Some of Seattle’s most beautiful hotels aren’t just places to slumber — they’re full of stories that linger long after checkout.
From the elegant halls of the Hotel Sorrento to the jazz‑tinged corridors of Hotel Ändra, a stay in this city can come with a side of the supernatural. Mayflower Park hosts a mischievous prankster spirit or two, and the Arctic Club Hotel offers a fifth-floor elevator ride you might not want to take alone. Whether you’re a thrill-seeker, history buff or just curious about the ghosts that linger where deals and dances once unfolded, Seattle’s haunted hotels prove that here, the past never really checks out.
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Since 1909, the Hotel Sorrento has been serving up old-world elegance (taxidermied peacocks, anyone?) along with the occasional ghost sighting. The most famous spirit said to roam its halls is Alice B. Toklas (the long-term partner of Gertrude Stein and a former Seattle resident), spotted gliding around room 408 in flowing white gowns. Guests also report flickering lights, phantom footsteps and cocktails that seem to vanish without human assistance at the bar. In fact, the hotel bar seems to be a particular focus of spectral activity: There have also been reports of wine glasses sliding along the bar on their own. Even if you don’t meet Alice, the Sorrento’s Italianate architecture, cozy Fireside Room and writer-friendly vibe make it a place where the living and the literary gather in style, so you’re sure to have a snazzy time.
📍900 Madison St., Seattle (First Hill)
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The Mayflower Park Hotel has been hosting guests since 1927 — and at least one never left. The spirit of an older gentleman is often spotted in room 1120, where visitors report objects shifting and that prickly “someone’s watching me” feeling. A mischievous streak runs through the hauntings, leading some to call the hotel’s unearthly occupant more prankster than poltergeist. Between the elegant interiors, Oliver’s Lounge (famed for its martinis) and its spot steps from Pike Place Market, the Mayflower offers plenty of earthly pleasures — plus maybe a ghostly roommate.
📍405 Olive Way, Seattle (Downtown, near Westlake Center)
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Hotel Ändra, once the Claremont Hotel, has been around since the 1920s — long enough to rack up both chic design cred and a few supernatural rumors. Guests claim to hear jazz tunes and shattering glass from empty upper floors, and more than one has glimpsed a woman in 1930s garb wandering the halls. Some whisper her story ends with a tragic fall from the ninth floor, though no one knows for sure. Today, Ändra is better known for its Scandinavian-inspired style and Tom Douglas’s restaurant Lola — but if you hear music after midnight, don’t be too quick to blame the neighbors.
📍2000 4th Ave., Seattle (Belltown)
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The Arctic Club Hotel doesn’t hide its quirky streak — just look up at the terracotta walrus heads jutting from the third floor, like sentinels from the city’s gold rush past. Inside, though, the real chills come from the fifth floor, where odd things reportedly happen: elevator doors open and close on their own, footsteps resound in empty halls and visitors report an eerie sense of not being alone even when they are. The ghost most often linked here is Marion Zioncheck, a flamboyant congressman whose troubled life ended in a fatal leap (or was it a push?) from his fifth-floor office window in 1936. There are sounds of pacing and a freezing breeze reported in the room where it happened (room 517). Today, the Arctic Club is a stylish space with historic interiors and plenty of character — but if the elevator takes you to the fifth floor uninvited, beware.
📍700 3rd Ave., Seattle (Downtown/Pioneer Square)
