BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – Have you seen the Green Lady? How about the Black Cat? If you answered ‘Yes’ to one or both of these questions, it means you’ve wandered inside Fairhaven’s Sycamore Square.

Interwoven staircases ascend the four-story building with ample views of the courtyard below. It is said that Sycamore Square is the site where Flora Blakely, the wife of town marshal Joseph Blakely died under mysterious circumstances. A coroner’s note reveals that she died of “brain disease,” according to the Good Time Girls’ Bellinghistory podcast.

Some believe, however, that she fell, or was pushed, from the landing outside of her top floor apartment. Sightings of a lady in a green dress wandering the halls have been reported in the building.

The view from the fourth floor of Fairhaven’s Sycamore Square building looks down onto the courtyard. Photo by Adam Rideout Redeker.

Charles Crooks is a ghost hunter in Bellingham. He’s no stranger to Sycamore Square.

“I think when a lot of people are experiencing something ghostly, it’s not actually scary. I think we’re more confused by it. And that we’re a little more curious, and we want to try to figure out ‘What is going on?'” Crooks said. “Very, very rarely do I find it’s actually like the movies make it out to be.”

Crooks moved to Bellingham in 2009 from Federal Way. Sycamore Square was one of the first areas in town where he began ghost hunting with the now-defunct BOOO group (Bellingham Observers of the Odd and Obscure). The group had regular access to the building at the time. Crooks and other like-minded supernatural enthusiasts regularly spent their weekends traversing the building.

The exterior of Fairhaven’s Sycamore Square building. Photo by Adam Rideout Redeker.

One night, Crooks and several of his BOOO companions were in the building. Looking over the courtyard from the fourth floor, another presence made itself known.

The group caught a glimpse of a basketball-sized glowing white orb when it emerged from the wall. The orb flew up into the middle of the room before vanishing. At the same time, Crooks’ recording device picked up a man’s voice. “Ooh, you missed me,” it said. 

“There were four of us that saw that at the same time, so it’s not like I was alone and had to question what I really experienced,” Crooks said.

A staircase leading up to the fourth floor of Fairhaven’s Sycamore Square. Photo by Adam Rideout Redeker.

After a decade of exploring the building and other haunted sites, Crooks eventually stepped away from the hobby. It wasn’t until another purveyor of Bellingham’s unconventionalities contacted him years later, that he was pulled back in.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, Crooks crossed paths with Kolby LaBree from the Good Time Girls, who asked him to create a program revolving around death and hauntings to satiate the public’s curiosity.

2023 marked the official launch of Bellingham Ghost Tours, with its first tour designed around the very same Sycamore Square building that Crooks had already extensively investigated.

Currently, the business features two distinct experiences in town. Crooks typically runs two ghost tours per week, with one every day during the week of Halloween. One takes place in Fairhaven, at the Sycamore Square Building. The second brings guests through the heart of downtown to check out the most haunted buildings in the area.

The downtown tour ends at Chuckanut Bay Distillery, where attendees can listen to Crooks’ paranormal recordings over a beverage. Crooks considers the distillery one of Bellingham’s more haunted areas, claiming that paranormal activity has been captured by the establishment’s security cameras.

Fairhaven’s Sycamore Square building houses a variety of storefronts and restaurants. It’s also said to be haunted. Photo by Adam Rideout Redeker.

Crooks recalls being interested in ghosts for most of his life. His first up-close encounter with a paranormal entity occurred in his suburban Cleveland home when he was a teenager. Crooks said he had been seeing a ghost cat out of the corner of his eye for some time before it brushed up against his leg one day. When he looked down, there was nothing there.

In addition to his ghost tours venture, Crooks produces two podcasts.

“Chucked and Blessed” covers his tarot experience and provides tips and insight for those interested in psychic readings.

The third season of his other podcast “Hey Ghost Hey” is currently in the works. Crooks says it will feature paranormal recordings he obtained from his recent trip to Japan.

As a tarot enthusiast of over 20 years, Crooks also performs psychic readings.

“I think everyone is psychic, I’m not special or unique for this. I think we all have this natural ability of connecting to that part of ourselves. But it’s just like an art or a sport: you have to practice it. For some, it’s easier, some, you have to literally do it over and over in order to be successful at it. And so, for me, it’s just a different way of being aware, of being connected to the world around me.” – Charles Crooks

To translate electromagnetic frequencies into words, Crooks uses a small black and red box called an Ovilus. He keeps recordings of electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) on his phone to play, for curious ears, through a portable speaker. His tool kit, however, is just as cerebral as it is device-dependent.

The Ovilus: A ghost hunting device used to capture electronic ghost phenomenon. Photo by Adam Rideout Redeker.

Crooks’ tip for ghost hunters: Set your boundaries.

“I always tell people on the tours that you probably wouldn’t open up the front door of your home to the living world and just say, ‘Hey, anyone can come and go.’ So you don’t want to do the same with ghosts,” Crooks said.

Crooks makes a point not to bring paranormal entities home with him. As an industry professional, he understands the importance of separating his work and home life.

“There was one time in Sedro-Woolley, where we were doing a home investigation, and something definitely came home with me that night,” Crooks said. “I’ve had something from Fairhaven, that I talk about on the tour, [that] followed me as well and got into my dreams.“

Energy matters when encountering the paranormal. Crooks says that sage can act as a quick fix for hauntings, but an individual’s energy has a bigger effect than anything else. Likewise, he says hauntings are often reflective of what’s going on in a home. More stress can lead to more ghostly happenings.

The entrance to Fairhaven’s Sycamore Square building. Photo by Adam Rideout Redeker.

When it comes to seeking ghosts in Bellingham, Crooks admits he’s biased but still considers Sycamore Square to be one of the most haunted buildings in town. Other contenders, according to him, include the Mount Baker Theater, Chuckanut Bay Distillery and Hotel Leo.

 Interested paranormal investigators need look no further than Crooks’ website to sign up for a ghost tour.

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