About the Castle and its Hauntings
Manresa Castle was originally completed in 1892 as the home of Charles and Kate Eisenbeis. Charles Eisenbeis was a prominent member of early Port Townsend (He was the first mayor), when the port was the most active in the Pacific Northwest. The twelve inch thick walls of his thirty room mansion were made of brick from Charles Eisenbeis’s own brickworks. Locals came to call the building “Eisenbeis Castle.” In 1902 Charles Eisenbeis died, and the mansion was left empty when Kate remarried.
In 1925 an attorney bought the property and made it a vacation house for nuns who are teaching students in Seattle. However, this did not work out quite well and the castle became a training college for Jesuits. In 1927 it was purchased by Jesuits who turned it into a training college and renamed it Manresa Hall. It is the Jesuits who built the large extension to the original building and covered the brick walls of the original section to keep it more in line with the new wing. In 1968 the Jesuits left and it became a hotel.
Ghostly Rumors
There are reports that hotel’s rooms 302, 304 and 306 are frequented by two resident ghosts. There is reportedly a monk who hung himself in the castle’s attic. To this day, people can still hear the footsteps of the monk in the attic. The other ghost is that of a young lady who had been waiting for her beloved to return from war. When she heard the news that her beloved died in war, she threw herself out of the window and fell to her death.
In the café, which was once the chapel, drinking would spontaneously explode even when they are on the hands of servers. Empty glasses would also turn upside down on their own.
We stayed in 314. The hotel personnel were really great about accommodating my request to see the special places of the hotel for my blog. I asked about the basement “dungeon” area and was told it was completely converted to a laundry for the hotel.
This was a very fun visit, and very reasonably priced. We got a coupon to return for half price so we will be back!
Scenes From the Lily Pad 