Spooked in Seattle

EXCERPTS
Fremont
Once a city of its own, Fremont started in the 1880's, established as a lumber mill town until it was annexed to Seattle in 1891. Named after Fremont, Nebraska, the hometown of two of its founders, it also is known as the "Center of the Universe." After the 1989 fall of the Communist government, the controversial statue of Lenin was salvaged from Slovakia and given its new home here, by a local art lover who was teaching in the area at the time. It is also known as the home of the famed Fremont Troll under the Aurora Bridge. Here you will also find helpful advice such as "Set your watch ahead five minutes," "Set your watch back five minutes," and "Throw your watch away" on some of the local street signs. Other landmarks include an old rocket fuselage and the outdoor sculpture "Waiting for the Interurban."
Deluxe Junk
3518 Fremont Pl N
This retro shop sits under the Masonic Temple built in 1909. The space was first used as a funeral home run by Fisher & Milton in 1928 and then switched owners to Hoffner & Putnam in 1946. They closed down the funeral parlor in the late 1970s.
In 1978, Deluxe Junk settled into these quarters, turning the space into the shop you see today. If you do get the chance to venture to this location, you'll clearly see the alcoves where coffins were laid out for mourners to select their loved ones' caskets. Throughout the lower half of the building you can see other signs of its old occupation, such as the coffin-loading area, where the dead would be brought in, and the viewing rooms for those in mourning paying their last respects.
Maybe its funereal history that causes the employees and the owners to sometimes feel unsettling apprehensions--specifically, a presence in the backroom. They hear strange noises, and things have been known to fall off selves for unknown reasons. Some people even claimed to have seen ghostly figures moving from the corners of their eye and when they turned to look closer, the figures vanish. Is there a spirit hiding among all of this vintage galore, a spirit that should have been buried many years ago?

Hamilton Middle School
4400 Interlake Ave N
This 1940s building has been suspected of housing ghosts Footsteps sometimes are heard on the second floor when the building is empty. The doors are known to inexplicably open and close, and doorknobs will shake if locked. There is a story that a plumber died of a heart attack in the second floor girls' bathroom, but he was not discovered until after his shift. Many claim to see a face in the bathroom mirrors; in fact, the mirrors in that bathroom are reported to break at least three time a year. Could this be the work of an unsettled spirit? Of course, it could be the wind, but its more fun to think it's the work of the Hamilton Middle School Ghost.
The Fremont Troll
N 36th St
under Aurora Bridge
Lurking under the Aurora Bridge is the eighteen-foot concrete sculpture of a troll created in 1990. This monster of a beast is crushing an actual Volkswagen Beetle in its left hand. The troll was sculpted by four Seattle area artists (Steve Badanes, Will Martin, Donna Walter, and Ross Whitehead) for the local Fremont Arts Council when approached about doing something more imaginative with the space under the Aurora Bridge. The sculpture is made from rebar steel, wire, and about two tons of messy ferroconcrete. With lots of hard work, the Troll monument took about seven weeks to complete.
Rumor has it that prior to the sculpture's installation, many old-time residents told of sightings of a real troll roaming about the neighborhood. The community also pays tribute to the troll every October 31 with the "Trollaween" party. This celebration begins under the bridge and participants then wander to other spooky sites and events in Fremont.
Aurora Bridge
Highway 99
Between Fremont & Queen Anne neighborhoods
Built in 1932 as the George Washington Memorial Bridge, the Aurora Bridge is more commonly known as Suicide Bridge. The bridge received this name for the more than two hundred and thirty people who have jumped to their deaths from its surface. Standing one hundred and sixty-seven feet above water, it also holds the second-highest recorded number of suicides in the United States, trailing behind only the Golden Gate Bridge.
The first suicide occurred in January 1932, when a shoe salesman dropped from the bridge before it was completed. When it comes to suicide, many believe that these troubled souls remain earthbound. Therefore, claims of lingering apparitions seeming to reenact their final moments are not too surprising. There have been stories of a man and his dog wandering around the bridge just staring at passersby. But when they turn back to see if the man is still looking, he is completely gone! There is also a report of a troubled man jumping from the bridge while carrying his beloved dog. Could this be the staring dog walker and his pet trapped forever living out their last walk before jumping, a recording of the last moments of their lives?
In November of 1998, the Seattle metro bus system faced its worst accident in a twenty-five year history. While crossing the bridge southbound, a passenger on the bus shot and killed the driver for unknown reasons and then pulled the 38 automatic on himself. The driver lost control, veering across two lanes of traffic. The bus plunged off the bridge's eastern side, dropping fifty feet onto the roof of an apartment building near where the Fremont troll dwells. One passenger was killed due to this tragic event while thirty-two other passengers survived with injuries. Whether something remains of this horrific event, let's pray their spirits are not continuing to relive that terrible tragedy.