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Hunting for haunted spots along the Hidden Coast Scenic Byway

By Cindy Stearns
Published: 10/21/19 Topics: Comments: 0

October is a scary month. The weather is changing, evening comes quicker and ghosts and goblins roam the streets looking for treats. You're heading to the coast and would like to go with the theme.

Here are some "haunted spots" along the Hidden Coast Scenic Byway:

Billy's Bar and Grill-Billy Gohl may be the most ominous Aberdeen history. An infamous serial killer from the early 1900s, he was a sailor and laborer. As a representative of the Sailor's Union of the Pacific, sailors would stop in his office to collect mail, connect with fellow sailors and deposit their valuables. Initially, Gohl began to steal from his fellow sailors. He graduated to poisoning, shooting, strangling or bludgeoning and dumping their bodies down a trap door that led to the Wishkah River. Estimates are between 40 to over 100 met their faith by Gohl's hand. The restaurant names for him has employees and guests reportedly seeing shot glasses flying across the bar, experiencing cold spots throughout the restaurant, and hearing disembodies voices. And watch for apparitions, possible Gohl himself.

Cooney Mansion-This former bed & breakfast, built in 1908, was the home to lumber baron Neil Cooney. Known as "Spruce Cottage" with its finish of Sitka Spruce, Cooney was the manager of the Grays Harbor Commercial Company. Never married, his home included nine bedrooms, seven bathrooms with 8500 square feet. It has been operated as a bed & breakfast. Psychics have visited the manions. One owner brought in Advanced Ghost Hunters of Seattle-Tacoma (A.G.H.O.S.T.). They've reported doors shutting on their own, reading on their electromagnetic fields (EMFs) device detecting naturally occurring electric fields around electronic devices, indicating paranormal activity. And a personal account of seeming to have hair touched and watched in a mirror in one room, another with a cool breeze. Both of the rooms after having he experiences, being told these are two haunted spots. One was the room of the housekeeper or the companion of Cooney.

Lady Washington-Grays Harbor is home to the states tall ship. It's a replica of the first United States ship to visit the Pacific Northwest in 1788. It was the tall ship of Captain Robert Gray, thus the name Grays Harbor. "A Haunted Tour Guide to the Pacific Northwest" by Jefferson Davis, indicates spirits are attracted to the tall ship when it visits older ports. "Historic Ghosts that remain on the docs seem to gravitate toward the tall ship."

Lake Quinault Lodge-Rain drizzles and you're surrounded by old=growth forest at this historic lodge. Employees and guests have reported encounters with a ghost who allegedly haunts this hotel. "Weird Washington" Your Travel Guide to Washington's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets" indicates Beverly (the ghost) was an employee of the lodge. When a fire burned the lodge down in 1924 (a larger resort was rebuilt in its place two years later), she was scheduled to work. Feeling sick, she still decided to work. Falling asleep at her post, she died in the fire. A two-room suite filling the entire top floor of the resort's boat hose is named after Beverly and is a site of paranormal encounters.

Museum of the North Beach-Paranormal Investigators of Historic America visited the Museum of the North Beach in Moclips. Reports of hauntings drew the Monroe, WA-based team of investigators to the museum in 2010. They indicated to turning up activity on their EMF readers. With a parabolic listening device, some faint voices were picked up during their investigation. Although the identity of these spirits is uncertain, Moclips' history may prove some possibilities. A mill employee hit by a passing train, a blind woman succumbing in a house fire, a fireman and engineer crushed by a falling tree and numerous casualties with passing shipwrecks. The investigators presented the museum with a "certifiably haunted" certificate.

Polson Museum-Home for the Polson Logging Company and the Polson family, this colonial-style mansion was built in 1924 with a riverfront view. Now the Polson Museum, exhibits include displays of the area sawmills and logging camps. Find a working kitchen, dressing rooms and period clothing. "The Shadowlands" website has listed the museum as being home to spirits including a lady in white and a child in the nursery. The current curator indicates there have been no experiences.

7th Street Theatre-Ranked #2 in Best Haunted Place with pacificnw.cityvoter.com, this is the last remaining atmospheric theatre in the Pacific Northwest. Restored this theatre was built in 1928. Within 7th Street, with the experience of an outdoor Spanish garden, you may experience something more than the production. Volunteers have personal stories of something other-world-y with them in the theatre.

Set out on your spooky tour of Grays Harbor. Report in those ghostly finds!

Author: Cindy Stearns – Editor, Ocean Shores Publishing
Blog #: 0693 – 10/21/19

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