A Haunted Stay At The Columbia Gorge Hotel
Hi gang! In a twist, I’m actually blogging this while I stay at the Columbia Gorge Hotel. Ghostly club members (Anna, Danny, Amy and Ianna) have also come along for the spooky fun. Get the scoop on our stay after the jump.
Day 1 At The (Haunted) Columbia Gorge Hotel
I had originally planned to show the gratuitously gorgeous drive down to the hotel, but Mother Nature had other ideas. Namely, a deluge and fog. You couldn’t see anything from the car. Other than 4 hydroplaning cars.
Anyway, it’s about a 3-drive from Olympia, Washington along I-5 and I-84, if you’re planning a trip.
Checking in happened fast. I had booked through Hotels.com and prepaid my visit, so not much more to do than drop a credit card for incidentals and sign in.
My room was on the 3rd floor. You can can take the elevator (manually operated!) or stair. Gotta love that black-and-white carpet.

The hotel looks just like it did back in the 1920s. There have been modifications, and I’ll let you know about those in later section on debunking some myths about the hotel.
Anyway, Amy got a room that overlooks the Columbia River and Wah Gwin Gwin Falls.
Later that night, the Ghostly Club settled in for a night of ghost hunting. Maybe it’s legend tripping? So many of the online stories have bent the truth quite a bit.
Alyssa, a manager at the hotel, shared some stories … and busted a few myths about the hotel. You can catch them in this recap video.
Ghost Stories from the Columbia Gorge Hotel (Plus Some Debunking)
Ghostly Activity & Debunks Reported By Staff
Let’s just say we felt learned after our interview with Alyssa. Some things we do know:
- Room 330 doesn’t exist anymore: It became Room 318 in the current hotel.
- There was never a pool in the hotel: The little girl who drowned did so in a (former) trout pond over the white bridge.
- There’s only one White Lady … and she looks like a normal person with a big, floppy hat. She died in Room 318 when the hotel was a senior care home.
- The aforementioned lady stays on the third floor.
- Only Room 318 has the barricading phenomena.
- No spirits actually roam the grounds around the hotel.
- People on the second floor report hearing the stomping and banging above them, not people on the third floor.
- There are likely more than a few spirits around the hotel, who like to play pranks. Most of them happen on the first floor in the dining room and kitchen.
- It’s the ballroom (in the basement level) that has the most activity.
- Something does knock on the walls at night as Anna and Ianna tells us about right below ….
Day 2 At The Very Haunted Columbia Gorge Hotel
So, I’ll make a separate video for the actual ghost. Right now, let’s catch up with Anna and Ianna, who had some experiences (outside the ghost hunt) to report in a confessional.
Personal Ghostly Experiences
Besides those eerie knocks, me and the crew had phones that wouldn’t charge or mysteriously drained overnight. Pesky spirits wanting a little bit of electromagnetic juice, eh?
Haunted Road Trip Agenda For Day 2

After coffee and confessions, we went to Egg River Café for a tasty breakfast. I had a Polish Sausage Hash with eggs and wheat toast. And I was so happy the restaurant had orange marmalade to smear all over the bread.
Afterwards, I got back to editing this travelogue while Anna, Danny and Ianna went to the Oregon Stonehenge.
Soon, Amy and I will go to a nearby vineyard for a wine tasting. We’ll regroup around 6 PM for dinner plans, and the ghost hunting will begin again at 8 PM.
Check back for more updates …
