And with the Paranormal Alphabet series now over we move on to a new paranormal series this one focusing on each of the 50 US states and going over a paranormal subject on each that is specific to the state, although perhaps something I go over sometimes may also cross into other states, but generally they will be central to the state the topic is on. I’ll probably cover a number of different things in each state.
And so with that we begin with the US state of Washington, a state named after the first ever President of the US, George Washington and where some people may mistake the US capital city of Washington D.C to be located – which is in-fact squished between the states of Virginia and Maryland in the east of the US, not even a part of any of the 50 US states but in its own district called the District of Columbia – but this isn’t one of my government system posts so let’s get back to the paranormal.
Featured Photo: May by Carport from Wikimedia. License. I edited on places and the title.
The state of Washington is known for a number of cryptid creatures that have been reported within the state in various places and Washington is one of the states also well-known for its sightings of the legendary Sasquatch, or as I like to call it “the original Bigfoot”. The state has one of the highest number of sightings of the Sasquatch out of any of the other states the big hominid is known to frequent. It probably helps that Washington has a massive number of trees and large forests which would allow such a creature a large range to roam and live in.
But the Sasquatch isn’t the only beast known to hang out in the state of Washington. There is another beast out there competing for the position of squatch! It is some kind of humanoid creature that appears to be both primate and bat-like… the Batsquatch! It is a cryptid that some have connected with it appearing after the massive St. Helen’s volcano eruption in 1980, a tragedy that killed 57 people and destroyed over 200 properties with miles of roads and railways damaged. The eruption was so powerful that it created massive mud and rock slides and deposited volcanic ash in 11 US states and Canada.
The connection with the tragedy comes about due to unconfirmed claims of people alleging to witness some kind of creature in the area of the eruption afterwards, something with an ape-like body, glowing eyes and bat-like wings, said to give off feelings of dread.
The Batsquatch, a 9ft tall humanoid beast or entity has varying descriptions including that it has bird-like feet, massive bat-like wings possibly as long as 50ft, blue or dark fur, yellow or red glowing eyes, some describe it looking more wolf-like rather than primate-like.
One of the only widely documented sightings of the Batsquatch happened on April 1994 in Pierce county, Washington and was published in the Tacoma News Tribune paper. Brian Canfield was the witness who was driving in the foothills of Mt. Rainier. During the drive Canfield’s truck would suddenly putter to a stop where he then described a large creature landing in front of him. Describing it has human-like, 9ft tall, bat-like wings, a wolf-like face and had a coat of blue fur. Canfield would later say he was scared but didn’t feel threatened by the encounter.
He said eventually the creature turned around and flew away with its wings creating such turbulence as to rock the truck. After it left Canfield’s truck miraculously started up again and he got out of there as fast as he could and went right home to his parents in a state of massive distress, even telling his father to grab a gun and a camera and they would head back out to look for the creature but found no trace of it.
Other unconfirmed reports of the creature include an amateur pilot called Butch Whittaker witnessing a large winged humanoid creature over Mt. Rainier in 1994 when he was flying his plane, the creature keeping pace with him in the air and a witness who described seeing a bat-like creature hit by a logging truck in 1998.
Another possible sighting of the Batsquatch was reported in June 2011 by a man walking his dog in the state but is scant on details, simply giving a description of something large that flew through the sky saying, “I saw something flying in the sky. It had bat wings, blue fur and had eyes glowing red. It was about 9 feet tall at the least, after I watched it just flew away.”
Some have suggested that the Batsquatch could be a misidentification of the Mothman cryptid from Point Pleasant, West Virginia that was summoned to the area due to the Mt. St. Helens eruption disaster. It makes sense as it is another large flying humanoid creature and which can also affect things such as car engines and is associated with tragedy and disaster but it also doesn’t make sense if you’re someone who does not believe in all that gobbledygook, a suggested read is The Mothman Prophecies by John Keel if you are interested in learning more about the Mothman and the book also contains mentions of other alleged flying humanoids.
As well as humanoid cryptids like Sasquatch and Batsquatch the state of Washington also has its fair share of water cryptids. One such cryptid is the Cadborosaurus, also called Caddy, said to live in the sea off the coast of Washington, although it isn’t just confined to the Washington coast but has also been reported in other states along the Pacific North-West coast. There have been many, many sightings of the creature through the centuries and has also been a big part of Native American folklore. It is described as a long serpent as long as 50ft with grayish-brown skin, vertical coils, flippers and a horse-like head.
Rotting Basking Shark carcasses have fooled people into thinking it was a Cadborosaurus and sealions have also been mistaken for the creature. Other possible misidentifications include the Giant Oarfish and Pipefish.
A water cryptid more localized to the state of Washington describes a monster in Rock Lake. The apparent dwelling of this creature, Rock Lake, is found near to the border with the state of Idaho in Washington’s Whitman County. The lake is over 7 miles long and averages 1 mile in width and the max depth is 375 feet. It is the deepest and largest of all scabland lakes left behind from the Missoula Floods at the end of the last Ice Age.
Native American folklore tells of how an entire tribe was devoured by a monster that rose from the depths of the lake hundreds of years ago and as such the lake is seen as a place of great misfortune by Native American customs. Sightings of a creature in Rock Lake might not be entirely the same creature as what is in the Native American legend, but it is an association at the very least. The rarely sighted creature lacks much of a description, but it is said to be reminiscent of a log but that is actively moving through the water like a creature alive and will submerge under the water when people come near to it.
One of the only documented encounters is found in an article by The Spokesman-Review in 1995. A man who was a local hobby historian who wanted to remain anonymous told of his sister, who owns a property at the lake, who had a sighting of a creature there. The man said that her sister described it as a huge creature “as big as a tree and stretched as far as her living room” suddenly splashed in and went under the water of the lake. The Hobby Historian would say that he himself believed it to simply be a sturgeon.
Anglers that have come to the lake have also claimed to have recorded very large moving objects with electronic gear while fishing in the lake, they also have claimed to find areas of the lake as deep as 400ft, deeper than the officially recorded max depth of 375ft. There are also at least 3-bodies from boating accidents that were never recovered from the lake.
But what about the ghostly goings-on within the state?.. there are many to choose from just like there is for pretty much anywhere with a long and rich history but I will choose two that stick out to me.
First up is the Walker-Ames House in Port Gamble is said to be one of the most haunted buildings in the state. Port Gamble itself is described as altogether haunted with numerous residents claiming ghostly going-ons and hauntings in their homes, properties, businesses and public buildings and is also why Port Gamble itself is considered the most haunted place in all of Washington state. It is also tinkering on ghost town status with less than 100 people now living there to this day but luckily the place attracts many tourists due to its reputation for hauntings and the community does also keep up a number of other tourist attractions such as museums, also supposedly haunted.
Port Gamble, named after Gamble Bay, was a settlement founded in 1851 for the employees of Puget Sound Lumber Mill, America’s longest running until it shut down in 1995. The house now called Walker-Ames house was constructed by the superintendent of the mill Cyrus Walker of which he later turned over to his son-in-law and new superintendent Edwin Ames, which is why it is called the Walker-Ames house. The house is seen as the epicenter of the hauntings of Port Gamble and the most active place to encounter ghostly and unexplained frightening phenomena in the community.
The Walker-Ames house has not had any residents (living ones at least) since the lumber mill shut down and so it has ended up becoming a tourist attraction including haunted tours for those seeking the thrill of the paranormal and the people and paranormal investigators who have been to the house have reported and documented a myriad of unexplained activity and phenomena from full-bodied apparitions, ghostly children peeking out of windows, lights turning on and off by themselves, cold spots, feelings of dread, disembodied voices and unexplained nausea and putrid odours.
So, if you are a paranormal fan and are visiting the state of Washington, Port Gamble is definitely one of the most highly suggested places to be.
But what about a place in a more urbanized location such as Tacoma? You won’t be left disappointed as this place plays host to the historic Tacoma Old City Hall, a structure formally used as the cities seat of government after it had finished being built in 1893. The seat of Government moved out of it in 1957 and since then the vacant building has been the subject of much purported paranormal phenomena even including police being called to the location on a number of occasions due to disturbances such as unexplained noises and lights.
The police have never been able to find a perpetrator or culprits of such disturbances at the Old City Hall. Shadowy apparitions and mischievous entities have also been reported by security guard employees of the old building. Tacoma itself does hold a variety of ghost walks and hunts across the city but it would seem actually entering the Old City Hall is off-limits to the public and permission is very likely needed to be granted by the owners.
Interestingly in March 2019 after some competitive bidding the Tacoma City Council announced that the company Surge Tacoma had acquired the rights to purchase and redevelop the Old City Hall and the company plans to develop forty micro-apartments, two restrurants, retails space, a basement “speakeasy” in the old jail as well as office and co-working space and plans to restore the old clock tower. It may be interesting at the completion of this to see if any of the residents and co-workers bold enough to live and work on the site will report or complain of any unexplained or ghostly phenomena.
Next up will be the US state of Oregon!
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