Spooky sights: Exploring Washington's ghost towns, abandoned areas

Officially granted statehood over a century after the Declaration of Independence was signed by the founding fathers, the state of Washington is a relative newcomer in American history.

But just because it's newer to the union by a hundred years doesn't mean there aren't plenty of desolate, abandoned areas littering the state.

The truth is there's a handful of ghost towns around the state, all of which are just waiting for visitors to stop by and enjoy the sights of industrial decay and time gone by.

But if you're not up to the drive, or you haven't fully steeled yourself yet to wander around a desolate area that may or may not be haunted by past inhabitants, keep reading to "visit" nearly a few of the state's different ghost towns.

1. Washaway Beach

Once known as Cape Shoalwater, the community of North Cove in northwest Pacific County has gone by a different name for many years: Washaway Beach.

This is due to aggressive erosion that has claimed an average of more than 100 feet per year since the late 1800s, making it the fastest-eroding shoreline on the West Coast. The cause of erosion involves dredging and damming of the Columbia River which began in the nineteenth century.

Since then, erosion has claimed more than 1,000 feet of land, destroyed more than 100 homes, a lighthouse, a life-saving station, a clam cannery, a school and a Grange Hall.

In 1977 the pioneer cemetery was moved across State Route 105, which also had to be relocated due to the erosion. While many people have abandoned Washaway Beach, others have made their way there to live on the edge, for however long the ocean allows.

2. Molson

This ghost town in Okanogan County serves as a memorial to Washington's mining past. Founded by promoter George Meacham and financed by John. W. Molson, the town straddling the Canadian border boomed just before the turn of the twentieth century with the discovery of gold rich ore.

The town was home to a hotel, newspaper, saloon, general store and schoolhouse, swelling to a population of 300 by 1900. But its glory was short lived, and by 1901 the population was dwindling as only one mine was producing ore.

While a railroad stop on the Great Northern Railroad kept the town relevant, a land dispute followed as Meacham never registered the title to the land. After a local farmer seized the land, the remaining town moved a half mile away. The ore supply was depleted in 1935, and many residents departed Molson, leaving it to the test of time.

Now, it is an open air museum where residents can walk around  and imagine what frontier life was like back in the early twentieth century.

3. Fort Columbia

Built in 1896, Fort Columbia served as military base until 1947 and was given to Washington state parks in 1950. At the height of its use, the fort operated like a small town and featured a hospital, firehouse, theater and a jail.

Along with the soldiers, there were also bakers, barbers, gardeners and musicians stationed at the fort near the mouth of the Columbia River.

During the two world wars, the population of the fort exceeded that of the neighboring towns of Chinook, McGowen, Megler and Knappton.

4. Camp Grisdale

When Camp Grisdale was opened by the Simpson Timber Company in 1946 it was one of a kind. The tiny logging village located in the woods, 35 miles north of Montesano, was the first planned community for lumberjacks and their families.

The camp contained 52 family homes, a two-room schoolhouse, a company store and bunkhouses for bachelor loggers.

When the camp was closed 39 years later, in 1985, it was the last logging camp operating in the contiguous United States. Today, Grisdale is an overgrown wooded area in the Olympic National Forest.

5. Monte Cristo

In the 1890s, a mining boom brought thousands of men to Monte Cristo, an isolated area nestled in the mountains of the Cascade Range along the eastern edge of today's Snohomish County.

Inhabitants flocked, mills popped up and railways were constructed — all part of a dream that faded by 1907.

Monte Cristo is a ghost town today, despite multiple attempts at making it a resort destination. Frederick Trump, grandfather of the 45th President of the United States, even purchased a hotel there for miners during its heyday.

The famous ghost town can be accessed via a four-mile hike through the forest, starting at the Barlow Pass Trailhead.

5. Old Fortson Mill

Even though the tiny town of Fortson has drifted into the past, what is left behind is a clear reminder of where men worked and families lived — embodied in the form of the ruins of the Old Fortson Mill.

The mill was established in 1905 as the McCaughey Mill Co. during a boom of sawmills in the area, and the population grew to 300 in the following decades. The mill was sold in 1954 and later dismantled, leaving behind the ruins of is former prosperity.

While steam no longer billows from smokestacks, the mill still exudes the presence of a place that was vital in its day and continues to remain as a rich reminder of Washington history.

The Old Fortson Mill is seven miles west of Darrington, a town near the site of the catastrophic mudslide that occurred in March 2014.

6. Redmond's Nike Missile

Abandoned by the U.S. Army and overtaken by nature, a former Nike Site S-13/14 missile site slowly rots into the earth in Redmond, Washington. During the Cold War, the nuclear-tipped missiles at these sites were America's last-ditch defense against the threat of a nuclear bomber attack by the Soviet Union.

Decommissioned in 1974 from its original purpose, the area is currently owned by the Lake Washington School District and was previously used for the district's NEVAC work study programs.

The radar site to the west of the launchers has been renovated and is now owned by the United States Air Force. The radars have been removed and portions of the site have been converted into "Nike Park."

The site was bulldozed in 2019 according to Atlas Obscura, but the foundations of this Cold War relic still remain.

7. Selleck

Founded in 1908 by the Pacific States Lumber Company, Selleck in King County is located approximately 30 mile east of Kent.

Following the 1923 Great Kanto earthquake in Tokyo, many Japanese workers came to Selleck to work in the mill and lived in a nearby — and now nonexistent — area dubbed "Lavender Town."

The company town was estimated to be home to 900 people at its peak.

The mill closed in 1937 on the heels of the Depression, and the Pacific States Lumber Company later declared bankruptcy. Selleck is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places and as a King County landmark.

8. Northern State

Established in 1909, Northern State Mental Hospital was once the largest facility for mentally ill patients in Washington. Now, its dilapidated remains are a part of Northern State Recreation Area in Skagit County.

The hospital was built to relieve overcrowding at Western State Hospital. It created a town unto itself, complete with staff housing, a water reservoir, lumber mill, steam plant, greenhouse, canning facilities, library, laundry, bakery and dairy.

The hospital officially closed in 1976, and some structures were demolished.

Though it's off limits to the public, accessible trails wind along the property's pastures, barns, milking shed, cannery, and cemetery, which marks the resting place of at least 1,500 people.

9. Govan

Not much remains of this once prosperous farming town south of the Grand Coulee Dam in Lincoln County. Once a stop on the Central Washington Railway in the early days of Washington's statehood, the town grew to a population over 100 by the 1900s and included a post office, school, two churches and several businesses.

The downfall of the town began in 1927 after a fire destroyed the town's business district. But the final nail in the coffin for Govan was when it was bypassed by Highway 2 in 1933.

Its famous among Washington ghost towns for being home to several unsolved murders, including the axe murder of Judge J.A. Lewis and his wife in 1902. The Wilbur Register reported that it was "most brutal crime ever committed in this county."

Now, the population of the entire community dwindles at just three — unless you count the ghosts, that is.