A corner of the map
Whatcom County
The maiden of the tracks
A still from Marine Park: the round overlook, the rock path into the bay, a figure that did not stay.
The coyotes that walk with you
Night walking in Ferndale: yips at your left, then ahead, then behind. Real coyotes can throw a voice. This one kept the pace.
Hovander Homestead
Ferndale’s Swedish farmhouse on the Nooksack, 1903, second floor never finished. The county kept the gingerbread. The internet invented a dead child. The house did not need the help.
The Mount Baker Lodge at Heather Meadows
A hundred-room chalet that lasted four summers. It burned at dawn on August 5, 1931. Nobody died. The meadows kept the meadows.
Koma Kulshan and the two wives
Lummi and Nooksack place-story for Mount Baker, the Nooksack River, and the mountain that walked away to become Rainier.
The Bellingham curse
People say you cannot leave this town, or that it pulls you back. The 1949 Herald blamed Chinese miners in the Sehome coal mine. The mine was real. The mass grave was the part that would not sit still.
The Lummi Island fireball
July 1984: two fishermen watch an orange-and-white spark trail hit the water. The Coast Guard said meteorite. Divers said teacup.
Hotel Leo
A downtown hotel that will not quite commit to being haunted, and a voice on the stairs that will not quite stay polite.
Old City Hall’s basement jail
The Whatcom Museum’s red brick pile used to lock people under the floor. The names are still in the plaster. The tours bring the murders up for air.
The Quinby Building
Fairhaven offices that print, type, and cry when the desks are empty.