Spokane Paranormal Investigation Group

GHOSTS AT THE HOTEL ELLIOTT, ASTORIA, OR

Hotel Elliott was built in 1924 by Charles Niemi, who leased it to Jeremiah Elliott {1859-1929} and his son John L. Elliott {1892-1984}.
Unfortunately Jeremiah passed away suddenly 5 years later while in a Fixit shop on Exchange street, after which the hotel was run by John L, Margaret E. Elliott {1869-1950}, mother of John L., Ruby Lane Elliott {1898-1988},wife of John L., Flora Elliott Short [1886-1970}, sister of John L. and Floras husband Clarence E. Short {1884-1969}
After John L. retired in 1973, the hotel changed hands several times.
I went and stayed the night in room 209 to see if there is any paranormal activity in the hotel as it is listed haunted.
I did get voice responses in room 209, basement and on the staircase to the roof top terrace . In room 209 I caught male and female voices on the voice recorder. The female spirits name was possibly Heather.
In the basement I caught a voice saying what sounded like " Jennifer Ross".
Liisa Penner from Clatsop County Historical Society found that there were 3 prominent Ross families in Astoria, but no Jennifer on record.
The ghosts do travel so this person may not be from the area.
Reading the energy of the hotel, Psychic Medium Jennifer Von Behren picked up a female spirit , who had followed me in the room from the hallway. This spirit does haunt the hotel and she kept saying something about a baby.
In the basement Jennifer saw a male spirit from mid to late 20's by the bar, who had been there for a long time. He likes it down there and he used to be a bar tender upstairs. He seemed happy, friendly and positive with lot of energy. He said that he doesn't like the gym because it smells bad. The cigar bar used to be located where the gym is, so maybe he doesn't like the cigar smell that still lingers.
In the current breakfast area by the lobby someone was telling Jennifer that they like to come and go as they want thru" an area by the window.
Jennifer can see a woman sitting by the corner doing readings or energy work, that she doesn't know how to do creating an energy build up, which evolved over time with all the chaos from all the different businesses there.
The male spirit from the basement told Jennifer that there was a lady that was into some "weird stuff" and she used to sit in that corner. He calls himself a "regulator". He must be doing a great job as Jennifer didn't pick up anything bad in the hotel.
During my research I found an add of a woman, who was an ordained Rev Opal M. Prouty in 1944 and she was doing Psychic Readings at the hotel. Psychic readings alone don't really seem "weird" to an observer, but anything paranormal is generally considered "devils work" to a church, so I find this add questionable to say the least.
There was another add from 1930 however of a woman called Madam Olga, Mysterial Reader, who would do palmistry readings, crystal gazing, phrenology and astrology at the hotel. All that might seem quite "odd" to an observer. I don't know if the woman in the corner was either of these ladies.
Jennifer can see the room by the lobby "gutted" . There were 4 renovations at the hotel that I saw ; in 1928,1951,2000 and 2011.
Jennifer saw a big long counter, like the ones in a bank and a bar or a restaurant.
She saw a man standing behind the bar washing his hands and talking to people over the counter. She could also hear loud music.
Sometimes things got little rough in there. Jennifer could also see clothing racks. Lots of layers of residual energy from many businesses.
Silver Moon restaurant/cafe was located at the hotel in 1924 till 1926. After which Flora Elliott Short opened up the famous Elliott Coffee Shoppe in 1928, that ran till about 1942. It changed hands many times and the name over the years.
There were several clothing related stores at the hotel building such as Fricke's Cleaning & pressing in 1937 and The Kiddies' Pal Shop for 3-16 yr olds in 1937.
In 1961 there was a First Federal Savings & Loan in the corner of the Elliott building.
The last tenant where the coffee shoppe once was located at was the Bach N' Rock music store, that moved away in 2010. after which the hotel moved the wine bar and the breakfast area upstairs to it's place.
I was told that during a fire, a woman had possibly died trying to get all the kids out on the 3rd floor. I wasn't able to confirm that.
There were 3 fires at hotel, but no casualties listed.
In 1933 a fire started at the Hotel Elliott Coffee Shoppe caused by a faulty oil burner in the range.
In 1979 a suspicious fire, possibly arson or just an accident, started in the basement . 60 residents were evacuated temporarily. No casualties.
In 1986 a fire started in room 412 of Gerhard Peterson on the 4th floor caused by cigarette smoking.
There has been 3 recorded deaths at the Elliott Hotel.
Margaret Elliott {1869-1950} passed away in her room on the 5th floor in 1950.
James Wallace {1874-1945}, who had made the Elliott Hotel his home died in 1945.
Frederick Reinert {1915-1977} died in 1977 while staying at the Elliott Hotel. No death certificate available to confirm.
Hotel Elliott was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
I want to thank Liisa Penner from Clatsop County Historical Society for all her help, John Goodenberger, Cesar from Hotel Elliott and Chad Gallup from the Astoria Underground Tours for all the information.
Hotel Elliott is a great place to stay while visiting Astoria and centrally located close to all the attractions. Be sure to check it out when in Astoria.

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Tonights private tour comes from the Tri-cities! Bring up to 10 people on a 3, 4 or 6 hour private tour. You get the entire building. We are flexible on start times. Dates available online at colfaxhauntedhospital.com

GHOSTS AT THE ASTORIA COLUMN, ASTORIA, OR

For the last 100 years, the one of a kind 125-foot Astoria Column has stood on top of Coxcomb Hill overlooking the Columbia River welcoming visitors from all over the world.
This historical landmark was dedicated by the Great Northern Railway in 1926, with financial help from Vincent Astor{1891-1959}, a great grandson of John Jacob Astor{1763-1848}, after whom Astoria was named.
The beautiful art work on the column, that tells you the history of the area in 14 scenes, was done by an Italian artist Attilio Pusterla{ 1862-1941} using a painting technique called sgraffito.
Restoration work has been done several times over the years in order to preserve and protect this magnificent landmark .
In 1988 the Friends of Astoria Column, a non-profit group, was formed to do just that.
Astoria Column was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
After climbing the 164 steps to the top to check out the unbelievable view, it turns out that I wasn't the only one there, who likes the view.
I did an evp [electronic voice phenomenon] session and got an immediate response on the voice recorder.
A female spirit responded with " I like the view and she wasn't there when it was built." She was happy to talk to someone.
Psychic Medium Jennifer Von Behren picked up a friendly older male spirit, who had been a caretaker there, but had not lived in the caretakers house. However he had been there for a long time, possibly before the column was built. He was talking about a family being there. He plays with the staircase railing to make noise. Nobody really listens to him, but they know he is there. He tries to get people's attention.
He also said that "they" didn't bury him right, which didn't make him very happy.
Jennifer also picked up a depressed female spirit, who is not totally stable and a child. The child likes to roam around and play in there. They both also like to make noise. The female spirit actively haunts there a lot.
The 3 spirits are not related. The child seems to be from the 50's or 60's.
Psychic Medium Jennifer Von Behren was seeing a time period, where there was a building next to the column.
Looking at the old pictures, you can see a small building by the column in 1926, when they were building the column.
I was told that they were selling coffee and gifts from it, but it was not there in the 1930s pictures.
The caretakers house didn't come till later, possibly in the 1950's, when they connected 2 separate 1930's buildings, that were moved there from elsewhere.
If you live in the area, be sure to join the July 18th 100 year anniversary celebration to see this amazing landmark and go fly a balsa-wood airplane from the top of the column. Also do check out astoriacolumn.org for great information about the column.
I want to thank The Heritage Museum, gift shop employees and Chad Gallup from the Astoria Underground Tours for information and help. Be sure to go check out the Underground Tours when in town.

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Tuesday, May 26th starting at 7pm. Come see us at Rico's in Pullman. Haunted Trivia, Haunted cocktails and Investigate with our equipment. Is it haunted? Boos and Booze.

GHOSTS AT THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW AND THE CHRONICLE BUILDINGS, SPOKANE, WA

Last October we did a brief walk-thru' along with Psychic Medium Jennifer Von Behren of the 1891 Spokesman-Review Building and Tower with the Spokesman-Review reporter Cannon Barnett.
Neither the Review or the Chronicle building has ever been investigated before, so in order to try and find out who the ghosts that we saw in each area might be, one has to research the history of the buildings and the area they are in as well as do an actual investigation to try and connect with the ghosts again.
In the back of the Newsroom on the 4th floor of the Review building Jennifer saw a short elderly female spirit and a male spirits, who said he had been a reporter.
In 1912 Daily Chronicle editor Edward H. Rothrock was murdered in room 21 on the second floor of the Review building.
He was well liked and very dedicated to his job often being the 1st to arrive and the last to leave.
Up until 1894 the Review building was strictly a business building, but from 1895 on there were lodging and boarding rooms available as well. The proprietor and the landlady of the rooms in 1900 was Charlotte P. Carew. After being in Spokane only for a short while, she passed away in March of 1901 at the age of 62 possibly on the 3rd floor of the Review building.
In March of 1902 Mrs. M.A. Finnegan became the new proprietor and the lodging business from there on was known as the Hotel Review. It was in operation till mid 1920s and changed hands over 10 times.
Over the years there were 3 other recorded deaths at the Review Hotel.
In the archives room Jennifer saw a tiny female spirit, who had a strong Asian accent and she seemed apprehensive. She said it was a cleaning area where she worked.
Jennifer felt that the basement had had a lot of water at some point as she can hear chaos and lot of running. The reporters confirmed that the basement had flooded several times with a lot of damage.
The area streets flooded several times in 1894.
In the back corner of the basement Jennifer saw a male and a tiny short haired female spirit. The female followed us down from the upstairs. The 2 spirits knew each other. The male spirit used to work down there with coal. He said that the area there was way open before.
The female spirit wants to be acknowledged and she still feels like everyone's boss. She moves around the building sometimes and wants people to like her.
The male spirit doesn't like to hang down there as much.
Both spirits interacted with the equipment we had set out for them.
Jennifer could also hear another male spirit down there, who had been there during the flood.
In the tower area Jennifer feels like there is a doctor or a dentist there. She sees a female spirit, who used to be some kind of a teacher. Possibly a private teacher for select families and for a small group of kids. She was fascinated by the equipment and their colors and was sitting on the floor trying to play with everything.
She was a wife of a former employee.
She loves people and would love more visitors. She said that people used to be able to come there. She wants the remodel up there to be done.
She also goes to other buildings with other spirits as downtown Spokane is quite the social scene and her friends come hang out in the tower as well.
Jennifer also saw a male spirit, who's name was John in one of the rooms on our way down.
The only reference I saw about a passed on female teacher was Ms. Rice, who taught children in the church that was located on the site where the Review building is now.
The last area we went to was the "haunted" staircase located in the Chronicle building. It is accessible only to the tenants of the apartments, that used to be business offices till 2016.
On the 4th floor staircase Jennifer saw an agitated and a very drunk male spirit, who needed help. Jennifer feels that he passed away that way and he had been there a while. We caught his voice on a voice recorder and he also used the equipment we set out.
Jennifer also saw another male spirit there, who had been shot in the head.
The Chronicle building doesn't have any recorded deaths, so again one has to look into the history of the area and what was there before.
Hauntings can be related to the land, a building, a person or an object. Energy attracts energy and spirits roam. These spirits can be from the 1800s or the more recent years. Even from another state.
I found 8 recorded deaths of people with a gun shot wound in the head and 3 deaths caused due to alcohol.
In this block alone , there used to be 2 undertakers establishments and a morgue from 1889 on till about early 1900. In those early days, those that died , some even from out of state ended up in one of the morgues or the undertakers parlors. There were many undertakers on the surrounding blocks as well in later years.
In 1889 The Commercial Hotel was on the corner of Riverside and Lincoln street , where there were 3 reported deaths.
From Riverside to Sprague and Monroe to Lincoln there were lodging houses on all sides after the 1889 Great fire, where people passed away ending up in one of the morgues in the area and some died on the streets.
We don't know who all the spirits were that we encountered, but there are many possibilities to go from .
We want to thank Cannon Barnett for inviting us to this awesome building, Brooke Lauerman and all those at the Spokesman-Review involved in making this walk thru' possible.
Also a shout out to Dana and Summer at the Spokane Public Library Inland NW Special Collections for the research help and Logan at the City of Spokane Historical Preservation Office.
You can also find the article written by Cannon Barnett of this walk thru' in the Oct 21,2025 Spokesman-Review issue.

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We are adding a candle light - late night 2 hour guided investigation. We provide the battery candles. No flashlights. Only 6 people on the investigation. Tickets available online. Tour starts at 11:45pm. May 15, 23, 29, June 5, 12, 20, July 3, 10, 25. colfaxhauntedhospital.com