Palace Hotel

A three-story Romanesque brick building constructed in 1889 by retired sea captain Henry L. Tibbals. Operated as a brothel nicknamed the Palace of Sweets from 1925 to 1933.

The Captain Tibbals Building rises three stories above Water Street in Port Townsend, a Richardson Romanesque brick edifice commissioned in 1889 by one of the most colorful figures in Pacific Northwest maritime history. Captain Henry Lewis Tibbals, born in Connecticut in 1829, went to sea at ten as a cabin boy and by twenty was a master sailor. His exploits included being the first captain to carry a load of railroad iron through the Isthmus of Panama and testing the United States' first diving bell, which he used to recover nearly sixty-eight thousand dollars in silver from a sunken Spanish ship. In Port Townsend, Tibbals served as County Commissioner, Sheriff, Postmaster, and City Council member, investing twenty-eight thousand dollars to build his grand brick building. It opened in 1889 as a billiard parlor and the Townsend Tavern, with rooms for rent on the upper two floors.

The building's most notorious chapter began in 1925 when the upper floors became the Palace Hotel, better known as the Palace of Sweets -- a brothel that operated openly through the middle of the Depression. The establishment was run by a madam named Marie, who kept a corner suite on the second floor with the only fireplace in the building. The girls who worked there lived and received clients in rooms that still bear their names today. Among them was Claire, who occupied Room 4 and was said to be engaged to a sailor who jilted her at the dock, never to return. Her unused wedding gown was later found in a trunk in her room. The sheriff raided the Palace of Sweets in the mid-1930s, shutting down the brothel, though some accounts suggest it continued discreetly until around 1941. After decades of decline, the building underwent restoration beginning in 1976, with interior renovation completed by 1977 and exterior work finished in 1984 through state and federal matching grants.

Since the 1960s, guests and staff have reported encounters with at least ten spirits who still seem to call the Palace Hotel home. The most frequently seen is the Lady in Blue, identified as Miss Claire from the brothel era. Her portrait hangs at the top of the second-floor stairs, and guests have reported the figure stepping out of the painting to wander the hallways in an old-fashioned blue dress, searching for the lover who abandoned her. Her presence is most often felt in Rooms 3 and 4, where guests report violently shaking beds, mournful moans, doors flying open at night, and the unmistakable scent of perfume. One guest wrote that Miss Claire appeared to be freely walking the building despite her portrait remaining on the wall. Another, staying in Room 4 during Summer Solstice weekend, described a patch of sad energy hovering overhead and the room door repeatedly opening on its own. A front desk clerk named Bob confirmed the experience was consistent with other reports.

Housekeeping manager Cheryl Heller, who worked at the Palace for eighteen years, reported multiple encounters with other spirits. A young boy of about six to eight years old told her his name was Adam and asked where his mother was. Heller also witnessed a lady in a Victorian dress at the top of the stairs who walked directly into a wall rather than descending. She described a former housekeeper ghost who appears on the anniversary of her death, and a monk who pines for one of the prostitutes who lived in the hotel. In the basement, staff member Susan Euro encountered the apparition of a bald man in a plaid shirt, suggesting even the building's ground floor harbors unseen residents. Hotel manager Gary Schweitzer maintains the Ghost Files, a scrapbook of documented paranormal experiences dating back to at least 1987 with over one hundred recorded cases.

The Amateur Ghost Hunters of Seattle-Tacoma visited in 2005, making contact through a talking board with a spirit named Betty, a former prostitute who said she was thirty-nine years old at the time of her death. On February 7, 2010, the Paranormal Investigations of Historic America team conducted a comprehensive investigation led by Kathy Gavin of the Lewis County Historical Museum, PIHA founder Vaughn Hubbard, and psychic medium Robin Alexis of the KKNW radio show Mystic Radio. Christian Wells operated infrared cameras in Room 3, while Debbie Knapp used a parabolic dish to capture electronic voice phenomena. The EVP recordings yielded a voice responding with the number eleven when asked how many spirits were present in the building. Robin Alexis reported communicating with a tortured spirit called Father Patrick, a priest who had broken his vow of celibacy with one of the prostitutes and witnessed the death of a stillborn infant in the basement. Through spiritual intervention during the investigation, Father Patrick reportedly found peace and was able to pass over. Alexis also made contact with Grouse Woman, a Native American female entity who said she had died in a fire, and who may have served as a wet-nurse or midwife. Even with Father Patrick's departure, the Palace Hotel reportedly remains home to roughly ten active spirits. Reports from housekeeping come in about once a week, and the Ghost Files continue to grow with guest accounts of perfume, cold drafts, knockings, and encounters with solid, lifelike figures in Victorian dress.