On May 23rd, Ghostly Activities Club members, Amy and Jake, headed to Old Town in Tacoma to see the ghostly shenanigans (or is that curse?) at the Job Carr Cabin Museum and surrounding neighborhood. Get the spectral scoop after the jump.

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LIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD

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It Started At The Job Carr Cabin Museum

OK, I really think this tour should be called The Cursed Carr Family Tour, cuz it’s all about the tragic family that founded Tacoma. Anyway, we arrived at the museum early and chatted with Chris, Pretty Gritty Tours owner and guide for the evening. I think this is the fifth or sixth tour I’ve taken with Pretty Gritty.

Ghostly Activities Club member, Amy, also joined with Clara, the haunted doll. We had some ghost hunting gadgets with us … just in case.

Anyway, the tour started promptly at 8 pm and lasted 90 minutes. As we entered the cabin museum, chocolate chip cookies welcomed us. Then, Chris gave the setup to the tour, and Karen Haas, an actor in period costume, appeared to fill us in on the life and times of Rebecca Carr. Really, this tour focused on Rebecca, her (cursed) family, and her premonitions.

Before we left, I checked out Tom, the taxidermied cat. He’s lying on a chair in front of the fireplace.

Anyway, out we went on the street to see the haunted hotspots …

Job Carr Cabin Museum Gallery

The Carr Family Had To Be Cursed

I gotta tell you: This family had a variety of weirdness associated with them. Job, the father and first European (or maybe we should just say American) settler in Tacoma. He had a 168-acre parcel, and Job wore many hats. He was postmaster as well as territorial governor. Job (rhymes with robe) lived to a ripe old age of 74, and he’s buried in Old Tacoma Cemetery. It doesn’t seem like he was cursed. However, his kids … that’s a different story.

But first …

Rebecca Carr (a.k.a. Grandma Staley) had mutant clairvoyant abilities. She wouldn’t say she saw ghosts or spirits: She could see your fate. Her term for her super power was ‘seer,’ not psychic. Anyway, I’ll leave her marital shenanigans to the tour (hence the Staley surname), but many people paid a good price for her counsel. And she never failed to impress. Rebecca died at a ripe old age of 86.

As for the kids, well, fate wasn’t too kind to them. Anthony did live a full life. He died at age 82, and he witnessed his family die prematurely. So, maybe that was his curse …?

Howard went to fight in the Civil War, became a POW in Andersonville (a horrible spot), and eventually died at age 45 from the illnesses he suffered at the prisoner camp. Howard and his wife had 6 kids, who all survived to adulthood. Quite a feat back then. They still have descendants in Tacoma.

To me, Marietta (nickname Mettie) has the most tragic tale. She married, had a little boy, then died in the epic SS Pacific tragedy of 1875. It’s called the Titanic of the Pacific for a reason. Mettie was 26 years old when she and her child died. Sadly, we don’t know how old her little boy was, nor his name.

Finally, Margaret Carr was the youngest child. She spent her adult life in California. Maggie, as she was known, married and divorced by the time she left for Tacoma after Marietta’s death. She died after a surgery in 1912 at age 62. Her son, Charles, left for Canada and was never heard from again.

The Carr Family Legacy In Old Town

On the tour, the group spent most of the time going to sites related to The Carrs. We learned that Anthony liked to build, and he has a few building still standing today. Anyway, at each spot, Chris gave us the spectral scoop and dark history for each site. Well, there isn’t that much dark history with The Carrs, just good ol’ fashioned tragedy.

Let’s take a look at some architecture …

I didn’t take a pic of the Mountaineers building, nor Slavonian Hall. Bad angles and all. The Carrs had plats of land all along the shore and Old Town area. The last picture in the museum gallery (above) shows you who owned which parcels.

That Gulch Holds Some Spirits

After checking out some Carr buildings (and a brief interlude with some local Tacoma fauna … a drunk), off to Buckley Gulch we went. While this gulch is known for murders and kidnappings, Chris told a tale of a little ghost boy. Now, this was very different from the Old Town ghost tour we took earlier in May. In that one, we got the stories of cursed wreckage and 2 teen girl murders.

All I can tell you is this gulch may be a liminal space. There’s much strangeness going on.

Anyway, I’m happy to say this tour is distinct from Pretty Gritty’s Old Town tour that goes along much of the same path.

Back To The Haunted Cabin Museum

After the gulch, the tour headed back to the Carr Cabin Museum. Amy noticed that Clara really didn’t want to be here, so she took her back to the car. I bet Clara was pissed she was cooped up in a carry case all afternoon and night. I don’t blame her.

So … this was my chance to get in some ghostly sleuthing. I whipped out the Ovilus V for some ghostly communication and a Para-Light Mini to note any spectral manifestations.

And while there wasn’t much for spooky shenanigans going on, Ovi, as I like to call the Ovilus, did capture a couple of words before I packed up …

“Specter … Call”

Ovilus V on May 23, 2025

So, Amy and I may not have encountered spirits while walking around. Maybe … just maybe … Rebecca or Job had a message for us when we returned.

The Ghost Hunt Tour Route

Job Carr Cabin Museum Tour Recap

👻👻👻👻 out of 5: A Spooky Good Time!

Amy and I had a great time on the tour. While this tour wasn’t as grisly as the Old Town ghost tour, it did bring the creepy and humor. We both appreciated the care to make the Old Town Ghost Hunt unique, while touching on some overlaps with the Old Town Ghost Tour.

My favorite part of the entire tour was Karen Haas’ performance as Rebecca Carr (Grandma Staley). Bravo!

Now, there were a couple of things that made us scratch our heads, mainly because we took the other Old Town tour and heard different stories for the same locations. For example, we knew Bailey Gulch for the 2 murdered girls and cursed shipwreck burial. So when we heard about the little boy ghost in the gulch, we were like ‘why didn’t we hear about this last time?’

Also, we got mixed signals on Rebecca Carr and her premonitions of the cursed ship and her own cursed family. I think if the guide would plug the Old Town Ghost Town Tour as part of the continuity, it would clear things up. Maybe it’s as simple as saying one tour is for the cursed ship and the other tour is for the cursed family? Rebecca Carr would be the obvious link to both experiences. It would make more sense to us.

If you hadn’t taken the other tour, you wouldn’t even notice this dissonance.

Also, the cookies were a very nice touch for a cozy spooky evening.

If you’d like to take the tour, head over to the Pretty Gritty Tours site and look for Ghost Hunt under the Tacoma tours navigation item. Or, you can just click Job Carr Cabin ghost hunt.

Note: Amy and Jake paid for their tickets with their own money, so there’s no expectation of a good review for the tour operator.

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Have you taken this tour? Let me know what you thought about it in the comments.

Thanks for reading Ghostly Activities. Much appreciated and take care!