple were living.
The Inn is located at 308 5th Street in Index and is currently undergoing an expansive restoration process. Despite its construction rooms are still available, on a case-by-case basis, for the remainder of 2022.
The Stanwood Hotel, Stanwood
Even the current owner of the Stanwood Hotel, Marilyn Guthrie, claims to have experienced paranormal activity at this historic hotel and saloon, even though she considers herself a skeptic. Established in 1890, employees and patrons alike have reported seeing (and feeling) a woman walking the halls in period clothing as though protecting (or looking over) something. Not much is known about who this woman might be, or any grim history the building might have, but regardless: it still stands as one of Stanwood’s oldest buildings built shortly after a fire decimated most of the city.
Monte Cristo Ghost Town, Granite Falls
Just east of Granite Falls lies an, appropriately named, ghost town called Monte Cristo. In the 1890’s a mining boom brought thousands of miners to the isolated mountain region on their way to deliver lead-silver ore to Everett. At the time it was widely believed the town would be the greatest lead-silver district in the Western Hemisphere. By 1893 the town had well over 1,000 residents and a railroad, processing mills, and multiple houses were built; however, a flooding disaster in 1896 brought havoc to the town cutting deep into its mining profits for repairs. By 1900 most of the town had been evacuated to pursue mining efforts in the Klondike, and upon realizing they had grossly overestimated the value of the ore in the area.
The abandoned ghost town was marketed as a tourist trap for several years until another devasting flood, paired with a destructive fire in 1980, again left much of the town in ruins. Today the Monte Cristo Ghost Town is recognized as a hiking trail popular among hikers and mountain bikers both.
Those interested in visiting the abandoned mining town can find it by starting at the Barlow Pass (From Granite Falls follow the Mountain Loop Highway east for 31 miles to Barlow Pass trailhead) and hiking along the closed road for about 4 miles.
The Rock Pizza, Lynnwood
People who love pizza are few and far between. What’s not to love about the sweetness of the tomato-based sauce balanced with a layer of freshly baked dough, melted mozzarella, and topped with an assortment of other ingredients? At the Rock Pizza on 4010 196th Street Southwest in Lynnwood – a rock-n-roll themed woodfire pizza joint – founders Don Bellis and Jay Gigandet successfully welded their love for classic rock music and pizza to form a delicious menu of made-from-scratch, gourmet pies, “rocktails”, and special microbrews. But the corporeal aren’t the only visitors lured in by the enticing tastes and smells of this local “haunt” – apparently one’s love for pizza follows into the afterlife as well.
Servers have claimed they have seen the apparition of a woman, in 1950’s attire, passing through walls in the women’s bathroom. Additionally, a previous Assistant Manager allegedly has video of a chair being thrown from a table by an unseen force and “white orbs” have been spotted flying across security camera footage, triggering motion sensors when no one else is in the building.
On Hauntedplace.org, Niomee Hendricks, a Lynnwood Rock Pizza employee as of 2018, shared that multiple employees have reported seeing an apparition of the woman and are frightened to go down into the basement alone.
Before The Rock Woodfire Pizza opened their Lynnwood location on 196th the site was home to Tankee Diner. Before that, a restaurant named The Crab Tree was in operation where the bookkeeper was embezzling money in the 1950’s. As the story goes, when the restaurant was going out of business, she hung herself in the basement.
