There has always been a lot of mystery wrapped up into the state of Washington. With it’s diverse landscape and climate, ranging from foggy coastlines to snow covered mountains, comes a large variety of urban legends and haunted places to choose from.
When researching this project, I knew from the beginning that this state had a rich history of mythological beings including Bigfoot and lots of alien sightings, but those aren’t the stories you’ll be reading today. We’re going to delve deeper into the mist to find the more obscure tales passed around the great state of Washington.
The Bottomless Pit – Eastern Washington State
They call it Mel’s hole, named after the man who first reported the pit’s existence. Apparently the hole is located in the hills of Washington somewhere near Manatash Ridge, in Ellensburg, Washington.
As the story goes, much like any bottomless pit legend, you can throw in as much stuff as you want yet you will never hear it hit bottom and the hole never seems to fill up. Now if this was all to the legend I would simply pass it off as an underground stream, or something of that nature, washing away anything that might be thrown in, but there’s more, much more.
According to the legend the hole was once used for cow dumping, an act once commonly practiced to dispose of sick cattle. The story told by Mel Water’s, a self proclaimed inter-tribal medicine man named Red Elk, and several other eye witnesses is that at certain times of the day a black beam can be seen coming out of the hole.
The witnesses have described this beam as a dark column-like shadow, rising straight into the air and appearing out of nowhere. Water’s also tells the tale of a local hunter dumping his dog into the hole after it’s accidental death, only for the dog to appear trotting out of the woods several hours later. All witnesses involved, have claimed to feel an uneasiness whenever they’re near the pit, and that animals seem to avoid the area as much as possible.
To add a little more mystery to the story, it should be said that this is not the only bottomless pit story to come from Washington. Authorities have found, and are currently studying a pit located in Woodinville, Washington. The hole was first discovered by a neighborhood kid named Cody.
What was originally thought to be an average pothole collapsed after a garbage truck parked over-top of it. Nothing to strange about that, except you couldn’t see the bottom of it, and the hole continued to grow larger. When the road crew showed up to fix the growing pothole the fire department, police, geologists and every news station in Seattle soon followed. The bottom of this pit still couldn’t be found.
The hole is said to be nearly perfectly cylindrical and at least 1,000 feet deep. Witnesses claim when standing near the pit you can feel a cool breeze like air-conditioning blowing out of it. As of yet, no further reports have been made as to what the pit may be, but it’s still being investigated.
The Faceless Roamer – Auburn, Washington
The story takes place in the downtown area of Auburn, most often on “A” street. I vaguely remember hearing this story myself, when I was very young, from a family friend visiting from Washington. This story is what brought me to choose Washington for this weeks edition of the series, but for the benefit of the tale I researched the story again for a fresh and accurate telling of the tale.
As the legend goes the faceless man is a former resident of the city of Slaughter which is now named Auburn. In life, the man was a wealthy land owner who had sold the property that was to be built into the thriving city of Auburn. According to legend he walks angrily up and down “A”‘ street, often seen passing through walls and appearing on the other side.
It is unknown why the man is seen as faceless but it is said that his anger is based on his unhappiness in the way his land was developed into the city it is now. Many of the witnesses claiming to have seen this faceless man claim that he seems to find a sort of amusement in terrifying the unlucky souls who cross his path.
When doing research on the faceless man I also discovered at least 20 other hauntings in the Slaughter/Auburn area, including the high school and the local inn once known as the Slaughter Hotel. Apparently this town has a lot of troubled history.
Steps To Hell – Maltby, Washington
The steps to hell are said to be located in the Maltby Cemetery, in Maltby, Washington. These particular steps start at ground level descending into the ground leading to the back entrance of the tomb of a once wealthy, local family. Though for the life of me, I have no idea why a tomb would need a rear entrance or exit. A fire escape I suppose, in case of reanimation, you know how those zombies like to party and smoke.
According to the story, you were to go into the cemetery sometime after midnight. After finding the stairway the brave are then supposed to descend the 13 steps, then suddenly all sound is said to cease, it would feel as if everything in the world stopped moving all at once.
The real fear isn’t supposed to come until reaching the bottom step, once there you are to turn around and behold an evil vision of Hell. The people who have been brave enough to attempt this feat often buckle at the knees and pass out from fear, other children have been known to emerge from the staircase in a complete state of shock, sometimes never speaking again.
One witness claims to have attempted it when he was 16, with a group of friends. According to him they arrived around midnight and searched for an hour or so to find the stairs. Upon locating it the kids attempted to shine a light down into it’s depth, but were unable to see anything.
The witness then claims to have began walking down the steps alone. In his account, he claims to have first felt a little sick after the first couple steps, two more steps and he felt light headed, two after that and he felt as if he was going to puke. It was at that point that he turned around to flee the evil place. As he attempted to make his way back out he claims to have heard muffled screaming and felt hands pushing at him to leave the darkness.
Upon exiting, he found that it was his friends that had been screaming, to him. He told his friends that he had only went down 6 steps but his friends say he had disappeared completely from view. He said he has never gone back to the 13 Steps To Hell and he never will.
Gravity Hill – Prosser, Washington
In Prosser, Washington is an area said to defy the laws of physics and gravity, it also just happens to be haunted, so it’s twice as special. Let’s start with the apparent reverse gravity this hill is thought to display.
According to the locals and various visitors to the sight, you stop your car on an actual starting line and put it into neutral. Let your foot off the break and your car will then roll up the hill to the crest and then down the other side. Some people say it’s only an optical illusion but many others claim you are definitely going uphill. I suppose the only way to know for sure is to try it for yourself. There are many other states that also claim to have gravity defying hills.
The legend of haunted Gravity Hill is centered around a gray barn, located near the crest of the hill, where stories are told of several young girls who were allegedly raped and murdered. Believers of the tales claim that if you attempt to do the aforementioned neutral roll on a dark night, you can actually see the ghosts of the murdered girls pushing your car up the hill to help you escape from a fate like theirs.
Others have claimed to see the apparition of a girl with wet hair watching or slowly moving towards them. They say she appears as though she may have just crawled out of the nearby canal. The same canal that no longer holds water, its now nothing but a dried up riverbed.
Epilogue
This was only a small dose of all the supernatural and ghoulish goodness that Washington has to offer us. If you have any urban legends or ghost stories of Washington, or anywhere for that matter, that you would like to share feel free to do so in the comments section below.
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DS Duby
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