Restored 19th-Century Mining-Town Inn in the Cascades
300 5th St, Index, WA 98256
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Overnight rates vary by room and season; restaurant pricing moderate
Access
Limited Access
Historic two-story inn with stairs
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1898 · Mining-Town Lodging · North Cascades Heritage · Index Historic District
Index sits in the North Cascade foothills along US Highway 2, where the road bends toward Stevens Pass. In the 1890s the area drew prospectors working veins of silver, gold, and lead, and quarries supplying the granite that built much of Seattle's older monumental architecture. The Bush House opened in 1898, named for early local entrepreneur Dan Bush, and operated as the principal lodging in town through the boom and the long decline that followed.
Through the 20th century, the Bush House moved through a series of owners and periods of partial closure. In 2011 the inn was purchased by Index residents Blair and Kathy Corson, who also operate Index Outdoor Adventures Center, and a long restoration began. The building reopened with ten renovated guest rooms and a cottage, an event space, and an on-site restaurant called the Bush House Grille & Bar.
The surrounding landscape is the principal attraction. Lake Serene Trailhead is two miles away. Wallace Falls State Park is roughly nineteen miles, Stevens Pass Ski Area is about thirty. The town itself is on the National Register of Historic Places, with a small core of late-Victorian and early-20th-century buildings preserved by the limits of subsequent development.
Sources
The Annabel legend is the version most often told at the front desk and on local tours. According to the story, a young woman bound for marriage to a local miner received word at the inn that her fiancé had died underground. She hanged herself in the room now numbered 9. The fiancé returned, the report having been wrong, found her dead, and is said in some tellings to have killed himself in turn. Some versions place a particular table in the dining room, Table 2, as Annabel's preferred seat.
The story is local tradition rather than a verifiable news record. No contemporary obituary or coroner's report has surfaced in published research to date. The legend has been carried in regional travel writing and local newspaper features for at least two decades.
The more frequently reported phenomena are sensory. Staff and guests have noted the smell of cigar smoke and perfume in second-floor corridors with no source nearby. Locals report hearing music drifting from the inn in winter when the building is closed or quiet. Doors are reported as opening or closing on their own. Investigators visiting under the inn's own hospitality have reported cold spots and electronic equipment behavior.
The Bush House does not stage paranormal experiences. The lodging is the offering. The legend is part of the welcome.
Notable Entities
Stay at the restored 1898 inn in the former mining town of Index, an hour northeast of Seattle on US-2. Ten guest rooms and a cottage; legend places the Annabel suicide in Room 9. Ask the staff which rooms have drawn the most reports.
On-site restaurant serving American fare. Table 2 in the dining room is associated in local lore with the Annabel story.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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