Halloween is coming up in the next couple of weeks and people are starting to get prepared. Costumes of all different varieties are magically popping up in thrift stores, there's cotton spider webs on windows, and the candy aisle in Bartell's just got three times larger. My personal favorite part of the holiday is sitting down to watch the creepiest, most graphic horror movie I can find with my friends. What can I say, I love a good ghost story.
Contrary to popular belief, Washington state has places that are linked to some creepy ghost stories. Places where people have sworn it's out of the ordinary and downright creepy. While some are not open to the general public, there are some you can still visit to this day. If you have the guts, and you live in Washington, you can grab some friends and go on a road trip, to experience the supernatural for yourself, if you dare.
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After all, you're not afraid, are you?
Of course not, here are the most haunted places in Washington State.
Northern State Hospital - Sedro Valley, Washington
This now abandoned hospital was one of the first mental asylums built in Washington. Though there were two others around, it was kept in order to stimulate the economy in the struggling little town. The hospital practiced humane treatments for its admitted patients, for the most part up until the mid-1900s. One of the first patient murders within the hospial is said to have been done by another patient. Many more are said to have died within its walls, either by suicide, murders or complications to other diseases, leaving behind a lot of lingering spirits. Nurses who still worked there in the 1970s claimed to have seen ghosts or felt sudden cold spots in the hospital even in the middle of summer. They say the ghosts are still there. A common one people claim to have seen is a little girl playing with a red ball, and an older man known for throwing pans and bed sheets across the room. The hospital is nothing more than an abandoned building. The walls are grafittied, crumbling and filled with asbestos so it can be dangerous to walk through. And trespassers have been known to get caught.
Mount Baker Theatre - Bellingham, Washington
This theatre is still running in Bellingham. It hosts a lot of concerts and professional productions and is the largest theatre North of the Puget Sound. While a lot of locals still hang out here, it's got a little urban myth attached to it. Staff have been reporting unusual and paranormal activity in the theatre for decades. Gusts of cold air, balls of light, rustling of skirts and voices calling out names have been said to happen, especially when the theatre is empty. Ghost Hunters from SyPhy and psychics have spent the night there, looking for spirits too.
Starvation Heights - Olalla, Washington
Here's a good one. Linda Hazzard "practiced medicine" in the state of Washington and built her own sanitarium to treat patients. She had no medical degree and she "treated patients" by starving them to death. She argued that fasting could cure everything, including cancer and cirrhosis, by ridding the body of toxins. Forty people died in her sanitarium. In 1912 she was convicted of manslaughter and in her trial it was proved that she forged a wealthy patient's signature and will in order to steal her money and her valuables. That patient was Claire Williamson, she weighed about 50 pounds at the time of her death. Today, there's nothing left of the sanitarium but the foundation and incinerator, which is rumored to have been used to cremate Hazzard's victims. They say the souls of her patients still linger near the grounds.
Carnation Cemetery - Carnation, Washington
Cemeteries are always creepy. Visitors here have complained of sudden pains, headaches, and bouts of low vision when stepping inside this place. Other known claims have been people hearing disembodied footsteps, whispers, and sightings of a woman in a white dress. The story is there was a pregnant woman who died in a car accident and she can be seen carrying her unborn child in her arms around the cemetery. Supposedly, she's the one that harms visitors when they come here.
