Welcome to Spooky Port Townsend.
Port Townsend is a historic seaport where legends and lore frame an Olympic Peninsula fall getaway. Stories passed through generations are told against the backdrop of water, boats, and mountains. Ornate Victorian buildings and a decommissioned military fort tug at the imagination and are waiting to pull you into their shadowy past. Haunted hotels and seasonal events make Port Townsend especially captivating in October. Whether you come for ghostly legends, blustery beach walks, unusual shops, or family-friendly Halloween traditions, the city offers plenty of reasons to visit. Welcome to spooky Port Townsend!
Histories and Mysteries
The town’s unsettling past is a good starting point for exploration. Visitors can choose from several options for haunted walking tours every October. Eerie, interesting stories and stops at Victorian-era buildings and underground tunnels await you. Ghostly encounters, unexplained disappearances, UFO sightings, and peculiar tales from the sea are the stranger-than-fiction subject matter of tours. These are offered by Port Townsend Main Street and the Jefferson Museum of Art & History. Visiting the spooky historic jail inside the 1892 City Hall building can be part of museum admission or part of a tour. Access to the looming and ornate Hastings Building and the Mount Baker Block underground tunnels are only available through guided tours every October.
After discovering unexplained mysteries, chilling local legends, and historical oddities, you’re invited to spend the night in one of Port Townsend’s storied lodgings.
Haunted Hotels
For a castle stay with a spectral reputation, check into Manresa Castle, the imposing hilltop hotel originally built in 1892 as the home of Port Townsend’s first mayor, Charles Eisenbeis. Rooms 302 and 306 are at the center of the castle’s best-known legends, with some guests reporting flickering lights, faint voices, and the scent of perfume. Tales of a mournful woman and a robed figure are more lore than verified history. But an overnight stay still offers plenty of spine-tingling fun for curious travelers.
Tapping into Port Townsend’s bawdy past, the Palace Hotel occupies the 1889 Tibbals Building on Water Street. The upper floors once operated as the “Palace of Sweets,” a Prohibition-era hotel and brothel. Today the restored hotel leans into that colorful history with antique furnishings and guest rooms named for women associated with its former days. For an especially spooky stay, ask about rooms tied to the hotel’s best-known ghost stories—particularly Rooms 3 and 4. Visitors have reported unexplained cold drafts and sightings of the mysterious “Lady in Blue.”
For quintessential and less haunted Victorian accommodations book a classic bed and breakfast experience at the Starrett House, built in 1889 by local undertaker George Starrett. The home’s highly decorated interior once consoled grieving widows of sailors. This plush Victorian-era experience is now one of the most widely photographed mansions in Port Townsend. It’s one of the last remaining free-floating spiral grand staircases in the U.S. with muraled ceilings and nestled in the walkable Uptown neighborhood.
Once you have settled into your historic quarters, step back outside to experience how the city changes once the sun sets. Known for protecting its dark skies, Port Townsend can feel especially eerie as evening blankets the city and the stars come out to play.
Night Owl’s Delight
With cooler weather setting in, look for fire pits to circle around while tasting local craft beverages and sharing spooky stories. Explore hidden haunts like local watering hole the Pourhouse or the posh Bishop Block Bottle Shop. Both offer outdoor warmth, a bit off the beaten path, and seasonal specials at the bar.
For a night of full-scale fright, brave the annual Kiwanis Haunt Town, a volunteer-created haunted-house experience in the basement of the Port Townsend Elks Lodge. Known for truly creepy psychological scares and elaborately themed rooms, this year’s haunt twists familiar fairy tales into its “Happily Never After” theme. Proceeds always support Kiwanis programs for children in the local area.
Family-Friendly Frights
If adult beverages and haunted horrors aren’t part of the mix with littles in tow, Port Townsend also has plenty of seasonal fun designed for younger visitors and families. If you love the tradition of costumes and candy for Halloween, multiply your typical neighborhood celebration by 1,000 people and you have the annual Downtown Trick or Treat and Parade. Each year hundreds of families, at least 50 witches dancing in unison, and dozens of businesses with overflowing bowls of candy participate on Halloween night right in the center of Port Townsend’s walkable downtown.
Walking through Fort Worden Historical State Park in the daytime can also give just the right amount of mystery to your fun family adventure in Port Townsend. From lighthouse tours to Alexander’s Castle and the decommissioned officer’s quarters, Fort Worden sparks the imagination for all ages. The historic batteries scattered throughout this 433-acre military fort are a delight to stumble upon as you hike through fall foliage with vistas of Admiralty Inlet. Be sure to bring flashlights and waterproof shoes, as the dark and drippy tunnels will make kids shriek with delight.
Legends and lore with castles, costumes and specters make spooky Port Townsend the perfect getaway in October.
By guest blogger Shelly Leavens, City of Port Townsend
Check out more spooky experiences on the Olympic Peninsula at our events calendar!
