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Kells Irish Pub - A History
11 Plays1 day ago
For more than a century, Spokane’s Davenport Hotel has stood as a symbol of elegance, luxury, What if your favorite Irish pub was once Seattle's busiest mortuary, where thousands of the city's dead began their final journey? This week, we uncover the dark history of Kells Irish Pub, exploring deadly scandals, forgotten tragedies, and the chilling legends of Charlie, the silent man who still appears at the bar, and the mysterious Little Girl in Red who is said to wander the halls after dark.
⚠️ Content Warning: This episode includes references to abuse, trauma, and death. Listener discretion is advised.
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Beneath the Evergreens'
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to Beneath the Evergreens, where murder, mysteries, and mayhem lurk in the shadows of the Pacific Northwest. I'm Jess. And I'm Anna. From haunted forests and unsolved disappearances to true crime cases buried deep in the moss and the mist, we're digging into the dark secrets hiding under the evergreens.
00:00:18
Speaker
Each episode will explore real cases and eerie encounters and the legends that keep the Pacific Northwest up at night. So grab your flashlight, lock your doors, and join us Beneath the Evergreens.
00:00:50
Speaker
Welcome, everyone. Welcome, welcome. Jess, how's
Personal Reflections and Listener Shoutouts
00:00:54
Speaker
it going? It is going wonderfully, actually. Awesome. It is. I've had the best and the worst week all at once, if that makes sense.
00:01:05
Speaker
I believe it. Yeah. um Work has been interesting. And then, you know, now potentially new work is fantastic. And then... Yeah, just small little things that make you, how do I say this?
00:01:18
Speaker
There's some moments in parenting, most of the time where you're like, am I even doing this right? But then all of a sudden there'll be like these brief moments of like, I'm doing okay. I'm not having to meet once this week and it's just like melting my heart. So I'm fantastic. But how are you? How's how's life?
00:01:34
Speaker
I am doing well. Everything is going pretty great. Are you Yeah. Yeah. I love it. Yeah. I do have a quick shout out before we get started. Yes, please. One of our faithful listeners, Nina, it was her birthday this past week.
00:01:49
Speaker
Happy birthday. Happy happy birthday, Nina. Thank you for always listening to us and just always being our biggest supporter. We love you so, so, so much.
00:02:00
Speaker
Yes. Happiest of birthdays. Is she a cancer then? I don't remember. Oh my God. Pull up Google right now. sort i don't feel like I don't think so.
00:02:11
Speaker
And it was yesterday? ah couple days ago. Two days ago? Cancer. She is a cancer. June 21st to July I don't know why. i didn't that didn't i didn't feel right. but So she's water.
00:02:26
Speaker
She's ruled by the moon. She's a crab. oh Highly empathetic, loyal, and protective of loved ones. Yes. 100%. one hundred percent I'm not going to do weaknesses because she has no weaknesses. Doesn't have any. Absolutely not.
00:02:41
Speaker
And she's fantastic. So, happiest of birthdays to you. Yes. Happy birthday, Nina. And I volunteered to sing happy birthday. So, go ahead. Oh. You're going to lose listeners so fast. So, I start banging on this microphone right now.
00:02:53
Speaker
i ah So, quick rabbit trail. um When I was in like... seventh grade I wanted to join like choir have that be like my elective in middle school and my father I told him that and he said um maybe we try something else like I don't I don't know if that was for you and I always thought that I was like a fine singer and that's when it kind of hit me that like maybe I wasn't and no I'm a little to deaf oh Yeah. So shout out to my dad for not letting me go through that embarrassment. Okay. We got to get the ball. We got to get the show on the road. You got to leave a five. You ready for this?
00:03:33
Speaker
See, this is our problem. We just, I feel like we just enjoy talking to each other other. Oh, I gotta love it. ah Okay. I'm going to tell
Kel's Irish Pub: A Haunted History
00:03:43
Speaker
you about, well, first of all, have you ever been to Kel's Irish pub in Seattle?
00:03:48
Speaker
Ooh, no, I have not. Okay, do not go. Do not go then until I go with you because I haven't gone either. Ooh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm going to tell you the history and then I'm going to tell you about like what it's so famous for right now.
00:04:01
Speaker
Oh, I'm stoked. Have you heard about the history? Yes. So I'm aware that it's haunted, right? Okay. Do you know why? I don't know anything past that. Okay. Me either. And I didn't realize how crazy this story gets. And it actually corresponds with Starvation Heights.
00:04:17
Speaker
No way. Really? Yes. I'm going to tell you. going to tell you how it is like it. And I'm going to try to make this short and succinct. I have a lot of random ass notes stuck in here. So I'm hoping that I'll get to it. But I love when our stories connect like nothing long nothing makes me happier than like ah a callback to a previous episode.
00:04:38
Speaker
Oh, this is a strong callback. One that I'm like, oh, I have to go here. Also Irish stew. Yes. Oh, fuck. Yeah. This story kind of revolves around one man, the Edgar, Edgar, right? Not the Edgar Ray, but yes, the Edgar Ray Butterworth, which is a crazy name to have. um name That is a strong name.
00:05:00
Speaker
And he was most known for um the man who changed death in America. Who? Wait, I'm sorry. One more time. The man who changed death in America. Changed death? Changed death in America.
00:05:14
Speaker
I'm intrigued. I'm going to tell you how. So when you walk into the Kells pub today, people usually go looking for ghosts. Some hope to fit, uh, to glimpse Charlie, a gentleman in a derby hat who sits quietly in a bar stool night after night. Others listen for the laughter of mysterious little girls in red dresses who reportedly run through empty hallways.
00:05:39
Speaker
I feel like that would scare the hell out of me. I would pee my pants immediately. Yes, pee my pants immediately. um But a few realize that actually underneath the ghost stories lie something arguably more fascinating than the paranormal. So long before Guinness and Irish music and ghost tours, actually almost for nearly a century, um thousands of the city's dead actually passed through what is now Kel's Pub.
00:06:08
Speaker
Really? Yes. Wow. This encompassed people like victims of murder, victims of disease, children, lots of gold miners, millionaires, unknown sailors, which unknown bodies passing through. That's definitely haunting yeah material there. um And even those connected to one of America's most infamous serial killers.
00:06:31
Speaker
du du Dun, dun. Edgar Ray Butterworth was born in 1846, just the one time. That was just 15 years before the outbreak of the American Civil War. Okay. Okay.
00:06:46
Speaker
The United States was still largely rural and railroads were expanding westwards. Gotcha. Cities were beginning to industrialize and the nation itself was inching towards the conflict that would redefine us forever.
00:07:00
Speaker
Edgar's father was a millwright, um and he was constructing and repairing mills throughout all of New England. And the family moved frequently between Massachusetts and Minnesota, exposing Edgar to the hardships of the frontier life and opportunities of America's rapidly expanding Western territories. That's super that's a long ways in that time to go back and forth between...
00:07:22
Speaker
it is um i also apologize but i have no idea why he kept going back and forth between massachusetts and minnesota but he did do that damn and i could only imagine minnesota is cold oh yeah yeah in 1846 traveling at like slow speeds though he's so miserable that whole area like massachusetts all the way down it's gonna be really like right around the great lakes yeah that's crazy Well, um as a young boy, one thing that people said about Edgar is many things, but the one thing that he was definitely known for was his remarkable ambition. ambition okay
00:07:58
Speaker
He had one purpose in life, and that purpose was to make the most money ever and to really create a name for himself. Okay. And so when the Civil War erupted England,
00:08:10
Speaker
1861 edgar was only 14 and like thousands of boys his age he desperately wanted to fight for the union okay historical accounts state that edgar attempted to enlist actually in the president abraham lincoln's army no fewer than on three separate times i'm just every time i hear about like men boys specifically wanting to enlist in the the military i just the only thing i think about is how unified like obviously it's a civil war so they're not a unified country but like yeah how people were were getting behind a cause like that because yeah truly in this day and age i can't imagine ah like people wanting to just like like like 14 year olds being like yeah i want i want to fight for this country like i want to join this conflict
00:09:00
Speaker
I fun fact I did want to do that really I did from like the youngest age I wanted to be in the military interesting and not just like in the military but like front lines in camos going through the force with a gun what what was like what was the driving force behind that I think it's just because my family all did it oh interesting okay And then I also loved my grandpa and my grandpa was in like a spec ops in Vietnam. Gotcha.
00:09:31
Speaker
He had an awful time. I
The Life and Legacy of Edgar Ray Butterworth
00:09:35
Speaker
don't think he liked it one bit, but you know what? I thought he was the coolest guy ever. And I was like glory. And in the yes, sign me up.
00:09:44
Speaker
Gotcha. Interesting. Okay. That's a very different perspective than I feel like I normally hear. And the reason why he was rejected rejected wasn't because he he he got rejected because he simply looked too young. So he was essentially lying on the paperwork. And the only reason why he got denied is because they were like, yeah, I don't think you're 17.
00:10:03
Speaker
So if he would have looked older, he would have definitely been immediately shoot in. Only after repeated refusals ah was he finally sent home. And while he never actually became a Civil War soldier, the conflict would profoundly shape the prevention profession he eventually entered into.
00:10:20
Speaker
Okay, so before the Civil War, embalming was uncommon in America. Really? Yes. Soldiers killed hundreds of miles from home, often decomposed before their families ever saw them again.
00:10:31
Speaker
um To solve this problem, embalmers began preserving bodies with chemicals, allowing grieving families one final opportunity to say say goodbye. So in the Civil War, unfortunately, things bad things were happening. And then...
00:10:47
Speaker
i out of bad things, innovations often sprout. Yeah. think of like corrective actions or something like that. You know, a bad thing happens, but then you learn from it and you and you keep moving. And actually this is when the funeral industry really started taking off, was actually around this time when embalming started to take place because families wanted to see their loved one one last time.
00:11:09
Speaker
And this practice of preserving, but why did I yell that? The practice of preserving bodies um and embalming to get soldiers home so we could say goodbye one last time, changed funerals forever. And Edgar Butterworth would later become one of the greatest, greatest champions.
00:11:27
Speaker
greatest champions of this. This is going to be an awful episode. So following the war, Edgar pursued as a couple respectable professions. He studied law in Massachusetts, attending intending to become an attorney. And by all accounts, he seemed pretty secure in that future. he had this charisma and ambition that was pretty much unstoppable. Then in 1869, at just 22 years old, he married Grace Whipple. Their happiness was heartbreakingly brief.
00:11:56
Speaker
um A year later, after Grace became pregnant with their first child, she unfortunately died during childbirth. Oh, no. Yeah, that's really sad. um Super common back then, too, which is crazy how we forget that. Yeah.
00:12:11
Speaker
Yeah. However, there was a silver lining. Their son did survive, and his name was Gilbert Butterworth. Gilbert? ah that like yeah That's such a name. Gilbert? Yeah.
00:12:23
Speaker
All I think about when I hear Gilbert is Gilbert Blythe from Anne of Green Gables. I think I've read that book or that show. No. I remember it. I think of Gilbert Grape. Like, what's eating Gilbert Grape?
00:12:34
Speaker
That's a good one, too. I think one of my first crushes, though, was on Gilbert Blythe from the PBS Anne Shirley episode, Anne of Green Gables. That's a classic. For those who know, they know. ah ah ah The tragedy of losing his wife permanently changed Edgar's life. And in fact, historians speculate that Grace's death also changed his relationship with mortality. And when that happened, he abandoned his legal studies. He packed up his infant son and he left New England behind forever.
00:13:12
Speaker
And he started wandering the American frontier. And in doing so, he was looking for other opportunities. He spent time in St. Louis becoming a hat maker, which is interesting.
00:13:23
Speaker
um And then he later he kept going west and he ended up in Kansas where he remarried. and He pretty much became everything you can imagine a frontier worker would be. So at one point he was a cattleman. Another time he was a rancher and owned his own ranch. um He was a businessman, but most notably he was a Buffalo bone collector, a job I had no idea existed.
00:13:50
Speaker
Remember back in the day when you were in school and you would learn about how white people would just come to the great plains and shoot all of the Buffalo. Yes. yes said yeah And like take their pelts and just leave everything else. Mm-hmm.
00:14:02
Speaker
Well, people like... Mr. Butterworth would go in carts and pick up all of the bones and like the rotting meat, put it in the back of his wagon and then haul it to cities. And for every ton of bone or whatever you collect, you would actually get $10, which is pretty respectable for back in the day. Okay.
00:14:26
Speaker
And this would be used to make glue. It would be used for fertilizers, just industry things, yeah which I thought, I mean, silver linings too. killing a whole bunch of buffalo but okay so he was collecting these buffalo bones um he was earning ten dollars per ton which is pretty respectable and edgar would drive his wagon across hundreds of miles of the kansas prairie gathering skeletons wow behind after massive buffalo hunts that's not crazy that's wild and by all accounts he did this by himself
00:14:58
Speaker
Damn. Which also quite scary because this is the time when there's like a lot of Native American white man. Like conflict, yeah. Conflict going on. um So i thought that was interesting. And so while traveling across Kansas searching for buffalo remains, Edgar stopped at an isolated prairie homestead. The scene before him was devastating. A grieving settler had lost had just lost both his wife and his newborn child. Oh.
00:15:27
Speaker
There was no town nearby. There was no carpenter, no undertaker, no coffin. The man had absolutely no way to bury his family with dignity. And so Edgar looked around and there was only one source of lumber and that was his own wagon.
00:15:43
Speaker
And realizing that this man is probably in grief stricken state that he was when he lost his beautiful wife, first wife, he without hesitation dismantled his own wagon piece by piece.
00:15:59
Speaker
built rebuilt a coffin out of the lumber and nails of his wagon so that his the grieving husband could bury his loved ones in peace oh my god that is so kind isn't that so kind and just a beautiful story that's like that's just so heartwarming it's heartwarming and you also like So you run across this person who you can empathize with because you had this happen to you in your past. And instead of like saying, I can't destroy my wagon because this is my livelihood. He says, you know what? Screw it. Like I will do whatever you need to do to bring you peace. Yeah. The single act of compassion redirected his future forever.
00:16:40
Speaker
And la unlike many origin stories, this one wasn't inspired by money, but it began, it began with empathy. So after years of wandering, Edgar finally settled in the small Washington Territory community of Centerville, later named Centralia. Fun fact, that's where my dad was born.
00:16:58
Speaker
That's where my grandma was born. Maybe we were like best friends in the past life too. I feel like we had to have been. We had to open. I feel like, yeah. I feel like we became friends too quickly for us not to have some kind of weird connection.
00:17:12
Speaker
Very true. We were bosom pals. And if you don't know Anne of Green Gables, you don't know that word either. So you're going to have to look it up. What the hell?
00:17:23
Speaker
You have to watch Anne of Green Gables, but the PBS one. how am I going to find the PBS one? Is it on, like... I have the DVDs. do you have a DVD player? I don't think so. What is wrong with you?
00:17:34
Speaker
I also don't have a DVD player, but I do have the DVDs. Actually, I have a portable one. Okay. Refocusing. Ready? Ready. you Don't say refocusing. You didn't say bosom pals and not expect a reaction.
00:17:49
Speaker
Bosom friends. Bosom friends. I think that's what she said. We're bosom friends. But she said it in the books. Anyways. Okay.
00:17:57
Speaker
Wow. This is a great episode. So he settled in Centralia. He opened a furniture business. And he built wooden coffins um that required skill. So it wasn't just like the typical wooden box that you would see back in the day, but he actually made like beautiful creations. So if you're if you have the extra money and you want something a little more schnazzy, he would be able to make that for you. And luckily or unluckily, i don't know. But around the time where Edgar opened this business, the diphtheria epidemic really took off. oo
00:18:32
Speaker
In the spring of 1882, it swept through Centralia. Do you know what diphtheria is? Like, what is, what are the symptoms of it? I thought it was diarrhea, right? I don't know. is It wasn't, isn't it part of the tetanus vaccine vaccine that you get? Like, it's like tetanus, diphtheria, something else.
00:18:47
Speaker
Bacterial infection caused by toxin-producing coronian bacterium diphtheria. um it primarily affects the mucus membranes of the nose and throat, leading to a thick gray coating that can block airways alongside potential heart and nerve damage. Oh, my God.
00:19:06
Speaker
Spread through respiratory droplets or by touching contaminated persons, open sores. It is part of the Tdap. Yeah, okay. ah Booster. That's what I thought.
00:19:17
Speaker
Symptoms typically appear two to five days after exposure and sore throat, hoarseness, swollen glands, mild fever, chills, fatigue, difficulty breathing and swallowing, thick gray, bluish white membrane coating, the throat and tonsils.
00:19:33
Speaker
Oh my God. That sounds miserable.
00:19:39
Speaker
That sounds disgusting. And this is why I will always be pro-vaccine. Pro-vaccine and pro maybe not get a time machine.
00:19:51
Speaker
trying to that That's so rude that I'm saying that while I'm going through this horrible event. so Okay, so diphtheria killing people, left and right. people are People are dying. There's bluish pus everywhere. And in this bluish pus-filled event, um the demands for sky coffins skyrocketed. And Edgar found himself you know producing more and more and more caskets and what also highlighted is is communities desperately needed a funeral service they had no funeral director if you will you would essentially someone would die and you would get a coffin and you would put the person who died in your home in the middle of your living room what until you're ready to bury it uh um and then you would kind of keep it moving so edgar recognized a serious opportunity here
00:20:40
Speaker
Yeah. he decided to undertake a profession that has never been done before and make it his life work. So to do so, he moved to Seattle in 1892 because Seattle was exploding with growth at this time.
00:20:55
Speaker
The Great Seattle Fire of 1889, which connects to a past episode, ah destroyed much of downtown, but the city rebuilt rapidly using brick and stone. Railroads connected Seattle to the rest of the nation. So obviously it was it was exploding. And, you know, when people come to cities and populations explode, what also explodes?
00:21:18
Speaker
Deaths. Yeah. um So ah the same year that he moved to Seattle, he purchased Cross Undertakers, one of the city's funeral businesses that was already there. He renamed it to E.R. Butterworth and Sons because at this point he had five sons.
00:21:35
Speaker
His elder so eldest son, Gilbert, Grape or Blythe, depending on what era you were born in, um is now 22 years old and quickly has become his right right hand man. And the Butter, this essentially started the Butterworth dynasty. Oh, interesting. If you will.
00:21:56
Speaker
So as strange as it sounds today, the 1890s were an excellent time to own a funeral home. Seattle was dangerous. Antibiotics didn't exist. Vaccines were limited. Hospitals, super primitive. And people were dying left and right from tuberculosis, influenza, cholera, pneumonia, you name it.
00:22:12
Speaker
People are dying. Even the bubonic plague remove remained at this time, which I didn't realize was all the way up to now. What? my God.
00:22:23
Speaker
In fact, did you know in 1907, city workers reportedly trapped over 500,000 rats while poisoning million more to prevent the bubonic plague from becoming an outbreak in Seattle? Oh my God.
00:22:36
Speaker
Isn't that wild? I had no idea. I hate rats. Once in a while, I'll see a rat in the alleyway near where I live and it just... love There's something about the tail, man. It's just too long. oh And they just scurry. It's the like how quickly and like shifty they are.
00:22:53
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And you're never going to catch it. It'll catch you though. but they Gross. Okay. So according to Seattle records, 2,462 people died in 1910, including 35 homicide victims, which is pretty big for the size of Seattle at the time.
00:23:10
Speaker
um And so Butterworth really tried to become the premier funeral director for all of those individuals.
Mysteries and Hauntings at the Former Mortuary
00:23:18
Speaker
He dreamed bigger than anyone before him. And rather than operating just a funeral parlor, he was envisioning an entire building devoted exclusively to caring for the dead.
00:23:32
Speaker
okay So Butterworth hired renowned architect John Graham Sr. to design what would become America's most advanced mortuary. Graham would later design numerous iconic Seattle um landmarks, including portions of the University of Washington campus and the resvelt Roosevelt Hotel.
00:23:49
Speaker
oh nice. The results of the building were pretty breathtaking. In October 1903, five-story arts structure at 1921 First Avenue stood only steps away from what would later become the Pike Place Market.
00:24:04
Speaker
Nice. It had stand-sewn arches resembling ancient Roman structures, massive line-head sculptures that overlooked First Avenue, and visitors, what many newspapers called the most modern funeral establishment in America.
00:24:19
Speaker
So why was this revolutionary? um First of all, because families previously needed to hire so like multiple different people to do all of the things. So you would need someone to retrieve the body, someone else to embalm it, someone to build the coffin, someone to like host funeral services, someone to do the transporting, and then someone to do the flower arrangements.
00:24:42
Speaker
Well... What Butterworth did is he said, you know what, I'm going to do a jack of all trades. I'm going to do it all in one building. And so he became the first true mortician or funeral director in the nation, essentially, by combining all of this into one quick stop, if you will.
00:25:04
Speaker
So walking into the mortuary in 1903 was unlike any other business that you would walk walk into. Every floor had a carefully planned purpose. So the basement, which originally housed horse stables, funeral wagons, heating systems, storage rooms, services. But also um the way the building was set up is that bodies would arrive really discreetly from the rear alley and then come into the building. Okay.
00:25:32
Speaker
Through... essentially the basement. There was also an elevator that would take these coffins to upper floors. So you wouldn't have to carry people upstairs, which is very ingenuitive, if you will. Yeah.
00:25:44
Speaker
There was lower, lower storage areas, which contained fireproof vaults where remains could say, um, could safely wait burial. Um, also it was like kind of cold in these storage areas. So helped with the embalming process, all that other kind of stuff. Yeah.
00:25:59
Speaker
The main floor was carved mahogany, bronze hardware, stained glass, ornamental plaster, elegant furnishings. You know, when you walk somewhere like into, well, I don't know if you've been to a funeral home, but there's like this vibe in a funeral home where it's like classy, clean, professional, and like somber. This is what this room was. Gotcha. um And so this is where he would meet all of his clients and where he would have like examples of his coffins and like flower arrangements, all this other kind of stuff. Yeah.
00:26:26
Speaker
He also had um a floor that was the funeral chap chapel where there was a choir loft, a balcony, an organ, stained glass windows. So in the same building. Yeah.
00:26:38
Speaker
You can do all this cool stuff. Like I said, there's this funeral elevator where you can transport things up and down quietly and discreetly. But then, you know... This is where Edgar's ambition maybe became a little bit too much because he didn't want to just simply be a businessman, but he wanted to become one of Seattle's like leaders. Right. And he was going to do this by hook or by crook. So he first kind of dabbled into the civil leadership, if you will, by serving on the Washington State Legislative Board. And he and he was also belonged to numerous Masonic organizations.
00:27:16
Speaker
He was also a very active member in Seattle's prestigious Arctic Club, where many of the city city's political and business elite gathered. And I'm telling you all this because I'm trying to paint the picture that this man had a lot of connections. Yeah.
00:27:31
Speaker
and a lot of connections to people in very high places. And he used this to his advantage later on, and you'll see why. His son, Gilbert Butterworth, emerged as the public face of the family business. He was very handsome, charismatic, and very ambitious, just like his father.
00:27:46
Speaker
And he also... had this like just because of his charismatic behavior and how handsome he was he was automatically accepted into Seattle's upper echelon like people really like flocked to this family and like thought they were kind of the bee's knees and the because of this face in society, people, more and more people flocked to the mortuary with their loved ones after death because they just knew the Butterworth name and they knew these people were upper echelon and could provide a service that no one else could. yeah
00:28:25
Speaker
His business is really booming. yeah um And it was in 1911 where Ray Butterworth and sons became kind of sonominous synonymous with the dignified funerals in Seattle. He At this time, unfortunately, started working with a woman named Linda Bierfold Hazard.
00:28:50
Speaker
And he actually became very close with her because Linda had a a little retreat, if you will, where she did therapeutic fasting. And unfortunately for her, this therapeutic ah fasting, you know, left many of her patients dead.
00:29:07
Speaker
And she needed someone who could quietly and quickly give her patients a funeral. Oh, my goodness. An episode with a double callback? all a double callback, if you will. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
00:29:20
Speaker
And actually, Mr. Butterworth himself, the elder, um made a little deal with Linda. Yeah. He wouldn't ask questions and she would pay double.
00:29:33
Speaker
And that was working wonderfully until a pair of sisters, Claire and Dorothea, ah came into Linda's care.
00:29:43
Speaker
And when Claire died and her family was very concerned and came to so visit her, they requested to see the body of Claire. Yeah.
00:29:55
Speaker
Well, the body was already at the Butterworth mortuary. no And it was this was actually the first whispers of something shady going on with the Butterworth because they couldn't prove that the person in the coffin was actually Claire.
00:30:11
Speaker
And she didn't look like Claire. And a lot of people thought that because Linda had paid Butterworth so much money and he and she was continuing to pay him so much money that he did this like...
00:30:23
Speaker
one thing for her and switch the bodies ah to prove that there was no murder or anything like that. Oh my God. Yeah. So this body switch theory was not great. And in fact, during the trial of Linda hazard, Butterworth actually was pulled into the whole trial and was essentially had to like testify that there was no body switching.
00:30:51
Speaker
when it came to the death. But that kind of like, once that got into the papers, there was no getting out that. So throughout the investigation, Butterworth consistently denied his wrongdoing. He argued that his company merely carried out lawful funeral service requested by those legally responsible for the deceased, which was Linda at this time, because remember, she was like forcing everyone to sign over their assets. Well, maybe not forcing, but still.
00:31:17
Speaker
yeah I think it was forcing. Yeah. Yes. The family maintained they never altered evidence or switched bodies, but you know, research suggests that maybe, maybe that's not fully true, but no one could ever prove it. So they just kept going on. But then everything kind of got covered up because the influenza arrives shortly after this trial, the Spanish flu. And you know, in 1918, while world war one was raging overseas, the influence of pandemic just struck us hard.
00:31:50
Speaker
And in 1918, more than a thousand residents died. Most of whom went to the Butterworths because they had this amazing establishment where you could just yeah get everything done in one shop shop shop. So they're pumping bodies out. And then one of the most hit locations was the University of Washington Naval Training Station. And because of his connections, the U.S. Navy contracted with Butterworth and his sons to prepare bodies and return them to their grieving families.
00:32:22
Speaker
The agreement was straightforward. The government would reimburse the funeral expenses up to approximately $100 a sailor. And with hundreds of funerals occurring rapidly, Butterworth became one of Seattle's busiest undertakers.
00:32:35
Speaker
But and on October 19, 1918, the federal marshals arrested Gilbert Butterworth and the accusations shocked Seattle. Federal prosecutors alleged that Gilbert had committed fraud by charging families full price for caskets, even though they were already being paid by the university ah and the U.S. government. And he was billing the government for the same caskets. So he was billing two people for the same things. And he was collecting payment from both.
00:33:05
Speaker
and Gilbert was counted um indicted on 43 federal counts of fraud. And if he was convicted, he would face years in federal prison. He had a an attorney named George W. Gregory, which is one of Seattle's most accomplished defense attorneys. And Gregory actually was the guy who defended Linda Hazard.
00:33:26
Speaker
Hmm. got her off. Seems suspicious. It seems suspicious. And the result was that it was a hung jury. Gilbert reportedly explained, my God, do we have to go through this all over again?
00:33:41
Speaker
My guy, which is crazy. You literally just try to con people in their most worst time of their life, but whatever. So he went back to trial in 1919. It such a stark contrast to his dad at the very beginning. yeah I'm like, oh, I'm going to tear apart my only mode of transportation to make this grieving family a coffin.
00:34:01
Speaker
And then his son like complete 180. Oh my God. Complete 180. And he's like, oh, we have to go through this again. You're jerk. So in 1919, the second trial took place and this jury counted him as not guilty. And he was gloating all over the paper saying, I feel like a million dollars. I knew I never did anything wrong. All these people are just just ridiculous. So 1919, Edgar suffered multiple strokes, which left him pretty...
00:34:29
Speaker
Not great. he He was not in great condition. He had to he was legally confined to or not legally but largely confined to his Queen Anne home. And then on New Year's Day 1921, Edgar died at the age of 74. And his estate was roughly valued at $200,000, which today is several million dollars. I never looked that up, but several million dollars, which is crazy for back then. Wow, yeah.
00:34:53
Speaker
And then the company um all went to Gilbert. And while and gilbert Gilbert's care, there's this shady underturn undercurrent that continued on from like the U.S. court-martial thing and then also the Linda linda Hazard situation where the the mortuary would never turn anybody away. And they are going to do whatever they need to do to get a buck.
00:35:19
Speaker
But um in 1936, Gilbert died of multiple strokes, just like his father. And then um leadership then passed to the through subsequent generations of the Butterworth family. But in the late 20th century, the business was sold to a national funeral corporation.
00:35:37
Speaker
The First Avenue building found entirely new life. The horse stables became a dining room. The loading docks became a bar. And where mourners once gathered in silence, music musicians now fill the room with laughter and Irish folk songs. Today, the building is now known as Kel's Irish Bar.
00:35:55
Speaker
And many believe the spirits that passed through the doors in the mortuary turn times never actually left. So let's go into the hauntings that are at Kel's pub. So nestled beside Seattle's famous park park market is Kel's Irish pub. And so it's not the incomplete five stories, but it does have this weird kind of like staircase in it where you have the, like the, what used to be the basement where they stored the bodies. And then you can go like up into the first floor. Cause you entered in like pin post alley, right? So you're not even enter entering it off first half. Gotcha. Gotcha.
00:36:25
Speaker
Yeah, and then you kind of like go up. so So the first haunting or the first person ghost that you'll see is Charlie, and he's the, quote, regular at the bar. Charlie is the most consistent apparition reported at Kells, and he's described as a middle-aged man wearing an old-fashioned derby or bowler hat, dressed in early 1900s clothing, which is like a vest coat, muted tones, calm seated posture, and occasionally smiling or watching the staff work.
00:36:53
Speaker
Interesting. He'll be sitting at the bar stool at the main bar where they have like an actual plaque that says like Charlie's stool. But sometimes you'll see him on the bar stool, but then sometimes you'll be like at the bar and look in the mirror and you'll see him and you'll look over and he won't be there, which I hate. Yeah. yeah um And occasionally you'll see him at the edge of the dining area near closing time, like almost like he's like leaving for the night.
00:37:17
Speaker
which is kind of interesting. Another haunting in the Kells pub is the mirror loop phenomenon. One of the most repeated employee counts goes like this. Staff is closing and restocking the bar. Someone glances in the mirror behind the bottles. They see a man sitting in the bar stool.
00:37:32
Speaker
They turn around immediately and the stool is empty. So this is what, who like who's prompting Charlie, but then other people will just walk in and see a man sitting on the stool and then they'll walk by and look back and the man's gone.
00:37:45
Speaker
Which is kind of interesting. I wonder who it is. That's trippy. um Charlie is almost never described as aggressive, vocal, or moving object. he's He's often described as observational, still checking in on the room. He's kind of just chill. He's just there.
00:38:01
Speaker
Then you have the girl in red, who's the playful entity, which is what I alluded to earlier about the girl running through the hallways laughing. creepy um it's a girl wearing a bright red dress with white socks or stockings black shoes and she's like six to ten years old um unlike charlie she's running through the hallways or staircases she's laughing or giggling in empty rooms which is scary as shit um You'll also see ah people in the staircase. So you'll either hear like footsteps running up the stairs. They assume it's a a child or maybe an intruder. So they try to follow, but everything is empty and the upper floor is empty.
00:38:34
Speaker
um One incident cited, a frequently cited story is ah security guard was wandering the, was working late and wandering kind of the downstairs and he hears running footsteps, like run past him up the stairs He sees on the stairs, because he runs too, he sees on stairs the stairs this small figure in a red dress and black shoes and white stockings kind of like disappearing. And so he's like trying to chase after it. And then he like finds no one.
00:39:03
Speaker
So he like sees this physical thing, tries to chase after it and like goes away. There's also a lot of auditory phenomenon, like obviously footsteps, whispering voices, sudden burst and bursts of laughter. But what's really creepy is people often feel physical sensations.
00:39:20
Speaker
So sudden temperature drops, feeling like cold pockets, feelings of being watched, light pressure on your shoulders or back. I don't like that. And then brief sensations of passing through someone, whoo which I also, also hate.
00:39:37
Speaker
There's also like one or two, when I was like on Reddit, there was one or two stories about people being choked. What? in the bathroom but like i don't know if that's fully true or people just like freaking because the reputation of kells is that it's like a friendly haunting not anything dangerous fun fact ghost adventures the show did a did an episode on no way Yes. um And then the evidence was pretty... I'm sorry if you can hear my dogs in the background, but you should watch it so that you can find out more. But that was my story about the history of Kells Bar. was actually a mortuary and connected to a serial killer.
00:40:23
Speaker
I had no idea. so I'd always heard that Kells was haunted, but i didn't know anything past that. And I'd never heard of the Butterworths, actually. It's crazy that they we don't hear about the Butterworths because the syrup, you would think that we would...
00:40:37
Speaker
Mrs.
00:40:48
Speaker
i got it I just didn't know how to respond. but Well, that's it for today's dive into the dark corners of the Pacific Northwest. If you love the stories or shivered a little, be sure to subscribe and follow so you don't miss what's lurking beneath the evergreens next time. Thanks for joining us on Beneath the Evergreens.
00:41:05
Speaker
We appreciate you diving into the mysteries with us. Until next time, keep your eyes open and your doors locked. Duck, duck.