Before signing a waiver to take part in a new immersive experience called Unlock the Hotel Leo, I was unaware of the historic building’s longtime reputation for being haunted.
But even if I’d been schooled in the spooky chronicles of the hotel built in downtown Bellingham in 1929, and recently renovated and reopened to the public as a place for travelers to lay their heads, it wouldn’t have stopped me from securing a spot for the inaugural outing.
Described on the event’s website as being a “one-of-a-kind immersive escape-room-style adventure” that sees a team of as many as eight people journeying through the hotel and unlocking some of its many mysteries, I was keen to get a glimpse of the nooks and crannies of the storied structure at 1224 Cornwall Ave.
Once I’d signed my spleen away — a recurring joke one of my fellow adventurers made of agreeing to the conditions of the night’s activities — I received a missive from Unlock the Hotel Leo organizers. It pointed to a cryptic letter from a once-rumored secret society that had been discovered under the original foundation of the building during renovations. If we could help uncover any clues or leads relating to deciphering the letter’s hidden message, they said they would be “eternally grateful to you and your team.”
The next step was to meet our tour guide in the hotel’s lobby, which we did after imbibing a round of adult beverages at the in-house Prohibition-themed bar and restaurant, Amendment 21. Our guide was dressed as an old-school bellboy, with a jaunty red cap, gold buttons galore and a demeanor that assured us he wanted to help us get to the bottom of the mystery.
For the next 70 minutes, our guide was our lodestar as we learned more about hotel founder Leo Schmidt and an assorted cast of characters, and helped get to the bottom of the mysterious letter. For privacy reasons (and for the safety of my spleen), I can’t reveal the specifics of what our team uncovered, but I can tell you some of the themes included mystery, suspense, ghosts and death.
I can also share that Unlock the Hotel Leo isn’t relegated to one room or one floor. Attendees begin their search for clues in the hotel’s library, but also descend to the basement, the old boiler room and a number of dark spaces where more clues reside. (For those concerned about monsters jumping out from behind one of those shadowy locales to frighten them, rest assured that most of what will scare you is in your own mind.)
By the time your team returns to reality, it’s likely you’ll be agog at the amount of props, special effects, music and storytelling used to pull off each experience. This is no quickie haunted house, it’s an effort that took a lot of people and brainpower to put together.
Chris Waltner, the creative director of the immersive experience and the owner of Symphonium LLC, said he first started thinking about the preliminary concept of Unlock the Hotel Leo last October. He made the story pitch to the hotel’s owners in February, and production started in early June. Following four months of set design, working on the script and storyline, and securing an astonishing amount of props online and in local thrift stores, the first tour took place Oct. 7.
Waltner said it was a tricky balance to merge the building’s background with the event’s mysteries, especially since the people tour-goers hear about actually existed.
“The reality is based in history,” Waltner said. “All the people are real, and we didn’t want to defame them. Leopold Schmidt was a generous person — that’s what he was known for. So it was a tricky balance to [merge] history with an invented storyline.”
Throughout the process of bringing the story to life, Waltner has stayed in touch with a historian at the Schmidt House in Tumwater. She told him she didn’t normally like when people “messed with” history, but approved of the way they’ve built and executed what is ultimately an entertainment experience.
In initial conversations about Unlock the Hotel Leo, talks were had about incorporating more of the building’s rumors of haunting, but Waltner wanted to focus more on the mystery and suspense of the story.
“It’s easy to jump out and scare somebody, but it’s hard to incorporate them into a new environment,” he said.
“We’re toeing that line of uneasiness.”
For those who want to know what hauntings have been reported at the Hotel Leo, a blog on its website delves into who’s heard or seen ghostly apparitions throughout the years.
Waltner gave me the quick rundown, saying ghost hunters have come to the hotel and captured suspicious audio. Additionally, some people have heard a woman’s voice saying “Get out of here, you fat cow” from the bathroom as they walk up the stairs to the library.
A mysterious woman has also allegedly appeared in the ballroom window, and a nearby music shop in the building experienced a gong going off when nobody was around to hit it. Other accounts: doorknobs turning with nobody on the other side; a mystifying burst pipe; shadowy figures seen by two employees that should have been caught on security footage, but weren’t; and people working in the basement laundry room who heard kids running and yelling in the ballroom above them, only to find there was nobody there.
Although Waltner has yet to experience anything supernatural in the Hotel Leo, he’s keeping his ears and eyes open for anything out of the ordinary — something he hopes everybody taking part in Unlock the Hotel Leo does, as well.
Attend Unlock the Hotel Leo Thursdays through Saturdays at the Hotel Leo, 1224 Cornwall Ave. Entry is $35 per person, and advance registration is required. Info: unlockthehotelleo.com.
Local haunts
Gore and Lore: For many years, Kolby LaBree has been helping lead seasonal Gore and Lore tours in downtown Bellingham and historic Fairhaven as part of the Good Time Girls — of which she is a co-founder. The tours are sold out for this weekend, but she still has information to impart about our local haunts.
Downtown Bellingham: “Probably the most infamous tale on our downtown tour is the story of the ‘butchered butcher’ that took place at the Red Light on State Street. This year our tours have focused on the State Street area around the old mining town of Sehome, and we visit the scenes of that particularly brutal (and unsolved) crime. Our tour this year is more true-crime than ghost-story-focused and sticks to that area. But other downtown buildings rumored to be haunted (besides the Leo) are the Mount Baker Theatre, Whatcom Museum’s City Hall, the SPARK Museum, the Old Town Cafe/Oakland Building and the Herald Building.”
What about Fairhaven?: “Fairhaven is Bellingham’s ‘haunted hotspot,’ and the Green Lady Ghost of Sycamore Square is probably the star of the ghost show over there. Every building in Fairhaven has a ghost story.”
How is talking about possible hauntings helpful when it relates to learning about history?: “I think it’s helpful if it gets people interested in the history of a place. In my opinion, history (and reality) can be scary enough without ghosts … but ghosts are way more fun than everyday horror. I think ghost stories and the like can be a sort of escapism, like watching scary movies — if you don’t take it overly seriously.”
Find out more about Good Time Girls’ upcoming tours at bellinghamhistory.com.
