The 1,000 Steps

1,000 Steps
This is considered one of the most haunted places in Spokane and is on the news every October.
“1,000 Steps” at Greenwood Cemetery is at Spokane’s oldest public burial site. The people that built Spokane are buried here, a long with a lot of historical figures.
There are tunnels still underneath the cemetery left over from the Great Northern Railroad that kids in the 70’s tried to go searching in for a good scare but entrances are now blocked off and covered with brush.
In 1898 the Elks Lodge purchased land from the cemetery for the Elks members to have their own burial grounds. A twelve -crypt private mausoleum with a bronze elk figure on top, bronze gates and bronze clock with bronze hands frozen at 11 o’ clock, a tradition for Elks to honor their death on the eleventh hour was built and a long set of stairs where the street car stopped leading up to the mausoleum.
At some point the Elks were in debt and sold all the bronze off the mausoleum including the elk on top and abandon the burial area. This abandonment of the order’s fallen, and their once illustrious resting place is widely considered the source of the haunting and angry Elks members.
Many people believe ghosts and spirits guard the staircase, preventing people from reaching to the top. According to local legend, if you walk up the stairs without any lights on you will see the faces of men, women and children when you reach the top. Those brave enough will also hear the shrieks and cries of the dead.
They claim the disfigured stairway ripped itself apart to ward off unwanted guests when referring to the way the steps are broken off.
It’s really only 60 steps or so but dubbed the “1,000 Steps” because nobody can make it to the top, according to legend.
Unfortunately, a site of satanic rituals, witchcraft and graffiti in an otherwise gorgeous cemetery filled with beautiful headstones over a hundred years old, terraced on the 3 levels of a hill. That is the only spot that is graffitied in the entire cemetery and I’m sure they get tired of cleaning it. It is also supposed to have heavy security at night to prevent the stair climbers so we took our chances during the day. It is considered to be very haunted and hauntings continue to get reported every year just in the cemetery alone.