Mystery Location No. 251: May 2, 2021

www.lamoureuxrealestateblog.com/blog-posts/2019/3/28/everett-archives-the-rucker-mansion

Could this location be the Rucker Mansion at 412 Laurel Drive in Everett, Washington? The home is on Rucker Hill/Rucker Heights and styled in a combination of Queen Anne, Italian Villa and Georgian Revival architecture. It was completed in 1905 as a home for brothers Wyatt and Bethel Rucker and their mother, Jane, as well as a wedding gift for Ruby Brown who married Bethel in December 1904.

The Rucker family were developers who made their money in real estate, banking and timber. They are one of the founding families of Everett and the Rucker name is on several locations throughout the city.

The mansion is said to be haunted by Jane Rucker (Bethel’s mother) who is rumored to have committed suicide by jumping from a bedroom window in 1907 at the age of 77. She is said to be the source of ghostly piano music heard when no one is playing the piano. Bethel’s daughter, Margaret Rucker, was a poet.

historylink.org/File/8569

Hi, Catherine - I was stuck on that qualifier too. When I read the initial clue, I immediately imagined the person who committed suicide being handicapped or maybe even a paraplegic since it seems that many grand, old homes have served as nursing homes or hospitals throughout history. I finally reconciled that it would certainly be hard for a lady of 77 to leap from a window.

Editing to say that I had read that the house has an elevator and I wondered if it was original. I found one article below that mentions that the elevator is original and that it was installed because Jane Rucker used a wheelchair.

www.theclio.com/entry/96479

Thank you, Joanna - I thought the suicide story sounded like the kind of thing that locals would make up about the big house on the hill.