PIHA Investigates the Lewis County, WA Historical Museum
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Paranormal Investigations of Historic America - Chehalis, Washington - The Lewis County Historical Museum is housed in the historic, 1912 turn of the century, Northern Pacific Railway Depot. The Northern Pacific Railroad (NP) reached the Chehalis River in 1872 from Kalama on the Columbia and the line reached Tacoma the following year. Today it is operated by the Lewis County Historical Society; it is dedicated to preserving the history and heritage of Lewis County, Washington.
The Chehalis Western purchased trackage from Milwaukee Road on a portion from Chehalis to Raymond line in 1936 and operated it as non-common carrier Chehalis Western Railroad. The line bought was 18 miles from Chehalis to Dryad. This line was not needed any more by the Milwaukee Road as it operated over a nearby Northern Pacific branch line. The Chehalis Western used only the first nine miles of this trackage from Chehalis to Ruth. A new line was built south from Ruth to Camp McDonald to where timber was ready to be cut. The logs would be taken from Camp McDonald to a log dump at South Bay near Olympia. In late 1975 the line was cutback to Curtis where a log reload was built. This truncated railroad was reorganized into the Curtis, Millburn and Eastern on December 1st, 1975. The logs were now taken from Curtis to Chehalis where they were handed over to the Milwaukee Road. When the Milwaukee Road abandoned all of its trackage west of Miles City, Montana the Curtis, Millburn & Eastern Railroad was absorbed into a new Chehalis Western. The former Milwaukee Road route to South Bay was taken over by the new Chehalis Western. The Chehalis-Centralia Railroad Association was formed in 1986 as a nonprofit corporation. The founders were a group of local citizens whose goal was to restore a 1916 logging locomotive that had been placed in a Chehalis park thirty years earlier. Early the following year, the restoration was begun and over the next two years, several railroad cars were acquired. With restoration completed, scheduled operations began in the summer of 1989 over a section of former Milwaukee Road track in the Chehalis-Centralia area. The Chehalis Western then shut down in 1992. The entire line was sold to the City of Tacoma in 1995 and renamed the Tacoma Eastern Railroad. It lasted just three years when in 1998 the railroad was taken over by Tacoma Rail.
The Chehalis Train Station Haunting
Stories have been told of a man that sits on the stairs in the back by the loft, a man that stands in the corner in the research library and a Native American woman. Also, a young boy whose name starts with an M and he hangs around upstairs. One person has died in the station. Here is a re-print of the original Chehalis Chronicle Newspaper article which was published on Wednesday March 19, 1912:
“Coroner Charles Sticklin received a letter this morning from Mrs. Martha Layman of Minneapolis, stating that she was positive that the body of the man killed at the local depot last December, is that of her son. She stated that she would leave for Centralia the day following that on which the letter was written, in which case she will arrive here tomorrow. Mrs. Layman stated in her letter that Downs, the man who was with the victim of the accident at the time he was killed, left home with her son. Downs stated that he did not know who the dead man was, but Mrs. Layman says that this is an untruth. The pictures exchanged by Coroner Sticklin and Mrs. Layman were practically identical, there is little doubt but what the body held here is that of Layman. Layman was a member of the Mason, Elks and Woodsmen and was formerly an officer in the Minnesota state prison.”
Layman was beaten and his legs were cut off. We can sometimes here someone dragging one foot through the hallways. Keep in mind, all of the artifacts in that museum belonged to pioneer families and some things are very precious and date back to the early 1800’s.
People who take stock of the supernatural wouldn’t have a hard time imagining that the Lewis County Historical Museum might be an ideal home for the undead.
Visitors and employees have reported the sounds of drawers opening, old-fashioned roller chairs rolling across the ground and roll-top desks closing. It has also been reported by visitors of seeing a slender conductor, in the old conductor’s office at the far end of the depot, walking back and forth writing notes on a clipboard.
Sources:
www.king5.com
http://www.pihausa.com/
www.lewiscountymuseum.org
PIHA Investigates the Lewis County, WA Historical Museum
'Phantoms and Monsters'
Thanks!
posted by Lon at 2:40 PM
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