Ghost
stories
from
the Pacific Northwest Par
Margaret Read MacDonald source
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Ghost Stories:
Reports are that rooms 302, 304 & 306 are haunted. There are reports of two ghosts in residence. One is about a monk who hung himself in the attic. Sometimes people hear footsteps walking above them, but there is no one in the attic. The other ghost is a young lady who had been waiting for her beloved to return from war. After hearing of his demise, she threw herself out her window. Also, In the chapel/cafe drinking glasses are know to explode, even when in one server's hand, & sometimes the empty glasses are know to be turned upside-down. There were many entries in the room journals, that the manager graciously let us read and photograph, that comment on the Castle's haunting. |
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The
tower Room of Manresa Castle PORT TOWNSEND,
WASHINGTON
The massive edifice standing atop
a hill in Port Townsend, Washington was built in 1892
by Prussian baker Charles Eisenbeis for his young
wife, Kate. Eisenbeis had made his fortune supplying
bread and crackers to ships taking on provisions in
Port Townsend. In 1925 the building was sold to the
Society of Jesus, which added a wing to the original
building and named the place Manresa Castle after the
village in Spain where Saint Ignatius founded the
Jesuit Order in 1522. Manresa Castle served as a
Jesuit retreat and tertian school for many years. In 1968 the building passed into private hands again when Dolly and Josh Norris bought the building and turned it into a hotel. Since that time stories of hauntings have multiplied among staff and guests. Two legends have sprung up to explain the ghostly goings-on at the castle. A young English girl, named after Kate Eisenbeis, is supposed to have committed suicide by throwing herself from an upstairs window She had learned that the young man she loved was lost at sea while coming from England to be with her. Mark Welch, a great-grandson of Charles Eisenbeis, says no such history exists in his family A second legend tells of a Jesuit who hung himself in the attic. Maids tell of quiet voices speaking their names as they clean on the third floor: Room 306, the tower mom, is the site of most hauntings. Some say young Kate threw herself from the window in this room. Former maid Tammi Headley told reporter Eleanor Nelson, “Once as I was walking down to the breakfast room, a regular drinking glass that l was carrying flew out of my hand and shattered in to a bunch of different pieces. It was all over the place, everywhere. Another time the heater fans that work when you turn on the lights flipped on without being touched by me. Another time I smelled the worst odor of my life while I was cleaning. It came from the end of the third floor hall. It only lasted for so long and then went away. It would come and go. Another time I was vacuuming in Room 306 during the daytime, but the shades were pulled down. Two bright flashes of light came from the door. I just went away to the other end of the hallway. I got a feeling like the hair was standing on the back of my neck. It scared me because there was no one there, but the fact that it exists doesn’t scare me.” A desk clerk also tells of smelling something unusual... strong perfume late at night when no one is around. Nick Gale, another Manresa Castle employee, tells of his experience: “While tending bar one night, a customer’s glass shattered in his hand. I thought it interesting, but didn’t pay it particular heed until the same thing happened to me -I was the one holding the glass that shattered into shards.” Owner Dolly Norris was skeptical about the hauntings. “I remember one night when my sister-in-law slept in the third floor turret room. She woke up one night soaking wet and found the water pitcher tilted on the table. She didn’t know how it happened; but that doesn’t mean anything. For anybody to think it was a ghost is ridiculous.” The presence of a spirit in the tower room seems to make that room the most popular in the castle! One local family books it on Halloween nights for special séances and has left warning notes in the hotel registex: “Once again, Katie made her appearance -sitting at our table when we were all in bed, and then walking around the room. She wears a long whitish gown and has long grayish-white hair. She won’t hurt you, but the priest is evil. Don’t try to reach him -he wants to rest in peace! A chair was moved out of place in the morning when we got up. Charles was seen floating by the back bedroom door. We heard the priest walking above -restless- but not wanting to communicate. Be careful here . . .” Through the years the sightings continued. One October two Canadian women were terrified by an apparition. Innkeeper jill Tomasai told reporter Don Tewkesbury, “At 2:30 AM., one of them said something woke her and she saw an apparition at the foot of the bed. It was outlined in light and she could see through it-like cellophane. She focused on it only for three seconds before she gasped and it disappeared. Both women said there then was the stench of decay in the room for about twenty minutes, followed by the smell of coffee.” Tomasai was skeptical. The guest was not wearing her contacts at the time of the sighting and admitted that she was pretty blind without them. And Tomasai notes that the nearby pulp mill sends forth a considerable stench many evenings. (Source: The Port Townsend, Jefferson County Leader, writer Eleanor Nelson; Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter Don Tezvkesbury; Port Townsend, jefferson County Leader reporter Patrick J. Sullivan; Manresa Castle guest register) |
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Photographs from Manresa Castle source |
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