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More Oregon Coast Ghosts: Upstairs in the Seaside Aquarium

Photos by Tiffany Boothe

(Seaside, Oregon) - The Seaside Aquarium was founded in 1937, making it one of the oldest continuously operated aquariums in the U.S. It was the first in the nation to breed seals (sometime in the 50’s), and it currently has a habit of making news and history with its interesting beach finds.

But before it was created, the building already had an interesting history.

The building began its life as a natatorium – a popular form of recreation in the early part of the century, where salt water was pumped into large pools and then heated. This heated public saltwater bath was one of several on the Oregon coast at the time. There was one in Newport’s Nye Beach and another big, fancy one on what is now known as the Bayocean Spit near Tillamook – part of a sprawling resort which later become one of Oregon’s most secret ghost towns.

This was all around 1910, although the building in Seaside wasn’t built until the mid-1920’s. The natatorium went bankrupt a few short years later, and then the place had a brief life as a hall where professional wrestling was featured in the giant holes that were once the swimming pools. There were bleachers up on the third floor – where the creepy, creaky old apartments are now.

Another quick incarnation of the building was use as a fish hatchery.

Finally, about two years after the aquarium came into existence, the apartments were built into the building. They remained in use from 1939 until about 1970, when the aquarium managers started dismantling the living spaces. The entire building was resided in 1976, and all the windows were taken out.

As they did so, they lopped off an apartment or two, leaving this giant, gaping hole that leads to the aquarium’s office space, which is in full view of partial apartment rooms – cut in half in places, as if part of a sitcom studio set.

Then, abruptly, in 2004, the aquarium decided to embark on a different venture that included the third floor. The building was resided again, and this time they put back in many of the windows taken out thirty years before, giving it part of its old look back.

Plans for that venture were discarded, and the apartments were abandoned again. Now, the remaining hallways or apartments serve as storage space or simply vacant, dusty rooms that seem haunted by the memories of those who once occupied it.

It’s not open to the public, but it is a fascinating walk back in time – a little like wandering a ghost town. All the apartment doors have either been removed or won’t shut any longer. Old fixtures and outdated plumbing facilities are still visible. Some bathtubs are stacked up against the walls in one of the derelict hallways, as if waiting for a remodeling crew that never came.

There are lifeless electrical wires sticking out of some of the walls; especially interesting are the ones where the doorbells used to be. There is one doorbell still attached to its spot outside the apartment, with a note on it that says “does not work.” It’s hard to know if that was someone’s joke about the obvious, or it was left there from when the place was discarded.

Little breakfast nooks sit untouched for many years now. Windowpanes stare out towards the sea with a particularly touching, hollow sense of loneliness. All sorts of other curious remnants of technology from another time occupy these deserted rooms, some of which are just plain puzzling now as to their purpose. One interesting example is the Murphy beds still in their closets – a truly archaic, if not depressing stowaway from another age.

Many of the lights do still work in the apartments and hallways, yet many don’t. This leaves at least one corridor in spooky darkness. To top it all off, the floors creak wildly and even seem soft in some spots, and in many places they tilt at odd angles. It’s a little like a kooky fun house at the carnival.

Another curiosity is the proliferation of dark windows in the ceiling of the hallways, looking like they should be skylights. But some are swung open, only to reveal a crawlspace up there - no possible light source visible.

You stare around you here and you think “this place has gotta be haunted.” That one dark hallway certainly is an unwelcome passage. Then Tiffany, the aquarium’s latest star spokesperson, points to a cot in one room and says folks sometimes take naps up here. Manager Keith Chandler has actually spent the night there before – but Keith doesn’t believe in ghosts and actually scoffs at any talk of rumors of hauntings at the aquarium.

Creepy remnant: list of tenants on a chalkboard

Tiffany, however, likes to have fun with all this talk. She created these photos – some silly, some just documenting the surroundings. In one, it looks as if she caught spirit orbs amidst the dust particles.

Most poignant of all is the photo of a chalkboard that still has the names of the last remaining tenants before the place was cleared of its inhabitants. This gives the whole place a remarkable sense of life, or rather of afterlife. It’s a sad feeling you get from looking at that relic. At once you think of both the feeling these folks might’ve had when they were evicted, and of the vibe and sense of lingering presence their names give. It’s the closest thing to a ghost you’ll ever see here, if you’re ever lucky enough to tour this area.

Back to the Oregon Coast Ghosts and Other Paranormal Legends

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