The DU Lounge

The E.R. Rodgers house was a restaurant and everybody who worked there knew about the ghosts. Nobody went alone to the wine cellar. The bar was right below the attic where one of the ghosts insisted her rocking chair remain next to the window so she had a good view of Puget Sound (story was that when it was a boarding house a woman waited for her sweetheart to return -- maybe he was a sailor, or gone to war or a gold rush -- but his ship never came in). Wasn't unusual for all the lights to turn on in the middle of the night, police were used to being called to go and turn them off.

When my family moved to Steilacoom we lived in a house across from the Orr house and Mr. Orr was still alive, an ancient very friendly man. Bair Drug & Hardware hadn't been touched since it closed in the '30s (the trolly from the city of Tacoma that stopped in front of the store was discontinued) and you could see the old medicines and products covered in dust through the windows. An old man lived in the E.R. Rodgers house who had a small natural history museum with lots of rocks like quartz and invited kids to come in, but I was scared of the dark old house and only went once with my brother,. For all I know that old man could've died there and joined the older ghosts.

The little town is full of ghost stories. It has a Sleepy Hollow feel, that history has passed it by, at least when I lived there a long time ago. Steilacoom was supposed to be chosen as the railroad terminus on the Sound but lost out to Tacoma in 1873 and history stopped. Just to the north of town is Fort Steilacoom built in 1849 (became the psychiatric hospital Western State). Popular ghost hunting area.