Neighbors speak of spirits flowing through neighborhood
t began in the wee hours of last March 5. Well, actually, my story begins in July 2006, on Seattle Camp Fire USA's property that is up for sale in the Maple Leaf district, where I live.
This neighborhood jewel was originally the Waldo Hospital, built in 1924. It is adorned with some 80 trees, including more than 50 tall Douglas firs along its east side, on 15th Avenue Northeast.
As part of my research effort to help save this property from development, I contacted the groups that formerly leased space there, including the Seattle Genealogical Society (SGS).
Upon speaking with Sarah, a respected Seattle genealogist, I mentioned that I was interested in knowing about the building's tenants. She asked if I knew about the ghosts.
Believing that I must have misheard her, I asked her to repeat what she said and learned that the bulding is haunted.
Sarah, herself, witnessed strange happenings, including a computer operating by itself, books rearranged in a locked room and a female ghostly spectre. She informed me that others have also seen ghosts in the building.
I've spent the majority of my years in Maple Leaf, unaware of my unearthly neighbors until the wee hours of March 5.
MY OWN GHOST STORY
As a night-owl, I'm at my old dial-up, desktop computer every night, doing research for books I'm writing. But 1:55 a.m., I felt a strong urge to write a ghost story.
Being a nonfiction writer, I didn't know what to make of this. It was a total distraction from my work at hand, but the urge kept pulling at me.
I noted the time, put aside my computer work and took pen and paper in hand, struggling to come up with a storyline about a haunted place.
I went to bed, still troubled by this ghostly urge that had come upon me.
Eighteen hours later, in phoning the SGS, I had that startling conversation with Sarah. So that was it! A premonition, or was it telepathy - ghost-to-human telepathy?
I shared my newfound information with another of our Save Waldo group, only to learn that she already knew Waldo is allegedly haunted.
My next step was to see if anyone in Camp Fire would be willing to talk to me about it.
The Camp Fire receptionist, Nicole, seemed both startled and amused by my request to know about the hauntings. It's probably not every day that Camp Fire gets requests to see their resident ghost.
While being told that the person to whom I needed to speak had already left for the day, Nicole did confirm that some people have claimed to witness a ghost in the building.
A couple weeks had passed since my phone conversation with Sarah, and I'd been intending to go there at night and peer through the glass door on the front of the building to look for unusual activity.
It was March 23, just before 10 p.m., when it suddenly popped into mind that I should go there and look around. So I put on my shoes and coat, and with flashlight in hand, I hurried up the hill.
I was peering through the glass panel in the front door, both wanting and not wanting to see a specter, when someone approached from my back side and startled me.
A man walking a dog was curious as to what I was doing. I explained that I'd recently learned that the building is haunted and was looking for paranormal activity.
The man and I struck up a conversation, and I learned that he is Jeff, who lives only about a block from me.
By coincidence, Jeff is involved with a Buddhist group, Rigpa, that used to lease space from Camp Fire. The group had to vacate the premises last November because the building was up for sale.
Jeff was aware of the stories about Waldo being haunted, though he'd not personally witnessed any hauntings.
MORE STORIES SURFACE
As I continued collecting signatures on our Save Waldo petition, I asked neighboring homeowners if they knew about the hauntings or had ever witnessed anything unusual there themselves.
Much to my astonishment, a man, George, knew not only about Waldo, but replied that his own place is haunted, as well. He has had spirit visitations (ghosts) in his home.
A woman came to his door one day and informed him that there are two streams passing beneath his property that are pathways for spirits.
George checked with the government and learned that there are, indeed, two streams running under his property. Thornton Creek is under Waldo and is likely one of these.
Another Waldo neighbor, Donna, has also had unusual phenomena in her home. To this day, her grown daughter will not go into the basement when visiting her parents. And they had a family dog who used to go berzerk in a certain corner of the house.
Donna shared the following with me: "I was employed by Camp Fire from about 1977 to 1984. And while working there, I often experienced strange phenomena such as the elevator operating by itself and the sound of footsteps up and down the hall and in the stairwell when no one was around. Camp Fire had the elevator inspected, and there was no evidence of malfunction."
Donna let me know that others also witnessed this.
And I learned from still another Maple Leaf resident that the ghost of a nurse has appeared in Waldo.
In approaching another home-owner, I asked if he'd ever experienced any strange phenomena around his home. He knew nothing of the hauntings at Waldo, nor did I tell him about this upfront.
Unaware of my reason for asking, he at first replied "no," but then added that he hears loud noises in his house, unable to determine the source.
I then inquired as to what sort of noises and learned that he hears both banging noises and voices. Only then did I inform him about the hauntings at Waldo and the fact that a few other residents in the area have strange experiences in their homes, too.
He seemed quite interested in this and let me know that he would often hear these noises while trying to sleep and thought he was possibly dreaming.
PROTECTIVE SPIRITS?
The building and trees still stand as of this moment, but Prescott Homes, the developer, is still determined to build its 40 townhouses. So this is an unfinished story.
I can't help but wonder if the ghostly resident at Waldo knows what's going on and is trying to reach out to us.
Alas, we don't even have local ordinances to protect Seattle's diminishing tree canopy, let alone to protect the home of a ghost.
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