Local's Guide to the Pike Place Market: Meet the Ghosts
Mercedes Yaeger, owner of Market Ghost Tours, introduces Pike Place’s most distinguished ghouls.
Princess Angeline
Born in 1811, Chief Sealth’s oldest daughter defiantly lived in a shack just below Pike Street during a time when no other Native Americans were allowed to reside within city limits.
How she haunts “The most common place to find her ghost is on the stairs up from Western Ave, close to where her home was. People catch her in the corner of their eye, go looking for her, and end up on the steps. She smells unpleasant, pungent—and moves slowly and deliberately.”
Frank Goodwin
One of the original founders of the Market, Goodwin, who died in 1954, kept an office in a space next to the basement—and frequent dance floor—of what is now the Alibi Room.
How he haunts “He’s seen as an old man at the bottom of the Alibi stairs, where he introduces himself as Frank and asks if visitors need help with directions—just as he would have in life.”
Jacob
The 1918 Spanish flu epidemic killed over a thousand Seattleites. The spirit of one victim, an eight- to nine-year-old stable boy named Jacob, is believed to reside in the Merry Tales toy store.
How he haunts “He was really active in 2007. I could walk in with a day tour and provoke him, and he’d start throwing things. He’s very mischievous and poltergeisty. But he calmed down after the store owner made a little room for him with
a bed.”
Suspender Man
The structure at 1921 First Avenue, current home of Kell’s Irish Pub and former home of the Butterworth and Sons mortuary, is reportedly atop a Duwamish tribe burial ground. Witnesses have observed ghosts, sometimes dozens at a time, in the building, including an unnamed man seen in a second-story window.
How he haunts “He wears suspenders and a newsboy hat. I can show you a very clear, convincing photo where he’s looking down and you can see a shadow of the hat on his face… We think he’s one of the former mortuary employees.”
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