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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1885 | 18 |
| 1886 | 1 |
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1891 | 2 |
| 1892 | 2 |
| 1894 | 2 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 4 |
| 1915 | 1 |
| 1917 | 1 |
36 stories matching weird
- Trapped by the Tide on the Road to Queets
In 1892, poet Herbert Bashford joined a camping party for a walk up Washington’s wild Olympic coast—and found the rising tide more dangerous than any highwayman.
- The Ghost of Haunted Spring Was Just a Bottle of Rheumatic Medicine
A pioneer camping near Lake Washington finds his dog paralyzed with terror by a 'weird, unearthly wailing,' only to discover the source was a discarded bottle of cure-all tonic.
- Baseball in the City of Smokestacks
Everett’s amateur baseball scene is in crisis as the city lacks a dedicated field, forcing local fans to travel to Snohomish to watch a 'weird combination' of players.
- A Jury Called the Franklin Mine Fire Arson. Thirty-Seven Miners Were Already Dead.
A coroner's jury found that someone deliberately set the fire that suffocated 37 workers in the Franklin mine. The only survivor described how one opened door and one stopped fan turned the gangway into a death trap.
- The Late-Night Fight That Killed Washington's First University Building
A governor's-office showdown between the state auditor and the university building commission halted construction, left laborers unpaid, and pushed Olympia toward a special legislative session.
- The Ghost of Washington Street
A retired detective recalls a haunting murder investigation in 1870s Seattle, where a father’s vengeance and a daughter’s grief ended in the deep waters of the bay.
- The Gilded Union: A Chorus Girl and a Chinese Actor Defy Convention in Seattle's Chinatown
In a scandalous departure from social norms, Jessie Kitchie and Ah Bock exchanged vows in the opium-scented apartments of Jackson Alley, marking a rare public union across racial lines in 1889.
- The Trial of a Puyallup Medicine Man
A traditional healer is fined by tribal authorities for practicing the 'tomanamus' rite, highlighting the collision between Indigenous traditions and colonial governance.
- Bold Coyotes Haunt Richland Streets
Predators are creeping into town limits at night, forcing residents to arm themselves after a man was bitten in the fields.
- The Great Nooksack Potlatch
Hundreds gather near Lynden for a traditional gift-giving feast and solemn reburial of ancestors.
- Canoeing the Queets: Promise and Dispossession on the Olympic Peninsula
An 1892 travelogue celebrates homesteaders in the Queets River valley while arguing that Native hunters should be confined to the reservation.
- A Troubled Night at Ninth and Tacoma
A woman experiencing a mental health crisis caused a public spectacle at a city horse trough, prompting police to intervene.
- The Battle Over Kennewick's Port Future
A fiery public debate erupts as boosters defend the creation of a port district against claims of government overreach and potential tax hikes.
- Homesteader Investigates Wailing at Lake Washington's Haunted Spring
An early Seattle settler recounts a terrifying, night-long vigil at a 'haunted' spring that kept his dog trembling and the local Indigenous community at bay.
- A Night Spent in the Steam Vents of Mount Rainier
An early mountaineer recounts a harrowing, freezing night spent huddled inside a steam-carved cavern near the summit.
- The Lumbermen Who Worshipped a Black Cat
Seattle initiates into the Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo, a new fraternal society for lumbermen, complete with black robes, mock titles and a banquet.
- The Tacoma Fishing Fleet's Diplomatic War
Tacoma’s Chamber of Commerce takes on the British Empire to protect local halibut profits in the Hecate Strait.
- The Diva’s Relic: When a Sacred Charm Held Up a Seattle Opera
A superstitious cantatrice once refused to perform because she’d lost a piece of the True Cross—forcing her manager to hunt through trunks until the curtain rose.
- 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 Haunted Spring Mystery
A lonely Lake Washington homesteader risks his life to find the source of an uncanny, mournful wailing in the woods, only to discover a bizarre piece of litter at the center of the phenomenon.
- The Ghost in the Willow at Lake Washington
A lonely homesteader’s terrifying encounter with an 'uncanny wailing' near the shores of Lake Washington ends in a discovery that speaks more to the era’s aggressive patent medicine marketing than the supernatural.
- Homesteader Investigates Wailing at Lake Washington Spring
A lonely homesteader chases a supernatural wailing into the woods, only to discover a surprisingly commercial origin for his ghostly disturbances.
- A Homesteader Tracks Wailing to Haunted Spring
A terrified settler stalks a supernatural wailing in the woods near Lake Washington, only to find the culprit is far more mundane.
- Homesteader and Dog Trace Wailing to Haunted Spring
A lonely homesteader at Lake Washington uncovers a 'supernatural' mystery that turns out to be a very human, 19th-century marketing scheme.
- Homesteader Investigates Wailing Near Haunted Spring
A lonely settler discovers a long-hidden message in a bottle near a 'haunted' spring.
Also about this, in other words
- The 'Odd Fellow' and the Suspicious Wife
A Seattle man's secret late-night meetings with his fraternal order spark a domestic showdown over 'goat riding,' moral uprightness, and marital suspicion.
- The Clerk’s Odd Sales Pitch
A farmer learns a strange and aggressive new way to test if his wife is 'sound' while shopping in 1877 Seattle.
- The Strange Order from the North
A local merchant is tasked with sourcing a custom gravestone for an Alaska Native man who is very much alive.
- The Strange Abduction of Lodie Wirt
A young girl from Philadelphia, missing after being swept into the orbit of a disreputable variety actress, is recovered in a Seattle boarding house.
- Strange Earth Upheaval Floods Queets River Basin
A geological mystery near the mouth of the Queets River has flooded valuable land, baffling local observers.
- The Strange 'Chicken Oath' in a Seattle Courtroom
A local robbery trial takes a surreal turn as witnesses perform a traditional ritual before testifying.
- The Strange 'Sea Monster' of Clay Street
A fisherman’s routine day at the docks ends with the haul of a mysterious, gelatinous creature.
- The Eccentric Professor: A Man of Culture Lost in the Streets
An itinerant lecturer with 'peculiarities' captivates Seattle crowds, leaving locals to wonder if he is a genius or just mad.