Haunted hotel guide · Port Townsend, Washington
Haunted Starrett House (Ann Starrett Mansion), Port Townsend: The Red-Haired Woman in the Tower
George Starrett built this tower-topped mansion for his bride in 1889. Innkeepers and guests have since seen a red-haired woman in the tower, and a later owner was woken at 2 a.m. by a radio that switched itself on.
Starrett House, long known as the Ann Starrett Mansion, sits on Clay Street in Port Townsend’s uptown, a short walk above the Victorian waterfront. It is one of the most ornate houses in a town full of them: a four-story tower, ceiling frescoes, a free-floating spiral staircase and a solar calendar built into the tower dome. After years as an inn and then in private hands, it takes guests again as a six-room bed and breakfast run by the local nonprofit Bayside Housing & Services.
Its ghost is quiet and a little mysterious. A former innkeeper saw a red-haired woman in the tower while the house was locked, and other sightings have followed. Nobody knows who she is. Port Townsend has more than its share of ghost stories, and the town’s Manresa Castle and the Palace Hotel are also on our list of haunted hotels in Washington.
Starrett House at a glance
Haunted Rooms Score
- Address 744 Clay St, Port Townsend, WA 98368, about three blocks above downtown
- Built 1889 by George Starrett as a wedding gift for his wife, Ann
- Most haunted spots The octagonal tower, the spiral staircase, the upstairs halls
- Best-known ghosts A red-haired woman, sometimes called Ann Starrett; a radio that turned itself on
- Booking the haunted room No room is sold as haunted. Book through the Starrett House website and ask the hosts about the tower when you arrive.
- Good to know Six rooms, including Ann’s Room and the Starrett Suite. Steep stairs and antiques mean children under 12 cannot be accommodated. No pets.
The ghosts of the Ann Starrett Mansion
The red-haired woman in the tower
The best-known story comes from one of the mansion’s former innkeepers. Walking up toward the house, she looked up and saw a woman with red hair in the tower, though she knew the house was locked and empty.
Owner Edel Sokol, who ran the inn in the 2000s, told the Peninsula Daily News that guests had seen the woman too. One woman who reported a sighting realized afterward that she had seen only the head and shoulders. The tower windows reach down to the floor, so a living person standing there would have been visible from head to foot.
Is it Ann Starrett?
Many people assume the redhead is Ann Starrett, the bride the house was built for. Sokol was careful not to claim that. “I don’t know who the redhead is,” she said, adding that she did not know what color Ann’s hair had been.
What she did say was reassuring: the woman “doesn’t do anything, just keeps the place warm and cozy.” No one has tied her to a death or a tragedy in the house.
The radio at 2 a.m.
Christian and Cima Andrews bought the mansion in 2017. In their first week, Christian Andrews told the Peninsula Daily News, a loud burst of static woke him around 2 a.m. He went downstairs and found his shortwave radio switched on with the volume turned up.
He turned it off. The next night it happened again at about the same time, and he unplugged it. Nothing else in the house was blamed, but the story is now part of Port Townsend’s ghost lore.
Mystery weekends and a town of ghosts
The architectural historians at SAH Archipedia note that the mansion has been associated with ghost sightings since 1986 and has hosted occasional mystery weekends. A local paranormal investigator has counted more than 25 reportedly haunted spots in Port Townsend, and the Ann Starrett Mansion is one of the names that always comes up.
The most haunted rooms and places to look
- The tower: Where the red-haired woman was seen from outside. Look up at its windows as you walk up Clay Street after dark.
- The spiral staircase: The free-floating staircase that climbs toward the tower, one of the last of its kind in the country.
- Ann's Room and the Starrett Suite: The rooms named for the couple who built the house; ask for them if you want to sleep closest to the story.
- The downstairs rooms: Where the radio switched itself on at 2 a.m. two nights running in 2017.
History of Starrett House (Ann Starrett Mansion)
George Starrett was a contractor from Maine who came to Port Townsend in the boom years, when the town expected to become the terminus of a transcontinental railroad. He married Ann Van Bokklen and, in 1889, built this house for her as a wedding gift, at a cost of about $6,000.
The house mixes brick and wood, with jigsaw-cut ornament of stars, sunrises and scrolls, 12-foot ceilings and moldings carved with lions, doves and ferns. Its four-story tower rises above a corner entrance. Inside, a free-floating spiral staircase makes two full turns, and the banisters and newel posts use five kinds of wood.
The tower dome holds the house’s most famous feature. Seattle artist Otto Chapman painted frescoes of the four seasons, which gave the mansion its other name, the House of the Four Seasons. The dormers are aligned so that at each solstice and equinox sunlight passes through a small window and points a red marker at the matching season. Murals on the parlor and dining room ceilings have survived with little retouching.
The railroad never came, and Port Townsend’s boom faded, which is one reason so many of its Victorian buildings survive. The mansion later became a bed and breakfast and boutique inn. In 2017, after 12 years on the market, it was bought by Christian and Cima Andrews. In 2023 Bayside Housing & Services, a Jefferson County nonprofit, bought the house, and it now operates as Starrett House, with guest stays supporting Bayside’s work.
Tips for a haunted stay
- Book through the Starrett House website; it is a small B&B and fills up on festival weekends.
- Walk up Clay Street after dark and look at the tower windows from the street, the same view the innkeeper had.
- Ask the hosts to show you the staircase and the tower frescoes, and when the solar calendar is next due to light up.
- The house has steep stairs and low banisters, and does not take children under 12.
- Stay two nights and spend the second at Manresa Castle, a few minutes’ drive away, where Room 306 has its own famous story.
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: a ghost hunt and a night in a gold-rush hotel
- Old Ravalli County Courthouse Ghost Hunt, Hamilton, Montana: a public ghost hunt in a historic Montana courthouse
More haunted hotels nearby
- Manresa Castle, Port Townsend: the town’s haunted castle hotel and Room 306
- Palace Hotel, Port Townsend: a former brothel downtown with the Lady in Blue
- Hotel Sorrento, Seattle: Seattle’s best-known haunted hotel
- Thornewood Castle, Lakewood: the Rose Red castle south of Tacoma
- 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 Ann Starrett Mansion haunted?
It has a long-running ghost story. A former innkeeper and several guests have seen a red-haired woman in the tower, and an owner reported a radio switching itself on at 2 a.m. two nights running in 2017.
Who haunts the Starrett House?
No one knows. The red-haired woman is often assumed to be Ann Starrett, but a former owner said she did not know who the redhead was or what color Ann’s hair had been.
Can you stay at the Ann Starrett Mansion?
Yes. It operates as Starrett House, a six-room bed and breakfast run by the nonprofit Bayside Housing & Services, and takes bookings through its website.
What is the solar calendar at the Starrett House?
The tower dome is painted with frescoes of the four seasons, and the windows are aligned so sunlight points to the matching season at each solstice and equinox.
When was the Ann Starrett Mansion built?
In 1889, by contractor George Starrett as a wedding gift for his wife, Ann.
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.
- Peninsula Daily News: Ghost stories of the Peninsula (2008)
- Peninsula Daily News: Spirits call Port Townsend home all year round (2017)
- SAH Archipedia: Ann Starrett House
- Atlas Obscura: Starrett House
- Port Townsend Leader: Bayside buys historic Starrett House (2023)
- Starrett House (official site)
Get new haunted hotel guides by email
New guides, haunted hotel picks and ghost hunt dates near you. No spam, unsubscribe any time.
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.
Booking links on this page are affiliate links. If you book through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.