The Cabin in the Woods Mystery
A local fisherman reports an unsettling encounter with a mysterious pair living in a remote log cabin, sparking fears for a missing Tacoma girl.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A fisherman who refuses to have his name published reported to the police department yesterday that he recently encountered a strange couple in a cabin near Lakewood, which may lead to a disclosure as to the whereabouts of another of Tacoma’s missing girls. He claims that he stopped at a lonely log cabin, located quite a distance from any other house, and found a pretty blonde girl, 16 or 17 years of age, and a tall, dark-complexioned man, about 45 years of age, living there. The appearance and general makeup of the girl aroused the fisherman’s suspicions, and, watching closely, he discovered that the man was very reticent about talking of his relations with the girl. In the hope that his story might result in the finding of another of the girls who have absented themselves from their homes in this city, he reported the matter to the police.
“The appearance and general makeup of the girl aroused the fisherman’s suspicions, and, watching closely, he discovered that the man was very reticent about talking of his relations with the girl.”
Missing persons cases in the early 20th century were often framed through the lens of 'runaway' narratives, frequently casting suspicion on the older men these girls were found with. This report highlights the era's pervasive anxiety regarding the safety and movement of young women in the rural outskirts of the growing city.
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