6 Ghosts That Lurk Around Tacoma, Washington

The scrappy port city of Tacoma, known for its glass art, breweries, and nearby Mount Rainier, is also home to some frightening ghosts.

Old Tacoma City Hall

A myriad of spirits is still doing business at the Old Tacoma City Hall. The building, which dates back to 1893, served as government headquarters for more than 50 years. When the facility fell into disrepair, it was vacated—save for the ghosts walking the halls. The most famous ghost is Gus, who spends his time flipping lights on and off, making noise, and throwing various objects. When a restaurant temporarily occupied the building’s first floor, Gus would regularly rattle the silverware and occasionally break a wine bottle. It is believed that Gus is the ghost of an inmate who was once housed at the jail. It’s also common for the bell in the clock tower to ring even though the building is empty.

Thornewood Castle

The sprawling Gothic-Tudor style castle was completed in 1911 for Chester Thorne, a business magnate who helped develop the Port of Tacoma. Today, the property operates as an inn where guests and employees have reported seeing a variety of spirits. Thorne himself is said to unscrew the lightbulbs in his bedroom, and sometimes visitors to one of the gardens can look back at the house and see Thorne’s wife watching them from a window.

A haunted house in Graham

A family in Graham, Washington, was forced to move because of angry spirits inhabiting the property they bought. The spirit of an old woman lingers on the property. Her husband died of a heart attack there in 1994, and a psychic told the family that the old woman doesn’t realize she’s dead. The other ghost on the property belongs to a young woman murdered while she was on a date. In death, she is exacting her revenge by tormenting the man living in the house.

Lewis Army Museum

The Army museum near Joint Base Lewis-McChord was once the Red Shield Inn, located across the street from the base when it was still known as Camp Lewis. In 1927, the hotel housed crew members working on a silent film in the area. A member of the film crew was apparently killed on the second floor of the hotel during production, and his ghost was regularly spotted by hotel staff as he walked the halls. In the 1970s, the hotel was absorbed by the Army and became the museum and office space it is today, and the ghost still reportedly walks the halls.

Point Defiance Park

Five Mile Drive trail in Point Defiance Park is popular with walkers, bikers, and the ghost of a teenage girl. In the mid-1980s, joggers stumbled across the body of the teen, who had been reported missing. Today, visitors to the trail just may catch a glimpse of the girl near the site where her body was found. There’s also something strange about the park’s event venue, the Pagoda. Visitors to the Pagoda, which was once a trolley terminal, have reported hearing sighing and disembodied footsteps. That ghost is believed to belong to a woman who committed suicide in the trolley station.

On "The Seether" episode on Season 14 of The Dead Files, retired NYPD homicide detective Steve DiSchiavi and physical medium Amy Allan travel to Graham, Washington, where a distraught woman is convinced her fiancé is being possessed by a dark entity. She claims he's no longer the man she fell in love with, and is now full of rage and anger. She fears that if Amy and Steve can't help, this horrifying paranormal activity is going to rip her family apart for good. Start streaming now on discovery+.