The Ghosts of Kells Irish Restaurant & Pub

Posted: 07.31.2024 | Updated: 07.31.2024

Kells Irish Pub, nestled within the historic Butterworth Building in Seattle, is not your typical restaurant or pub. While it offers a warm atmosphere, hearty meals, and a great selection of drinks, something else is simmering beneath the surface. Once a mortuary, this establishment has a history drenched in death and shadow. The very entrance you walk through was once where the dead were wheeled in, and the lingering spirits of those souls seem to have never fully departed. 

Who haunts Kells Irish Restaurant & Pub?

 It is said that the bodies that arrived here were patients of a doctor named Linda Hazard, who was known to starve her patients as a form of treatment. Read on to learn more about the horrors that occurred in this building. To hear about them in person, book a ghost tour with Seattle Terrors! 

A Darkened History

 The Butterworth Building, located at 1921 First Avenue, originally housed the Butterworth & Sons mortuary. Opening its doors in 1903, the building served as Seattle's first dedicated mortuary, providing all services related to death—including the sale of coffins. The mortuary was in operation until 1923, after which the building changed hands but never quite shook off its morbid past. Its location on a steep hill gives it an unusual structure, with three stories visible from one side and five from the other. Today, it stands as a historic landmark, an eerie testament to its former life, just steps away from Pike Place Market.The building's original purpose was to house and prepare the dead, offering services that were unprecedented in the city at the time. It even boasted the first elevator on the West Coast, used to transport bodies between floors. A newspaper article from that era described the mortuary as one of the most complete establishments of its kind in the nation—a place where the grieving could find solace in well-appointed rooms and ornate chapels. The building still retains its stained mahogany woodwork and antique glass, silent witnesses to the sorrow and loss once contained within its walls. 

A Building of Many Purposes

 The Butterworth Building was designed with practicality in mind, yet its very configuration adds to the building's mystery. The upper floors were originally flats for employees, accessible through a separate entrance. Below this, the floors housed showrooms for coffins, burial garments, and a consultation room where grieving families could make final arrangements. The main floor, which faces First Avenue, held the morgue, embalming rooms, and private offices. A funeral chapel on this floor could accommodate up to 150 people, with an additional 50 on the balcony, which also had a space for a choir.The floor below the main floor, though still above ground, contained fireproof vaults where bodies could be stored indefinitely—an essential feature in a time when families often took days or even weeks to decide on burial arrangements. And then, there was the basement, a place now home to Kells Irish Pub.Once, it served as the hub for the building's heating systems and stables for the funeral wagons. There are whispers that the basement was also the site of cremations and embalming, though other sources suggest it merely housed storage spaces. Either way, the basement's grim history seeps into the present-day pub, where spirits of a different sort are said to linger. 

The Spirits That Remain

 The Butterworth Building was once a place where the dead were prepared for their final rest, but it seems some souls have refused to move on. Kells Irish Pub, occupying the basement of this former mortuary, is reputedly one of Seattle's most haunted spots. The building’s sinister past seems to have left an indelible mark, with unexplained activity reported frequently by staff and patrons alike.Among the spirits that are said to haunt the pub, two are particularly well-known. The first is a little girl with striking red hair. She is a mischievous spirit, often seen playing pranks on adults. But her real interest lies in interacting with children who visit the pub during the day. This ghostly child has been known to manipulate objects and even create toys for her young visitors.Who she is remains a mystery, but many believe she could be one of the countless children who died during the 1918 flu pandemic. Her presence is both sad and unsettling—she seems to be forever searching for a playmate, stuck between the world of the living and the dead.The second ghost is a figure known as Charlie. Charlie is an older man, often spotted in the reflection of the Guinness mirror behind the bar. He is usually seen wearing a derby hat, a relic of a bygone era, and seems to be a social spirit who enjoys the lively atmosphere of the pub. Charlie often makes his presence known during live music performances as if he’s drawn to the energy and joy of the living. Despite his spectral form, Charlie exudes a sense of warmth and contentment, as though he’s found peace in this place that bridges life and death.

Eerie Occurrences and Haunted Tales

 The hauntings at Kells Irish Pub are not confined to ghostly sightings. The building itself seems to pulse with unexplained activity. Glasses slide off tables and bars without any apparent cause, mirrors shatter spontaneously, and plaster falls from the walls with unsettling frequency. These incidents have been witnessed by both employees and patrons, contributing to the pub's eerie reputation.Even those who are skeptical of the unearthly can’t help but feel the weight of history pressing down on them as they enjoy their drinks. The very space they occupy was once filled with the grieving and the dead, and the echoes of that sorrow seem to resonate in the air. Visitors have reported feeling sudden drops in temperature, hearing disembodied whispers, and sensing an inexplicable presence watching them from the shadows. 

Haunted Seattle

 Kells Irish Pub in the Butterworth Building is not just a place to enjoy a pint and a meal—it’s a gateway to a darker past, where the spirits of the dead seem to coexist with the living. From the playful ghost of a little girl to the amiable Charlie, the pub’s spectral inhabitants are as much a part of its character as the food and drink. These ghosts, it seems, are drawn to the warmth and life of the pub, soaking up the positive energy that flows through the space.They don’t mean to frighten, but their presence is a reminder that some places are forever marked by their past. When you visit, keep an eye out for a glimmer in the mirror, or a chill at your back—you might just catch a glimpse of the spirits that still call this place home.Check out our blog for more haunted tales of Seattle, and to see some of the city's most haunted locations, book a ghost tour with Seattle Terrors! Sources:https://www.irishcentral.com/culture/craic/ghost-america-haunted-irish-pubhttps://www.ghostlyactivities.com/kells-pub-seattles-haunted-bar/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterworth_Buildinghttps://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2120147/Haunted-Irish-pub-sits-site-1900s-Seattle-mortuary.html