Seattle's Palace of Eternal Rest
Standing prominently on First Hill, the Butterworth Building once served as Seattle's most prestigious and influential funeral establishment, handling the final arrangements for thousands of the city's residents from 1903 to 1966. This imposing structure, with its somber facade and carefully designed interior spaces, was more than just a business—it was a sacred institution where families said their final farewells to loved ones and where the ritual of death was conducted with dignity and reverence. But the decades of grief, loss, and spiritual transition that occurred within these walls have left an indelible supernatural imprint that continues to this day. The Butterworth Building is now home to one of Seattle's most concentrated collections of ghostly activity, where the spirits of the deceased, their grieving families, and the morticians who served them refuse to accept that their business with death has concluded. Within these halls, the boundary between life and death remains permanently blurred, creating a supernatural environment where the living must share space with those who have passed beyond the veil.
The Butterworth Dynasty of Death
The Butterworth Building was established by Edgar Ray Butterworth, a visionary mortician who arrived in Seattle in 1903 and quickly recognized the need for a modern, professional funeral establishment in the rapidly growing city. Butterworth had trained in the latest embalming techniques and funeral practices in the East, and he brought a level of sophistication to Seattle's death care industry that had never existed before. The building he constructed was designed specifically for funeral operations, featuring preparation rooms, viewing parlors, a chapel, and living quarters for the Butterworth family, creating a complete death care facility that could handle every aspect of funeral services. During its six decades of operation, Butterworth & Sons became synonymous with dignified death care in Seattle, handling the funerals of prominent citizens, city officials, business leaders, and thousands of ordinary residents who deserved the same level of respect in death as they had received in life. The mortuary's records tell a haunting story of Seattle's growth, documenting deaths from industrial accidents, the 1918 influenza pandemic, two world wars, and the various tragedies that befell a frontier city transforming into a modern metropolis. The building's basement housed the embalming rooms where bodies were prepared for their final journey, while the upper floors contained ornate viewing rooms where families gathered to mourn and remember their loved ones. The Butterworth family lived in apartments within the building, making their home literally above the business of death, and several family members died within the building's walls, adding their own spirits to its supernatural population. As Seattle evolved and funeral practices changed, the Butterworth Building eventually closed its doors as a mortuary in 1966, but the spiritual energy accumulated over sixty-three years of death and mourning had become permanently embedded in its structure.
The Eternal Funeral Party
The Butterworth Building's most prominent spirit is Edgar Ray Butterworth himself, whose ghost appears as a distinguished gentleman in formal Victorian attire, often seen walking the halls as if still conducting business and ensuring that proper funeral protocols are maintained. His presence is strongest in the building's former office areas, where he can be seen reviewing phantom paperwork and greeting invisible clients with the same professional courtesy he showed in life. Witnesses report that his spirit seems particularly concerned with maintaining the dignity of the building, straightening furniture, adjusting picture frames, and ensuring that everything remains in perfect order as befitting a proper funeral establishment. The building's former chapel area is haunted by 'The Widow in Black,' believed to be the spirit of Mrs. Catherine Morrison, who died of grief while attending her husband's funeral in 1924 and whose spirit has never left the building where she experienced her greatest loss. She appears as a figure in Victorian mourning dress, often seen sitting in the chapel's front row as if attending an eternal service, her presence accompanied by the sound of quiet sobbing and the scent of funeral lilies. The building's basement, where embalming took place, hosts the collective spirits of 'The Waiting Dead,' souls who died before their time and whose spirits lingered in the preparation rooms where their bodies received final care. These spirits appear as translucent figures lying on phantom embalming tables, their presence felt as sudden temperature drops and the sensation of being watched by unseen eyes. The former viewing rooms are visited by 'The Mourning Mother,' thought to be the ghost of a woman who lost three children to diphtheria in 1912 and who returns to the building seeking the comfort she never found in life, her spirit appearing to console other grieving souls and living visitors who experience loss. The building's upper floors, where the Butterworth family lived, are haunted by several family members who died in the building, their domestic spirits maintaining the household routines they followed when death and family life were intimately intertwined.
Supernatural Funeral Services
The Butterworth Building experiences its most intense paranormal activity during the late evening and early morning hours, times traditionally associated with death and the preparation of bodies for funeral services. The building's vintage elevator operates independently, traveling between floors as if carrying invisible passengers to phantom funeral services, its brass gates opening and closing with no living operators present. Visitors report hearing the sound of funeral music—organs, hymns, and mourning songs—emanating from the former chapel area even though no instruments remain in the building, as if eternal services continue for the countless souls who passed through these doors. The building's plumbing systems carry more than water, with visitors reporting the sound of running water in preparation rooms that have been dry for decades, and the lingering scent of embalming chemicals that permeates certain areas despite decades of disuse. Electronic devices malfunction throughout the building in ways that suggest supernatural manipulation, with cameras capturing images of funeral arrangements that aren't physically present and recording equipment picking up conversations about burial arrangements and funeral plans that echo from the building's mortuary past. The building's windows fog up from the inside, displaying messages written in condensation by invisible hands, often including names of deceased persons and funeral service information from the Butterworth archives. Cold spots appear throughout the building in specific patterns that correspond to where caskets were once displayed and where grieving families gathered to pay their final respects. Security guards and maintenance workers report encountering funeral processions of translucent figures moving through the hallways, complete with pallbearers carrying phantom caskets and mourners dressed in period funeral attire. The building's basement preparation rooms experience the most concentrated supernatural activity, with the sound of embalming procedures, the movement of medical instruments, and the presence of morticians who continue their work on clients who have long since been buried.
Paying Respects to the Restless Dead
The Butterworth Building currently operates as a commercial space and event venue, allowing visitors to experience its haunted history while respecting the sacred nature of its former purpose as Seattle's premier funeral establishment. The building's owners have preserved many of the original architectural features, including the chapel, viewing rooms, and office spaces, providing visitors with an authentic glimpse into early 20th-century funeral practices and the dignity with which Seattle's dead were honored. Guided tours are occasionally available through historical societies and paranormal investigation groups, offering access to areas of the building where supernatural activity is most concentrated, including the basement preparation rooms and the former chapel where countless funeral services were conducted. Photography enthusiasts find the building's period details and funeral-related architecture perfect for capturing the somber elegance of traditional American funeral practices, though many report unusual anomalies in their photos, including figures in funeral attire and unexplained shadows in empty rooms. The building's location on First Hill provides easy access to other historic Seattle sites, and many ghost tours include the Butterworth Building as part of broader explorations of the city's most haunted locations. Visitors interested in funeral history and death care practices can research the building's extensive archives and speak with local historians who have documented the Butterworth family's contributions to Seattle's development. The venue's event spaces can be rented for private gatherings, offering visitors the unique opportunity to hold their own events in rooms where thousands of funeral services once provided comfort to grieving families. Those visiting the building should approach their experience with reverence and respect, understanding that the Butterworth Building represents a sacred space where the most profound human emotions of grief, love, and loss have created lasting spiritual connections that continue to manifest in supernatural form, making it one of Seattle's most genuinely haunted and emotionally powerful locations.
The solemn exterior that housed Seattle's premier mortuary
The chapel where phantom services continue for eternity
The basement where Seattle's dead received final care
