Haunted Arctic Club Hotel, Seattle: Congressman Zioncheck and the Fifth Floor

The Arctic Club Hotel stands at Third Avenue and Cherry Street in downtown Seattle, a ten-story Beaux-Arts tower famous for the row of terra cotta walrus heads around its third floor. It was built in 1916 for the Arctic Club, a men’s club of Klondike Gold Rush veterans, and has been a hotel since 2008. Today it has 120 rooms, the Polar Bar and the stained glass Northern Lights Dome Room, and it is one of the best-known haunted hotels in Seattle.

Its ghost story starts with a real death. On August 7, 1936, Congressman Marion Zioncheck fell from the window of his fifth-floor campaign office in the building and died. Staff have described elevators that run by themselves and stop on the fifth floor, cold spots, whispers in the laundry rooms and a woman in Victorian dress in the bar mirrors. Below we cover the stories, the history and the rooms to ask for.

The ghosts of the Arctic Club Hotel

Congressman Marion Zioncheck

Marion Zioncheck was a two-term congressman from Seattle and a champion of the poor, but by 1936 his behavior had become erratic and widely reported. He had escaped from a psychiatric hospital, made headlines in Washington, D.C., and was running for reelection from an office on the fifth floor of the Arctic Club building.

On August 7, 1936, he fell from his office window and died. He was 35. It has always been described as suicide, though some have wondered over the years whether he was pushed. Ghost stories say he has never left the building, and some even claim people on the street below have seen him falling.

Elevators to the fifth floor

The most consistent report is about the elevators. During the 2022 renovation, general manager Rae Russell, who was living on site, told KOMO’s Seattle Refined that the elevators ran by themselves early in the morning and late at night, and often stopped on the fifth floor.

Guests and staff have also described footsteps in empty fifth-floor halls and an icy breeze. The Seattle Times’ city guide singles out Room 517, where visitors report the sound of pacing and a sudden cold draft.

The woman in the Polar Bar mirrors

Many say they have seen a woman in Victorian dress reflected in the mirrors of the Polar Bar, though no one is there when they turn around. Some link her to the singer Sophie Tucker, who performed often in Seattle; hotel lore says the all-male club made an exception for her, gave her an office and the title Manager of Entertainment. Every room has a framed photo of Tucker in the bathroom.

Voices, cigars and cold spots

Staff report voices in empty rooms, sudden cold spots in hallways and footprints that seem to press into the hallway carpet. Near the laundry chute, housekeepers have heard whispers, some say praising their work. One Seattle writer told KOMO that a friend’s daughter who works in housekeeping comes home with a new ghost story all the time.

Older accounts, repeated on our original Seattle page, add the murmur of businessmen making deals, the smell of cigar smoke in a no-smoking hotel on the third and fifth floors, and the sound of a whistle on the fourth floor.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

• Room 517: Named in the Seattle Times’ guide for pacing sounds and a freezing breeze.
• The fifth floor: Zioncheck’s floor, where the elevators are said to stop on their own.
• The Polar Bar: Look for the woman in Victorian dress in the mirrors over a drink.
• The Northern Lights Dome Room: The former men-only dining room, now a ballroom under a stained glass dome. Ask if you can see it.
• The laundry rooms: Staff only, but the source of many housekeeping stories.

History of The Arctic Club Hotel

The Arctic Club was founded in 1908 by men who had made their fortunes in the Klondike and Alaska gold rushes. Its members commissioned a new clubhouse from architect A. Warren Gould, and the Arctic Building opened in 1916 on the corner of Third and Cherry. Gould gave it a terra cotta facade with a row of walrus heads, a nod to the North, and lavish interiors including the domed dining room, which was for men only.

The club shared the building with offices, and in 1936 Congressman Zioncheck ran his campaign from one of them. The club met here until it dissolved in 1971. After decades of decline the building stood empty, and the City of Seattle bought it. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and designated a Seattle Landmark in 1993.

In 2008 the building was restored and opened as the Arctic Club Hotel. It closed in 2022 for a major refurbishment and reopened in 2023 under the Oxford Collection, keeping its heritage details: carved male symbols on the entrance steps and in the ballroom, Alaskan-themed rugs, the blue-lit Polar Bar and the Northern Lights Dome Room with its arched stained glass ceiling.

Tips for a haunted stay

• Ask for Room 517 or another fifth-floor room when you book, and again at check-in.
• Take the elevator late at night and see where it stops.
• Have a drink in the Polar Bar and watch the mirrors.
• Walk around the outside after dark to see the walrus heads lit up, with the Smith Tower nearby.
• Pair your stay with Hotel Sorrento on First Hill, Seattle’s best-known haunted hotel.

More haunted hotels nearby

• Hotel Sorrento, Seattle: Room 408 and the ghost of Alice B. Toklas
• Mayflower Park Hotel, Seattle: a benign presence in Room 1120
• Hotel Andra, Seattle: phantom jazz parties on the upper floors
• Thornewood Castle, Lakewood: a haunted castle inn south of Tacoma
• Haunted hotels in Washington
• Haunted hotels in Seattle

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.

• KOMO / Seattle Refined: Haunted happenings at the Arctic Club Hotel
• Wikipedia: Arctic Building
• Seattle Met: The Arctic Club's most famous tenant (2012)
• Curiocity: The Arctic Club Hotel has reopened (2023)
• The Ticket (Seattle Times): Seattle's most famous haunted hotels (2025)
• Arctic Club Hotel (official site)

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