The Oxford Saloon in Snohomish is giving people something new to argue about before Halloween: whether a strange sound on its surveillance footage is a long-departed patron calling for help—or a door lock that needs some attention.
The historic First Street establishment shared the clip on Facebook on Tuesday, Oct. 27, saying a woman named Brittany heard what sounded like “Help me” as she went into an upstairs office.
No one else was on that floor at the time, according to the saloon.
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“She assumed it was customer voices echoing up the stairs, until looking at the cameras a moment later and realizing it didn’t come from downstairs,” the Oxford wrote.
The accompanying interior surveillance footage shows Brittany approaching a door, entering a code and unlocking it. Around that sequence, a sound can be heard that the saloon interpreted as a possible voice.
The Oxford also reported that a large bathroom mirror on the same floor had shattered on its own nearly two weeks earlier.
“Maybe these events are related?” the post asked.
Facebook promptly assembled its own paranormal review board. Membership appeared to require only an internet connection and a strong opinion about locks.
A Voice—or Just the Hardware?
Brian Swanson pushed back against suggestions that the sound was simply part of the door’s operation.
“I’ve locked that same door 10,000 times. That noise after it locks is not normal,” he wrote.
Other commenters offered a less supernatural diagnosis.
“That poor lock needs help! Lube it,” Mark Leyva wrote.
Jeff Brushert suggested a way to test the theory: “Let’s hear a second video for comparison.”
The post and competing interpretations do not establish what caused the sound. But for some commenters, it was an invitation to revisit their own unsettling experiences at the Oxford.
Jackie Gauthier Brown recalled warming up downstairs before shows and making a point of asking permission before entering.
“Always stopped at the bottom of the stairs to ask permission to enter. Promised I wouldn’t disturb anything. Always felt like someone was there,” she wrote.
Judie Troutvine described an unsettling incident years earlier.
“I was up there for an event a few years back with about 10 people and door unlatched and slowly opened with no human assistance!” she wrote.
Paul McCarthy, who said his band, Swingtime Express, has played at the Oxford for close to 30 years, recalled seeing what he described as floating orbs and a door slamming without an apparent explanation.
He also mentioned other bands’ accounts of amplifier plugs being pulled from outlets, something he said his group had not experienced.
“Maybe ghosts prefer different type of music?” he asked.
Julio Xavier supplied a considerably shorter explanation for the latest disturbance.
“That was just my ex down there.”
An Old Building With Plenty of Stories
The Oxford, at 913 First St., began as a store associated with Snohomish merchant Arthur M. Blackman.
HistoryLink’s downtown walking tour credits builder J. S. White with the large false-front structure, which cost $5,000 according to historical newspaper accounts.
During Prohibition, the building housed the Oxford Pool Room. It did not become a drinking establishment until World War II.
Its supernatural résumé is rather less settled.
The saloon’s own haunted-history page recounts legends of Henry, described as a police officer who died while intervening in a fight, and upstairs figures known as Kathleen—or Katherine—and Amelia.
The lore also includes a man in a bowler hat and rumors that the upstairs rooms once housed a bordello.
The page also recounts paranormal investigations beginning in 2005, including investigators’ claims of recorded voices and unusual photographs.
Whether the next call should go to a ghost hunter or a locksmith remains open for debate.
WATCH video of the incident below:
