Seattle’s Pike’s Place Market, Part ll

Most tourists do not know that Pike’s Place Market is haunted.

Over the years many witnesses have seen an old lady--most often on the lower level. She appears so real that many witnesses do not figure out they have seen a ghost until afterward.

It is said this ghost was the eldest daughter of Chief Sealth--which through misspellings and mispronunciations became “Seattle.”  Her Duwamish name was Kikisoblu but the early Anglo settlers in the area named her Princess Angeline.

In 1855, the Treaty of Point Elliot required the Duwamish leave their land for a reservation. Princess Angeline ignored the order and stayed in Seattle.

She lived in a waterfront shack where the market sits today. She survived by taking in laundry and selling hand woven baskets along the street.

Princess Angeline's shack.
Photo: Edward Curtis

She was a well-known figure in the city. She walked bent over with a cane. She always wore a handkerchief on her head and a shawl around her shoulders.

Princess Angeline
Photo: Edward Curtis

One reason it is known what she looked like is a young photographer at the time--Edward Curtis took many pictures of her.

When Princess Angeline died at the age of 84 in 1896 the citizens of Seattle gave her a big funeral. She was buried in a casket that was made to look like a canoe.

Her ghost has haunted the Market for decades. She appears so life like most witnesses at first are just taken aback by the sight of this odd old woman.

In Leslie Rule’s book entitled, Ghosts Among Us she tells a story about one of her friends when she was a teen growing up in Seattle. Her friends and her often rode the bus downtown and hung out in the market in the 1970s--this was when it was still a hippie hang out.

One day one of her friends went to the Market alone, while there she saw a sight that upset her. She saw an old woman she described as being a Native American.

This woman stared at her with piercing eyes that sent a chill down her spine. She was extremely old, toothless and wore a shawl. A smell of decay clung to her.

She muttered something, which the teen could not understand. She told Rule later that she wondered if this old lady was an evil witch that cast a spell on her. Rule’s friend was so frightened she has never gone back to the market.

Several years later when Rule heard other stories about Princess Angeline she wondered if this was the odd lady her friend saw.

In recent years, one shop owner on the lower level who sales beads saw an older woman dressed strangly in her store looking at beads in the back. When she approached this woman to ask if she needed assistance she disappeared.

She made inquiries and heard the story about Princess Angeline’s ghost. She has continued to see her ghost in her shop--she is now more comfortable with this sight. The owner states the ghost always checks out her beads in the back--then she fades away.

One day the shop owner saw her walk right through the back wall.

Most witnesses state the Princess moves slowly. Some state she even glows--in shades of lavender, blue and pink.

Other witnesses have seen a young Native American boy walking with her. The shop owner of the bead store has seen this ghost as well.

Lower levels where ghost has been seen.

It is said her ghost is felt near a central wooden column in the lower level. This area is always cold and several people who have taken pictures in this area have discovered anomalies in their photos.

In Part l of Seattle’s Pike’s Place Market the history of this historic market is shared.