Myths and Legends of Weird Washington
The homegrown myths of the Pacific Northwest
Hannah Pederson, Senior Online Reporter
Many people that live in Washington have come to accept that it’s just weird. When there’s a cult in Yelm led by a woman that believes the snow on Mount Rainier is actually alien eggs and a giant octopus is lurking beneath the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, it can be hard to distinguish legend from fact.
The Pacific Northwest offers up plenty of material for deliberation in the puget sound area alone, beginning with Mount Rainier.
In June of 1947 a man from Idaho named Kenneth Arnold allegedly witnessed flying objects zipping over the mountain as he flew by in his two-seat plane. Arnold thought the crafts might have been military experiments, but after calculating the speed at which they were traveling concluded that it just wasn’t possible.
This encounter gave birth to the term UFO and introduced the concept of the truth being out there all over the nation. UFO enthusiasts today wholeheartedly believe that what Arnold saw was extraterrestrial, and have been working to find hard proof for decades.
Pike Place market is a longstanding institution in Seattle, and like other old areas it has a supernatural history.
Four years before the public market was established a mortuary was built along what’s now called Post Alley, and over time it became Seattle’s main funeral home.
Ghost hunting groups in the area claim that the spirits of long dead Seattleites haunt their way through the businesses and stalls of the market, each in their own unique and scarring way.
According to The Seattle Times, the apparitions range from a man called Take Frank who greets people outside the bathrooms of a club on Post Alley to an old woman huddling in a shawl that passes through walls.
Puyallup’s own Meeker Mansion has a similar story. Groups like Puget Sound Ghost Hunters believe that the spirits of Ezra and Eliza Meeker still live in the old house, carefully observing visitors to make sure they don’t ruin any of their century old finery.
In the Meeker’s time and up until the past few decades, the land where Pierce College Puyallup stands today was all undeveloped forest.
During the time when the development of South Hill was beginning to gain traction, a Rogers High School student who lived near where Pierce is today recorded the sound of what he claimed was a sasquatch.
The recording no longer exists, but those that listened to it admit that what they heard wasn’t like any animal they’d ever heard before.
Though some would claim that these stories are complete bogus, most washingtonians have had at least one creepy encounter when they’re alone in the woods or driving on a long stretch of barren freeway.
Anyone could be next.
The Puyallup Post is the award-winning news media of Pierce College Puyallup in Puyallup, Washington. Copyright The Puyallup Post 2018. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube @thepuyalluppost
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