Home to what is arguably the most haunted building in Washington State, the Walker-Ames house in Port Gamble has become a local hotspot for paranormal groups, psychics and investigators.

​

Anyone who has wandered the streets after dark, explored the Buena Vista cemetery, or participated in a ghost walk or investigation does not need to stay long to know that Port Gamble is a haven for paranormal activity.

With recorded evidence going back as early as the 1950’s, there are stories from nearly every building in town.

 

Former town manager, Shana Smith, was first approached by Neil McNeill and Evergreen Paranormal in 2006, with the request to perform an investigation on the Walker-Ames house. It was shortly after that Smith began actively collecting and recording the stories from both current and former tenants. And as the stories poured in, she began to notice eerie consistencies from year after year.

 

In 2007 Port Gamble started offering a Candlelight Mystery Tour, which was soon changed to the, now infamous, Port Gamble Ghost Walk. The walks were immediately successful.

In 2010 Port Gamble started the Annual Port Gamble Ghost Conference, a weekend of lectures, classes and investigations focused on the paranormal.

 

In 2012, after several requests, Special Investigations were added to the repertoire, giving locals the opportunity to spend three hours investigating the Walker-Ames house, led by paranormal investigator Pete Orbea.

 

In June 2013, the first issue of the Port Gamble Paranormal Newsletter was delivered to the inboxes of more than two hundred locals.

 

The Walker-Ames has been featured on A&E’s “My Ghost Story” and Port Gamble has been the setting for ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction, New York Times Best Selling Author Gregg Olsen’s young adult Empty Coffin series, as well as the new web series: Thornbrook.