National Park After Dark - Bodies in Water: Olympic National Park

Episode Date: March 29, 2021

Keep your eyes on the road and be aware of your surroundings. Come along with us as we wade through Olympic National Park’s Lake Crescent - beautiful waters that harbor some truly dark stories. This lake has drawn in people from around the world with its beauty, calling out like a siren. But just like the storied mermaids who use their enchanting calls to lure in sailors, the waters of this lake have drawn in many souls that eventually met a watery demise.For the latest NPAD updates, group travel details, merch and more, follow us on npadpodcast.com and our socials at:Instagram: @‌nationalparkafterdarkTikTok: @‌nationalparkafterdarkSupport the show by becoming an Outsider and receive ad free listening, bonus content and more on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. Want to see our faces? Catch full episodes on our YouTube Page!For a full list of our sources, visit http://npadpodcast.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey everybody and welcome back to National Park After Dark. My name is Danielle. And my name's Cassie. And are we on episode 10? Yeah. Wow. So, have you been up to anything cool this week? Yeah, I went hiking today.

And that was fun. And I actually, okay, so I was hiking and we got to the top of this mountain. and I picked this hike kind of randomly. It was just close by and it was a nice day and it wasn't too far away because we started hiking around 3 o'clock today so we didn't have that much time. And we get to the top and there's a couple people up there and there's this dog and I just assumed it was these people's dog because they were hanging out with him. And didn't think anything of it. He came up to me. He came up, said hi.

He's super cute, old, golden. And I'm talking to these people and they tell me this dog is not theirs, first of the first. dog. This dog is a dog that comes up there every single day. He hikes up by himself every single day to the top of this mountain and he just hangs out with the hikers. He doesn't go with his owners. What? Yes. I swear to God. And they did a little documentary on him and his brother. He had a brother, Golden Retriever named Baylor. And both of them together every single day, they would leave their house and together they would hike this mountain and they would go to the top and they would hang out with all the hikers up there for the day and they would stay all day and then when dinner time

came around they knew like the timing of it they would hike back down and go home every single day it's 3.7 miles okay so not terrible but so the owners literally just like open their door and they're like all right later no that's the thing is the owners would lock their doors they'd try and get these dogs so they couldn't escape. These dogs would find ways out of their house every single time they would try and like lock them in. They would figure out how to open the doors. Locked doors. They would figure out how to open them. And they would escape and they would run up this mountain. The owners didn't even take these dogs hiking on this mountain. The dogs found the trails and followed the hikers up and then just started doing this hike every day. And the owners eventually

were like, you know, we've tried to keep them in and we can't. And this is what they love to do. They're meant to do this. And she was saying, I was watching the documentary, and she said, Samson is the other dog who I met today. She's like, he's a healer. He's meant to be up there. And when I was up there today, I watched him in every single hiker that came up. When they sat down and, like, got settled in, he went to every single one of them and sat and, like, leaned on them and said hi and, like, stayed with them for a couple minutes. And then someone else would come and he would go say hi to them. And he literally went to every single person and sat down and said hi to them. That's the most wholesome thing I've ever heard. And his brother, his brother

died a few months ago. And they've been together since they were puppies. But he still goes up every single day without his brother since he died. And he goes up every day and he hangs up at the top. And this dog is 12 years old. Yeah, for a golden that's old. He doesn't, he's just chucking along. He moves a little slow up there, but I mean, he's just trucking along and says hi to everybody. And I was just like, this is the sweetest thing I've ever heard of in my whole life. Sure, keep him young. Yeah. You know?

You look up Stowe Pinnacle Mountain Dogs. There's just a 15-minute video of the dogs hiking, and they put little bells on them so hunters don't confuse them for deer. And they just like hike up the trail, and it shows all the high. They put a little camera on the dogs so you can see like their view. And all the people who just say hi to them and people are like, wait, this dog's by himself. He's not like with anyone. And they're like, no, he just hikes here every day. That is really cool.

I did just look it up and I'm saving it so I can watch it tonight. You should. That is really cool. Isn't it so cool? And you just randomly, like you didn't even know about them. I had no idea. When I got up there, I thought it was just like a random dog and no. Where are his parents?

He's like, not here. He hikes here by himself every day. Wow. I was like, that's the cutest thing I've ever heard in my whole life. I'm going to send this article to my family because we have a timeshare and stow. So I think they'll find it really cool. Yeah, you should. Yeah.

That's great. The highlight of my day for sure. And then I posted it on Instagram because I just felt like everyone would love him as much as I did. Everyone should love him because that's amazing. Right. What a story. Well, not to drag you down, but I feel like time to get into my story today. Time to talk about creepy dead things. Yeah, here we go. This week, I kind of, so I have kind of like an outline rubric of episode topics I want to cover. This week's episode topic was on there, but it was kind of like planned. for a month or two from now, but I bumped it up to this week because of an email we got from

someone. So I bumped it up. I'm excited to share it with you because it is one of my favorite national parks. Actually, it might be my favorite national park I've ever been to so far. I'm pumped. Yeah, so before we get started with your story, we do have an announcement to make. And if you follow us on Instagram, we probably saw it there. But we are going to be doing a live show. we're going to be telling campfire, ghost stories, paranormal. We haven't decided what story we're going to tell, but it's going to be creepy. We can promise that. And it's going to be at the Over and Out Motto event in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania.

And this is an all-women's event. Sorry, guys. We will do a live show that guys can come to as well. But for this show, it is an all-women's event, and it is a motorcycle group for women that go all-level riders, If you've never been on a motorcycle before, don't worry about it. They have beginner lessons to literally starting a bike and putting it in first gear. But it's for all levels. It's also dual sport rides, trail rides, everything.

It's a very cool weekend. And at night, after everyone's done riding and eating food and stuff, we're going to sit around the campfire, eat some s'mores. And Danielle and I are going to be telling some spooky stories. And we are so stoked for it. I'm excited for the ghost story aspect of it. As far as the riding aspect of it, I'm going to need to sign up for that class of putting the bike in first gear and getting on it properly and all of that. So if anybody's intimidated about the theme of the weekend, it should be me.

But honestly, last year when I was there, there were so many women who went that, it was their dream to learn how to ride a motorcycle and they were always scared because they didn't want to be around a bunch of guys who had been riding forever. They felt more comfortable with women and there were a bunch of girls there that had literally never ridden a dirt bike before and they went through this class and they have these easy trails for beginners. And they were like ripping around on those trails all weekend after they got like the basics down. So it's literally for any type of rider. And I'm stoked. I want you to get on a bike. I'll be so excited.

I mean, I will. It's just, it's not going to be very pretty at first. It's just, it's a lot of fun. It doesn't matter if you're good or not. It's just fun. Okay. I'll take your word for it. I'm sure it is going to be, but I have a few months to prepare.

So, yeah, that event is going to be in September. And we will give more details as. the date approaches, but the woman organizing it did let us know that they are already sold two-thirds of their tickets. So if you are interested in coming to that and seeing us do a live event, then go to our, we'll post it on our website. We're going to do a little bit of a website update. So we can post the flyer on our website. Yeah, we'll post it on our website, but also you can go over to Over and Out Moto on Instagram, and you can also go onto their website as well, over and outmodo.com. And tickets are right on there, too, if you're interested in going. And they are selling

out quick with COVID restrictions and everything. There is a cap for the amount of people. It is going to be COVID-friendly. Honestly, I can't think of a more COVID-friendly event because everyone has helmets on and goggles literally your entire face is covered so it's a good it's a good pandemic activity pandemic friendly yeah yeah it's pandemic friendly for sure awesome i think that's pretty much it for announcements and stuff other than thank you to all the patreon members who got back to us and responded to us about our first campfire story we have released one other episode listener story episode bonus type deal before that last month. But this month is the first month that we really kicked off the monthly bonus stories

that we have now dubbed Camp Fire Stories. And those are available only on Patreon. It doesn't matter what tier you are. Every Patreon member has full access to all of the bonus content as far as those stories go. And a fun little teaser for that is for this month's extra Patreon episode. We do talk about Bigfoot and there's a ghost story. So go on to Patreon, subscribe. We really appreciate it, but also the story is really cool and it's really fun.

And we plan on doing more stories like that on there as well. Yeah. All right. So how about, how do you feel about coming over to Washington with me and exploring Olympic National Park? I feel like I'm going back in time to when we were actually in Olympic National Park. It feels like it was forever ago, but it in reality was not that long ago. I wish we could post some of our own personal photos of us in the park together, but unfortunately we both have boyfriends who take horrible photos of us,

and they will not be posted anywhere. No one will see those photos ever. Our experience was, okay, girls, go stand over there in the middle of this trail, and we're going to lay on the ground, and take a picture of you direct. directly under your chins. So it looks like your faces are distorted. You look 50 pounds heavier than you actually are.

Emphasis on multiple chins. It's bad. Have you ever seen those things? It's like pictures I take of him versus pictures he takes of me. Yes. Because I know I have amazing pictures of Ian. And I know you probably have amazing pictures of Al. Yeah.

And it's just like, they look so handsome and then it's like, and here's their troll girlfriends. Yeah, it's just not, I don't know, either way, I don't even know what we're talking about. So we're just going to go into the story. We're going to Olympic National Park. We're going to Olympic National Park. Here we go. Hey, everybody. It's Danielle here. Before the story starts, I just wanted to let you know of a quick correction. During this episode, I'm going to tell you a couple of.

different stories, but one of them has to do with a woman named Hallie Ellingworth. And in the episode, I kept referring to her as Haley, and that's totally my bad. Her name is Halley, and unfortunately, based on Cassie and I's schedules, three-hour time difference, etc., we didn't have time to re-record the episode before it was scheduled to come out. So instead, I'm just going to put this little correction in before the episode starts to let you know of my mistake. Please forgive me. Hallie, so very sorry. Please don't come and haunt me.

Everybody else, enjoy the show. First of all, like I kind of mentioned before, I did bump up this story because of an email that we got from someone. So I want to shout her out. Her name is Emma Grace. She wrote in with a suggestion for a topic. And it happened to be one of the ones. that I was going to cover. So I elaborated a little bit and went into a little more detail,

but she did write in and suggested this. And she did say that her dad is the city planner for the city of Forks, and he's also a historian. And this topic is one that they talk about a lot in their family, which I thought was just really, really cool. One, because when I was little, me and my dad talked about history all the time. It was something we really bonded over. So I thought that was rad. And also, and I know this is just like maybe knocking me down a few notches in a lot of people's minds, but when the whole like twilight thing came out, I was so about Forks, Washington. And I just thought it was the coolest place. We all have our guilty pleasures. All right. People are like, okay, episode 10, we're done with this. We're going to Olympic National Park.

We're going to Olympic National Park. Here we go. Located in the northwest corner, of the state of Washington, Olympic National Park takes up much of the Olympic Peninsula. A lot of the park is actually really remote and pretty hard to access, but there are four different areas that offer the nearly 3.5 million annual visitors access to parts of the park. So this is a really popular park and for good reason. So it was named after the Olympic Mountains that it encompasses. And the park was actually established. in 1938 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, but it was first designated as a national monument back in 1909. This park has it all. It has 922,651 acres that includes 73 miles of wilderness coastline,

3,000 miles of rivers and streams, snow-capped mountains and glaciers, and even rainforest. So the whole rainforest is probably the most popular. It's one of the few, remaining temperate rainforest in the U.S. Every year, this rainforest receives about 12 feet of rain. And if you've ever been in this area, it's not hard to imagine. I mean, it's raining here all the time. It was raining when we were in the whole rainforest a little bit. It was like sprinkling. Yeah. Like I mentioned, Olympic National Park has a bunch of different areas of interest. So if you want to climb mountains, you can do that. If you want to spend time on the beach, there's tons of miles of coastline for that. And a lot of people go there for recreational activities that include

not just hiking and lounging on the beach, but they want to go kayaking with all those rivers and streams and lakes. But there is one lake in particular that draws a ton of people to it every single year. And for good reason, and that is Lake Crescent. Lake Crescent formed as retreating glaciers carved out deep valleys during the last ice age about 11th. thousand years ago and it remains one of the most visited spots in all of olympic national park measuring nearly 12 miles long and measuring about 600 feet deep which is just to put it in perspective that's deeper than the space needle is tall wow yeah have you been up there have you been up to the like observation no but i've seen it i mean i haven't been up to the top but i can imagine you know

reading numbers it's hard to put it in perspective but I was just at the space needle for the first time a couple weeks ago actually maybe about a month ago so hearing that I was like okay yeah so the location of the lake is actually located just a few miles from the straight of Wanda Fuka which is if you're looking at a map where the peninsula is Olympic Peninsula there's a small strip of water and that's the Strait of Wanda Fuka, and that separates Washington from Vancouver Island. So that part of the ocean is where the Salish Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet, and it serves as the international border. So historically, Lake Crescent was used as part of a route from Port Townsend, which is kind of on the eastern part of the peninsula, to the western parts of the peninsula, because there were no connecting roads. And this was a really long lake.

Like I said, it's about 12 miles long. So steamboats were used as a form of transportation that would bring park gas to and from various areas of the peninsula. And that started when it was quote unquote discovered by the first white settlers in the 1860s. So like I said, it was designated as a national monument in 1909. And before then, when people were visiting the area and as the park was starting to get up and running as a formal park. They didn't have a highway until 1922. The first people were using this lake kind of as like a sea highway. And the lake drew thousands of visitors and several lakeshore resorts started to pop up around this lake. Everyone was drawn to it. So some of the most notable

hotels and resorts are Hotel Crescent, Rosemary Inn at Barnes Point, Marymere Hotel and Singer's Lake Crescent Tavern, which is now known as Lake Crescent Lodge. The lake's waters are crystal clear, and in some areas you can see up to 60 feet down. The popular activities there are kayaking, sailing, and swimming. Lake Crescent has drawn in people for centuries, and if you heed the legends of the Klaulam and Quillette

to the local indigenous tribes, you'll learn that it doesn't give up its secrets or its bodies very easily. Today I'm going to tell you about some of those bodies who have found rest in the lake. Oh, okay, you're going with super creepy this week. I am, yeah. Conditions were calm and quiet on the afternoon of July 6, 1940 on Crescent Lake. Lewis Rolfe and his brother were fishing the deep, turquoise waters close to sledgehammer point when they noticed an object floating close to the shoreline.

Intrigued, the brothers paddled towards it to investigate. As they got closer, they were shocked to find this mystery object was actually a body of a woman. She was hog-tied with heavy rope wearing a green dress and was wrapped in two gray striped blankets. As horrific as this initial discovery was, the details of the state of the body were even more disturbing. This body had not decomposed in the traditional way that we think of decomposition. Her body had undergone suponification, which is a natural chemical process, which occurs when fats are exposed to a very alkaline substance. This combined with the mineral-rich environment

and the cool waters of Lake Crescent aided in preserving the woman's body. Well, kind of. The body had no recognizable face, was marble white, the tips of her fingers were missing, as well as her upper lip and her nose. Most interestingly, the entire corpse was a soapy-like substance known as adipusir.

It could literally be scooped away like putty. Oh, God. And this is the body, like, oh. Yeah, her body had like undergone this bit. Yeah. That description of being able to scoop. I know. It was a little bit of a graphic analogy,

but it really got the message across because I can picture it in my mind very easily. I wish my face would pop over everyone's head phone. right now or whatever you're listening and see. Hopefully it's headphones. Yeah, hopefully it's headphones and not public. What are you doing over there? Okay, so the brothers quickly

made their way back to the docks and explained what they had found to Superintendent A.D. Iman Roth, who was really skeptical at first, but followed the brothers back to the body after their insistence. The Clallum County prosecutor, coroner Ralph Smith, and Sheriff

Charlie Kemp arrived at the scene and retrieved the body from the lake once Immonroth confirmed what they had found. The autopsy concluded that the woman had been severely beaten and the cause of death was strangulation. She was then tied with rope, wrapped in blankets, and weighed down with rocks before being thrown into the lake. Eventually the ropes holding her body to the bottom of the lake rotted away and thanks to the saponification which made the body very light, it floated to the surface. It was estimated that she had been in the lake for three years. News of this discovery spread quickly, and she was dubbed Lady of the Lake.

But who was she? As they were trying to figure out who this lady was, they actually buried her in a potter's field near Port Angeles while an investigation into her identity was being conducted, although she was exhumed twice for continued examination during this entire process. The initial theory was that the body belonged to Mary and Francis Steffens, a 33-year-old botanist from Chicago. She was visiting Mount Olympus, which is one of the mountains within Olympic National Park, which is actually the tallest and most prominent mountain in the park.

And she went missing. So she went missing in 1939, which was a year before Lady of the Lake was discovered. So they thought maybe it could be her, because I was. all that had been found of Marion was a bundle of her camping gear and belongings that had been found by rangers near the Ho River Trail. However, the clothing on the Lady of the Lake did not match the description of what Stephens was wearing. It took over a year for the mystery to begin to unravel. Like so many cases, it was through dental records that she was finally identified. She had a unique six-tooth dental plate which Hollis B. Fultz, a criminologist with the Washington State

pathologist office took pictures of and published in regional dental magazines. A dentist in South Dakota recognized this plate as the one he had made for a former patient, finally identifying the Lady of the Lake as Haley-Latham-Illingworth. So let's talk a little bit about Haley. She was born in Greenville, Kentucky on January 7, 1901. After two failed marriages, she moved west in hopes of a fresh start. She was 35 in the year of 1936 when she began work as a barmaid at the Lake Crescent Lodge, and it was here in June of that year that she met Montgomery, Monty, J. Illingworth, who is a local beer truck driver. They dated very briefly. And when I say very briefly, I mean whirlwind type of romance. It was only a couple months between when they met to when they got married. Recipe for a successful third marriage? Yeah, you would think that maybe she had some prior experience with what not to do. But who knows?

There wasn't much information that I could find on her and her previous marriages before this situation. So who knows? And, you know, Montgomery Monty was dick. So it's not her fault. Well, we know where this is going now. Yeah, I know. Unfortunately, it's always the husband. Unless it's the wife. Unless it's the wife. Yeah. From Snap, we know that it goes both ways, honey.

Like I said, they dated very briefly, but it was by no means a fairy tale relationship, and it was actually quite the opposite. Their neighbors complained all the time and actually reported several times to the police about loud fights between the couple. So they fought all the time and they weren't too quiet about it either. And co-workers of hers at the lodge actually recounted her showing up to work with bruises and occasional black eyes. And one day in December of 1937, she didn't show up to work. She was last seen on December 22nd, 1937 when she was at her apartment waiting for Monty to return from a party that he had attended in Port Townsend. Monty stated that she ran off with another man to Alaska, but her sister states she saw her days before she went missing

and was completely unaware of any new relationship and she was very suspicious of her whereabouts and of Monty. Monty became a lead suspect in her murder once she was identified. So once the, because if you remember, this is now three years later. He had told everyone that she went to Alaska. Right. So his story was she never turned up to work because she had run away to Alaska with another guy and then three years passed and then her body surfaces in the lake. So now everyone's looking at him like, oh, really?

Okay. Also typical excuse, I feel like people say that, oh, she left me for another man. She left the country and then makes her come out to seem like this bad person and really. Yeah, he's trying to turn the tables on. on her. So Monty quickly became a lead suspect in her murder once she was identified. And he was eventually found living in Long Beach, California with another woman who was a timber heiress named Eleanor Pearson. And it was there that while driving his truck, he was pulled over and arrested for the murder of Haley.

Okay, so your wife goes missing and you decide to just leave the state and start over with another woman. Yeah, it's like suspicious, okay. The trial began on February 24th, 1942, and Monty denied the allegations, of course, and stated that when he had last seen Haley, she was alive. Alive and well, this is before she allegedly ran off to Alaska with another guy. The alleged abuse that occurred in their relationship came up during the trial, and while Monty admitted that this was the norm for their relationship,

that it went both ways. So he's like, okay, yes, we did get into arguments and there was physical altercations, but she also beat me up too. He repeatedly denied killing her. However, the testimony from the dentist from South Dakota that identified her dental plate, and Haley's friends testifying that the clothes the body was found in belonged to her, started to dig Monty's grave. However, the final nail in his coffin came from the rope used. to bind Haley. Enter Earl F. Enos. He was the manager of the Port Angeles Distributing Company, and he had actually employed Monty for a time. And he took the stand to identify the rope as the

one he had lent to Monty shortly before Haley's disappearance, and Monty never returned that rope. The store still had the remnants from the rope, and the fibers between the two matched. It's the same thing. There's no way he didn't do it. Yeah. From here, it was theorized that the two most likely got into a fight in their apartment when it turned violent, and Monty began beating and strangling Haley. Hollis Fultz, a criminologist with the Washington State Attorney General's office,

who helped investigate the murder, goes on to theorize that Monty tried to conceal the crime by placing Haley's lifeless body in the trunk of his car, drove to Lake Crescent, first stopping in the vicinity of present-day log cabin resort, where he then wrapped his wife's body in blankets and tied the bundle with the rope before hauling her into a rowboat, weighing her down, and dumping her into the lake. This case lasted nine days,

and the jurors took only four hours to reach a verdict. On March 5, 1942, Monty was found guilty of second-degree murder and was sentenced to life at the Washington State Penitentiary. in Walla Walla, where he served. And here we go again. Just please guess. Take a wild guess at how long he served.

He was sentenced to life. Five years. Nine. Why? How? Was he murdered or he got out? He was paroled in 1951 and died in November. Yep.

I know. He was paroled in night. And he, so he was paroled in 1951 and he died in November of 1974. in Los Alamitos, California. That hurts my heart. It's yet another example of how crimes against women are not taken seriously.

You're well-behaved in prison. You can go back out. And I don't know the specifics of what led to his parole, but it is a pretty common theme that we see a lot even now. I mean, this was back in the 50s, but

70 years later, I don't think that we've really, um, made much of a difference as far as people being sentenced for life, for horrific crimes, and only serving a fraction of their sentence. Yeah. So Haley is now buried in Park Hill Cemetery in Vancouver, Washington. So that was the Lady of the Lake story. But Lake Crescent still has a couple more up its sleeve.

Lake Crescent also holds on to another mystery. This one for over 70 years. Russell Warren picked up his wife Blanche from a visit at the Port Angeles Hospital on July 3, 1929. After running a few errands and loading a new washing machine into their 1927 Chevrolet, they drove west along Highway 101 and route towards a camp on the Bogachial River near Forks. They never reached their destination. It was rumored that the couple missed a curve, along the road and plunged into the lake and drowned,

while others assumed that they had left abruptly abandoning their two children, whose names were Charles and Frank, and they were only 11 and 13 at the time of their parents' disappearance. But that claim was quickly dismissed by family members that insisted the Warrens were loving parents. Investigations began immediately with no real answers due to the limited abilities of the diving equipment at the time. There are only small items belonging to the pair,

like a hat identified as Russell's ever being found. For over half a century, the trial went as cold as the lake. But then, in 2001, the search had new life breathed into it when a historian named Bob Caso brought the case to the attention of Lake Crescent District Ranger Dan Poin Bryant. Park Rangers and volunteers conducted exploratory dives with the help of an underwater search and recovery company using a sonar unit to search for clues. In 2002, 73 years after their disappearance, their car was found in more than 170 feet of water about four miles west of Barnes Point near

mile post 223 on US 101 in the waters off of ambulance point. So that's very specific. It's pretty cool if you're from the area to know because I've been around this lake on this highway, US 101, and it is so windy. It's not like it's named US 101, you know, highway, whatever. So you're thinking of a highway is just straight roads. You go 6070 on. This is not the case for this road. It has twists and turns.

Going over 40 would be pushing it, I think, on this road. So it's not hard to imagine how easily they could have lost control of the car. and plunged right into the water. Yeah. That's scary. It is scary. But it's just crazy that they had been down there for over 70 years. Yeah, and no one found them.

And it's not even like they were that far away. They were right there. I'll link the articles in the show notes, as always. But they go into detail about when the historian Bob was first recommending that they re-investigate this. case and try and find the car wreck that they are theorizing was in this area. The district park ranger, Dan, was kind of like, even if we do find it, it's kind of eerie and like we don't really want to disturb anything down there because it's like a howl

ground, like it's a grave site. So when they did find it, they left it there. They just left the car, not their bodies. So their bodies were never found in entirety. there were bones like femur bones and things like that found but after 73 years they had essentially disintegrated but it was positively identified as their car and that they had perished in that accident okay so there wasn't anything left to bury of them not that i saw but yeah they kind of just left that area alone and it's kind of just like a it kind of reminds me of and it sounds really weird but it kind of reminds me of titanic it's like you just leave it as it is Obviously, it's wildly different. Titanic is in a very, very difficult area to access. It's not 170 feet underwater, you know, but it's kind of the same type of deal. A lot of shipwrecks and things that are discovered are never brought to the surface. They're just kind of left as they are. This story about a body in Lake Crescent gave me chills. The beautiful waters of this lake has also been used by a serial killer. My ear is just like, purses. Hirked up so high.

I have never heard of a serial killer out there. Okay. I mean, I have heard of serial killers in Washington, but not like specifically this area. Okay, well, get ready. So I'm not going to go too into him specifically because we'll be talking all night, but I will give you a recommendation on where to find his story. So known as one of the most horrific serial killers in U.S. history, Israel Keys has been linked to 11 murders, including five from 2001 to 2006.

while he lived in work in Ney Bay, located less than two hours from the lake on the Maka Reservation. He admits to dumping at least one of his victims from a boat into the lake by submerging it in over 100 feet of water and weighing it down with anchors. So very similar to what happened to Haley. He states that he hunted down victims in remote locations such as parks, campgrounds, and hiking trails. and his victims ranged, get this, from Vermont to Washington. That's like him murdering me and you. I know. And I don't need to laugh.

I'm just like, I laugh when I'm anxious and that creeps. So like I said, I'm not going to get too super into his story in particular, but just as an overview, he stated that all his victims were completely random, although he planned the murders themselves. meticulously. He even buried caches of supplies, including weapons, money, and tools in pre-planned areas around the country. So he would literally take a plane, fly to a random area, scope it out, bury this murder cash, kill kit to come back to in the future, and then randomly pick someone to kill using what he had previously stored. word there. This reminds me of the Yosemite serial killer, Carrie Stainer, when he carried a

killbag with him all the time just for the opportunity that he would be prepared. Yeah. Oh, that's so disgusting. Yeah, so if you want to learn more about Israel Keys, I first heard about his story in one of my favorite podcasts called, and that's why we drink. I looked it up because I'm like, I know I heard his story on that podcast. So I looked up the particular episode and it's episode 193. And Christine does a deep dive into his case. And I highly recommend it because like I said, he was a cross-country killer, serial killer.

He pre-planned everything. He actually got caught by abducting a barista from a coffee stand. And that was his death. downfall. Her murder was the downfall of him and he got caught and he killed himself in jail so he's no longer around but if you want to know more it's just it's horrific but it is a very interesting true crime case but he did use Lake Crescent as a dumping ground which is totally horrendous because you look at the lake it's so beautiful and yet so many people have met their end there and this is just a couple of high, I hate to say highlights, but big name cases of, and big name stories

of bodies in the lake, but tons of people die in the lake every year, drowning, accidents, boating accidents, etc. So a lot of people meet their end in this lake. Wow, I'm Googling it right now because I haven't been there. And the water is so clear. It's so pretty. For any Washington resident or anyone who has, has visited this area. One of the most popular hikes in Olympic is called Storm King, and it brings you up to this overlook, overlooking the entire lake, and it's beautiful. So if you want to Google Lake Crescent and pictures of it, I would Google Lake Crescent Storm King,

and you can see like a bird's eye view of the lake. It's really, really pretty. But anyways, so I'll post a picture of the lake, of course. But remember the area that I told you about where the Warren car was found and it was called Ambulance Point? Yeah. And you want to know how it got that name? On August 27, 1956, an ambulance swerved off the road and plunged into the lake on its way to a Port Angeles hospital after picking up an injured lumberjack named Ernest Monroe, Dalgren, in forks. He had broken his leg and was strapped onto the gurney.

Sadly, the straps meant to keep him safe during his transport ultimately contributed to his demise as he was unable to escape the ambulance after it crashed into the water. The two medics that were with him were able to get out in time, but he drowned. That's so sad. One, you have an injury that you would have easily survived. And then, two, the people who are saving you, they're trying to save you and this horrible accident happens. and then they're actually the ones that cause you, not cause you, but like, you pick them up to save them and then they end up dying and you can't save them. The survivor, yeah, survivor's guilt on that one is probably very real for those people. But this is actually one of my fears.

And I wouldn't say fear, but definitely something I put considerable thought into any time I'm on a bridge going over bodies of water. So I have a Jeep Wrangler and you know how I have the net in the back that separates the front two seats from the back for the dogs. Yeah. I always think it's a thought I can't get out of my mind no matter what is if I something happened and I ran off the bridge and into the water and was sinking my dogs would drown in the back because there's no way of I couldn't unroll the window and get them out. I couldn't open the doors too heavy in the back to open. Like, they would have no escape route. It's such a sad thought to have every time you see a bridge. Yeah.

Like, every single time I'm on a bridge, that's what I think of. And it's so sad. And the other thing that's thinking or speaking of messed up thoughts is I said it today. So we were getting ready to go hiking. And the house was kind of a mess. Like it wasn't terrible, but there was like dirty dishes in the sink and the bed wasn't made. And there's like a couple things on the ground. And I was cleaning up.

And I was like to Ian, I was like, hey, do you want to know something really like messed up? And he's like, uh, I guess what? And I'm like, every single time I leave the house, I clean up because I think like if I was to ever go missing or was killed, my family. And, like, people looking into my disappearance would come into my house and see it in the state that I left it. I'm sure other people think that way. They've got to. Right? Cassie.

Someone out there definitely singing that way, maybe. Like, it's not like, I never thought of that, like, when I'm leaving the house, not once. Well, guess not what? Now you will. And it's not like, it's not in any way of, like, I think that they're going to. I don't want them to think I'm messy. It's not that. It's just like, I don't know.

I just think of like, you know, when you hear true crime stories and disappearances and stuff, like, they always describe the woman or the man who disappeared their apartment, the state of their house. Quarter Slub gets kidnapped. You know, like, it's like they had left. They had a half drink cup of coffee on the counter or like what, like, just different things like that. I don't know. I just, it's just a thought in my mind. I always think about.

Her house was trashed. She left. It was trash. Okay. Well, now that I feel isolated and weird, we're going to move on. No, I'm sure. I'm sure there really are other people who have thought that way, especially who are listening to this podcast. It's true. So I want to end the series of sad events with a cool story. Beverly Sherman was 20 years old when she was traveling in a car with three friends on January 24, 1960.

She had just returned home to Washington after spending six months in New York City with her dad and carried with her a suitcase full of her memorabilia that she had collected during her time in the big city. The driver, Dale Steele, was driving a 1950 Dodge sedan when he missed a curve on the winding U.S. Route 101 Mile Marker 223. The car slammed into the frigid waters. Beverly rolled down the window and swim out as the water quickly rolled. inside of the vehicle. All four people inside of the car survived. Flash forward to 2002 when the Warren car was found, so the warrants that were missing for 70 years.

The area of the discovery was near the same set of windy roads where Beverly and her friends experienced their crash. Upon reading the diving teams exploring the Warren's car wreck, she got in touch with a local name Bill Buremberg. in hopes that he could retrieve her suitcase. With nearly 2,000 dives into the lake since 1967, he was happy to assist her and found the car just 200 yards from the Warren's. Wait, so he was the one who found the car? So, okay, I know there's a lot of cars and a lot of things going on here. So in 2002, Beverly is hearing about the Warren's car being discovered

in the lake and she's like oh my god that's so close the description of where the warring car was found was so close to where we crashed into the lake in 1960 so i'm going to contact this diver this local experienced diver to see if he will volunteer and help me go to the car our car wreck to try and find our car because it hadn't been found they were because they all swam out and were rescued And because they all had survived, they didn't try and take the car out. So she's thinking, all my stuff is still in there. And I wonder if someone will help me try and locate the car and retrieve my stuff. So Bill Bearden agreed.

And he was happy to help her. And he found the steel car because remember Dan Steele was driving the car she was in. So the suitcase was pried from the car's trunk and still contained her favorite pair of electric blue suede stiletto heels, pieces of lingerie, cat-eye sunglasses, matchbooks, menus, and even an Aurora Borealis crystal teardrop pendant that was still attached to a now tarnished chain. She says, it's not the necklace from the Titanic, but it's mine. Yeah, so I just thought that was a really cool story of number one of survival because I can't even imagine plunging into water, ice cold water. I mean, it's January. Yeah. And the lake is already freezing cold.

Your car plunges in there. It's sinking. All four of you get out. And then like, however many years later, 40-something years later, you get all your stuff back. That was at the bottom of the lake for so long. It's like a little time capsule. You go back and you have like your stuff that you remember, but you kind of forgot about and then you have it back. Yeah, and you thought it was gone forever.

And I'm going to post a picture. So I have several pictures for this story. I have Beverly. I have a photo of Beverly actually the moment that they're opening up the suitcase. Like, because they retrieved the suitcase from the car, put it on a dock and opened it up. So she could go through all their stuff. So there's a picture of her the moment that she opens up the suitcase. And then I have a picture, of course, of Haley when she was alive.

And I also have a picture of her body when it was discovered. So it's still bound. There's a lot of... Wait, like a real graphic photo of her body? Yeah, it's a black and white photo. She's still wrapped in the blanket. She's bound. She's hogtied with the ropes.

And there's a lot of like lake plants and stuff tangled up in her. it's not super super graphic so I'll post it I think and I also have a photo of the Warrens and yeah so I'll post all that so everyone can get a idea I'm not going to post Israel Keys because he can we don't need to talk about him or show his face if you want to learn more about him you can go for it but I don't think he deserves it so anyways if you have any stories from Olympic National Park like Crescent or maybe one of the historic lodges because the lodges are their own thing. I mean, there's so much history in these buildings

that have been around for over 100 years that, you know, we're functioning when the park was first established all the way up until now. If you have any experience in any of those, if you stayed there, worked there, please write to us at NPAD Podcast at gmail.com or submit a story through our listener's story link on our website, NPAD Podcast.com.

You can find us on Instagram at National Park After Dark or Facebook at National Park After Dark. So what do you say? You want to go to Lake Crescent with me this summer? Yeah. Yeah, I'm down. Let's drive really slow on that road, though. For sure. I, okay.

I am also not a great swimmer, and I don't like being in water. I like looking at water. I don't like being in it. I like being in warm water. I'm not a polar plunge kind of girl. I'm a 80 degrees or nothing kind of girl. Yeah. I definitely agree.

I don't know. Even when it's nice, I'd just rather not. I don't like being wet. Not my favorite. I like swimming if the water's nice and warm and it's hot out. Otherwise, I'm okay. So there it is, everyone. I hope you enjoyed that kind of sporadic story of all the bodies that have been found in Lake Crescent.

Again, if you have anything to share with us, whether it be from Olympic, Lake Crescent, or any national park, please reach out to us. So, we hope you have a fantastic week. You stay safe and enjoy the view. But watch you're back. Bye, everyone. See you next Monday. Bye, everyone. I thought the old lady dropped it into the ocean in the end.

Well, baby, I went down and got it for you. Aw, you shouldn't have. Oops, I did it again to your heart. I got lost. There it is. There it is. You're listening to this podcast, so I know you've got a curious mind. Here's a helpful fact you may not know yet.

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