McMenamins Olympic Club – Centralia, WA

History:

McMenamins Olympic Club Hotel is a historic hotel owned by McMenamins Pubs & Breweries. Built-in 1908, it was originally known as the Oxford Hotel. After acquiring the property in 1997, McMenamins changed the name to reflect the new ownership. The hotel features 27 European-style guest rooms and a brewpub movie theater.

Here you’ll find a historic building steeped in colorful tales of countless gamblers’ jackpots, revenuer raids, dark secrets deeply buried, and a famous bandit’s bravado. The Olympic Club Hotel has been a point of power, intrigue, and contention since its opening in 1908. Its name evokes heroic gods of ancient Herculean characters, the exploits of whom are now the stuff of modern legend.

The Olympic Club Hotel remains virtually unchanged from the time of its remodel in 1913. The hotel’s 27 guest rooms feature vintage furnishings, comfy beds, and conveniently located private common bathrooms.

Each room is named for the colorful and worthy cast of characters who have left their mark on this place – the internationally notorious “gentleman train robber” Roy Gardner who was captured at the hotel back in 1921; Gertrude Howell, the hotel’s first female proprietor who also identified Gardner; and Jack Sciutto, the Oly Club’s original proprietor who was crowned “King of Bootleggers.”

The place has always possessed an element of the Old West with stories of train robbers and ladies of the evening who took up residency on the second floor. Known as a true “gentleman’s resort”, Many loggers, miners, and railroad workers came through the doors.

McMenamins has expanded upon the Olympic Club Hotel’s traditional definition of a workingman’s resort by welcoming the whole family to enjoy lodging, meals, movies, art, history, sport, and special events. Throughout the Olympic Club historic photographs and extensive original artwork chronicle the building’s intriguing history.

West Sound Paranormal would like to hear from you if you’ve had a paranormal experience here, or have any additional information about this location, please leave a comment below.

Reported Paranormal Activity:

McMenamins Olympic Club is filled with history and lore and seems to be a location where the dead like to hang out with the living. Staff members have reported clocks changing the time in hotel rooms where no one has stayed, or alarms going off for no reason. One bartender recalls an ashtray flying across the room.

A recent guest at the hotel says he felt someone tap him on the shoulder while brushing his teeth. Many people have reported seeing a ghostly man sitting by the woodstove. What’s certain is there’s something spooky going on.

Candles mysteriously lit; rearranged chairs in the basement; falling ax; music drowned out by mysterious tune; a man’s laughter has been heard echoing in the building. A ghost nicknamed ‘Elmer’ has been seen standing by the cast iron stove. It is thought that this ghost could be Louis Galba who had rented a room at the hotel formerly on this site. The hotel burned in 1908, and Louis jumped to the ground from his second-story room. He died a few months later of his injuries.