Pretty Gritty Tours

28/01/2025

Yet again it is that time of year, Monkey Shines are back! Started as an accidental tradition back in 2004. This is now become one of the most beloved experiences in all of Tacoma. Local artists will hide pieces of glass art stamped with something to represent the current year of the lunar zodiac. Since this is year of the snake, that’s what you’re looking for. Good luck! #253 🐍 If you like this consider donating to the Monkeys to help fund the project.

23/01/2025

Join me for Foss Waterway Seaport’s Thursdays on Tap, a brand-new 21+ event! Come down to the Seaport on Thursday, February 13, at 6:00 PM for trivia, but like fun trivia. Low stakes trivia with humor as the goal. Grab a drink, check out our beautiful venue, and test your knowledge of Pacific Northwest maritime trivia, again looooooow stakes trivia. Who are we trying to impress? Prizes will be awarded to the top three (3) teams, so either take on the challenge yourself, or join a team of up to eight (8) folks. We can’t wait to see you there!

TICKETS
$25 per ticket - includes two (2) adult beverages, snacks, and trivia game. All guests must be 21+.

Get your tickets online at: https://events.cocoatickets.com/foss-waterway-seaport/thursdays-on-tap---february-13-2025

23/01/2025

Want to hear stories about Olympia 100 years ago? Of secret, tunnels, prohibition, organized crime, and the world on the brink of explosive change? Well, we have the exact tour for you, our Boos, Brews, and The Roaring ‘20s tour starts tonight and you can get your tickets online: https://prettygrittytours.com/olympia-boos-brews--the-roaring-20s.html #/

22/01/2025

Ready for a giveaway?! Stoked to be giving away 4 tickets to this year’s Tacoma Home + Garden Show, taking place from January 30 through February 2 at the Tacoma Dome. This year’s show is the ultimate inspiration destination for all things home renovation, interior design, gardening, and outdoor living! I’m excited to be there ✨

2 winners will be chosen to receive 2 tickets for them and a +1! Here’s how to enter:

🪴Like this post
🪴Follow me &
🪴Tag your friends in the comments below
🪴Unlimited entries
🪴This giveaway closes on January 24th at 12pm PT. Ready, set, get tagging!

Can’t wait to see you there!

18/01/2025

Tonight is the night! (1/18) Our historic tour of the Blackwell Mansion is back! You can come explore the whole 1891 mansion and see the home where one of Tacoma’s most important families passed away. Get your tickets online and we will see you there. Come experience Tacoma’s most highly rated tours. Tickets online at https://prettygrittytours.com/blackwell-mansion-tour.html #/

13/01/2025

We have a new tour available! Launching Thursday the 23rd, the Boos, Brews, & the Roaring ‘20s tour explores the brothels, gambling houses, speakeasies, organized crime, silent movies, vaudeville, nightclubs, alcohol raids, new technologies, and Jazz in Olympia. You can find more online and get tickets at

https://prettygrittytours.com/olympia-boos-brews--the-roaring-20s.html

13/01/2025

Do you know about the haunted hanging room in the former Pierce County Courthouse? It was allegedly one of the most haunted places in all of Tacoma until it’s destruction in 1959. 

09/01/2025

Hey, I am writing a book about Tacoma and now I am trying to do anything but focus on that task.

06/01/2025

The Oregon Ghost Conference is coming up this year on March 22nd and our very own Ira Kitmacher will be speaking this year! For ghost and paranormal enthusiasts this is such a great experience.

The Oregon Ghost Conference will be taking place at the Seaside Civic and Convention Center.

24/12/2024

Can you detect a pregnancy with a rabbit? You sure can, but it’s bad news for the rabbit.

17/12/2024

It is that time of year again! Time for Tacoma Elf Storage to light up the PNW skyline. But how did we get here?

17/12/2024

“…There'll be scary ghost stories […] and tales of the glories of

Christmases long, long ago…”

By Ira Wesley Kitmacher

Halloween isn’t the only time of year to tell scary ghost and monster stories. In fact, telling these
stories is a longtime holiday tradition.
The winter solstice — the shortest day and longest night of the year — is a time of transition and
change between fall and winter, provoking stories about spooky things at a time some believe the
“veil between the living and dead” is at its thinnest.

When it’s dark and cold out, listening to spooky stories with friends and family allows for just
enough of a shiver while basking in the comfort and warmth of home. This was especially true in
days before electricity, huddled around a fire.
Long before there was a Christmas, there were stories of the Norse god Odin, leading armies of
the dead across the sky at Yuletide. Native Americans told tales of frost giants. There was
holiday “monster,” Krampus, the anti-Claus, a horned Alpine figure in folklore — not unlike the
Grinch of cartoon fame — who scared misbehaving children.
He was known to assist Santa Claus, visiting children on Dec. 5, with well-behaved children
receiving a gift from Santa and badly behaved children being punished by Krampus.

One of the first holiday ghost stories was William Shakespeare’s 1623 “The Winter’s Tale,” in
which the author discussed sprites and goblins. The ghost story tradition remained prevalent in
England through the 19th century, with the famous “A Christmas Carol” written by Charles
Dickens in 1843.
As Ebenezer Scrooge, the cold-hearted miser in Dickens’ story said to the ghosts (his former
business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas past, present and yet to come) who
were haunting him on Christmas Eve: “air filled with phantoms... show me no more!”

After their visit, Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man who discovers the true
meaning of the holiday — giving and generosity.
In 20th-century America, instead of ghosts, stories and movies featured angels helping and
teaching mortals lessons about the holidays and life. This was the case in 1946’s “It’s a
Wonderful Life” and 1947’s “The Bishop’s Wife.”
As “It’s a Wonderful Life” protagonist George Bailey said to Clarence Odbody, the angel who
was helping him to see how important his life was, “look, little fella, go off and haunt somebody
else, will you?” Interestingly, while the angel Dudley in “The Bishop’s Wife” was more like a
traditional angel (a spiritual being, more powerful than humans), Clarence was more like a ghost
(a mortal who died and went to heaven — now the helpful dead).

In each of these two stories, the protagonists learned the true meaning of love, life, and the
holidays. As the classic 1963 holiday song “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” by Andy
Williams said, “there’ll be scary ghost stories ...”
More recently, in 1993’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” Jack Skellington, a living skeleton,
attempts to kidnap Santa Claus. As Jack darkly observed: “...monsters are all missing ...
nightmares can’t be found ... good feeling all around ... they’re busy building toys and absolutely
no one’s dead.” Skellington later learned his lesson and apologized to Santa.

Many of these stories follow one of two formulas. The first, a misunderstanding of the holidays,
bad behavior and subsequent learning the true meaning and the second a human asking for and
receiving help from a greater power.

Ira Wesley Kitmacher leads the “Olympia History and Haunted Tour” for Pretty Gritty Tours and
is the author of Haunted Graveyard of the Pacific, Spirits Along the Columbia River, Monsters
and Miracles, Haunted Puget Sound, Pacific Northwest Legends and Lore, and an upcoming
2025 book on dark stories from the Pacific Northwest’s past.

16/12/2024

The mighty Suciasaurus Rex is the only dinosaur fossil ever found in WA so in 2023, thanks to Tacoma’s Elmhurst Elementary 4th grade class, it became our state dinosaur.

14/12/2024

I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but Washington state is in fact not officially the Evergreen State. 

12/12/2024

Forget the Evergreen State, in the 1930s Washington was almost called the Christmas State. The PNW is the largest producer of decorative holly in the world and once Gig Harbor reigned supreme, producing more Christmas holly than any other place on the globe.