Spooked in Seattle. Ross Allison

RESTAURANT

      102 Cherry Street

      This location served as a speakeasy, a dime-a-dance hall, a skid row theater, and was used as storage space just before Luigi DeNunzio purchased it in 1989 and turned it into the underground Italian gem it is today. This restaurant features authentic tastes of European cuisine, but it also serves up a healthy portion of ghost stories.

      A few employees have seen shadowy figures roaming around. One evening, a few workers were hanging out after closing when they heard what sounded like dishes clanging together. They went to investigate and found two espresso cups sitting empty on an unused table and still warm to the touch. No one had any clue as to how the cups arrived on this table.

      DENUNZIO’S

      One person saw a little girl run up the stairs only to vanish halfway up the flight. There are also reports of a woman appearing in the ladies’ restroom. Perhaps both stories feature remnants of a historic underground past. Most people feel there is something hanging out here, and in 2009 they had AGHOST investigate. During the investigation, the team discovered unexplained EMF readings and a recording of a voice. When asked, “Can you hear me?” the voice replied, “I can hear you.”

      Unfortunately, DeNunzio’s has closed its doors for good, leaving its ghosts behind for a new owner to encounter lurking in the shadows.

MYSTERY BOOKSHOP

      117 Cherry Street

      For those who love a good mystery novel, this place can be a dream come true. But the biggest mystery may be the one experienced by one of its employees. When the shop opened in 1990 in an underground location of the Broderick Building at 113 Cherry Street, the staff was unaware that their little bookshop carried more than just books. One employee was working alone when she saw a man in a long jacket and black hat walk by. When she went to address the customer, he disappeared behind the shelves of books never to be seen again. This was not the only time she saw this gentlemen. She saw him from time to time, and she became accustomed to his presence. It wasn’t until months later, when another man came into the store with more interest in the shop than its books, that things fell into place. The curious shopper told her that his great grandfather ran a barber shop in this very spot, many years ago. He then proceeded to pull out a picture of his grandfather that showed a man in a long trench coat and black bowler hat. To her shock, this was a photo of the same man she saw haunting the shop.

      In 2005, the Mystery Book Shop moved just down the hall, but they still keep a watchful eye out for their ghostly friend next door.

      See also: Broderick Building in this section

UNITED WAY BUILDING

      720 Second Avenue

      In 2003 United Way took over the old Seattle National Bank, built in 1921. Prior to that, a small church and cemetery once stood on this property. The twenty-four-by-forty foot “Little White Church,” as it was named due to its white paint, was built in 1855, making it Seattle’s first house of worship. Along with it came the city’s first formal cemetery as well. The first documented burials in the Little White Church Cemetery rest on the southwest corner of Second Avenue and Columbia Street, right next to the church, and were the final resting places of two young men killed in the Battle of Seattle in 1856. Other burials included Jonathan Denny, the infant son of David and Louisa Denny, who died in 1867 only a few hours old. The burials in the church cemetery were eventually removed and transported to the Seattle Cemetery.

      UNITED WAY BUILDING

      The Little White Church existed for ten years before it closed. The church building reopened and served as many different things besides a church; it also was a gambling hall, a saloon, a restaurant, and a vaudeville house, until it burned down in the Great Seattle Fire of 1889.

      Today, working in the United Way building offers a more unique experience for its employees. Workers have seen apparitions wandering through the halls, heard talking when no one is around, and have also reported dark figures streaking by.

      One night a few volunteers where working late stuffing gift bags. They noticed loud noises of things being moved around upstairs, thinking it may be a co-worker. To their surprise, they discovered they were the only ones left in the building.

      When United Way took over the building, they had a night custodian who quit after she would see a man frequently approach her and then disappear. She described him as a tall, slender man from the early 1900s, maybe slightly before. What scared her the most was his face, which she said looked scarred, as if he had been burned.

      Could the activity reported here be the result of building a structure over what was once a cemetery? Could the man seen here be a survivor from the Great Seattle Fire? Whatever it might be, these spirits may be looking at how times have changed or may be trapped in a time forgotten.

      See also: Denny Park in Belltown; Battle of Seattle in this section

FRYE’S HOTEL

      101 Third Avenue S

      Built in 1911 by George Frye, this was once labeled Seattle’s finest hotel but is now called the Hotel of Death. Converted to low-income housing in the 1970s, this hotel has had its share of bad luck. In 2006, when twenty-nine homicides were reported in downtown Seattle, this hotel accounted for 20 percent of them in six months alone.

      FRYE’S HOTEL