A corner of the map
Downtown Bellingham
The maiden of the tracks
A still from Marine Park: the round overlook, the rock path into the bay, a figure that did not stay.
Hotel Leo
A downtown hotel that will not quite commit to being haunted, and a voice on the stairs that will not quite stay polite.
Old City Hall’s basement jail
The Whatcom Museum’s red brick pile used to lock people under the floor. The names are still in the plaster. The tours bring the murders up for air.
The Palace Meat Market hatchet murder
April 1905, butcher Frederick L. Dames, still unsolved. The building later drank under other names. The meat hooks are part of the telling.
Speedy O’Tubbs’ Rhythmic Underground
Nelson Block basement. Nirvana in 1988. A priest, a lock, and a room that has stayed empty.
The Herald Building elevator
A 1926 newsroom pile, and an elevator that still makes the run with no hand on the lever.
Judy at the Mount Baker Theatre
Opened in 1927 on razed houses and a church. Staff still talk about Judy in the balcony corridor, and a cat that hunts the basement.
Old Town Café
Piano music with no piano, a kitchen that will not stay still, and a woman in a second-story window who will not be looked at twice.
The Home Store / Spark Museum
A 1930 gunshot in a women’s clothing shop, dress-shoe footsteps after hours, and a theremin that did not need a player.