Is West Seattle’s historic Log House Museum haunted?

Tis the season for spookiness. And tomorrow night – the question of whether the Southwest Seattle Historical Society‘s Log House Museum is haunted, or not, may be laid to rest. It’s getting a visit from the paranormal investigators of PIHA (Paranormal Investigations of Historic America). This isn’t Ghostbusters, mind you – PIHA, according to Vaughn Hubbard, is a registered nonprofit organization doing this for free. And he acknowledges part of the visit is to “support the upcoming annual Halloween fundraiser for the museum” (a brunch at Salty’s, October 30th). But PIHA doesn’t just visit any old – we emphasize, old – historical site; they need proof of the potentially paranormal. So we asked him, what’s the haunting haps here? Reply: “About any paranormal activity at the West Seattle Museum, according to Sarah Frederick, Collections Manager, Log House Museum, she has stated that there has been numerous stories about strange things happening there for years now but they just don’t talk about it. I have to believe what she is telling me is fact, otherwise we wouldn’t spend the time and money required by us for an investigation. We are very selective about where we schedule investigations because of our cost and time invested.” So how do they investigate? We’ll find out tomorrow night, once the PIHA “Grey Team” shows up in its “Command Central Van” (as seen in the promotional clip above). (P.S. We asked SWSHS about the brunch – $65 adults; $25 kids 13/under; free for kids 4 and under; RSVP to 206-938-5293, costumes encouraged.)

19 Replies to "Is West Seattle's historic Log House Museum haunted?"

  • ellenater October 14, 2010 (4:55 pm)

    The coolest story ever on WSB! Can’t wait to see the rest…

  • Born To Be Mild October 14, 2010 (5:15 pm)

    Is West Seattle’s historic Log House Museum haunted?

    Answer: No.

    If you hear hoofbeats, expect horses, not giraffes.

  • RG October 14, 2010 (5:32 pm)

    Yes, there is something (someone) there. It’s very faint; nothing bad. Good luck PIHA. Use calm, low-key patience and you might get something.

  • Will October 14, 2010 (5:57 pm)

    My satire meter is broken. You *are* kidding, right?

  • sarelly October 14, 2010 (6:54 pm)

    My theory is that the energy of people who have been in a place gets stuck to or contained in that place. Not “ghosts” as conscious beings – more like an after-image of what was once there. Haven’t you ever felt, around the belongings of someone who has died, or in an antique store, something about the person to whom the object formerly belonged? A lingering vibe, almost like a smell that you can’t actually detect. I’ve felt it before in churches built during the middle ages in Europe, and at similar historic sites where mental or emotional energy was concentrated.

  • JoB October 14, 2010 (7:22 pm)

    spooky ;->

  • me October 14, 2010 (7:37 pm)

    I guarantee there is with the history of the area. I grew up in a 100 year old house on Capitol Hill and it was haunted but not in a good way. I want to hear the rest!

  • WestSide45 October 14, 2010 (8:08 pm)

    If you want to believe the house is haunted, go ahead. The inhabitants will co-exist nicely with the bats in your belfry.

  • coffee October 14, 2010 (8:58 pm)

    I was just told that there is a book that you can get at Costco that talks about haunted buildings in Seattle. Was talking with a client yesterday and she was telling me stories about the old building Amazon is in and all of the weird stuff that happens there at night. She even had a strange run in herself. I think its interesting and having lived in an apartment that had weird stuff happen all the time, I believe.

  • WestSide45 October 14, 2010 (9:05 pm)

    Caffeine will do that to you, coffee.

  • Leroniusmonkfish October 14, 2010 (11:19 pm)

    I heard about the Amazon.com entity…keeps overcharging me for all my purchases.

  • Vaughn October 15, 2010 (3:49 am)

    Many people who think that something paranormal exist, physics and logic can debunk. That said, occasionally PIHA obtains evidence that neither physics nor logic applies. When this occurs, we classify it as paranormal evidence and let each individual decide for himself what to believe or not believe.

  • Paranormal Investigator October 15, 2010 (7:13 am)

    Sweet! Never really put it to thought about that place. Makes sense though. Love to hear the outcome!

  • Will October 15, 2010 (8:01 am)

    “You keep using that word, ‘evidence’. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

  • wtf October 15, 2010 (3:30 pm)

    why would you waste taxpayers money on something like this especially during hard economic times???

    • WSB October 15, 2010 (3:59 pm)

      No taxpayer money involved here that I know of.

  • DBsea October 15, 2010 (4:57 pm)

    Just a fun and interesting exercise. Maybe you can prove “something” is there. But you can’t prove that nothing is there. Either way, I hope the place is hoppin!

  • Glenda October 15, 2010 (5:18 pm)

    WIll – I’m with you, but, what can you do?

  • Will October 15, 2010 (11:54 pm)

    @DBsea – Carl Sagan summed it up nicely: “what’s the difference between an invisible, incorporeal, floating dragon who spits heatless fire and no dragon at all? If there’s no way to disprove my contention, no conceivable experiment that would count against it, what does it mean to say that my dragon exists? Your inability to invalidate my hypothesis is not at all the same thing as proving it true.”

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