A Town With Out a Rudder and The Spirits of Snohomish

 

 

The Druids long recognized that energy masses and assembles in periodic geographic places creating synergy for the people infused with this energy.  Places like Stonehenge were built to collect and distribute this synergy. Sometimes this energy becomes polarized or seams get crossed and the synergy produces dysfunctional life forms, experiences and ultimately a small town without a purpose, a town without a rudder.

 

In the Pacific Northwest where good and evil is measured in inches of precipitation, a community gains its cohesiveness and synergy through and with the people who toll and trouble in its bosom. Some towns require rather large bosoms to function, this is a story of such a town, a place, and American hamlet. Baseball and apple pie are not the mainstream values nor are they the mainstream obsessions.  No matter what occurs over time, the energy vortexes that pass unsuspecting through this town doesn’t seem to create synergy but more in the way of "sin"ergy. Energy appears to collide creating equal and opposite reactions.  Perhaps a curse or perhaps a spell befell this town no one really knows or worst dares to speak.

 

Every small town in America has secrets some more than others. Every town has characters, some more defined and notorious than others, but few towns have the curse, the succession of events that sends its energy down a spiraling vortex of doom and gloom. Here, the confluents of common values, goals, synergy and life experiences have no bus to drive because few have taken the time to buy a ticket and climb on board. This is where the story starts.

 

~ Daryl Bertholet  1959-2009

 

Daryl was a Former City Employee, Chamber Member and the Snohomish Food Bank Director. He was heavily involved in Historic Downtown Snohomish. Thank you Daryl for all the energy you infused the town with...we both learned the hard way!

 

July 16, 2009

I met Daryl as a volunteer for Historic Downtown Snohomish when he was working for the city. His imagination, creativity, passion and commitment inspired me to work with him on many projects. Some of his ideas were too out there for most (mediocre minds as Einstein would say). When he conjured up the pumpkin race I wondered how he would pull it off. Groundfrog Day? If given more time I am sure he would have gotten those frozen turkeys dropped in the river at Thanksgiving. Daryl was also a writer and a very good one. Sleepy Hollow of Snohomish and A Town Without a Rudder to name a few of his works that I have had the pleasure to read. Daryl was the Historic Downtown rudder. It hasn’t been the same on First Street since he moved uptown, although wonderful for the food bank. It goes to show how one person can make a difference when their heart and soul is committed to a community. Thank you Daryl! You will be missed.
 
~ Dena Marie,  Snohomish, Washington
 
 

 

My name is Dena Marie and my business is called Lift Your Spirits! I have written a book called Our Energy Matters. I set up shop in Snohomish above the Oxford Saloon in January 2004. I rented room 4 first and picked up on a female entity, I later called her Mary. I also felt the presence of a young girl in room 3 I call her Rose. Later a female in the bathroom who I felt died intoxicated in the bathtub. I was warned by the spirits of the Oxford not to drink alcohol upstairs and to never drink in the basement? Later when I wanted to rent room 6 I had a sick feeling when I opened the door to the closet. That night I had a nightmare of a young girl in white, I feel she had died in the closet scared to death. I later picked up on a man in the hall going back and forth from room 1 to 6. I feel he was looking for someone perhaps the girl in room 6 hidden in the closet. One night I had a dream of this prominent man in Snohomish who had the run of the Oxford, he had contracted a social disease and was quit mad and is looking for a younger girl in room #6.

 

The new owner, unknowing to me decided to call in the Washington State Ghost Society for publicity. In two investigations Jeffery Marks a medium picked up three of my spirits. I felt less freaked out and a little curious about the whole thing.  Making everything a little more over the top I met a woman in town who had written a fictional story about the first latch key kid in Snohomish, who had died in the closet of room #6. She was the illegitimate child of a brothel women and captain in the army that was run out of town because of his lunacy!  

 

Check This Out:  http://www.washingtonstateghostsociety.com/investigations/oxfordsaloon.html

 

Mary left after I was married and Rose was gone when I was forced to take down the children related theme I had going on upstairs in the playroom…the room that was free of leaks began to drip again over the stairs. That is where I had strung lights up lift the spirits of the building! I was told by the spirits to bring families upstairs…so I did. I did cookie decorating, Karaoke, art and crafts and I was even the Grinch with the big heart for Christmas. Rose wanted a doll and I got it, Mary wanted red couched for a sitting room and they all wanted me to put the word spirit in everything I did so I did. That is how I eventually got to know everyone in town and was hired by the city and the HDS to work in the VIC center. The spirits got stronger and talking to me constantly, I believe now it is the Native Americans who are not at rest and need some healing.

 

As of Februaury 2008 I was hired as the Historic Downtown Snohomish Director and the story continues! The doll is back in the bar, there is a red door behind the closet hanging on the wall upstairs and the Red Door Salon brings families upstairs!

 

Spirit of the Native Americans                                 

 

The town of Snohomish is named after the local tribe, the true founders of the town! Pilchuck Julia was the last of the Snohomish tribe and the last to be buried here in town. She died of small pox in 1923. Her people lived here peacefully for thousands of years. They were a wealthy and healthy people who traded goods and had more then enough to go around. In 1855 they were sent to Tulalip in the Point Elliot Treaty. When the “founders” of Snohomish came there were no white women here…life was too hard for them so the “founders” found Indian woman. Most were not married. Recently the old graveyard was to be decertified and they found large amounts of Indian remains…they were not known to exist, most were buried on top of one another. In those times if you were not baptized you couldn’t be buried inside the cemetery so the woman and children who were close to the founders… found the only way to be close to the ones they loved in death by being buried outside of the cemetery.  Julia may have been one of these woman…I feel her spirit speaks for all her people, she literally may be turning over in her grave…where is her body now? That is uncertain!

 

More on the “founders of Snohomish…the first thing Emory Ferguson did was  build the Blue Eagle saloon, that was important back then, life was extremely hard. The men were tough and unruly! In 1889 the rail road had refrigerated cars; beer consumption was the loggers favorite past time. They spent most of their free time drinking, gambling and going to the theater! More on that later. When the white woman came they set up churches, lots of them. It looks to me that there was a church for every saloon in town. In 1910 Everett had 40 saloons for only 24,000 people. In 1914 the church people marched for less booze and more shoes and they one! Prohibition was passed in 1916. At that point you could find alcohol in urban towns but rural areas were dry. It just meant more corruption here in Snohomish and Everett. Those times were hard for an honest man…the loggers even tarred and feathered a missionary and ran him out of town.

 

The Oxford Saloon:  The Oxford saloon has more than its share of unearthly customers. 

 

In their 2006 investigation the WSGS caught a man on tape going up the stairs from the lower basement and an older woman whose picture can be seen in the Oxford today. She was a previous owner and likes to be on stage so she can be a part of the entertainment. I have felt four spirits upstairs during my time in room #4 and #3. Their presence was felt by my clients, especially in room #4, especially earlier in the day. The spirits made their presence most apparent when the occupants of room 6, 5 and 2 moved out at all at the same time and I was laone upstairs in rooms #3 and #4. 

 

The Old Carnegie Library: Just East down First Street is the Old Carnegie Public Library where for years, beloved librarian Catherine McMurchy “checked out” the citizens of Snohomish.  Virtually penniless when she passed away, she was buried in Seattle in an unmarked grave.  It is her ghost presumably hanging out and making herself visible to patrons where she was happiest, in the Snohomish Public Library.  To ease her rest, the Library initiated a fundraising project to purchase a proper head stone for Ms. McMurchy's grave. In the 2006 investigation, orbs were seen everywhere! They seemed to follow the investigators throughout the building. Our second investigation will be this Halloween night!

 

Halloween Night 2008 Jeffrey Marks of the Washington State Ghost Society, myself and our two winners investigated the Carnegie. When we went upstairs I picked up on a woman looking out the window towards the old bank. I felt that she was pining over a man that worked there. In those days they would have been the most literate people in town. The room was very small and I picked up that she would read to the children. When we went downstairs I felt a presence under the stairs. The original front door would have been there but now is walled off. When Jeffrey brought his equipment over I told him what I felt, a small boy was hiding there and was terrified. He asked questions and lights went off. I was amazed as this was my first time with this kind of activity. The boy was hiding from his father who I felt abused him. He may have died from a beating... 

 

Cabbage Patch Restaurant: This fine Snohomish eatery is where an unfortunate but happy spirit still dwells, her name is Sybil, she is a young, dark haired girl who lived in her early 1900's home that is now the Cabbage Patch Restaurant. She died when she tripped and fell down the staircase. See Cabbage Patch flier for more on the real story on how she got down the stairs. 

 

Twin eagles: Housed within the old walls of the Old Brunswick Hotel, many stories of ghostly experiences have become legendary at The Twin Eagles Café. The staff will tell you that they’ve had numerous personal experiences inside the restaurant. A man by the name of Bernard used to be a patron and even lived upstairs in one of the apartments. It has been confirmed that Bernard still roams throughout the café to this day. Investigators have recently discovered a lot of activity in the tunnels that remain below this building from the prohibition days.

 

 

The Bead Shop/Painted Sky: In 2006 I attended two investigations in one night - the Bead Shop and Weed’s Variety Store on First Street. The two buildings were totally opposite in the way they felt. The bead shop was creepy and Weeds felt as safe as if I was in my own home. The investigators felt the same. In the back of the bead shop the investigators picked up an area which consistently showed a large temperature change, over just a few feet, in the hall by the bathroom. We wouldn’t know what this phenomenon really meant until a year later, where we investigated the shop next door, which shared a bathroom and a hallway with this bead store: Foxglove Floral.

 

Foxglove Floral: …that year later passed, and I was informed by Chuck from Seafood Grotto (who was a nonbeliever and a past owner of the Oxford) that an electrician had discovered the body of a young girl under the building. As soon as the new owners moved in, all the fuses blew.  Reluctantly, the new owner’s friend (the electrician) went underneath the building to fix the issue… and lo and behold… he made a frightening discovery.  It was determined that the remains were from the turn of the century.

 

                                                                      

    

 

John L. Scott/Old Bank: In 2007, I asked the new landlords of the Old Bank if I could go downstairs and they said “Yes.” I was planning the second Spirit Walk and was hoping to have an investigation there. Jeffrey Marks (WSGS) came to town that day, so I asked him to join me.  We went down the stairs, and I felt electricity all over my body and realized there were some exposed wires… but as we stepped into one room I felt more than just the electrifying sensations. I moved further into the room, and as the feeling increased, I noticed that I was in the oldest room of the building. An old furnace, complete with a classic coal shoot, and the old set of bars from the teller’s cage were among the artifacts that retained the residue of the past, when the building was a working bank. I noticed that the electric feeling was stronger behind me, and when I turned, I saw a cement wall.  I asked what was behind the wall. To find out, we walked trough two other rooms to discover the bank’s original vault!  I asked the owner to open the heavy metal door, and remembering that he had done this just one day prior, he happily obliged. Despite working on opening the sturdy locks for over a half hour, the safe would not allow entry.  Many of the employees of the real estate firm have their own stories, but we believe that the spirit guarding the vault that day was a man who had unfortunately been clubbed over the head by criminals… and left in the basement vault.

 

 

                                                                             

 

                                                                              

Other Notable Spirits

Sebastian Princess Theater (The Repp) there is an extra room between floors (prostitution).

 

Underground Sachis the 1928 City Hall Jail cells and underground tunnels that lead to the river (Bootlegging).  

Dream Dinners Building - It was a Meat Market and has underground tunnels. I was invited to go see the underground tunnels in September 2008. I felt ill and had to leave the building. It is now vacant.

 

Subject: Ghosts of the Oxford (Saloon):
Date: Fri, 14 May 1999 10:01:51 -0700


Snohomish Landmark -SPO0oooked !
Unaccustomed as I am to brevity, and writing about Snohomish, I shall revert to QUOTING a couple of articles that I found amusing about a place I know well in Snohomish from at least back to around the 30s, as I was born here in 1924. I knew the Oxford pretty well, as my Uncle, Herb Ness, who raised me from age 3 when my Dad died, had one of his several barber shops right next to the Oxford. Today there is an empty place to the Left side of the Oxford. My uncle, who was Assistant Fire Chief at the time, was called out of bed at say 2:30 A.M. - his Ness & Fraser Barber Shop was on fire from a small restaurant grease fire right next to it. I could see the glow in the sky so we all went down just one block to watch the whole building burn to the ground. One fireman broke his shoulder in order to make certain that a man living just above the shop was not up there. That 3 chair shop & restaurant was never rebuilt.


But, here is something to behold - QUOTED AS FOLLOWS FROM Discover SNOHOMISH Your guide to the Historic City of Snohomish: Spring 99- P.15 Do ghosts haunt a First Street building? Business owners and two former employees at the Oxford Building, 913 First Street, Snohomish, have had strange experiences leading them to believe the place is haunted. Roy and Donna Mittleider, owners of Madame Kathleen's Antiques, which operates on the upper floor of the Oxford building, said they have had several chilling incidents. One evening, Donna set up an oak table in northeast room of the antique store, carefully setting out a tea set as a centerpiece. In the morning "Roy arrived to find the chairs pulled out and the tea cups at the edges of the table.


"The night of the tea party? That was weird," Donna remembers. And Bill Mahoskey, owner of the Oxford Saloon, said although he has never seen any ghosts, he has had several customers tell him they have seen and heard things that lend credibility to the ghost theory. Mahoskey has collected the anecdotes given to him by the "people who can sense these things."


In one incident, one of Mahoskey's employees was barbecuing on the balcony when a woman dressed in early 1900 attire asked for an Oxford Saloon T-shirt. When the cook returned with the shirt, the woman was gone and several people at the bar told him no woman fitting that description was seen on the balcony or leaving the bar. Some customers have told Mahoskey that they had felt a presence - as if someone was there watching them.

 

The odd incidents piqued the interest of a Seattle - area spiritualist named Donna Woogerd, who presented her findings on a recent edition of Evening Magazine. The Mittleiders said Woogerd spent five hours in the building and came up with profiles for seven ghosts, and one ghost-like entity that were created by a highly charged emotional occurrence. See "Ghosts of the Oxford," right, for Wooer’s description of the apparitions.


Box reads:
Ghosts of the Oxford
"Madame Kathleen" can be found almost anywhere in the antique shop or the saloon. This ghost particularly delights in trying on and rearranging the clothes that come to the shop.


"John" was a regular customer at the the brothel. He spends most of his time in the parlor that used to be the waiting room for brothel customers. John's present-day pastimes are ogling ladies and pinching them.


"Simon" is a relative newcomer to the saloon. He moves items and furniture around to get attention.


"Mary" stayed behind in the world because of a broken heart. Mary was engaged to be married at one time while working as either a governess or a teacher. But Mary's beau ran off with another woman.
"Amelia" is not officially a ghost, but still leaves a mark on her room. The energy in her room is described as pleasant and happy.


A nameless ghost in the Oxford Saloon's women's bathroom on the first floor is the daughter of one of the ladies upstairs. She lived during Prohibition and is strongly opposed to alcohol.


"Mr. Peterson" is one of the original owners of the Oxford Saloon is seen just about everywhere. He spends time peering behind the bartender to make sure drinks are made correctly, or giving a friendly pinch to female patrons.


"Henry" is supposed to be the ghost of a police officer killed while breaking up a knife fight at the saloon.


END OF QUOTED ARTICLES FROM Discover Snohomish


COMMENT: This is all News to me! The Kathleen that I knew of when I was peddling The Everett Daily Herald, and before, never "worked" out of the Oxford. She was a couple of blocks up the street at the end of my paper route. (And no, I never! I had to make payments on my bike!). A local girl & I doubt that she'd frequented The Oxford! To my knowledge a female never went into the Oxford main floor - all men – loggers and dedicated to the place. So, if there are any female ghosts on the main floor they must have floated in from above. Upstairs was a different story - yes, a brothel. The sign that hung over the sidewalk had a small red bulb seldom lighted, but when we came from Brown's Theatre, having seen Tom Mix, Shirley Temple, etc movies, at times it was lighted. We laughed about it - there was one down the street at the hotel, and one at the opposite a couple of blocks East of The Oxford, in the back of a Tavern. That was Kathleen's.

 

As kids, sometimes we'd see them out on the rear balcony of The Oxford's 2nd floor, and we'd wave at them, and they'd wave at us. We were all of l0/11 yrs old at the time, and did it for laughs. We didn't have TV - barely AM radio still fairly "new". I would wonder how & why a ghost would know what a T-shirt was?!!! These ghosts  must be well educated. Although this is the '90s! (Theirs & Ours!). To my knowledge, there were no female patrons downstairs or up. The patrons were men.

It makes for stories that can draw people to come there out of curiosity, but I have never heard these stories - where is the true source for them, and why are they just now "surfacing"? I would guess that most Old Timers -30s & previous would just laugh and look askance at the ghost stories now surfing. Were they imported from other states - not to be mentioned? Our Kiwanis would be a good place to check, as there are a lot of the people who'd know about the Oxford or most any other establishment in Snohomish. Historic Snohomish is one thing but Hysteric Snohomish is another.

I wonder who ALL will be at the Oxford tonight.

Carroll, Snohomish.

 

What I Learned From Working for Historic Downtown Snohomish:

 

Every One is Given an Opportunity to Shine!

 

*If you live in the lower chakras you are more likely to steal intangibles from creative imaginative individuals. You have no choice but to be a thief of other people’s ideas because it is impossible for you to connect with spirit to have your own original flashes of insight. Root Chakra Red

 

*If you want to be the architect of anything in life that will last, you have to have integrity and the genuine support of others or you will be building your house on sand. Sacral Chakra Orange

 

*To hold onto anger from the past will only push others away…even on one of your good days J Solar Plexus Chakra Yellow

 

*If you are going to be a healer you have to maintain an open heart. Heart Chakra Green

 

*Depth in character takes courage. Sometimes it isn’t pretty but from the mud, manure and light comes real beauty over time. Heart Chakra Pink

 

*Words are to be used to heal not hurt others. The power of written word is to be used wisely…or Karma will get you eventually by your own hand! Throat Chakra Blue

  

*If you want to be intuitive, it is important to be seeing what is going on in your own life so you can maintain an open third eye -the seat of your intuition. Or you will be driving while blind. Brow Chakra Purple

 

*Following others blindly may get you further from where you wanted to be. Think for yourself! Cown Chakra White

 

*Black Magic is not an option! To have real lasting power you must use it with the intention of healing. Then it is called White Magic and can be used for the purpose God/Goddess intended. It’s a test we all must pass. You give witches a bad name… all the chakras. Be Motivated By Love!

 

 

 

 

My Lesson in 2009

 

Transformation



Light does not conquer darkness by pushing the darkness out of the way. Rather, the light comes into the darkness and transforms it with brilliant, positive energy.

In the same way, the obstacles in life are not conquered by fighting them on their own terms or attempting to push them out of the way. The best way to move past a difficult situation is to transform it with positive, productive energy.

No matter how much you push against the darkness it will not go anywhere. Yet the moment you shine your light, the darkness is no more.

When you fight against your problems, all it usually accomplishes is to make them stronger and give them more validity. That's certainly not what you would ever intend.

Instead, seek to transform those problems, those difficult situations, by virtue of your own positive values and efforts. Focusing on what you're working toward is far better than being obsessed with whatever you think you're against.

Rather than struggling against the situation, give the best you have to it. Rather than fighting darkness with more darkness, transform that darkness by letting your light shine.    

 

    - Ralph Marston