THE STORY
Reported Haunting
Lewis Army Museum (originally Fort Lewis Military Museum), housed in the former historic Red Shield Inn building, is rumored to have haunts in residence.
Lewis Army Museum (originally Fort Lewis Military Museum), housed in the former historic Red Shield Inn building, is rumored to have haunts in residence. Legend has it that during the filming at the inn of a 1927 silent movie called “The Patent Leather Kid,” a worker was murdered on the second floor. After that, a cowboy’s angry or sad ghost was often seen in the area, along with unexplained sounds, cold spots, and alarms that went off for no apparent reason. Eventually three priests were summoned to perform an exorcism, during which they said the man’s apparition appeared to them, telling them he was upset because he had done something to cause his own death. The priests gave him forgiveness and permission to leave, and, so the story goes, the cowboy ghost stopped to weep for a moment before fading away at the doorway. Spooky happenings are rumored still to continue in the building.