Pike Place Market

Posted: 01.24.2020 | Updated: 09.23.2025

Pike Place Market is a Seattle icon. You’ve probably seen the glowing “Public Market” sign or videos of the fishmongers tossing their slippery salmon to each other, but the market is also filled with the unseen, the quiet whispers, the things that move in shadows. 

Today, Pike Place Market is considered one of the most haunted places in Seattle. People who work there often encounter the same ghosts on a regular basis, giving them plenty of stories to tell.

Seattle itself has some incredible ghost stories to share, as well. Learn about the city’s most haunted historic places on a ghost tour with Seattle Terrors, where you’ll visit the Emerald City’s most infamous ghosts in the very locations they lived and died. 

Is Pike Place Market haunted?

With well over 100 years of history, it’s no surprise that the always-bustling Pike Place Market has picked up a few ghosts over the years. Despite its charming appearance, some of the permanent buildings here have dark pasts that left them teeming with ghosts. 

History of Pike Place Market

Buying fresh produce and the catch of the day directly from your neighbors is a simple concept. Still, when Pike Place Market opened in 1907, people were excited to avoid traveling all over town to get everything they needed and the price gouging that came with buying from a middleman. 

That excitement led to over 2,000 shoppers showing up on the first day and snapping up all of the goods the eight farmers who showed up to sell their wares had brought in no time. Word spread fast, and the number of vendors quickly skyrocketed. 

Over time, many of the original tents and market tables were replaced by permanent structures that allowed business owners to have a more traditional storefront while keeping the community market atmosphere. 

Today, you’ll still find vendors selling fresh groceries, plus a whole host of craftsmen, artists, buskers, food venues, and ghosts. 

Ghosts of Pike Place Market

Some visitors to Pike Place Market simply get the unsettling feeling of being watched, followed, or touched, all while it seems no one is nearby. But many have much more chilling experiences, seeing distinct ghosts that give them goosebumps as they shakily share the story of what happened decades later. 

Frank Goodwin

Known as one of the original developers of the market, Frank Goodwin still likes to greet visitors and ask if they need help finding their way around. This would be quite normal if Frank hadn’t died in the 1950s.                                                                          

Come In For a Drink, Stay For the Ghosts

There’s an Irish pub within the market that is likely responsible for at least a few of the market ghosts, because the building it occupies was originally Seattle’s first mortuary. Visitors are often surprised to see a man looking out at them from the pub’s mirror, while people dining in the restaurant upstairs have witnessed wine bottles fly across the room and an old woman disappear through a wall.  

A former security guard at the pub was working late one night when he heard child-size footsteps racing up the stairs. He spotted a little girl in a red dress and raced up the stairs after her, only to find an empty, ice-cold room. The huge, muscular security guard ran down the stairs and out of the bar, still shaken by the experience. 

Nearby, Ghost Alley Espresso will happily tell you about their resident ghost, Arthur Goodwin, nephew of Frank. Arthur was one of the market’s first managers and was responsible for the construction of many of the buildings still in use today. 

Since Ghost Alley opened in 2012, employees have seen things fly off walls (even when they’re secured by wire) and electronics malfunction, acting as if someone was touching them when nobody was nearby. 

Seattle’s Daughter

Although her story sounds like an urban legend, the Pike Place Market ghost known as “Princess Angeline” was a real person. She was the eldest daughter of Chief Seattle, after whom the city is named, and she lived in the area that’s now the market well into her 80s. 

Also known by her real name, Kikisoblu, she lived in a wooden cabin on Western Avenue, between what are now Pike and Pine Streets. Today, she is usually spotted at the top of the Pike Street Hill Climb, wearing her trademark shawl and bandana and moving slowly, if at all. Sometimes, late at night or just before dawn, she’s spotted sitting within the market, which is fitting since she used to sell her handmade baskets nearby.  

The Stable Boy

The Spanish Flu epidemic that swept through the country in 1918 left countless dead in its wake, including over a thousand people in Seattle. One of those victims was a stable boy at the market, one of many who carted goods around and tended to the animals in exchange for a place to sleep at night. 

The ghost was nicknamed Jacob by the staff at a former market store he often haunted. Jacob is known for being mischievous, as you might expect from a young boy who has discovered that he can throw objects at people without repercussions.  

Jacob isn’t the market’s only child ghost. Shoppers sometimes see children in vintage clothing darting through the crowd or playing hide and seek, and vendors feel children tugging on their clothing. What is now the Market Theater was once used as a home for the city’s many orphans in an era when childhood death was common, so it may be the source of some of the market’s smallest ghosts.

Spirits of Seattle

While Pike Place Market may be the most haunted place in Seattle in terms of the number of ghosts in one area, there are plenty of other haunted locations nearby, each with its own tale of tragedy and terror. 

Take a ghost tour with Seattle Terrors to hear chilling stories of murder, mayhem, and ghostly encounters right in the locations where they took place. 

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, and keep reading our blog for more real Seattle hauntings.

Sources:

• https://www.pikeplacemarket.org/market-history/

• https://www.kuow.org/stories/pike-place-market-is-haunted-by-children

• https://www.seattlemet.com/news-and-city-life/2011/06/pike-place-market-ghosts-june-2011

• https://www.duwamishtribe.org/princess-angeline

• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/4370/kikisoblu_kick-is-om-lo_wewick-sealth

• https://michaelostrogorsky.substack.com/p/searching-for-princess-angelines

• https://komonews.com/news/erics-heroes/kells-irish-restaurant-pub-most-haunted-bar-seattle-ghosts-spooky-pike-place-market-hauntings-post-alley-spirits

• https://www.legendsofamerica.com/wa-pikemarket/