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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1863 | 2 |
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 10 |
| 1877 | 6 |
| 1878 | 2 |
| 1883 | 13 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1885 | 16 |
| 1886 | 2 |
| 1887 | 2 |
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 6 |
| 1890 | 1 |
| 1891 | 6 |
| 1892 | 14 |
| 1893 | 5 |
| 1894 | 3 |
| 1895 | 4 |
| 1899 | 4 |
| 1903 | 2 |
| 1904 | 4 |
| 1909 | 5 |
| 1911 | 1 |
| 1916 | 3 |
| 1923 | 1 |
116 stories matching fright
- Fatal Steamship Boiler Explosion Rocks Seattle Waterfront
A boiler aboard the steamer J. S. Kobinson exploded with 'frightful force' at the foot of Yesler Way, resulting in fatalities and massive property damage.
- Telescoped at the Crossing: A Grant Street Horror
When a Northern Pacific freight train plowed into an electric streetcar on May 20, 1909, one man died and dozens were mangled in the icy water below. The crash exposed dangerous speeds and negligent watchmen at a city intersection that remains vital today.
- The Rockets Turned Around: Tacoma's Fourth of July Went Up in a Sheet of Flame
A spark touched off the entire $500 pyrotechnic stock at Wright Park, driving rockets and bombs into a crowd of thousands and leaving women and children burned, trampled and briefly lost in the smoke.
- A Blanket Theft, a Brutal Assault, and No Arrests in 1883 Spokane
Two Native American men attacked a Chinese camp over a blanket. The injured man was left in the care of his countrymen, and the attackers vanished.
- The Ice That Crushed a Man: A Frightful Death on White Pass
Louis Wrick was clearing ice near the summit of the White Pass when a massive block gave way, pinning him beneath tons of frozen weight. Another worker survived; Wrick did not.
- The Beating of Henry Brown: A Runaway Elevator Boy and a Family's Violent Secret
A 14-year-old black elevator operator flees his home after a savage whipping by his father, revealing a tangled story of poverty, pride, and punishment in 1894 Seattle.
- The Pit and the Claw: A Tacoma Man’s Terrifying Tale of Surviving a Bear Attack
Larsen describes the agony of being pinned in a bear trap, his arm crushed by the beast's jaws, and his desperate fight for survival in the woods near Schomaker.
- The Boy Who Saw His Own Death: A Seattle Tragedy of Premonition and Fate
In October 1876, a young professor driving near Seattle experienced a chilling vision of his own demise just days before he was killed in a runaway carriage accident.
- A Comedian’s Rise and the Fear of the Stage
Before Nat C. Goodwin became a beloved Seattle stage star, a debilitating bout of stage fright nearly ended his career in a shoe shop.
- The Dynamite of Gilman: A Murderous Grudge Ends in Lynching
In a fit of rage over a domestic dispute, Albert Schaeffer blew up his neighbor's home in Gilman, killing three people. The town’s response was swift and brutal.
- A Breath of Fire-Damp Killed Twenty-Three Blue Canyon Miners
A coal-mine explosion near Lake Whatcom wiped out nearly an entire shift just before it was due to change, leaving only two survivors to tell what happened underground.
- A Brutal Attack on a Prisoner
An Indigenous man held in the Spokane jail is shot through the bars by an unknown assailant in a cowardly act of violence.
- No Work, Then Gunshots: A Tacoma Family's Despair
Albert McAchren shot his wife and himself in a Tacoma lodging house after a year without steady work; his young daughter survived to tell the story.
- Steamboat Clallam Sinks Near Victoria in 1904
A new passenger steamer sinks in the mist of Puget Sound near Victoria, adding a somber chapter to a recent string of local disasters.
- Convicted in Five Days: The 1877 Murder Case That Shocked a Seattle Editor
After Solomon Baxter was killed, John Thompson went from arrest to a first-degree murder conviction in less than a week. The local paper called it a 'summary proceeding' with no parallel in American law.
- The Miner Who Went Back to Warn Them
In the Franklin mine disaster, young Joseph Dawson chose to save his fellows and lost his own life—an editorial page's portrait of ordinary courage.
- Point Defiance Dynamite Disaster
A workplace explosion at Point Defiance Park leaves one man dead and several others gravely injured.
- The Day the Windsor Hotel Burned
A ferocious wind fueled a fast-moving blaze that leveled the hotel and nearly half of the nearby business district, causing $150,000 in damages.
- The Tragedy on Trestle No. 4
A father's desperate attempt to walk his children to safety during a heavy snowstorm ends in a devastating train accident on the outskirts of Tacoma.
- The Tragedy on Meridian Street
A double murder-suicide in Tacoma marks a violent end for a couple married just three months.
- Chloroform Burglary on Queen Anne
A young woman fends off an intruder who attempted to drug her in her own bedroom.
- Hotel Stine Reduced to Ashes in Walla Walla
A faulty fire response and a quick-moving blaze gutted a landmark hotel in the heart of downtown, leaving guests fleeing for safety.
- The Price of a 'Bad Man's' Temper
A Seattle newspaper editorial rails against a lenient verdict for a saloon regular who murdered a bartender over a perceived slight.
- A Yakima Boy's Death Struggle with a Cougar
A teenage boy hunting on the reservation fought off a mountain lion with nothing but his bare hands and a stream for a weapon.
- Fatal Mine Explosion at Roslyn
A safety-lamp error leads to a crushing industrial accident at a local coal mine.
Also about this, in other words
- A Diphtheria Scare at the Falls
A young woman's battle with a deadly disease prompts a public health warning for Spokane.
- Terror Near the Tracks
A ten-year-old girl narrowly escapes an attempted assault near the Walla Walla railroad depot, sparking a search for the perpetrator.
- A Sudden Storm and a Frightened Team
A lightning strike and a team of horses lead to a harrowing accident for a mother and her young son.
- A Rabies Scare Set Finley’s Dogs on Notice—and Its Poet to Rhyming
A cow and a pig died after violent fits near Finley in November 1916, prompting a state veterinarian, chained dogs, and a local poet’s curfew verse.
- A Night of Terror at the Salvation Army Hall
An unidentified man suffered a violent psychiatric episode during evening services, prompting a dramatic intervention by local police.
- Terror in the Tunnel: A Ghostly Watchman’s Tale
A railroad trackman, left to guard a suicide victim’s remains in a Seattle tunnel, claims the severed head spoke to him in the dark.
- The Panic on Stage: How a Shout of 'Fight' Turned a Seattle Theater into a Stampede
In the winter of 1876, a misinterpreted cry during a local play sparked a chaotic rush for exits, injuring several patrons and exposing the fragility of public order in the young city.
- The Vampire Panic of Seattle
A grim, gothic account of a 'vampire' outbreak in a local immigrant community, documenting the desperate, violent lengths to which villagers went to protect their own.