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Ghosts of Market Street Antiques in Spokane, WA.


To see more photos from this location, click on the link below:

Market Street Antiques is located in the old Stough block in Hillyards Historic Business District. It is one of the many businesses that have occupied this building over the years. It started out as a furniture store for John D Stough in 1903. In 1919, the Inland Empire News took over, and the building operated as a press for several newspapers for the next several years. At that time, 4 rooms upstairs were rented out as apartments. A Mormon family with 17 children lived at this address at some point, as well. In 1984, Cloke and Dagger Antiques purchased the building, and it has remained an antique store ever since. The new owner, Sue Hess-Baker, bought it in 2002 and opened it as Market Street Antiques. Being one of the oldest buildings in the Hillyard Historic Business District, which was added to the National Register of the Historic Places in 2002, it has some residual energy from the days gone by. In addition to that, it seems to also have a few ghosts of its own. The owner contacted us to see if we would like to investigate the building, as several odd things have happened there over the years, witnessed both by the staff and some of the customers. Apparitions of a woman, man, and children have been seen by some, and others have felt a presence. The furniture seems to move by itself on the 2nd floor toy room area, where the ghost children seem to like to hang out the most. Sometimes the front door bell rings, yet no one is there. A female spirit has been seen looking out the upstairs window furthest to the left. Some get an uneasy feeling in the basement, which is not open to the public. The heater in the apartment in the back of the house, which was added later, seems to come on by itself, as if someone is wanting to keep the room warm at all times. A long time resident in the apartment was very adamant in doing so when staying there. Maybe she still is. During our walkthru' with psychic Jane Stewart, she picked up a female spirit upstairs. The spirit felt lonely and kept looking out the window, as if she was waiting for someone to come home. The only way he was going to know where to find her was in there, Jane said. The lady spirit looks like the woman in the cover picture, except her sleeves on her dress aren't puffy. She is in her 30's or 40's, and she has a strong M in her name (such as Mary). She died fairly young. She likes the dresses upstairs. Jane also picked up a male spirit, who is in his 50's and is wearing overalls. He worked for the railroad switching tracks. He has a light brown hair and is a fairly large man. He has a strong J in his name. Jane didn't pick up any kids at the time, but she felt that if there were some, they come and go and they are not associated with the building. The toys in the 2nd floor toy room may carry some residual energy. The energy in the basement wasn't great due to some residual energy that still lingers. Jane picked up a boy spirit in his early teens in the basement, who looks like the boy in the cover photo, except his socks were solid and his hat was different. He was wearing a light jacket. Jane sees him running as if someone is chasing him such as a store owner for stealing. His name is possibly Bobby or Robbie. He died sometime in the 1920's. Jane felt that there may have been some vagabonds at one time, who got in the basement before the back apartment was added. The upstairs seemed busy. Lot of comings and goings as if someone was running a business there. Jane heard the word "bordello." Psychic Stacy Moore joined us for the investigation. She sensed the female spirit upstairs and 2 kids, one boy and one girl. The little boy was wanting his big brother. Stacy saw a male spirit outside by the front door, who was wearing overalls. She also saw him in the back of the building, where he seems to want to hang out at. She felt a different energy in the upstairs hallway by the barbi case. Almost a vertigo effect like energy. Both psychics felt very sad entering the front room on the right as you come in the store with an Indian doll collection. The clothing on the male doll to the left had belonged to someone, who died an untimely death. We were able to capture several female and children voices mainly in the upstairs area and some male voices in all levels of the building. We also had a brief flashlight communication with the female spirit upstairs in her favorite room. She said she was waiting for her husband and something happened to him unfortunately. It is possible that the female spirit rented a room there in the early 1900's, but there are no records to be found unless you know her name. We believe that the male spirit is possibly an old switchman called John Leonard Olson, who had a sudden and tragic death in Hill's Yard train accident in 1939 at the age of 49. If anyone has any pictures of him, and would like to share them with us, please contact us at susikoira44@hotmail.com. You may hear stories about "Bessies Ghost," a picture of a woman, that showed up in one of the rooms and is now displayed buy the register. We found no evidence of it being haunted nor did either psychic pick up anything paranormal around it.It had simply fallen out of some drawer. But you can decide for yourself . We found nothing negative in this building. It is an amazing antique store with something for everyone. We want to thank the owner Sue Hess-Baker for allowing us to investigate, and for all her help. Also, a great big thank you to her friend Tammie Athena. Please go visit and support all the great little stores in Hillyard next time you are in the area.


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