Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 6, Issue 11, November 2002

Copyright 2002 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article and photos below in your research. Be sure to quote the Seattle Sun as your source.

Reports of ghost sightings abound in North Seattle

By LEAH WEATHERSBY

Employees at University Heights Center not only suspect the century-old former school house may be inhabited by a ghost they've even given it a name:

Brian.

Kim Hiltner, a former facilities manager at the center, swears she caught a glimpse of Brian one night as she was alone, closing up the building.

As she ran down the west staircase, she felt someone a young boy pass her. She turned to yell at the intruder, but the boy disappeared.

Other University Heights employees and visitors have reported strange occurrences such as footsteps, doors and windows shutting and lights turning on with no one around.

University Heights isn't the only place in North Seattle that has had poltergeist sightings, according to the Washington State Ghost Society.

The nonprofit group, which investigates the paranormal, has a Web site (www.washingtonstateghostsociety.org), which lists locations throughout the state that are believed to be haunted. (Another group the Amateur Ghost Hunters of Seattle, Tacoma keeps a similar list on its Web site: www.theresaghost.com.)

Take, for example, the University YMCA, located at 5003 12th Ave. NE. Troy Carter, administrative director for the group, said he's heard rumors of janitors being spooked by footsteps and weird noises.

The Aurora Bridge, a.k.a "Suicide Bridge," also is known as a ghost hangout, probably because it has drawn hundreds of jumpers since it was completed in 1932.

According to the Ghost Society, a man and his dog once jumped off the bridge together and "around 2-4 a.m., people have seen the man with his dog by the (shore) near there, staring at people."

It may be a coincidence, but a lot of ghost sightings seem to happen near the time bars close.

A book titled "A Haunted Tour Guide to the Pacific Northwest," by Jefferson Davis (Norsemen Ventures, 2001), also lists several ghost hangouts in North Seattle, including the College Inn Pub at 4006 University Way NE and The Neptune movie theater at 1303 NE 45th St.

This past February, there were published reports that the staff and volunteers at the Kalakala believed the historic ferryboat had some spirit passengers. The 1930s-built boat, nicknamed the "Silver Slug" because of its Buck Rogers-ish streamlined appearance is currently docked along the north shore of Lake Union, just east of Gas Works Park.

Mysterious sounds of laughter and footsteps on the supposedly empty ferry have prompted Kalakala supporters to take the appropriate measures: they set an extra space at the table whenever they hold a fund-raising barbecue, just in case there's a guest they can't see.

"Down in the engine room you get a sense you're being watched," said Art Skolnik, executive director of the Kalakala Foundation, the group that has been working to restore the ferry.

Of course, no ghost story is complete without a haunted house.

Greenwood resident George Butchko believes he's living in one.

Butchko always had been curious about ghosts, but he'd never come across anything paranormal before he purchased his home about four years ago.

Friends and roommates reported eerie feelings in the house and some heard strange sounds such as footsteps or knocking when the home was supposedly deserted.

One friend even glimpsed the specter of a little girl sitting in the living room. (Butchko subsequently heard a rumor that a young woman had died in the house.)

Butchko himself was spared such spine-tingling visions until he purchased an antique brass phone.

One evening, close to midnight, Butchko heard the phone make a chirping sound in the other room, usually an indication that either the phone is going to ring or someone

is dialing out. No one else was home and when no incoming calls followed the chirp, Butchko picked up the extension.

He heard the phone dial several times, seemingly on its own.

This happened on several occasions until one day, Butchko says, the phone dialed itself in his presence.

"Who are you and who are you calling?" screamed Butchko, who finally had had enough. He again picked up the phone hearing a noise that sounded a bit like a fax but different.

These days, Butchko keeps that phone unplugged.

At University Heights, Seamus McManus, the center's current lead facilities coordinator, set up a tent in the building's old auditorium and spent the whole night there this past January in hopes of spotting Brian the Ghost after hearing stories from other staff members.

While McManus didn't see any poltergeists, he admits: "I'm more open to the possibility (of ghosts existing) after that night."