Haunted hotel guide · Tokeland, Washington
Haunted Tokeland Hotel: Charley, Room 7 and the Ghost Cat of Washington's Oldest Resort Hotel
A wooden farmhouse hotel at the end of a peninsula on Willapa Bay, with a ghost named Charley, a cat nobody can see and a logbook of guest encounters going back decades.
The Tokeland Hotel stands alone at the tip of Toke Point, on the north shore of Willapa Bay, about as far from city lights as a hotel in Washington can be. It began as the Kindred family’s farmhouse in 1885, opened to guests as the Kindred Inn, and grew into the long, C-shaped building it is today by 1910. Billed as the state’s oldest resort hotel, it has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978 and is one of the most charming haunted hotels in Washington.
It is also one of the most talked-about. A guest logbook kept at the hotel holds 50 or more accounts of shadowy figures, taps in the night and things moving on their own, most of them about Room 7 and a ghost known as Charley. Guests also describe an invisible cat that jumps onto the bed. Below we cover the stories, the family history behind them and how to plan your stay.
Tokeland Hotel at a glance
Haunted Rooms Score
- Address 2964 Kindred Ave, Tokeland, WA 98590, on the north shore of Willapa Bay
- Built Farmhouse 1885; opened as the Kindred Inn 1899; C-shaped wing added 1910; on the National Register since 1978
- Most haunted spots Room 7, Room 4, the parlor fireplace, the dining room and the upstairs halls
- Best-known ghosts Charley, a Chinese immigrant said to have died behind the fireplace; a ghost cat; Albert Brown, a boy who drowned in 1866
- Booking the haunted room Rooms 4 and 7 are the rooms named in the hotel’s ghost stories. Room numbers are not shown when you book online, so call or email and ask for one.
- Good to know 17 rooms upstairs, all sharing hallway bathrooms (two with clawfoot tubs). No TVs, no air conditioning. Dogs only in pet-friendly rooms and cabins. The Wandering Goose restaurant is downstairs.
The ghosts of the Tokeland Hotel
Charley behind the fireplace
The hotel’s main ghost is called Charley. General manager Nic Krause told MyNorthwest in 2019 that he had pieced the story together from accounts: Charley was a Chinese immigrant around the turn of the last century who had been brought in as an indentured worker and escaped. He found work at the hotel, and when the men who claimed him came looking, staff hid him in a small space behind the parlor fireplace. A fire was lit, and Charley is said to have died there from the smoke.
That small room behind the fireplace is still there and is used to store firewood. Krause says Charley gets the blame for most of what guests report, and older versions of the story say he throws or spins plates in the dining room. No record confirms who Charley was, and our original page dated his death to the 1930s, while the hotel’s account places it around 1900. Treat the details as a story the hotel has kept alive rather than documented history.
Room 7
Most of the entries in the logbook center on Room 7. Krause says it is where guests most often report something, even though no known tragedy is tied to the room. Earlier ghost lists claimed a murder may have happened there; there is no evidence for that.
Guests describe the feeling of not being alone, shadows, tapping in the night and objects that move. Room 4 is the other room linked to the hauntings. Elsewhere upstairs, two guests who were alone in the hotel emailed staff at 4 a.m. about rhythmic knocking in the walls of Room 9. Staff found nothing.
The ghost cat
The gentlest story is about a cat. Local historian Elisa Law, who was married at the hotel, told MyNorthwest that on every visit she feels an invisible cat jump onto the foot of the bed and walk around her feet. Other guests describe the same thing.
Law also said a doorknob kept falling off the door of her wedding party’s room. Staff and guests have recently reported flashes of light with no obvious source.
Albert Brown and the washed-up tombstones
The hotel’s land was settled by the Brown family in 1858. Their son Albert died as a boy in 1866, drowned in a slough on the bay, and his half-brother Leonidas Norris died in a shooting accident in 1873. In the 1970s a storm washed out the small family cemetery, and duck hunters found the headstones on the shore.
No remains were recovered, and the stones ended up at the hotel. Albert is now said to roam the halls, and a third, plain marker found with them has been linked to Charley. The hotel’s FAQ sums up its attitude: whatever ghosts it has are “most definitely the playful and friendly type.”
The most haunted rooms and places to look
- Room 7: The room most entries in the ghost logbook are about. Ask for it by phone or email.
- Room 4: The other room linked to the hotel’s ghost stories.
- The parlor fireplace: Behind it is the small firewood room where Charley is said to have hidden and died.
- The dining room: Now The Wandering Goose, where plates are said to move on their own.
- The guest logbook: Decades of handwritten encounters. Ask to read it during your stay.
History of Tokeland Hotel
George H. Brown, a Philadelphia-born gold seeker who had become a Portland butcher, settled Toke Point in 1858 with his wife Charlotte and their sons. They homesteaded about 1,400 acres alongside the Shoalwater Bay people, and the point takes its name from Chief Toke. Their daughter Lizzie grew up speaking English and Chinook Jargon.
Lizzie married William Kindred around 1880, and in 1885 the couple finished a two-story farmhouse with a brick fireplace, which is the hotel’s oldest section. In 1899 they added a wing and opened it as the Kindred Inn, soon renamed the Tokeland Hotel. William ran the general store, served as postmaster and drove a horse-drawn bus to meet the steamers from South Bend. A 1910 wing gave the building its C shape, and the hotel became known for seafood and produce from the family farm.
Tokeland had a golf course and gun club in the 1920s, but storms and the Depression hit the town hard. The Kindred era ended in 1943, when William died and left the property to his longtime caretaker. Katherine and Scott White ran the hotel from 1989 to 2018 and were known for their cranberry pot roast.
Today it is owned by Seattle restaurateurs Heather Earnhardt and Zac Young. The rooms are still upstairs, reached by the staircase behind the fireplace room, and the dining room is The Wandering Goose, with produce from the hotel’s own farm.
Tips for a haunted stay
- Call or email the hotel to ask for Room 7 or Room 4. The online booking does not show room numbers, so a request is the only way.
- Ask at the front desk to see the ghost logbook. Reading it by the fireplace is half the fun.
- Every room shares hallway bathrooms, and there are no TVs. Pack slippers and something to read.
- Book dinner at The Wandering Goose, and walk out to the shore of Willapa Bay after dark.
- Bringing a dog? Only some rooms and the two cabins up the road are pet friendly, with a fee.
Want to investigate, not just sleep?
Sleeping in a haunted hotel is one thing. Investigating one after dark is another. On a Haunted Rooms ghost hunt our team takes you through the building with professional ghost hunting equipment, runs EVP sessions and lets you explore on your own during free roam.
- Fairweather Inn Ghost Hunt & Sleepover, Virginia City, Montana: an overnight ghost hunt in a gold-rush hotel
- Old Ravalli County Courthouse Ghost Hunt, Hamilton, Montana: a public ghost hunt in a historic courthouse
More haunted hotels nearby
- Thornewood Castle, Lakewood: Washington’s haunted castle inn, about two hours northeast
- Hotel Sorrento, Seattle: Room 408 and the ghost of Alice B. Toklas
- The Heathman Hotel, Portland: Portland’s most famous haunted hotel
- Haunted hotels in Washington
Stayed in one of these hotels? Tell us what happened
We collect first-hand accounts from guests and add the best ones to our guides, with your first name and the date of your stay. We read every story before it’s published.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Tokeland Hotel haunted?
It has a strong reputation. A guest logbook holds 50 or more accounts of shadows, tapping, moving objects and an invisible cat, most of them about Room 7 and a ghost called Charley. The hotel calls its ghosts playful and friendly.
Who is Charley at the Tokeland Hotel?
By the hotel’s account, a Chinese immigrant who escaped indentured work around 1900, was hidden by staff behind the parlor fireplace and died from the smoke when a fire was lit. No record confirms the story.
What is the most haunted room at the Tokeland Hotel?
Room 7, which gets the most entries in the ghost logbook. Room 4 is the other room linked to the stories.
Is the Tokeland Hotel the oldest hotel in Washington?
It is billed as the state’s oldest resort hotel, built as a farmhouse in 1885 and open to guests since 1899. Hotel de Haro at Roche Harbor, built in 1886, also claims to be the oldest operating hotel in the state.
Do rooms at the Tokeland Hotel have private bathrooms?
No. All 17 rooms share bathrooms in the hallway, two of them with clawfoot tubs.
Sources
Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.
- MyNorthwest: Ghost cat, tombstones and Tokeland Hotel (2019)
- Wikipedia: Tokeland Hotel
- Tokeland Hotel (official site)
- Tokeland Hotel: FAQs
- Tokeland Hotel: Rooms
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About the authors
The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every hotel in our guides using hotel histories, local archives, news coverage and the accounts of guests and staff, and we review each guide regularly so you are not booking a hotel that has closed or changed its name. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
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