Illahee Preserve Hijinks
07/2017

(At times i look at people and can see somthing else like tge the character in the tv show grim) one day i was walking through the park saw a short dark disheveld man pokeing through the the underbrush said he was looking for mushrooms i saw a dwarh further up trail meet a a tall blue eyed man picking berries we talked about them while we were talking he kept useing words that are not currently used in common vocabulary i was talking with a elf . Anotger time tjere is a small circular clearing with only one way in or out,there was a girl in the center with no shirt on and her back was to the opening she was singing (lovely voice) and playing guitar i went on a little way more sat and listend but where i see if anybody went in or out,when she stoped playing and singing I said 'why did quit ?' After a little bit i went and looked no one was there and would have heard it if anyone tried to break through the brush or seen a sign of it ( this is not the only occurance ive had with this phenom ive also seen rock giants,orcs,aliens and saw the voice of a harpy? no specfic place just in public)

Submitted by: Mike A.

Post Alley Spectral Image
07/2013

My neighbor and friend were on roof. Friend is smoking, my neighbors reflection and some figure in the glass are mixed. He was in the navy so you can make out his shirt and arms, but that face is unreal. The original photo was from a cell phone but I have a copy. The original was analyzed and it wasn't altered. I always had creepy experiences around the market and Post Alley.

Submitted by: Lisa Z.

Roxhill Shadow Person
07/2018

I was walking right after dusk with my 3 month old to try to get him to sleep. A car was coming behind me passing the intersection and a shadow person ran across the street about 2 houses in front of me and ducked behind the car in the driveway. I thought it was someone wearing all black with a hood on until I passed the house they ran to, and couldn't find them behind the car or any bushes. I replayed the instance in my head and realized how dark the figure was and that there were no facial features or any lighter shades whatsoever. I didn't see a face and they were nowhere to be found and definitely didn't go into the house. I went home and asked my wife if there was a such thing as a shadow person, because if so, I think I just saw one. She said she didn't know. When I googled it, I found out that they do exist, and from other people's experiences, I'm at least 95% certain that a shadow person is exactly what I saw. Especially when I remembered how it was ducking low as it ran across the street, as if to hide behind a hedge while running, or like someone running from someone shooting at them. It didn't seem to want anything to do with me, so I was lucky to have seen one of the good ones. I'll never forget the way it moved and that even though it was as black as black can be, I could still make out the arms and, legs, and head. I also know that it wasn't my shadow being projected by the passing car's headlights because there were no cars, trees or houses in the middle of the street...there was nothing for me to cast a shadow on except for the sidewalk in front of me. It was one of the weirdest things that's ever happened to me in my life.

Submitted by: Jared

The Witch of Fauntleroy Park
07/2018

My 6yo son and I took our puppy to Fauntleroy Park (of Fairy Village fame) to leave an offering of a small, yellow motorcycle for the Parking Fairy, to thank it for all of the great parking we've found lately. While we're walking down the trail, two massive black dogs seemed to manifest from nowhere and charged the puppy. He was terrified, and tried to run for cover, but ended up wrapping my son in his leash and dragging him down the trail on his front and knees. A third dog that looked half-wolf tore by, followed by their "owner," a haggard-looking old woman in all-grey. While I tried to comfort my kid, who was covered in scratches and bruises and skinned knees, I suggested maybe she should keep her dogs on a leash. Her only response was to say "yeah, maybe," in a cruel voice, and keep walking. No "sorry," no "is your son/dog okay?" She disappeared down the trail, crossing a small creek. My son was concerned he wouldn't be able to leave his offering to the fairy, so we kept going in the opposite direction for about 15 minutes. Kiddo was feeling too freaked out and hurt, though, so we ended up leaving the motorcycle in the hollow of a strange looking tree, hoping it would find its way to the Fairy Village. We turned back, and went about 25 feet, and suddenly one of the black dogs appeared on the trail again! My son hid behind me and I shouted "GET OUT OF HERE!" at the dog. From somewhere ahead, we could hear the old woman call the dog-- her voice sounded disembodied. It turned around and left, so we moved forward. I scouted ahead, and the woman and the dogs had completely vanished! There was no sign of them anywhere else on the trail the entire time. It's obvious that the dogs were familiars, and the woman was some kind of malevolent witch. Not sure if she was trying to keep us from the Fairy Village, or just didn't like kids, or we were in the wrong place at the wrong time, but next time we go back I'm bringing extra "protection" for sure.

Submitted by: JVP

Misplaced Mojo Bag
07/2018

My roommate and I picked up a bunch of stuff this man was putting on the curb in front of a house down 32nd Ave, including a really big old trunk. When we got it home and were cleaning the debris out of it my friend found what looked to be a hex or gris gris bag - a little cloth tied up with twine with something inside. We didn’t open it, just grabbed some salt and dashed across the road where we buried it under the [LOCATION REMOVED TO PREVENT ACCIDENTAL CURSES] at the top of the Golden Gardens stairs. I salted the earth and said no bad juju was allowed to follow us home. Later our other roommate told us the reason that house was getting emptied out was that the old woman who owned it just died. We saged everything just to be on the safe side.

Submitted by: Robin

Beastly Trees
10/2017

I sometimes see a strange, ghostly dog (a bird dog, I think? not sure. definitely big) running up and down the street barking. My neighbors never seem to notice it. The local crows always seem like they're watching it though; sometimes I think they're cawing at it. I'm kind of worried it's looking for something, or someone...

Submitted by: Anonymous

Greenlake Shapeshifter
07/2018

I saw a demon shapeshift? I was walking in Green Lake Park late at night because I couldn't sleep. I saw someone else walking around and thought nothing of it and kept walking. I glanced back over at the person and they started to change. They grew taller and they grew wings. I rubbed my eyes and blinked, thinking I was just really tired, but when I looked again the figure was still there and began flapping their wings. They took off over Green Lake and began to circle higher. As they turned towards me I saw their eyes glowing like hot coals. The figure continued to rise and then in a red flash was gone. I called the police but they told me not to worry about it and go to bed.

Submitted by: Arthur W.

A Bad Night in West Seattle
07/2016

So about two years ago I lived in a house near the [Alaska] Junction. It was a pretty old house—about seventy years old, although it had been renovated a lot. Anyways, it was late at night, and I couldn’t sleep. I got the feeling that someone was watching me, so I looked around my room, and noticed there was someone in my doorway. It was a man in a suit, and he was staring at me with a blank expression on his face. If I had been less tired I probably would have screamed, but it was very late and in my sleep deprivated state I decided to try and talk to him. So I got out of bed, but as soon as I set my foot down, a hand emerged from under my bed and grabbed my foot. I gasped and kicked it away and got back into bed, deciding it was probably better not to talk to him anyways. So he continued staring at me and I stared back, and then, out in the hallway, I heard someone start to cry. I peered around the man and saw a little girl with her head spinning above her body, sitting down and sobbing in the hallway. I hid under my blankets until it was morning and they faded away. Probably my scariest paranormal experience to this day.

Submitted by: Rose

"Aetheric Items"
05/2018

Some friendly entity has blessed the UW campus with "high-potency AETHERIC items". (See picture for evidence.)

Submitted by: Anonymous

Spooky Noise at Old Brewery
06/2018

Last week I was touring a space in Seattle's "Old Rainier Brewery". The landlord and I had walked through the space once and I decided that I should go again and make a video of it for my reference. He and I were the only two in the space. You can hear a loud click-bang noise as I'm about to enter the room where the sound originated. The door you see in the room was locked and has been sealed for over 20 years and there is no one on the other side of any walls to that room. There was nothing on the floor that I stepped on and the landlord was at the other end on the phone. Thoughts? For the record, I showed the clip to the landlord and he unlocked the door and we both pried it open to see what was back there and it was an old abandoned stairwell between buildings that had been sealed off. Very creepy space. [video width="1280" height="720" mp4="https://www.liminal.earth/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/lIhwuJgoTT2OMiQaKTwx_Spirit-noise-short.mp4"][/video]

Submitted by: Michael

Kirkland UFO Sighting
07/1997

As a kid I saw a flat black three pronged craft flying by, making a propeller noise but with no moving parts, windows, or markings, in broad daylight. I rushed home and told my family about it, but after that day nobody ever remembered me talking about it.

Submitted by: L

West Seattle Horned Horror
07/2018

I would classify my experience as a "Dark Force"...I was driving from my home on 34th ave. S.W. in West Seattle, south on 34th when after a couple of blocks I noticed on my left, standing in front of a garage of a house a creature, standing upright on two legs with a hairy face and two pairs of horns, one set emerging from his forehead and turning upright and another set coming out of his mouth area and turning downward. His other features were mostly obscured by hair... shaggy brownish beardlike. It took me a few seconds to register what I had just seen and I stopped the car and grabbed my phone to try a take a picture. Rather than back up, I chose to make a quick round trip and then approach him like I did before. I went as fast as I could looping around in less than a minute, but as I suspected he was gone. I spent time driving around the neighborhood just in case he was walking around, but no further sightings. I keep an eye out everytime I pass this house. It creeped me out totally and I told a very few number of people and heard myself sounding like a complete idiot but now I get to tell the story...thank you.

Submitted by: Chris B

ACT Theatre - Bullitt Cabaret
07/2018

Worked here for off and on several years and would occasionally have to walk the building when it was empty as I was the last one there having ended a show late. I hated going into the Bullitt then because it always felt like something was there. The mirrors facing each other off across the floor on the lower level didn't help because sometimes you'd swear there was something else by the Ghostlight. I'd usually say goodnight to anyone that was there and sometimes the creak of the door would sound like an answer back.

Submitted by: Sal

House by Greenwood Triangle
04/2016

The only home to ever frighten me as a housekeeper had a semi finished basement and old creaky bones. All time spent cleaning the place I thought I heard other things in the back rooms upstairs and cleaning my way up from the basement was chilling. Each clean would last around 3 1/2 hours but every time I left the house I always felt like I needed to run out or something would pull me back in. All other homes were perfectly fine, just this single house got to me in the worst way.

Submitted by: Markella

Fridge Kitty
08/2013

Starting back in 1996 when I was in college in St. Paul Minnesota, I have been having encounters with a spiritual presence I have come to affectionately call "Fridge Kitty". Fridge Kitty first made him or herself known in my dorm room at Hamline University: a small calico cat ran from one corner of my cat-free dorm room and disappeared straight into my mini fridge. After that, Fridge Kitty appeared in nearly every house or apartment I lived in for the next eleven or twelve years. He or she would change size, shape, and color, but was always a spectral cat that would dart out from nowhere and disappear into a wall or piece of furniture, or sometimes thin air. Right around 2009, when I moved into a house with my, now, husband, Fridge Kitty stopped visiting. We moved out to the West Coast in 2012, staying on Whidbey Island for a year and then bought the house we are currently living in, just outside of White Center. About a week after moving in: Fridge Kitty strolled through the living room and on into the wall. He is a brown tabby now.

Submitted by: Julia

Magic Sighting
07/2018

At Burien in Fred Meyer's, I found a stuffie that I wanted for my birthday but it wasn't my birthday and then it was magic: it just hopped into my cart! We barely touched it!

Submitted by: Nicholas (Age 6)

UFO Sighting
07/2018

I saw a UFO. It was flying by and it was in the sky. It had flashing lights. The flashing lights were green and red.

Submitted by: Nicholas (Age 6)

Staring Squirrel
07/2018

At first there was a squirrel and then I saw a squirrel and the squirrel climbed up a tree and STARED at me.

Submitted by: Nicholas (Age 6)

School District Ghost
07/2018

My father was a janitor at the school district building, many times he had a ghost that would move things often, set off the automated paper towels and other fun or mischievous things, nothing bad. A couple times I had stopped by for a late dinner or lunch with him and had seen an apparition of a older gentleman with a brown suit and [bowler] hat, at times he would tip his hat other times he would just fade away.

Submitted by: Anonymous

Creep at the Catwalk
03/2002

I was attending a rock show at The Cat Walk in Pioneer Square ( not sure it still exists?) [Editor's note: It Does Not.] and was sitting in the bar ( completely sober) when I saw a woman dressed in black Victorian mourning garb run past me and through the wall. This wasn’t my first time seeing a ghost so it didn’t scare me but I was still startled. When we went to the room where the band was about to play I felt her presence behind me but once the music started I could no longer feel her.

Submitted by: Stacey

Late Night Call... FROM BEYOND
06/2018

I live extremely near [a mortuary]. Very occasionally, in the middle of a night, I can hear a woman's voice call out "Hello? Hello?" from somewhere in this direction. Shortly after a buzzing starts that you only recognize as dial tone just as it abruptly switches over to off hook. The off hook noise will persist for upwards of 30 minutes before just as abruptly going silent.

Submitted by: Anonymous

1st Hill Creeps
06/2018

I lived in a building on the corner of 8th and Marion for about a year. It was definitely haunted. Windows would slam, car batteries would frequently die, and you constantly felt like you were being watched. I never slept with the lights off the entire time I lived there, but nothing felt malicious or made me think I was specifically being targeted either.

Submitted by: Anonymous

Bad Vibes
06/2018

This area is haunted AF. There is a heavy ghost/demonic presence. I was connected to this neighborhood for years, and never felt safe.

Submitted by: Anonymous

Gull Graveyard
06/2018

I drive the Highway 99 Viaduct both ways nearly every day. The lower level is a normal, dirty, elevated urban hell road. But the upper level, Northbound? Have you noticed how many dead seagulls litter the sides of the road? It's like a seagull cemetery up there. And it's only seagulls, no other birds. What will they do when the Viaduct comes down? Where will they go to rest in peace?

Submitted by: Matt D.

Eastgate Portal
08/2010

The moon shifts wildly between the 2 ends of Allen Rd (or as we called it, Alien Rd), UFOs have been seen in broad daylight, strange phantom large felines seen in people's backyards, baseballs disappearing in mid air, and haunted encounters all over the area. Eastgate is/was a hotbed for the paranormal! Perhaps it was over active imaginations, or mass hysteria, but many had their own experiences within the small neighborhood.

Submitted by: Jeff L.

Sam's River
03/2014

It's difficult to say, really, what happened at Sam's River. Firstly, Sam's River Trail's existence is a debated subject. We found it in an old guide book at the beach cabin we stayed at. Washington Trails Association claims it doesn't exist. Other places call it Queets River Trail. Physically, it may still be down a gravel road off Queets River Road. The beginning of the trail was an abandoned cabin with nothing but a brief sign warning about bears. There was no one else there and nor did it seem there had been for quite some time. Near the beginning of the trail, we came across a tree snapped in half with massive claw marks going up to the snapped point. Shortly after that, the trail divided, half of it going off the edge into the river. At this point, we began to hear distant scream-like howls. We kept going. A couple miles in, the trail followed a small stream into what I can only describe as a swampy meadow. Vine maples and saplings filled with Swainson's Thrushes and robins presided over a lush field of green grass, all inundated with water. At the edge of the meadow, the trail transformed into a stream and then disappeared entirely. The guidebook said that the trail was a loop, so we (my family and I) fanned out to find the trail. We found a trail. Then another one. The meadow was webbed with many narrow trails all leading in different directions. Eventually, we picked one and walked on. A few miles more, and we had reached the supposed length of the loop trail. We had not made a loop and were far from our starting destination. The howls were getting closer to us (or we were getting closer to them), so we decided to turn around and go back. We returned to the car without incident. Attached image is of the knocked over trees. Trees of that size usually bring up the root ball when they fall.

Submitted by: E

Cascadia College Crow Massacre
02/2018

I frequently find multiple dead crows outside the Cascadia parking garage. This is the only place on campus dead crows appear despite the swamp next door being a crow roost. The dead crows appear in various stages of decay, some partially eaten. I never find only one at a time. Strange animals.

Submitted by: E

Turned Around in Bellevue
05/2018

I needed to walk from the Plaza Center to Bellevue Mall. I’ve been to the mall, and I’ve been to the Plaza Center many times and I knew that the mall was across the street and and a few blocks down. I left the Plaza Center and crossed the street immediately. Two or three blocks later, I looked across the street and saw that the Bellevue Mall was across the street. Confused, I crossed the street and entered the mall. I was in the mall for around thirty minutes. I left the mall to walk back to the Plaza Center through the same door I entered through. I walked three blocks down the street without crossing to the other side. When I reached the Plaza Center, I was on the wrong side of the street. Tl:dr I crossed the street three times and ended up on the side I started on. High Weirdness

Submitted by: E

The Maury Island Incident
06/1947

"The Maury Island Incident," which happened on June 21, 1947, and is considered by many to be one of the first modern-day UFO encounters. Harold Dahl claims that he saw 6 flying discs over the east bay of Maury Island around 2pm on 6/21/47. One appeared to be in trouble, and another disc approached it. Soon, chaff and hot metal "slag" spewed out of the troubled disc, with some landing on Dahl's boat, killing his dog and injuring his 13-year old son's arm. The next day, the first-known UFO-related "Man In Black" appeared at Dahl's home in Tacoma and warned him that he shouldn't talk about it (he did, and his life changed forever). More info about this incident, which happened 3 days before Ken Arnold's historic 6/24/47 Mt. Rainier sighting and 2 weeks before Roswell, is here (along with a film about it) http://www.mauryislandincident.com.

Submitted by: Scott Schaefer

Becky's Bridge
06/2001

Rebecca "Becky" Lindquist was the main thrust behind getting a new bridge in the Knightsen/Bethel Island area of Contra Costa County. Days before the bridge opened, she died in a mysterious gunfire incident in 2001 that remains unsolved. Marion M. writes: "End of delta there is a bridge to the slough on the other side the woman "Becky" who had the bridge installed. It is noted that weird things occur and flowers are left for her as she stays at the bridge to make sure people are across safely. side note: when my husband I and use to fish there every time would leave our automatic door locks would click just before getting on the bridge no matter how far away from it we were" More about the mysterious details around Becky's murder: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Mystery-slaying-haunts-town-Well-liked-marina-2862207.php

Submitted by: Garrett K.

Wood Shop Ghost
03/2015

I was working in a wood shop on vollege campus. As I was standing at the belt sander, I looked down and I saw a pair of work boots right behind my legs. As I turned around to see who it was, I saw an older man in work clothes. After a second or two he faded away.

Submitted by: Tyler C.

Dark Forces in Provo
01/2018

My friend had to help with an exorcism here! We went and this house was legit possessedc there was some really bad energy there and the apartment residence felt extremely uncomfortable in the house. They were all having weird dreams about dark shapes and felt like they were being followed when they were in the house. The place was super creepy.

Submitted by: Michaela

Demon Dreams
09/2015

If you stay up too late at Southridge Apartments in Provo...you may have strange visions of demonic forces coming in through the door. Perhaps it's time to go to sleep.

Submitted by: Camilla

Pioneer Ghost
01/2018

There's a ghost of a pioneer lady in my house. The house was built in 1889 and maintains a lot of its original character. I first half-saw the ghost as a woman in a long dress walking through one of the back rooms. A few weeks later, a friend staying over woke up at 3am to see the form of a woman in a long dress standing by the wall with a faint glowing outline. My friend tried to "blink her away", but she didn't disappear until the friend stood up. Since then, we've had no direct sightings, but have experienced multiple strange things with doors: the bedroom door slams on its own, the bathroom door locked itself with no one inside in the middle of the night, and once in broad daylight with multiple people present, the front door of the house opened on its own. Despite the weirdness, we have had no bad vibes from the ghost, and we consider her our fourth roommate. We hope she enjoys seeing who's living in her house!

Submitted by: Camilla

Vulture Vectors
01/2017

In between two strange houses on opposite sides of Center Street—both dilapidated, one light, one dark—stand tall sycamore trees where the vultures roost. There seems to be strange energy swirling between these houses. Also, sometimes you can find vulture feathers. Submitted by Camilla

Submitted by: Camilla

The Diner
03/2008

Due to a car accident I was stuck in Decatur, Illinois for a few days while repairs were made. During the four days I was stranded I walked to and ate at a diner twice. On the day my car was finally fixed I decided to go to the diner for one last meal. I drove around for an hour and could not find the diner. After retracing my steps and asking around the city I am left with the ridiculous conclusion that the diner, and the people I had interacted with in the diner either no longer exist, never existed or exist in a variant of this reality I am currently experiencing. A full recap of this experience can be found on my podcast located here... https://realmoftheweird.com/the-neighborhood-season-1-episode-8/Submitted by John E.L. Tenney

Submitted by: John E.L. Tenney

?al Saflieni Hypogeum
10/2018

The original Hypogeum. Very possibly the place where the People of Anthuor emerged from the Fourth World into the Fifth. More here

Submitted by: Anonymous

The Fouke Monster
01/1971

Made famous in the film "The Legend of Boggy Creek," the Fouke Monster is a terrifying, bigfoot-like cryptid that has no compunction about punching through a window while someone is trying to use the bathroom.

Submitted by: Anonymous

Power Pole Mystery
04/2019

26 power poles snapped simultaneously in South Seattle, one of which fell on a vehicle. Experts are boggled. Although they suggest a "micro-burst of wind," this seems kind of like a stretch to us.... Link: https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/east-marginal-way-re-opens-after-24-power-poles-crash-in-south-seattle/281-994dee2a-2e5f-4a4a-a4b5-655f2dfb88da
Seattle City Light transmission officer Bernie Ziemianeck said 24 power poles crashed on a mile-long stretch of E. Marginal Way S. It's unclear what caused the poles to come crashing down near the Museum of Flight, but officials are considering a strong micro-burst of wind. Ziemianeck said, "Quite honestly, I haven’t seen devastation like this in probably the last 30 years of being in this business."

Submitted by: Anonymous

Mystery Footprint
01/2005

One winter morning I found a large human-like footprint in the snow. It would have been about 2.5 the size of my foot, and double the width. I wear a size 11 in human men's. The other strange part was that there wasn't a trail.

Submitted by: Solomon G.

Willie Lee Watkins' Place
04/2019

Willie is pictured back row, center

I wouldn’t be into anything weird if it wasn’t for Willie Lee Watkins, who babysat my brother and me under moss-draped Florida oak trees when we were kids.

Willie‘s albinism resulted in poor eyesight, but she considered it a gift; this is why, she used to claim, she was able to “see” in other ways. And “see,” she did.

She used to talk about “bigfoots” the way other people would talk about raccoons. “Oh, we had a bigfoot out back last night going through the trash. I turned on the porch light and scared him away.”

If she said it, it happened.

She used to give me cheap paperbacks full of “true” ghost stories, even though my parents didn’t want me to have them because they knew I’d stay awake at night totally freaked out. “Don’t tell your daddy,” she’d say, surreptitiously slipping me something regarding terrifying alien abductions or ships that disappeared into the sky. I was totally freaked out, but Willie knew I could handle it.

She loved talking about how she launched a campaign of “metaphysical terror” against her arch-conservative neighbor?—?a surly Florida redneck nicknamed “Redbird”?—?by tricking him into thinking she’d cursed him with loud chants and dancing around a fire and a ceremony involving a dead cardinal. He never bothered her after that. Causation or correlation? I’ll never be sure.

She would often mention the angel who drifted at night through the cemetery of the tiny church down the street from her place, back in the Florida pine scrubs, in an undeveloped part of town known as “Wildwood."

Wildwood Church, St. Augustine, Florida. This is where Willie saw the angel.

She collected dolls, and talked to spooks, and the two would sometimes go together. “I think my mama’s here,” she told my friend K. and I when we were visiting her one sweltering afternoon. As soon as she’d said those words, the atmosphere in the room changed; the fan on the floor started moving faster. A glassy-eyed poppet on a shelf cried out, “MA-MA,” and she showed us there were no batteries in the doll’s back.

She gave incredibly accurate (down to clothing color) “psychic readings” to anyone who asked, but never charged for them. Anyone who did so, she insisted, was a fraud.

Her daughter died in a car accident on an empty Georgia state road in the middle of the night; Willie swore that she’d been chased off the road by the UFOs she’d reportedly seen so many times on that very same lonesome stretch of highway.

Mostly, though, Willie was a genuinely good person, who genuinely cared about people. Even though she’d grown up poor in the backwoods of Florida, she was about as progressive-minded as could be, in favor of whatever increased the amount of love in the world. She loved kids, both her own and other peoples’, regardless of their external qualities. She wrote a children’s book about two trees that lived in her yard, and how they taught one another about the best way to live.

Danny Pine & Patty Plum Tree

She moved away from Florida some years back. The TV and appliance repair shop and daycare center she and her husband owned is long gone; the corrugated tin Quonset hut where she watched us in the cricket-filled Florida heat has vanished into the ether of modernity. Wildwood and its environs, enveloped by subdivisions and paltry stucco-covered developments, now sits occupied by people who have no idea what ambling creatures hopefully still dig through their trash at night.

Willie passed away in 2015; I’m not sure about the details because I found out on social media. However, if anybody decided to stick around for a while to mess with people, it would be her. I’m keeping my eyes and ears open.

My last communication with Willie Lee Watkins, one of the most interesting people I’ve ever known.

Rest in Peace, Willie. I’m sure we’ll see you around.

Submitted by: Jeremy P.

Ghost Light Road
04/2019

Once called "Bombing Range Road," now Greenbriar Road, this stretch of pavement in North Florida was once referred to by locals "in the know" as "Ghost Light Road." At the time, before the road was paved, you could drive down the perfectly straight, eerily empty limestone stretch, surrounded by pine scrubs on both sides, without encountering another human for miles. If you came back at night, though, the fun started. You began at one end of the road and turned off your headlights, slowly making your way forward. As your car drifted into the darkness, invariably you'd see, in the distance behind you, a single white light, exactly at the level of a motorcycle headlight. The light would follow behind, increasing in speed, until finally it disappeared right before it touched your back bumper. Noiselessly, the light would reappear in front of your car and speed away into the distance. A dead motorcyclist? "Swamp gas?" We may never know. Unfortunately, as is often the case with long stretches of Florida passage, Green Briar Road has been paved over and heavily developed. But, who knows? Maybe some dark night a suburban soccer mom will be driving home after book club and get the urge to turn out her headlights. What's that approaching in her rear-view mirror?

Submitted by: Anonymous

West Seattle High School
03/2019

West Seattle High School, 1924(CW: suicide) Poor Rose Higginbotham. One can only imagine what drove the girl to hang herself within the halls of West Seattle High School back in 1924. Whatever vagaries of teenage existence cause high schoolers to take their own lives were surely just as powerful and significant when Rose took her own life; the impact it had on her classmates, her teachers, the faculty, and the local West Seattle community-- far smaller and more tight-knit than it is today-- no less tragic. It's possible that Rose's spirit wanders the halls of WSHS, and can be seen on especially foggy days in Hiawatha Park next to the school, due to the survival of consciousness after death. It could also be some kind of "Stone Tape" scenario, where the psychic shock of an event causes that event to become "recorded" on the environment. Maybe the trauma Rose experienced imprinted itself onto the very bricks of WSHS, and now "plays back" at certain intervals depending upon the emotional or psychical state of the experiencer. Regardless, the apparition in West Seattle High School has entered the annals of Seattle paranormal history. Rose turns up in every simple search for Seattle's Most Haunted Places; the WSHS haunting consistently makes the lists: There's only one little problem with the story of Rose Higginbotham, however. It seems as though Rose Higginbotham, the tragically despondent high school student whose spectre still haunts WSHS, didn't actually exist.
As it happens, most of the yearbooks from West Seattle High School have been digitized and are available online. A thorough search through those yearbooks from the years in which Rose would have attended WSHS turns up nothing. No Roses, no HIgginbothams. The closest "hit" is an art teacher named Mabel Higgie, who continued her gainful employment at the school long after the supposed hanging took place. Although it's tempting to theorize that perhaps Rose attended under a different name, or was (for some reason) left out of the yearbooks, there is also the fact that no West Seattle High School suicides were mentioned in the Seattle Daily Times during those years. This was an era of sensationalism for a small city paper. Given the focus on local minutiae apparent in every issue at the time, the idea that a suicide in a local school wouldn't have appeared bends every law of probability. We have to conclude that, according to the research, there was no Rose Higginbotham, and her ghost is not trapped within the walls of the old school on California Ave. But wait... something more is going on here. A preponderance of evidence, no matter how circumstantial, surely means that something lurks the corridors of West Seattle High? We believe that this entity may actually be Rose Higginbotham, who hanged herself in WSHS in 1924.
In 1972, a group of academic researchers in Toronto conducted an experiment in paranormal studies. The team developed a "fictional" character, named "Philip," and gave him an extensive and well-researched background. Gathering together at multiple sessions, the researchers conducted seances, during whichthey were actually able to contact Philip. There's even footage: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2lGPT2J1cc] The "Philip Experiment," as it's come to be known, seems to prove that, given enough "attention," an entity can somehow be created-- or summoned-- by those who believe in its existence. Surely most of our readers have heard of tulpas or egregores. It is our considered opinion that Rose Higginbotham is one of these entities. High School. Emotions, thoughts, and feelings are SO intense. Hormones surge within the endocrine system, producing intense impressions that the nervous system, as yet completely formed, cannot control. This intensity echoes throughout the school population-- not just limited to students. Would it be that surprising that after fifty years, the stories of "Rose Higginbotham" escaped the psychic space of the teenage zeitgeist of WSHS, manifesting as an actual entity? In this sense, Rose truly is liminal: a ghost who exists yet doesn't exist. Rose is a kind of "Schrodinger's Phantom," a being who exists on the periphery of conscious reality. It is our considered opinion that were serious researchers to visit WSHS to conduct an investigation, there is a very strong possibility that Rose would communicate with them, and present evidence of her continued existence, regardless of whether that "existence" found form in the paper of record or school annuals.
Sweet memories linger Across departed years; Our hearts are saddened, Our eyes grow dim with tears. Still we united, Thy beauties will revere, Singing in praise to thee, Our Alma Mater dear...

Submitted by: Anonymous

Big Top Curiosity Shop
03/2019

Lots of cool collectibles and items of interest, as well as a delightful display of oddities like the molar from a Bigfoot and the Duwamish Mermaid. Well worth a visit to South Park and the banks of the Duwamish.

Submitted by: Anonymous

Juanita Black DOg
04/2018

I've always been a night owl, and I am also a strong believer in the benefits of walking around the block a little after dinner. I liked going on walks anyway, and since I live in a safe neighborhood, it's easy for me to romp around at any hour of the night. On one walk around midnight, I reached an intersection, which I was already familiar with. As I approached the crossroads, which was usually well-lit, I saw it grow slightly darker as a large animal walked into view. I saw it was a large black dog, and I distinctly remember it staring straight at me. I'm not usually scared of dogs, but I have never felt the blood rush from my face as quickly in my life. I shined my flashlight on it, but when I did so, it was gone. For a long time I dismissed this as an ordinary hallucination. Then, years later, I learned about black dogs at crossroads in other locations too. Although in the past I would have ignored this incident, in retrospect I may have had a brush with the supernatural.

Submitted by: A.E.

The Old Man of the Crater
01/1895

Unbeknown to most, Seattle's bucolic Ingraham High School, home of the Fightin' Rams, is named after a figure from Seattle's history with a mysterious connection to local High Weirdness.

Maj. Edward Sturgis (E.S.) Ingraham (pictured) was the first Superintendent of Seattle Public Schools, the mountaineer founder of the local Alpine Club, and well-regarded Seattle socialite, as well as a huge fan of our beloved local volcano Tahoma (aka Mt. Rainier). Not only did he accompany naturalist John Muir to the summit of the mega-volcano, he also used his local influence and scientific creds to help push for making it a National Park.

However, it's what happened during his expedition to the summit in 1895 that interests us.

Tahoma has long been associated with spooky goings-on. In 1947, aviator Kenneth Arnold witnessed a group of mysterious objects flying near the summit-- the case became one of the first sensational UFO stories. In 1994, a local teenager had a terrifying encounter with a creature now known locally as "Batsquatch." The mountain is so sacred to local indigenous Nations that early white settlers had difficulty finding native guides who would take them to the top. Ingraham's account, however, may take the proverbial cake for the weirdest tale from Tahoma's slopes. In his account, which he published in The Pacific Forest Reserve and Mt. Rainier, begins with the observation of some mysterious scratches on the walls of a steam cave:

"While my companion and I were exploring the steam-caves at the time of my second visit to the crater of Mt. Rainier, I noticed peculiar marks and scratching on the floor of the cave. In some places the ground appeared as though it had been the scene of a conflict between some maddened beasts, so extensive was the disturbance. In other places there were depressions that might have been made by some flat-footed animal pawing in the earth."
He also reported a strange glow in the cave, coupled with
"...a peculiar sensation of the body, such as the pole of an electrical machine slightly charged."
Deciding to revisit the cave on his own that night, he crept from his tent and began descending into the depths below. Hearing a noise above, and wondering if perhaps his travel companions had the same idea he did, he stepped into a wall in the recess. What happened next astounded him. What follows is an unedited excerpt from The Pacific Forest Reserve and Mt. Rainier:
I had not long to wait, for almost immediately there came, now rolling, now making an attempt to crawl, a figure of strange and grotesque appearance, down the passage. It stopped within a few feet of me, writhing and floundering very much as a drowning man would do, when drawn from the water he was about to sink for the last time. Its shape was nearer that of a human being than of any other animal. The crown of its head was pointed, with bristled hair pointing in every direction. The eyeballs were pointed, too; and while they appeared dull and visionless at times, yet there was an occasional flash of light from the points, which increased in frequency and brilliancy as the owner began to revive. The nails of its fingers and toes were long and pointed and resembled polished steel more than hardened cuticle.
I discovered that the palms of its hands and the soles of its feet were hard and calloused. In fact, the whole body, while human in shape, except the pointedness of the parts I have mentioned, seemed very different in character from that of the human species. There was nothing about the mysterious being, however, that would make it possible that its ancestry of long ages ago might have been human beings like ourselves. Yet by living in different surroundings and under entirely different conditions, many of its characteristics had changed.
By degrees this strange being began to revive. Gradually an electric glow covered the entire body with light-centers at the ends of those pointed nails, the eyes and the top of the head. It seemed to accomplish its revivification by rubbing its hands vigorously together. As soon as it was able to stand, it began to rub its feet rapidly upon the floor of the cave. This increased the glow of its body and caused the light-centers to shine with increased brilliancy. It seemed to receive some vital fluid from the earth that at once gave new vigor to its whole system. Involuntarily I imitated its actions and immediately found myself undergoing a very peculiar sensation. I seemed to be glowing in accord with the strange being who then for the first time noticed my presence. He at once redoubled his former movements. He would rub his hands vigorously together and then quickly extend the points of his fingers in my direction when sparks of light would dart therefrom.
Having become deeply interested in this strange exhibition, I went through the same maneuver with a similar result although apparently in a much lesser degree. The effect was magical! I was becoming en rapport with the Old Man of the Crater! I could see a brilliant point of light gradually forming on the crown of his head. Feeling my own hair beginning to rise, I removed my knit cap and felt my hair bristling upward to a common point. The light from his crown seemed to form an arch above and between us and WE WERE IN COMMUNICATION.
There, in that icy passage connecting the unknown interior of this earth with the exterior, by means of a new medium, or rather an old medium newly applied, two intelligent beings of different races were enabled to communicate, imperfectly at first of course, with each other.
For an hour I received impressions from the Old Man of the Crater. It is a strange story I got from him. While the time was comparatively short, yet what he told me, not by voice or look, but by a subtle agency not known or understood by me, would fill a volume of many pages. Finally expressing doubt at what he communicated, he commanded me to follow him. I had anticipated such a demand and was ready to resist it. So when he turned to descend, to the hot interior of the earth as I verily believe, by a superhuman effort I broke the spell and hastened upward and back to my sleeping companions.
This is no myth. The old man told me of his abode in the interior, of another race to which he belonged and the traditions of that race; of convulsions and changes on the earth long, long ago; of the gradual contraction of a belt of matter around the earth until it touched the surface hemming in many of the inhabitants and drowning the remainder, and of the survival of a single pair. All was shut out and the atmosphere became changed. Gradually this remaining pair was enabled to conform to the new order of things and became the parents of a race which for want of a better name I will call Sub-Rainians. This Old Man of the Crater had wandered far away from the abode of his race in his desire to explore. Far away from my home we had met, each out of his usual sphere.

This is one of those cases where "more questions than answers" is certainly the only possible solution. Although this case remains relatively unknown-- possibly BECAUSE Ingraham is so well-regarded-- a few have theorized that the Old Man was perhaps a Sasquatch. Others conjecture that it may have been a metaphor for the initiate rite of Freemasonry, as Ingraham was a member of that organization. Some think maybe he was "high on fumes, man," but that doesn't seem like a plausible explanation to us.

What did the Old Man communicate to our erstwhile explorer in that liminal space between worlds? Why didn't Ingraham compose that "volume of many pages" with the information delivered by the creature? Subterranean civilizations a la Bulwer-Lytton's Vril were de rigeur at the time, as were the chthonic mysteries of Theosophy and Rudolph Steiner. This Hollow Earth thread goes right through Richard Shaver and his Deros to the Kentucky Goblins featured in the pop-paranormal project Hellier, but can also be traced back in time, to the Delphic Oracle, Indigenous myths of the Americas and Australia, and the cave art of "prehistoric" Indonesia and France. It appears we have always been accompanied by denizens of the Hypogeum, but few of us have been lucky enough, like Ingraham, to have met one in person.

Submitted by: Jeremy Puma

Giant Shrimp In the Laundry Room
01/1948

[caption id="attachment_1145" align="alignnone" width="700"] "Shrimpy," our Mascot[/caption] Read the short original account here: http://www.strangemag.com/firstperson.html#giantshrimp Virginia Staples reported seeing a Giant Shrimp [Editor: we affectionately call him “Shrimpy”] in her laundry room in Bremerton back in 1948. And that’s basically all we know. I went to the Kitsap Historical society and tried to find any information about an actual Virginia Staples in the city limits. The researchers were very helpful, but could find no record of her. However, using census records I believe I have tracked down Virginia and I am hoping to reach out to her children and grand children. Perhaps I will find a descendant who remembers grandma Virginia talking about the Giant Shrimp. The sighting happened in an area of Bremerton that eventually got incorporated into Navy property, which may make this a more difficult investigation. There is a Denny St in Bremerton (we've made the mark on the map), but it is unclear if this is the location of her encounter because she says that the apartment it happened in eventually got taken over by the Navy. What if this “Shrimp” is actually some kind of extra-dimensional / ultraterrestrial creature that the Navy conjured up a la ‘Stranger Things’ ? Perhaps the reason for annexing the property where Shrimpy was sighted had something to do with this accidental unleashing and trying to contain such an entity? Our research continues...

Submitted by: Garrett Kelly

Duwamish River Monster
02/2019

I witnessed a large, menacing 8-10 ft kelp monster strutting about on the banks of the Duwamish River, on the beach at 8th Avenue South Park. I think it was the Lufu... It came out of the water, sludging toward me at a slow pace and mumbling something about "darn pollution". It had deep red glowing eyes full of revenge and was covered in a horrible swath of litter, mud, and fishing nets. Thankfully, I was well-equipped with a camera, as I've heard rumors that the Lufu ("loofoo") had returned to the area and I thought I could document it. After I took the picture, the creature immediately disappeared, its slimy kelp tendrils untangling and slurping back into the muddy banks of the Duwamish. Duwamish River Monster! I am using a pseudonym to concea my identity to avoid public embarrassment as I am a notable business figure in the area. I feel it is my duty to shed light on how the impact of urban development in the south Seattle area has culminated in the creation of this terrifying elemental being!! I know what I saw!! #lufuisreal

Submitted by: Paul Differentman

T.T. Minor Cryptid
06/2010

Have you seen the gigantic shadow creature that inhabits the location at T.T. Minor? My friend and I saw this powerful cryptoid in 2010, late one night. We were walking back to our friends house, chatting, gazing upon the moon, when suddenly.... we see this enormous shadow creature next to the school building. It's just as tall as the building (what is that, 14 feet??), and we start *freaking the fuck out.* We enter the playground area to get closer to it, attempting to understand what it is we are staring at. Is this really happening? Are you seeing what I am seeing? In a loud voice, I address it: "What are you??" "What ARE you??" My logical, scientific brain is scrambling to explain away the paranormal, thinking this could be a person on stilts, where upon another person sits on their shoulders, both shrouded in a big black cloak. I quickly realize two important things that debate that logical reasoning... I can't see a human face, let alone any face at all. This is just a solid black mass. It's also hovering above the ground, about a foot off, no feet to be seen. It just stands in place, until eventually, it starts to move backwards-- floating, really, because it has no legs. It rounds the corner of the building and vanishes. We quickly walk next to the side of the building and the corner it just rounded, to investigate. It was simply gone, nowhere to be seen. Other friends of mine have seen these shadow creatures in various parts of the world. We all suspect them to be the guardians, the watchers, of specific locale. They are not threatening, and pose no malevolent energy. Instead, they are where they need to be, in order to keep specific things in and/or out of their designated area.

Submitted by: Kami M.

Meadowbrook Pond Memorial
11/2018

I was walking by meadowbrook pond with my headphones on and passed a house nearby, an old man was walking out holding some flowers, and he waved me down and told me that we were going on a walk together. "okay, sure, where are we walking to?" "meadowbrook pond" he said, since it was on the way and super close I walked with him. He said his name was Cecil. He held my hand and i helped him to the pond entrance. He tried to get me to walk through the whole park with him, so he could go to a memorial bench. I couldn't walk with him through the whole thing, so I told him I had to go. As I was walking away, he waved at a kid with his mom and tried to get him to stop. The kid tried to stop but the mom completely ignored him, as if he didn't exist. I posted the story to my snapchat, and my friend messaged me saying there's a memorial plate on a bench in the park for Cecil, and sent me a picture of it. Not sure if it was a ghost but it damn sure seems like it.

Submitted by: Destin C.

Gaines Point Ghost
11/2018

(CW: incest, abuse, murder) Poor Sylvia Gaines. In 1926, the young Seattle socialite was murdered by her wealthy father for threatening to leave their incestuous relationship. Her body was discovered on the shores of Green Lake by a local carpenter. After a sensational trial, her father was found guilty and hanged by the neck until dead. A grove of cottonwoods, planted (so they say) by locals on the spot her body was found, was replaced by more ecologically friendly poplars in 1999, but the area retains a kind of melancholy peacefulness. Some say that if you visit Gaines Point at night, you can see Sylvia's face peeking from the bushes-- a face with no body attached. Read more at History Link. Check out the creepy Electronic Voice Phenomena recorded at Gaines Point by GIGS Paranormal.

Submitted by: Jeremy P.

Vanishing Man
7/2014

One night, very late in probably 2014 I was sitting in the back seat in my car as my parents were driving, starting out the back window. It was probably after 11pm and we were driving back to Redmond where we lived at the time. Somewhere along 3rd ave I saw a man appear in the middle of the street. One minute he wasn't there and the next he was.... I can't remember what he was wearing, but he made eye contact with me and I know that he was really seeing me. This was an intelligent person interacting with me; despite it being late at night and the window of the car being tinted I had the distinct feeling that we locked eyes and were aware of one another.

Submitted by: Hayley

Chelsea Apartments
10/2018

I live in a hotel turned apartment built in 1907. It comes as no surprised that it is haunted. Running foot steps down the hall, a woman's cry in the courtyard and a marriage turned murder in a room on the third floor. Not to mention, the basement has a giant and completely empty (and locked) coal room that was used to heat the whole building. The most frequent activity in my personal apartment is the ghost cats. Harmless, but always darting around in a frenzy. Nothing sinister at The Chelsea (that I have encountered) but still very active from the humans (and animals) who have passed in and out of the space for 100+ years.

Submitted by: Ellie

Queen Anne Hill Simian
9/2006

12 years ago, my husband and I bought our first home in Seattle. His grandmother flew in to see it. She stayed a week. On our last night, she wanted to go to the 5 Spot. We took grandma and the family in town to her chosen restaurant. My husband and I had one beer each with dinner. Grandma was flying out the next morning and Uncle Steve said he would drive her to Sea-Tac. We parted ways and headed back to our new home. It was a rainy September night. I was driving in my new city. Going down Queen Anne Ave was slow. It was raining so I had to take caution. Half way down I slammed on my breaks. I panicked. What the hell just ran in front of my car? We are at the bottom of the hill at the light. I really didn’t want to address this but a large animal ran in front of my car! I look at my husband an ask him, “ Did you see that!!”!! Without hesitation he said, “you mean the monkey wearing a diaper that ran in front of the car?”. I felt so validated. Yeah!!! The freakin monkey in a diaper that ran in front of my car! Thank God I wasn’t alone in this car! We head up a side street to drive back down QueenAnne Ave. We parked at the spot the monkey ran into in front of us. As we walk over to the area we realize it’s a green belt. The monkey in a diaper had to have ran into the green belt. For the rest of the week I watched the news to see if a monkey had escaped the Woodland Park Zoo. My husband and I still talk about this whenever we are driving in the rain or down Queen Anne Ave.

Submitted by: Kelly W.

Kinnear Park Animals
10/2018

Living across from kinnear park has been... strange. It's a weird place with losts of weird happenings. Ghosts, weird animals, demonic forces, you name it. But what really freaks me out is the weird animals. One night, my boyfriend and I were walking home, and an owl flew from kinnear park and landed right in front of us, and stared at us. It gave us a really strange vibe, so we ran inside quickly. A couple nights later, I was walking home from the grocery store, and the same owl flew from the tree in kinnear park and almost hit me in the head. Last month, a group of crows swarmed me and started dive bombing me as I ran inside. Last week, I was walking through the park at about 2 am, and was scrolling through facebook on my phone. All of the sudden I noticed a bunny sitting on the lawn staring at me. It sat there for a good 10 minutes just staring at me, and it gave me a really weird vibe. I walked towards it to try and scare it off, it hopped about five feet back but continued to stare at me. I decided to ignore it, and five minutes later I looked back and there was a 2nd bunny staring at me. I decided to leave as I started feeling strange, and decided to never go back at night.

Submitted by: Destin C.

Haunted Apartment
10/2018

I live in a haunted apartment building. It usually doesn't bother me, theres friendly ghosts in my unit, but there's also something very sinister on the 3rd floor As I walk home at night usually, I look up into the third floor windows, because I always feel that something is watching me. Often, something is. I see a dark figure pull back the curtains and disappear. I dont know what it wants, but it always scares the crap out of me, so I run inside as fast as I can, and take the elevator to avoid the 3rd floor."

Submitted by: Destin C

Doppelgänger on the 70
9/2012

I'm on the 70 on Eastlake heading downtown. A guy runs past on the sidewalk, obviously trying to reach the next bus stop before we do. He's able to catch up and boards, out of breath--and I notice that he's wearing the wireless iPhone ear pods and I wonder how they stayed in his ears while he ran. He walked past me down the aisle and out of my mind. Many blocks later, we come to Denny and another stop--and this same guy--same shirt, same face, same ear pods--runs up and boards again, but from ahead of the bus this time, not from behind! It's not as if we were making lots of turns and he just circled the block to catch up with us. I don't know where he got off the first time and how he got ahead of the 70 to get back on again at a later stop and it's weird and I can't figure it out and it's driving me nuts!

Submitted by: mwd

Discovery Park Encounter
9/2012

My friend and I went for a walk in Discovery Park one night. Shortly after entering through a side street, we saw a barefoot, clean-shaven man with short, light blonde hair and a dated brown pea coat. He was sitting on a short wooden fence post and reading a big hardback book with no cover. As we passed by him, he looked up slowly from the book and watched us. We greeted him with a quick smile but he didn't respond. His formal posture and intense stare were unusual. His head turned smoothly as he watched us, but his neck and body seemed to remain still. We saw him again when we left the park, still sitting upright on the wooden post, holding his heavy book with both hands up near his chest. It's difficult to describe the eerie feeling we felt that made us wonder if we were in the presence of a ghost. The park was once Fort Lawton. Perhaps he was a soldier stationed there.

Submitted by: Anonymous

Counting Crows
09/2018

I was offered a job through an ex, in which I was relieved to have...Lord knew I needed the money. I was so happy and excited to start working again. It was a hot breezy day in Seattle. I took the bus from Chinatown (Industrial District) early in the morning to Eastlake. Arriving early we got to work. My job was home improvement/landscape type business. I was in charge of spraying the fences. My boss had to leave in the middle of the day to pick up his father from the SeaTac airport. I was just working as usual when a crow was spotted above me circling the house I was working on. It became getting lower and lower to me. At first I thought it was just my imagination then another crow and another crow added to the gang. I was thinking to myself, I just got a good job, I can't let my paranoid thoughts get the best of me. Then, the crows start swooping in on me. Like trying to take peck at me. I got totally freaked the F out and ran inside the clients home and on to the roof where we had a second project going in for the rooftop balcony. From the balcony there was entry to the attic. I got inside the attic and called my boss telling him I was being attacked by crows. He tells me to calm down, he is [on] his way. I'm inside the attic for this entire time waiting on him. When he gets there he's with his father and they are telling me there is no crows trying to "attack me. My boss let me go and called my ex-partner telling him I was on medication and if I forgot to take my meds. I'm not on meds and at the time I was so happy go lucky I wasn't on this paranormal shit. But something happened that day for me to believe the crows more than the humans.

Submitted by: Tyson K.

Fig Tree
08/2018

As told by my massage therapist:
"Recently the house on the corner was bought and sold and one of the first things the new owner did was cut down a beautiful fig tree that had been an iconic feature of the neighborhood. Many of the neighbors were quite sad to see it go. The new owner had a wood carver come in to transform it into a bear or a dog - but the carver refused to do it. He said that the tree had a different form that it wanted to take on - and so he carefully transformed the stump into this creature".

Submitted by: Garrett Kelly

Licton Springs
08/2018

Licton Springs Licton Springs is an important site to the native Duwamish people, who are actively involved in a campaign to decolonize the park: https://crosscut.com/2019/04/north-seattle-native-people-reclaim-whitewashed-spring IF YOU VISIT: Please be respectful of the area and its history. Consider collecting litter and disposing of it properly.
I had heard of the neighborhood but was not well versed on the history of the site – only recently discovering there is an actual spring there. The Seattle Parks department website says this is a park you “must see” but has no pictures of the AMAZING SPRING oozing this red iron mud… Let me tell you all now: YOU MUST GO THERE. Licton Springs is a magical park camouflaged by the typical playgrounds and picnic’s and people walking right by. Meanwhile, hidden in plain sight is this amazing cold spring bubbling up from the ground. While searching for the spring, I found myself in all of these weird paths and foot bridges, stumbling across people alone in their own world with their backs turned to me, staring into the brush. I tried talking to a few people and most of the people “there” would not even acknowledge my presence…..
I cannot believe I have never been to this place before. I did a little bit of research on the park and discovered that it is an important site for the Duwamish tribe.
For generations, the Duwamish Tribe gathered at Licton Springs, together with their relatives by marriage, in the proper season for harvesting sacred Red Ochre pigment, necessary for spiritual celebration and renewal. Like the Duwamish Tribe, neighboring First Nations consider the sacred site le?qtid to be a tangible cultural property inherited from their male or female Duwamish Ancestors. As a result of inter-marriage, neighboring First Nations have a material interest in access to and preservation of the sacred site liquid. For Chief Seattle’s Duwamish Tribe of Indians, Licton Springs is one of the last spiritual places remaining in our ?ál?altid (Ancestral Homeland). Licton Springs is located on the South Fork of tuw’Xú?bid (“Thornton Creek”).
AGAIN: GO SEE Licton Springs. I lived in Seattle for 15 years and I can't believe I never really even heard of it. It's a spectacular place that I can't believe isn't more of a 'destination'.

Submitted by: Garrett Kelly

Arvon Park
08/2018

Just discovered this abandoned / locked up park near my house. It has been closed to the public for the past nine years, originally donated to the City of Bremerton by the National Spiritualist Association of Churches
  • A Spiritualist is one who believes, as the basis of his or her religion, in the communication between this and the Spirit World by means of mediumship and who endeavors to mould his or her character and conduct in accordance with the highest teachings derived from such communication. (1914, Rev. 1938)
  • A Medium is one whose organism is sensitive to vibrations from the spirit world and through whose instrumentality, intelligences in that world are able to convey messages and produce the phenomena of Spiritualism. (1914)
  • A Spiritualist Healer is one who, either through one's own inherent powers or through mediumship, is able to impart vital, curative force to pathologic conditions. (1930, 1993)
  • The Phenomena of Spiritualism consists of Prophecy, Clairvoyance, Clairaudience, Gift of Tongues, Laying on of Hands, Healing, Visions, Trance, Apports, Levitation, Raps, Automatic and Independent Writings and Paintings, Voice, Materialization, Photography, Psychometry and any other manifestation proving the continuity of life as demonstrated through the Physical and Spiritual senses and faculties of man. (1950)
Three years ago the Kitsap Sun reported revived interest in doing something new with the park, but still it sits. Currently it is the reported home of a den family of cuddly raccoons .... and maybe something else more sinister? Who knows? Do you think I can convince the city to turn it into a Broccoli Wizard Temple? Star Gate?

Submitted by: Garrett Kelly

Fourth Vital Source
08/2018

Letter discovered in the 1930 Yokohama Taiko-Gata lantern, Seward Park. Dragon envelope is still sealed shut with wax.
"Don't give up! My friend is beginning to show signs of saving the treasure. The dragons have hope for young people and understand that when the earth begins healing the dragons will reunite with people. Our responsibility is not complete until all humans on the planet are working to reduce the impacts of Anthropogenic Climate Disruption. Build the fourth vital source and use it to send a message to the League of Wyverns & Dragons. If success has found you in your quest open the door. If not reutn it from whence it came. Do Not Open! until the task is complete or Dragon Magic will make the contents disappear."

Submitted by: Alex Kostelnik

Packard Sawmill "Boob"
08/2018

Was lurking around Twin Peaks with Agnes, Dusty, & Choose. Trying to find the mill, Gurgle maps supplied this piece of High Weirdness... A giant floating boob above the mill

Submitted by: Corporal Tofulung

North Wind’s Weir
08/2018

"The Duwamish, Muckleshoot and other native tribes that lived in the Puget Sound area told oral stories to explain the significance of natural events and features in the landscape. One story concerned a collection of large stones in the middle of the Duwamish River, about three miles from its mouth on Elliott Bay. At high water, the stones are completely covered; they’re visible at low water. The stones are associated with North Wind, a major character in the eternal battle between the winds that play a strong role in the region’s climate. In one version of the story, the character Storm Wind blew several large trees into the river, which floated down the river and hung on the rocks, which resembled a fish weir, a device for capturing fish. The people belonging to the antagonist in the story, North Wind, refused to clear the logs on the weir. Storm Wind’s grandmother solved the problem but showering enough rain from her basket to swell the river and float the logs downstream. Today, a marker explains the story and other features in the surrounding landscape."
Excerpt from: http://www.threesheetsnw.com/maritimeheritage/attractions/north-winds-fish-weir/ More info: http://www.duwamishalive.org/duwamish-sites/north-winds-weir/

Submitted by: Anonymous

Interurban Trail (South)
08/2018

Very eerie, train with horrifying graffiti on it, flood lights flash synchronously like sheet lightning, an area with constant unidentified screaming, frightening welded metal folk art and weird butchery, town that is mostly gravestones, Pacific smells of rotting flesh and the locals are menacing, lots of scary seemingly possessed people - all the way from Seattle to Puyallup on the Interurban buke trail. I spent all might biking being chased by murderous lunatics and hearing/seeing uncouth things. I bicycled from Seattle to Puyallup - terrified and rarely stopping. Bad juju - demonic vibes. And I ain't even that superstitious.

Submitted by: John

The In Arts NW (The In)
02/2011

But first, a back story as I was informed by the founders: The In Arts NW is (soon will be was) a large artist collective live-work abode w/ a fluctuating number of 20-30 inhabitants. The original structure is a turn of the century Victorian-lite style house. Sometime in the 1960's an area mental health organization bought this property, using the house as its front offices then constructing an attached two story dormitory annex w/ a full basement on the north portion of the land. The basement was used as a cafeteria complete w/ kitchen facilities. It's unclear but this mental health organization may have operated this property until the late 90's/early 00's. November 2010 I moved into The In and began renting out a ground level room. Due to the shared living nature of this collective each resident was assigned a refrigerator, 3 of the 4 fridges being located in the basement. The exact date is unknown but during the early winter of 2011 I had what I consider to be a harrowing encounter w/ a dark spirit(?)... menacing energy(?)... a ghost(?)... During the early morning hours I awoke in my bed in my room. I was thirsty. I had water nearby but my body craved calories. From my room I walked thru the annex to the front house to access the basement where my refrigerator was. I remember thinking the house was unususlly quiet and dark. Living in a space w/ 20-30 people usually someone is always up, usually faint music or video sounds can be heard, usually some lights are kept on... But all was still... This was an unusual night. And I thought nothing more of it. Entering the faintly-lighted basement and walking thru our laundry room to my refrigerator I had no premonition of what was to come. I opened the fridge and retrieved my carton of grapefruit juice. I stood there with the door open and took a couple swigs. I put the carton away and as I closed the door I was overcome w/ a feeling I had only experienced twice before in my 29 yrs. Dark energy was in arms reach and in a nanosecond I felt the hair on my scalp pull back, the hair on my arms stand up, the shaft of my penis recoil, the rate of my heart increase, and the fight-or-flight lizard brain area of my cranium activate out of primal survival fear. I took flight. I high-tailed it out of the refrigerator room, thru the laundry room, up the basement stairs w/ the unmistakable feeling of dark energy keeping at heels. I proceeded to bee-line thru the living room then down the long corridor toward my room w/ that dark energy keeping on my back. I darted into my room, turned to close and lock the door, and stood hyperventilating while whispering something along the lines of "Leave me be." In quick hindsight I realized that feeling of dark energy on my back dissipated shortly before I reached my room's door and a wash of calmness helped me regain my bearings as I no longer felt threatened.

Submitted by: Legg

The Rivoli Ghosts
01/2008

One morning about a decade ago, I saw a ghost in one of my many Belltwown studio apartments. These rooms are tiny and from where I was laying in the trundle bed I saw a blurred figure of a man in doorway of the kitchen. As my sight focused I began to realize I was fully alert and staring at a man in 1920s style clothing. He was wearing vest, tie, and overcoat with finger-waved hair. He stared contemplatively out the window over the sink. My gf was asleep next to me facing the other way so I knew I would have to wake her to see this. I elbowed her and as she began to turn, the man looked straight at my face and blinked out. She wasn't able to see him. As he disappeared it looked like the turning off of an old tube television where the image shrinks into a sparkle and fades with the little bits of light glittering away. I really wished she could've seen him but if you ask her about this story she will tell you it was the seriousness in my voice that convinced her I was not lying or joking. This building on 2nd and Blanchard in Belltown is very haunted, and this isn't the only time I personally experienced ghostly activity (faucets turning on and off, dishes being thrown, blue light entities).

Submitted by: Seth

Seattle Center Armory
07/2018

Yet another non-Euclidean space in the city; the ground floor is also the second floor, except for where it's the first. The stairs do not connect the floors in a consistent manner; go up one floor from the first and now you're on the third. The fourth floor extends through the whole building and yet the elevator doesn't reach it, until you try (and fail) to find your way there with the stairs. And when entering it on the fourth floor, you are likely to find someone who is going from the second floor to the basement – and this is their shortest route.

Submitted by: Fluffy

Memorial Bridge Portal
06/2019

This happened a couple of weeks ago June 12 2019 at 3:30 pm central standard time. My daughter, (15yrs old), myself and a friend of mine were travelling across the Memorial Bridge on our way to Mandan ND. As wee reached the center of the bridge my friend and my daughter were looking our over the bridge (looking north) and suddenly told me to “look at that!” There was a bright white light hovering midair pretty much lined up with the bridge about half a city block out from the bridge itself. This light was roughly 5 feet in circumference and as our attention was directed at it, it started opening up in the center. my first thought was “omg that’s a wormhole! a dimensional portal!” It kept spinning and expanding til it opened up roughly 4 times its size, the center was a cloudy spiral looking thing that had squiggly lines that extended from the center to the edge of it they started out kinda lightening like looking and straightened out til they resembled bicycle spokes. It held this shape for roughly 5 seconds til it started closing back in on itself til it was the same size that it had been when we noticed it. it then held that size for a second then blinked out on itself. I quickly looked around for other cars on the bridge and was shocked to see we were the only ones who had slowed down enough (that I’m aware of)and were watching this thing. we pulled off the bridge and parked underneath it and waited for like a half hour scanning the area hoping we would see it again. when we got under the bridge we noticed no boats on the river, no body flying kites, fishing off the banks of the river– nobody that we saw who could have witnessed this strange thing. But we all did draw and document what we saw. Not comparing notes til after each of us were done as to not influence the other persons writing. And everyone’s drawing, and description was the exact same minus my daughters depiction which had an odd additional feature…she claims she saw Roman numeral type lettering on the outer edge of the object. (she drew this in her depiction) neither my friend (Bri) or myself saw this. I included all of our drawings and what not that we did as we sat under the bridge immediately after this encounter. all of our car windows were down when this occurred and nobody heard any noise associated with it or smell etc.

Submitted by: Shane B.

Disturbing Voice
11/2018

I woke up around 3 a.m. to my dark room which is usually lit by the moon or streetlights, when I looked around I noticed that the one area of my room that is usually better lit than the rest was darker than dark the only way to describe its is bottomless darkness. As I tried to focus my eyes I heard heavy guttural breathing which prompted me to loudly proclaim "wtf?!" After which an equally deep and guttural voice told me "we are with you always" with a chuckle....

Submitted by: Dru W.

Woodstock UFO
06/2019

At 8:59PM I looked up & saw something I couldn't identify traveling very quickly from the north to the south make a U-turn back towards the north in the sky over my house. I figured it was the ISS or a satellite until I saw it was in front of the clouds so I began rapidly taking pictures until it quickly left my view

Submitted by: Duffy R.

Joliet Ghost
01/1999

On a late afternoon, I was vacuuming in the master bedroom of my apartment. I was anticipating the arrival of my then husband from work. From my bedroom door, the entrances to second bedroom to the left and bathroom straight ahead could be clearly observed. My head was tilted slightly down but I clearly saw someone walk into the little hallway from the living room to the right to the second bedroom on my left; I assumed it was my husband. I hadn’t heard him come home, but was vacuuming so didn’t think that odd – we were, however, still newlyweds and I thought it strange my husband didn’t come over and say hello. I stopped the vacuum and went to the other bedroom – there was no one there. I checked bathroom, living room, kitchen, even closets, I was alone. The door was still locked. When my ex husband got home, I told him, and he related that several weeks prior, while brushing his teeth, he that he saw me the doorway from the reflection in the bathroom mirror. He bent down to spit out his toothpaste so he could talk to me and when he looked again, I wasn’t there. He checked in the bedroom, I was fast asleep. Increasingly, over time we felt great uncomfortableness with both the little hallway and, especially, second bedroom, which intensified after our son was born and we tried using it as a nursery, he moved into our room so we could avoid being in there. Sometimes, while watching TV in the living-room, which looked into the hall and the entrance of the second bedroom, a strong sense of dread would overtake us, our hair would prickle and we would not want to look in that direction, even though there would be nothing there. My ex husband lived in that apartment for several months ahead of my moving there as I stayed behind to deal with work and wrapping up personal affairs for both of us in our previous home and noted no issues. It seemed to start about six months after I moved in and increasingly intensified over time. I attempted some research on the building or area but could find nothing to account for what we experienced.

Submitted by: Nereid71

Mysterious Green Haze
01/1998

When I was 20 (1998) I was driving home at three in the morning on the back roads, past an old church and cemetery. The area had a few mountains and hills and as i looked out to my left, I saw a haze of a green moving light behind the hill, like an object was behind it. To put it in perspective the light from whatever this object was lit up the hillside. Honestly, I did not stick as it seemed to be coming toward me. I have never gone back there and never will.

Submitted by: P.W. Rosevear

Fairview House Cryptid
02/1988

My then husband and myself pulled into our driveway. There is a ditch and a creek on each side of the house. Facing the front of the house, movement at the creekbank to the right of us caught both of our attention. A creature neither of us had ever seen before stood up from a more crouched, or squatted, position and steeped cleanly over a nearly 5 foot wide portion of the creek to the other side of the bank and walked into the woods on the further side of the creek. It was tall and covered in what looked to be short black hair. The arms were somehow too long for the body. The sighting stunned us both to silence. We sat together in the car and watched it. It was surreal. There was light snow on the ground and with it being the middle of winter, the trees and bushes were bare enough that we had a perfectly clear sight line. Afterwards, my husband went down to the creek and found foot prints in the snow. My grandparents had purchased this same property in 1959. We have said of it that it holds the unholy trinity….Bigfoot, UFO interactions and ghosts in the house. The house was haunted. Several firsthand stories and episodes told to me by my grandparents. In the mid 70’s, there were at least 3 very strange UFO incidents. The one I was witness to was my grandmother “talking” to the UFO My family has had at least 5 Bigfoot sightings in that time, but this is the only one I was witness to. I have always heard stories of Bigfoot in the Fairview, Fernvale, Pinewood area. I hope others would share the old stories too!

Submitted by: Teresa

Strange Lights in Strand
08/2012

While my girlfriend at that time (now wife) and I was lying on the grass looking at the sky, I noticed a dot of light moving fast from roughly south to north, in the cleat starry sky. I assumed it was a satellite when it suddenly started to fade and disappear, and then a few seconds later, started to brighten up again, all the while it remained in the same trajectory. It did it again after a few seconds for a second time and brighten up again. It then remained bright until it disappeared from my field of view. I have seen many satellites in my life, but never one that fades and then brightens up again, let alone doing it twice. What it was I do not know...

Submitted by: C.R.

UFO Disclosure Tree
05/2019

Located on an unmarked trail within the nettle-strewn forests of Whidbey Island, WA, this centuries-old Big Leaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum) can teach the curious researcher everything she may need to know about the provenance of "UFOs."  Adorned with epiphytic strands of licorice fern and decorated with native mosses, the tree pulses with Life Force. How does this tree relate to the UFO phenomenon? Society Cartograpers suggest meditation upon the tree as the macrocosm reflected in the microcosm-- "As Above, So Below." Just as the maple contains a multitude, so it connects with its surrounding neighbors via the mycelium running throughout it, a vast network of fungal biochemistry. This almost invisible mesh connects the botanical denizens of the forest, sending pulses of living information throughout the biotic community, with ripple effects that impact all of its members. Is it any wonder that trees such as this one are associated with fairies and fae, beings who also may manifest as living information, in the same sense that UFOs seem intended to deliver a message? The message isn't that passed along by the peace-loving-yet-apocalyptic Star Brothers of the Contactee scene; nor is it the message delivered by the freaky experimenters reported by abductees. No, the UFOs themselves are the message. They are instantiations of Living Information-- attempts by the Cosmic to communicate with those of us "on the ground," so to speak. Sit beneath this tree, or another like it. Learn its biology, the science behind the community of which it is a part. Consider, very seriously, how it is influenced and affected by everything around it. What other plants live with it? What grows on it? How does it reach for the sun? Where does its water come from? Where do the portals appearing between its branches lead? How does one become an initiate into its mysteries? When you have done so, you'll know far more about UFOs than any government agency or sensationalist TV series can tell you.

Submitted by: Anonymous

Flock of UFOs
09/2018

Flocks of white objects moving through the sky at an impossible speed. Thousands of them in the sky, all heading in the same direction. At approximately midnight. (Submitter included a link to the following video from 2014): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSyiL59gj1A

Submitted by: Dallin J

Boise Idaho Linden Street Murder House
06/1991

Back in the 1991 when I was fourteen I spent a summer babysitting two younger kids that were the kids of a friend of my mom's for extra money. I used to live in a subdivision called Lakewood not far from this house, and take the few mile bike ride to my mom's friends house to watch her kids in the morning from about 7 am until 5:30pm at night until she got home from work. I always had a weird feeling whenever I had to ride past this house on my way and for some reason would pedal faster, not knowing anything about the old mansion except that I didn't like it, and it had a mysterious gate and hedges all around it, obscuring the bottom level of the house. One night I ended up babysitting late, I actually think my mom and the kids mom were probably out drinking (haha) and so I had to ride my bike back late at night, around 10pm. It was dark, but again, close and Boise was small as hell. Of course, I did my usual creepy feeling pedal faster but as I was pedaling I heard a loud SCREAM that sounded like it was on the other side of the hedges. This of course scared the crap out of me, causing me to immediately crash my bike and fall off INTO the fence. I got a cold chill, despite it being a hot Idaho summer and looked into a completely empty yard. No one was there. I got home, bawling, cleaned myself up etc. The next day I went over to babysit my mom's friend told me what happened outside and in that house in 1987. History on the house: https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/idaho/murder-house-id/

Submitted by: Sara S.

The Demon of Playa Ancha
01/1997

This case was narrated by a person I know very well, which I will keep anonymous, therefore it is a real story and I know its truth. In fact, at the time of telling me I was impress by the disturbed and terrified look of the person who lived this experience. Many years ago, around 22, he and some friends in his car after a party in Valparaíso toured the shorelines of the city and went up a hill called Playa Ancha, which is characterized by maintaining homes and an environment between the 19th century and early 20th century, so a disturbing kind of Victorian beauty in the houses is felt. They arrived to a very high place on that hill and parked. They began to talk about different things, jokes, anecdotes, waiting for the dawn. As I recall, this event happened after 3:00 in the morning. They were parked near some trees in the sector that at that time were black due to the low light of the place, the street was in shadow with a strange silence that was interrupted by the murmur of moving foliage and wind. I must clarify that this area is characterized by being very windy. Past the time, in a moment the driver, who told me the story, says he looked at the trees located about 10 meters away since he felt something strange. He checked with his eyes the tops of the very dark trees that contrasted with the night sky that was beginning to clear. With panic and strangeness he noticed that in one of the treetops something moved, he looked closely at the figure that would be the size of an orangutan, it moved and looked at it and realized that it had bright penetrating red eyes that looked at him in a way, according to him, evil. He was frozen and began to perspire cold, he told his friends who also saw this entity and everyone panicked feeling great horror because of the size of the entity and his demonic eyes, they didn’t dare to get out of the car to corroborate what was they watching. The figure remained fixed watching them as a gargoyle of a Gothic cathedral, took a feline attitude of attack and at that moment they decided to leave the place fired, lit the car, which did not start, they tried desperately until they succeeded. They came out with a loud crash of the place screaming hysterical and at full speed down the hill that has many curves and walked away trying to leave behind the image of those horrifying eyes. To this day he doesn’t explain what he saw. He didn’t tell anyone for a long time, apparently between them they made a pact of silence, however, he wanted to tell me since I do have an open mind about those issues and I would not make fun of him, on the contrary, I would listen carefully and try to find a meaning or explanation to the terrible experience he had. This is the story about the demon of Playa Ancha. I incorporate a drawing of free interpretation that I made and a map with the possible point where the events narrated happened. © Vicente Kuntur Investigator and writer of the occult. e-mail: vicentekuntur@gmail.com Instagram: @vicentekuntur

Submitted by: Vicente Kuntur