Читать книгу Spooked in Seattle - Ross Allison - Страница 20

Due to his unappealing public image, bizarre political events, and recent hospital escape, he was urged to not run for reelection. Refusing to step down, he came back to Seattle to avoid arrests and began his independent, nonparty-supported reelection campaign. It was at the Arctic Building, that Zioncheck turned the fifth and sixth floors into his campaign headquarters. On August 1 Marion learned that his good friend and co-worker, Warren G. Magnuson, was running against him. This and a rumor that incriminating evidence would become public knowledge if he did not step down may have led to his last days.

On that fateful day of August 7, he completed his will and a farewell note declaring: “My only hope in life was to improve the condition of an unfair economic system that held no promise to those that all the wealth of even a decent chance to survive let alone live.” Marion then told his brother-in-law that he was going to grab his jacket and stepped back into his office. Moments later, waiting near the car on the street below, his brother-in-law watched in horror as Zioncheck fell from the window of his fifth-floor office. His body struck the pavement on Third Avenue directly in front of the entrance of the Arctic Club and just outside of the car occupied by his wife. Here, his body remained for several hours until a coroner could be called to assess the situation.

To this day, members of Zioncheck’s family believe that he was murdered—pushed out the window—and that the note left behind was not written by him. A private investigator who studied body positions of people who jumped from high places versus those that were pushed concluded that Zioncheck was pushed. Zioncheck had several run-ins with FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover; once Zioncheck had a truckload of manure dumped on Hoover’s front steps. Some believed that Hoover was indirectly responsible for Zioncheck’s death. Whether it was suicide or murder, many believe Marion is still around for some reason or another.

Folks staying at the Arctic Club have witnessed their share of the bizarre. It seems there are plenty of ghost stories to keep any ghost enthusiast entertained for the night.

The Fourth Floor: Here, guest and employees have described hearing a phantom whistler. These harmonic sounds echo through the halls in the south end. Most times it can be heard in the Nutcracker Suite when no one is around. It is also here that some have felt chills or cold spots.

The Fifth Floor: During the early 1970’s there were reports of people hearing ghostly footsteps, the sounds of breathing, and even feeling his presence. This kept the west-end offices vacant for a long time. At one time the police department had offices on the fifth and the sixth floors, and staff would hear what sounded like someone in the office with them, but to their surprise they were utterly alone. The interesting thing is that these reoccurring events always took place near the desk by the window from which Marion had jumped.

What was once his office is now divided into rooms for overnight guests. Be sure to check out rooms 509, 511, 513, 517, and 519. Room 517 is the room from which Zioncheck jumped. Within these rooms some have heard the haunting footsteps of someone pacing back and forth at the foot of the bed, along with feeling an icy breeze. Zioncheck’s apparition has been seen roaming about on the fifth floor as well.

The Sixth Floor: In 1996 the Civil Service Commission occupied this floor. It was near the thirtieth anniversary of Marion’s death when one of the senior staff had a night she’ll never forget. It all started when she was doing some late-night work alone in the building at around 8 p.m. She was greeted by an empty elevator that stopped for no reason on the fifth floor, as if someone were getting off. She then proceeded to the area where she was running copies of reports to be ready for the next morning’s meeting. While she ran from room to room, she would leave the lights on to guide her way through the dark halls, only to find when she returned the lights would be shut off. Thinking at first it might just be the security guard working the building, she continued to turn lights back on, only again to find them off when she came back. These events continued throughout the night until she was ready to leave. As she approached the elevators, again to her surprise, before touching the call button, the doors opened to reveal an empty elevator. Was Marion being the gentleman by assisting her for the night?

Events similar to this had been reported for years prior to her encounter. Many had seen lights go off and on by themselves and had heard the sounds of muffled talking only to discover they are completely alone.

The Elevators: Many believe that Marion likes to play with the elevators. Here employees and guests find the elevators are constantly called to the fifth floor for no reason. The doors will open and close on their own to reveal no living presence inside. One woman felt him in the elevator with her as she descended alone to the lobby. Another claims to have seen his ghostly figure in the reflection of the mirrors inside. Other stories talk about feeling a chilling breeze escape the elevators when the doors open. Some say don’t be surprised if you happen to ride the elevator down from the upper floors to find it stop on the fifth floor for no apparent reason.

Outside: If you happen to walk by the building on Third Avenue, you may pause to feel a cold spot on the location where his body landed just outside of the hotel’s entrance. You may even get the chills, feel a heaviness, or even get dizzy.

Zioncheck may have been forgotten from political and Seattle history, but for the Arctic Club, he still lives on (at least in a spiritual form). Maybe this is his way of leaving his mark in Seattle. One thing we can’t deny—Marion Zioncheck had a great run.

See also: University of Washington in The University District

Evergreen-Washelli Cemetery in Seattle Cemeteries

MOTHER DAMNABLE

Southwest corner of First and Jackson Streets

Here was where Seattle’s first hotel once stood. Named the Felker House, it was run by Mary Ann Conklin, more likely to be known as “Mother Damnable.” Conklin received this name due to her fiery temper and profane vocabulary that was equally colorful in French, Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese, and German. Born Mary Ann Boyer in 1821, she married a Russian sea captain of a whaling ship, David W. “Bull” Conklin, in 1851. In 1853 he abandoned her in Port Townsend, Washington, as he sailed off to Alaska. She made her way to Seattle and took up shop with Captain Leonard Felker and ran his local hotel. Eventually, the second floor of the hotel was turned into a well-known brothel run by Mother herself. When the Battle of Seattle approached, Navy military wanted to improve Seattle’s defenses by building a road that would pass by the hotel. This threatened the huge bushes surrounding the hotel that secured the discretion of her well-to-do customers. According to memoirs of Thomas Stowell Phelps, the navigator of the U.S. Decatur:

…the moment our men appeared upon the scene, with three dogs at her heels, and an apron filled with rocks, this termagant would come tearing from the house, and the way stones, oaths, and curses flew was something fearful to contemplate, and, charging like a fury, with the dogs wild to flash their teeth in the detested invaders, the division invariably gave way before the storm, fleeing, officers and all, as if old Satan himself was after them.

Mother Damnable died in 1873, but her stubbornness still carried on even after death. Her remains where buried in the Seattle Cemetery, later converted into Denny Park in 1884. Her body was then moved to Volunteer Park and then once again to Lake View Cemetery on Capitol Hill. The workers were surprised it took half a dozen men to lift her coffin from the ground. Her coffin weighed close to thirteen hundred pounds. Curious about the weight, they opened the coffin and found her body had calcified, turned to stone with all details still remaining, even the wickedest smirk on her face. Once word spread about Mother Damnable’s condition, PT Barnum of Barnum & Bailey Circus fame, offered a great sum of money to obtain the remains of Mother Damnable for his famous sideshows of freaks. However the city of Seattle refused to part with her body and placed the hardened corpse back into the Seattle soil. It is also believed that maybe her body wasn’t moved at all, and she may still be resting somewhere in the heart of downtown Seattle.