Island County’s old military tunnels, weathered inns and windswept historic sites have collected nearly as many ghost stories as they have years. The best-known haunted places in Island County are concentrated on Whidbey Island, particularly around Coupeville and Ebey’s Landing. Some come with firsthand accounts from local employees. Others depend on folklore repeated through generations…
Pierce County has no shortage of historic buildings—and some residents insist a few former occupants never left. The most talked-about haunted places in Pierce County range from a Tudor Gothic castle on American Lake to an ornate theater where the quality of the evening’s performance may determine which ghost appears. The history behind these landmarks…
Whatcom County has the proper ingredients for a respectable ghost story: Victorian civic buildings, an old jail, a grand hotel, a theatrical palace and enough fog to make an ordinary streetlamp look deeply suspicious. Most of the best-known haunted places in Whatcom County are concentrated in Bellingham, where the surviving architecture gives local folklore somewhere…
Snohomish County has all the raw materials for a first-rate ghost story: mining towns, weathered hotels, old theaters, Victorian mansions and enough rain to make practically any window look suspicious after midnight. The most famous haunted places in Snohomish County also happen to contain some genuinely fascinating local history. The ghosts remain unconfirmed. The fires,…
People who live in Spokane tend to have strong opinions about it. To some, it is one of Washington’s most underrated cities: beautiful, manageable and just far enough from Seattle to avoid becoming Seattle. To others, it is a place that looks awfully appealing until you have spent a full year there and discovered the…
Bremerton offers one of the Puget Sound region’s strangest bargains: a working waterfront city where Seattle is a ferry ride away, the Olympic Peninsula is outside your door and buying a home can still cost considerably less than it does across the water. The catch is that Seattle is still across the water. Residents describe…
Lakewood is difficult to summarize because it can feel like a different city after a two-mile drive. Near Gravelly Lake and American Lake, quiet streets wind past large homes, mature trees and waterfront property. Closer to Interstate 5 and Joint Base Lewis-McChord, the surroundings become busier, denser and rougher around the edges. That contrast explains…
Redmond is what happens when a quiet town becomes a global technology hub but keeps most of its trees. Microsoft and Nintendo loom large. New apartments continue to reshape downtown. Teslas, bicycles and highly compensated software engineers are not exactly difficult to spot. Yet residents can still reach forest trails, river paths and the Cascade…
Kirkland offers a rare Eastside combination: a downtown where you can walk to dinner, parks that meet the edge of Lake Washington and enough major employers nearby to make the commute optional for some lucky residents. It is polished, convenient and often beautiful. It is also expensive, crowded in the wrong places and occasionally so…
Marysville is not the kind of place residents describe with sweeping declarations of love. Their affection tends to be more practical. The homes can be less expensive than those farther south. The parks are good. Everett is close, and the mountains are closer than they look. You can raise kids, find a quiet neighborhood and…
