The Ghosts of Post Alley Past

What is that?! A shot of the haunted back bar area of Kells, and a possible ghostly sighting.
Photograph by Erinn Unger

By Antonia Greco

When people say the Pike Place Market has a lot of soul, you have no idea how right they are. Day to day, amongst the hustle and bustle of the khaki-offending tourists and locals adrift, the market is abundant with the presence of restless spirits and ghosts alike.

“They’re all around us. They only make their presence known when they have something to tell us,” says Karen McAleese of Kells Irish Restaurant and Pub.

Kells, which resides at 1916 Post Alley, is the ground floor of the 5-story hulking, brick edifice formerly known as the E.R. Butterworth funeral home. 1921 First Avenue, which is the buildings main entrance, was the former chapel area of the funeral home and in more recent years, was the former location of the now closed Starlight Lounge. Kells, on the other hand, occupies the former embalming room of the funeral home, making it a haven for un-earthly like occurrences.

Paranormal activity at Kells is believed to be centered around the spirit of a three-year old girl with red hair who plays in the southern half of the bar.

When people often ask: “Why would a three-year old hang out a bar?,” McAleese is quick to answer with “It’s a family restaurant, too. She knows it’s ok for her to be here. We’ve told her it’s ok.”

In fact, one afternoon a few years ago, a customer’s child was playing in the back area of the restaurant where the three-year old girl is said to play. The child ran to her mother saying, “She has a dress, too!” When the mother asked the child whom she was talking about, the child pointed to the little girl, but no one was there.

Owner, Ethna McAleese, claims although she has never seen the little girl, she has however, seen her fair share of unusualness in the establishments’ 25 years of operation.

“Any ghost we ever saw we didn’t see any clothes or hair color - just a gray figure” comments [Ethhna] McAleese.

Although Kells has been consecrated three times now that has not been enough to keep the restless spirits at bay. After all, Kells doesn’t keep a bottle of holy water on the shelf of the bar for nothing.

One of the very first paranormal occurrences at Kells occurred shortly before the initial consecration, when a bottle of Jameson fell off of the top shelf not only not breaking, but landing strategically on a row of pint glasses.

“It landed just so, on top of the glasses as if someone had placed it there. Joe (Ethna’s husband) needed a wee taste after that just to calm his nerves,” jokes [Ethna] McAleese.

For some people, seeing is believing. For others, hearing is believing.

Hannes Schindler, former Kells bartender and current co-owner of The Post, located next door to Kells, has also had his taste of ghostly experience during his tenure at Kells. On one of his very first closing shifts by himself, he was left running for the door, literally, when en route to dropping off his money in the safe, he heard – something.

“It sounded like screeching voices asking to be freed.”

Needless to say, he fled the bar without looking back. He never closed by himself again after that.

“They hate change,” explains Patrick McAleese, Karen’s brother.

During times of change in the business’s 25 years of operation, weird activity has always been prevalent, especially during periods of reconstruction. As a matter of fact, when the back bar of the restaurant was undergoing work, a contractor who was doing his labor in the wee hours of the morning, was forced to truncate his efforts when he noticed an apparition sitting in a booth watching him as he worked.

Think I am lying or just telling you a scary story in time for Halloween? Trust me, I am not.

I can attest to this because I worked at Kells for more than two years and have had several err, experiences, to speak about with conviction.

My first “experience” occurred during a routine night shift at Kells. Since Kells provides live Irish music every night - and because I have my own pipe dreams of being famous - I would often go on stage and sing with Liam Gallagher, (no, not the guy from Oasis), but our very own, Liam, who is the house musician for Kells.

As I sang my own rendition of “Me and Bobby McGee,” I noticed out of the corner of my eye, a man with a wide brimmed hat and a bolo tie, sitting in the southeast corner table of the bar. When I turned to look over at what I had thought was an empty table, the man had disappeared.

“He comes and goes. Every once in a while he’ll appear during the end of a set,” Gallagher assured me as he, too, is familiar with this mysterious man.

As for the little girl, have I ever seen her? The answer: no. However, I do believe she exists after having witnessed a stack of pint glasses mysteriously come crashing to floor for no rhyme or reason, ironically enough, in the same corner of the bar where the little girl is said to play. Coincidence?

By this point, you may be asking yourself, “Ok, so why do ghosts still wander about?” Although no one knows the answer to this for sure, there are numerous theories as to why ghosts still linger. Some attribute it to unfinished business, tragic or sudden death, or attachment to a particular place.

In [Ethna] McAleese’s opinion: “They’re asking us to pray for them. They have no one to pray for them.”

However, Celinda Norton, owner of the restaurant 94 Stewart in the Market, begs to differ. She believes spirits come back mostly to re-visit their past and to take care of any unfinished business.

94 Stewart, which occupies the space that used to serve as the loading and unloading zone for trucks and hearses, has a bit of a ghost problem itself, as Norton frequently encounters one of the drivers that is still hard at work.

“He’s always running, just back and forth, back and forth. He’s about six feet tall.
The first time I ever saw him I didn’t really think it was anything. I caught him out of the corner or my eye. I thought it was my contact at first. It’s very easy to discount a lot of what you see.”

Coincidentally enough, the particular area of 94 Stewart where the garage doors once used to be, was once a very problematic area for Norton to seat guests. Problems would always occur at both of the tables in that section. And forget about seating kids there. According to Norton, “Anytime we sat children in that area they’d cry and cry and cry. I had to turn that area into a wine rack.”

Still convinced that ghosts don’t exist?

Two weeks ago, as [Karen] McAleese arrived at Kells, she was greeted by a paranormal medium who unexpectedly came to Kells to assess the ghost activity.

“They told me you’d be coming soon,” the medium told McAleese, referring to the nine spirits that he counted present.

The medium had Karen sit quietly as he began his assessment. He informed McAleese of all of the spirits present, including the little girl who we now know died of influenza at age 3, McAleese’s late grandparents and recently deceased Kells patron, Christoper Sayles.

Sayles, who was in fact one of my regular customers and better known as the “Irish Stepdancer,” died suddenly this past summer at the age of 35.

“Chris wants you to know he is here,” the medium informed Karen.

Have I convinced you yet?

If not, head to Post Alley tonight and check it out for yourself - and on what better night than Halloween? You might not see any ghosts but be sure to take a picture while you are there, you might at least see an orb. “I don’t think Halloween itself will make the spirits want to come out more so than on any other day," Norton said. "But maybe just to laugh at all of us.”

The back bar area of Kells, in Post Alley. Supposedly, the area is haunted.
Photograph by Erinn Unger

The front hallway to the dining area at 94 Stewart. The ghostly figure of a man has been seen running up and down this hall, presumably because this area used to be a offloading garage for hearses visiting the mortuary next door, where Kells is currently.
Photograph by Erinn Unger