The Yakim a D epot R estaurant & Lounge is located in the original N orthern Pacific Railroad train depot building built in 1
W elcom e to PIH A ’s H istoric H aunting of o f W ashington State M agazine On behalf of the volunteer paranormal investigators of PIHA, I invite you to experience Washington State’s amazing historical sites and museums like never before. PIHA has created a program unlike any other in Washington State. Through our process of networking with local historical societies, museums and registered historical sites, PIHA hopes to help educate the public of our state’s exciting history and the process and technology utilized in today’s paranormal investigations. PIHA was created with two goals in mind: 1. PIHA hopes to bring our history to life by attempting to obtain significant evidence of these strange occurrences. Utilizing the latest in today’s electronic technology and dedicated paranormal investigators, we are accomplishing this objective. 2. PIHA wants to stimulate additional interest in our residents and visitors to Washington State’s fascinating history. We want to encourage individuals, families, schools and community organizations to visit these (and other) historical locations for a better understanding of our state’s history and the people who made it. PIHA is not out to prove or disprove the existence of possible paranormal activity, but to publish any significant evidence collected at an investigation and let each individual decided for himself what to believe or not to believe. Wherever your travels in Washington take you, best wishes for a “Trip to the Extraordinary”. For additional information about PIHA, visit our website at www.pihausa.com
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In this Issue: Welcome to PIHA’s Historic Haunting of Washington State Magazine…..2 Washington State History………….…………………………….……..…….5 The History of Western Washington…………………………….....………..7 The History of Olympia…...…….…………………………………..…..…….9 The Historic Capitol Theater/Olympia Film Society……….………………11 Paranormal Investigation Report………………………………………..…...13 Paranormal History Report……………………………………....…….....…..15
Contact PIH A:
PIH A M agazine Publisher:
PIHA (Paranormal Investigations of Historic America) Vaughn Hubbard: Case Manager/Historian Phone: 360.799.4138 Email: Info@pihausa.com Website: WWW.PIHAUSA.COM
Publisher………………...…..….Historic Haunting Chief Publisher…………..……..Vaughn Hubbard Program Manager:………….…..Debbie Knapp Marketing Manager:………….....Kathy Gavin Graphic Designer:…………...…..Julie De Stefano
Debbie Knapp: Lead Investigator/Historian Kathy Gavin: Lead Investigator Dave: EVP Specialist Julie De Stefano: Investigator
A cknow ledgem ents: We wish to thank Audrey Henley, Capital Theater, Theater Manager and employees Christine and Cindy for their participation in this investigation. Without their involvement, this investigation could not be possible.
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Washington State History The State of Washington occupies the far northwest corner of the contiguous 48 United States. It occupies 66,582 square miles (176,600 square kilometers) between the Pacific Ocean on the west and the Idaho border at 117 degrees longitude. Washington borders Canada on the north along the 49th parallel and Oregon on the south along the Columbia River and 46th parallel. Great Britain and the United States jointly occupied the region between 1818 and 1846, when Britain ceded the Pacific Northwest below the 49th parallel to the U.S. In 1848 the U.S. created Oregon Territory, including the future states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho and a portion of Montana. Washington Territory (including Idaho and western Montana until 1863) was separated from Oregon on March 2, 1853, and gained statehood on November 11, 1889. The federal government created Oregon Territory on August 14, 1848. The area of the new jurisdiction included the present-day states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and western Montana. The discovery of gold in California in 1848 triggered a large westward migration, and settlement of Oregon Territory was promoted by passage of the Donation Land Claims Act of 1850, which granted 160 acres to any U.S. citizen who agreed to occupy his or her land for five years. On August 29, 1851, 27 male settlers met at Cowlitz Landing (south of present-day Olympia) to petition Congress for a separate “Columbia Territory” covering the area between the Columbia River and 49th parallel. The petition was reaffirmed by 44 delegates who met in Monticello on November 25, 1852. Congress approved the new territory on February 10, 1853, but changed its name to “Washington.” President Millard Fillmore signed the bill on March 2, 1853, and Olympia was named the Territorial Capital and has remained the capital of both Washington Territory and State since 1853. President Franklyn Pierce named Isaac I. Stevens as the first governor of an area that included northern Idaho and western Montana until President Abraham Lincoln established Idaho Territory on March 4, 1863. Washington’s non-Indian population grew steadily to more than 300,000 over the following decades. Its residents began petitioning for statehood in 1881, and Washington was admitted to the Union on November 11, 1889, with the signature of President Benjamin Harrison. Thirty federally recognized sovereign Indian tribes and reservations occupy substantial areas in Washington, and there are an additional seven unrecognized but culturally distinct tribes. Native American Indian tribes have occupied this area; now know as Washington State for over 10,000 years and have a rich history in culture and survival. By the 1850s, when the first Euro American settlers arrived at Alki Point and along the Duwamish River, diseases had already taken a devastating toll on native peoples and their cultures. During the 80 year period from the 1770s to 1850, smallpox, measles, influenza, and other diseases had killed an estimated 28,000 Native Americans in Western Washington, leaving about 9,000 survivors. Historian Robert Boyd conducted extensive research on the effect of European diseases on Northwest coast Indians. In his book, The Coming of the Spirit of Pestilence, he states that the 1775 Spanish expedition led by Bruno Hezeta, commander of the Santiago and Juan Fracisco de la Bodega & Quadra, commander of the Sonora was the most likely carrier. 5
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The History and Expansion into Western Washington The first settlement in the Puget Sound area in the west of what is now Washington was that of Fort Nisqually, a farm and trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company, in 1833. Washington's founder, the black pioneer George Washington Bush and his Caucasian wife, Isabella James Bush, from Missouri and Tennessee, respectively, led four white families into the territory and settled New Market, now known as Tumwater, Washington, in 1846. They settled in Washington to avoid Oregon's racist settlement laws. Eventually, many more settlers, migrating overland along the Oregon Trail, wandered north to settle in the Puget Sound area. In 1852, people from all over what was to become Washington state gathered in Monticello (now Longview) to draft a memorandum to Congress. The memorandum expressed their desire to be granted statehood under the name of Columbia. This meeting came to be known as the Monticello Convention. The desires of the Convention were met favorably in Congress, but it was decided that a state named Columbia might be confused with the preexisting District of Columbia. In a manner which strangely enough did not solve the problem of being confused with the nation's capital, the state was instead named Washington in honor of the first U.S. president. Washington became the 42nd state in the United States on November 11, 1889. The heavy rainfall to the west of the Cascade Range produced dense forests, and the ports along Puget Sound prospered from the manufacturing and shipping of lumber products, particularly the Douglas-fir. Other industries that developed in this portion of the state include fishing, salmon canning and mining. In the spring of 1853, Congress authorized a US Army expedition made up of engineers and explorers and led by Isaac Ingalls Stevens, to survey a route from the Missouri River to the Columbia River suitable for building a railroad. Stevens assumed the task, but also kept in mind that the route should be suitable for a wagon road. The 25’ wide road was so called because its purpose was to connect Fort Walla Walla east of the mountains to Fort Steilacoom along side the Puget Sound. The road was built from Fort Steilacoom and then, following an ancient Indian path known as the Naches Trail, it crossed over Naches Pass and down to the Naches River east of the mountains. The road then followed the river to Yakima. The trail roughly follows the present day State Route 410 which instead goes up and over the Chinook pass, a little south of the original route, to Naches and on to Yakima.
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History of Olympia WA Olympia, the capitol of Washington State, was incorporated on January 28, 1859. This areaWashington includes the long-term habitation of Native Americans, including Squaxin, Nisqually, Puyallup, Chehalis, Suquamish, and Duwamish. The natives called the present site of Olympia "Cheet Woot" or "Schictwoot" meaning "place of the bear." Peter Puget and a crew from the British Vancouver Expedition were the first Europeans to charter this site in 1792. In 1833 the Hudson's Bay Company establishing Fort Nisqually, a trading post at Sequalitchew Creek near present day DuPont, Washington. Lt. Charles Wilkes led the U.S. Exploring Expedition in 1841, explored the Puget Sound region in 1841. They camped near Fort Nisqually while they charted the area and named Budd Inlet after expedition member Thomas A. Budd. American settlers also came to the area in the 1840s, and established "New Market," now known as Tumwater, the first American settlement on Puget Sound. The site was the northern end of the "Cowlitz Portage," the overland trail between the Cowlitz River and Puget Sound. Edmund Sylvester and Levi Smith jointly claimed the land that now comprises downtown Olympia. Smith built his cabin on what was then a narrow peninsula, near the current intersection of Capitol Way and Olympia Avenue. Smith's untimely death in 1848 left Sylvester the sole owner of the land on which he platted the future townsite. In 1853 the town settled on the name Olympia, at the suggestion of local resident Isaac N. Ebey, due to its view of the Olympic Mountains to the northwest. The city grew steadily until 1873, when the Northern Pacific Railroad building a line toward Puget Sound unexpectedly bypassed Olympia, choosing Tacoma as its west coast terminus. Alarmed by the loss of the railroad, Olympia residents set to work building their own rail connection to the main line at Tenino. Citizens formed a private corporation and used both volunteer labor and contract Chinese workers to complete a narrow gauge line by 1878. The little railroad served as Olympia's only railroad connection until the Northern Pacific built a spur to Olympia in 1891. After Washington achieved statehood in 1889, Olympia continued as the state's capital city. Construction of the current Washington State Capitol began in 1912, with the prominent Legislative Building, one of the largest in the nation, completed in 1928. The building's dome is the fourth largest free-standing masonry dome in the world. Industries such as logging and oystering were the basis of much of the economy. By the twentieth century, sawmilling, fruit canning, and other industrial concerns comprised its economic base. Olympia also served as a shipping port for materials produced from the surrounding countryside, including sandstone, coal, and agricultural products. 9
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The History of the Historic Capitol Theater The Capitol was built in the Mission Revival/Beaux Arts style by E. A. Zabel, who owned a series of local theaters including the Lyric, Strand, Acme, Rex and Ray. The Capitol Theater is one of the many classic movie theaters designed by Joseph Wohleb. The theater opened in 1924 as a vaudeville stage and movie house and has maintained it's status since then. The building features glazed terra cotta and, circular leaded art glass insets depicting four of the nine muses of Greek mythology and flanked by terra cotta masks. A fire in 1937 caused extensive damage and much of the interior was replaced. The large neon marquee was added in 1940. In 1986 the Olympia Film Society moved into the building and has maintained the theater since then. On September 1, 2010 the theater was finally sold to the Olympia Film Society.
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The PIHA Grey Team’s Paranormal Investigation On November 7th, 2010 the PIHA Grey Team scheduled paranormal investigations at the historic Capitol Theater/Olympia Film Society building in Olympia, WA and came away with some interesting results indicating that possible paranormal activity does exist. These are the results of one of those investigations. The PIHA Grey Team’s Lead Investigator, Debbie Knapp was joined by Audrey Henley, Capital Theater, Theater Manager and employees Christine and Cindy. As is the usual practice, the team first completes a scan of the area to be investigated. They use their EMF (Electromagnetic Field) detectors to locate any abnormal electronic energy that may exist. Next, the Grey Team sets up their camcorders to video tape any shadows or strange movement that may take place during their EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) session. Finally they position the PIHA “Parabolic Dish” that they use to record any noises or voices that may or may not be heard by ear. The parabolic dish also has a headset attached allowing an investigator to hear any voices or noises that cannot be heard naturally by the other investigators during the EVP session. This has proven to be a valuable tool to validate anything recorded during the EVP session that would otherwise go unnoticed. Vaughn has concluded that if ghost actually exist, they can be seen, heard and felt anytime, day or night with the lights on or off. The main reason that most paranormal organizations investigate late at night is that there are fewer people in and around the area or building being investigated and the same is true for vehicle traffic. All of these factors can contaminate the electronic recordings being made during the actual investigation. Basically, the quieter it is the better chance of recording possible evidence of paranormal activity. But, if someone just wants to have a paranormal experience or possibly see a ghost, they’re chances are probably better during the day than at night. There are many more encounters told by ordinary people of seeing or experiencing a ghost during the day and fewer at night. You could have something standing right next to you in the dark and you would never see it, but during the day you will.
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Results of the PIHA Paranormal Investigation This paranormal investigation yielded some fascinating evidence of paranormal activity throughout the entire evening. At 10:20 PM, the Grey Team began their investigation in the Green Room on the upper floor of the building. Employees and visitors had reported numerous activities in this area over the years. The team then moved on to the main floor auditorium to began their EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) session. An EVP session is when a series of questions are asked and recording devices such as digital recorders and the PIHA parabolic dish are set to record and noises or responses. During this session Audrey Henley, Capital Theater, Theater Manager and employees Christine and Cindy, were sitting in the auditorium seating area using an EMF (ElectroMagnetic Field) detector. This devise indicates any energy fields that are present during an investigation. Many paranormal investigators believe that this type of energy field could mean the presence of a spirit or ghost. As Debbie Knapp (PIHA’s Lead Investigator) was asking questions, the EMF devices that Christine and Cindy were holding started lighting up indicating a presence. The client guest then used the EMF device to blink the light for a “Yes” answer and no light for a “No” answer. This EVP session lasted almost 10 minutes which was amazing. Later, the investigators moved to the mezzanine area on the second floor to continue their investigation. Once again they were able to obtain evidence of paranormal activity in that area of the building as well. The PIHA Grey Team has certified the historic building that the Capitol Theater that the Olympia Film Society is located in as haunted.
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The History of Paranormal Activity Over the years there have been numerous reports from patrons and employees alike that have experienced all types of paranormal normal activity in the Capitol Theater building. There is also a story of a murder that took place there that some believe occurred in the 1930’s or 40’s. PIHA researched this claim, but was unable to validate it or locate any newspaper articles relating to a murder. These reports have been reported throughout the building, but most of the reports centered around specific areas such as the Green Room and Dressing Room area on the upper floor of the building. Other areas of the building that people have reported paranormal activity are located in the mezzanine including orbs of light appearing out of nowhere on the east staircase leading up to the mezzanine. There are also stories told of strange or unexplainable activities that occur in the main auditorium of the theater.
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O n behalf beh alf of the volunteer paranorm par anorm al investigators of PIH A , w e invite you to experience W ashington State’s am azing historical sites and m useum s like never before. PIH A has created a program unlike any other in W ashington State. Through our process pr ocess of netw orking w ith local historical societies, s ocieties, m useum s and com m unity leaders, PIH A hopes to help educate the public of our state’s exciting history and the process pro cess and technology utilized in paranorm al research. research . The PIH A “G rey Team ” is m ade up of dedicated paranorm al investigators i nvestigators w ith a passion for history and a curiosity in the paranorm al phenom ena. O ur approach, equipm ent and procedures to paranorm al investigating are prim arily based on research and logic in obtaining evidence of possible paranorm al activity.
The PIH A A pproach to Paranorm al Investigations PIH A never use m edium s, psychics or O uija B oards in our investigations. M any people w ho think that som ething paranorm al exist, physics and logic can debunk. That said, occasionally PIH A obtains evidence that neither physics nor logic applies. W hen this occurs, w e classify it as paranorm al evidence and let each individual decide for him self w hat to believe or not believe.
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