Frank Reeves

Pressed into lower right is the name of the photographer. Hard to read, but I'd guess it says: B. McArdle, Centralia, Wash.

Walter Francis "Frank" Reeves photo probably taken between 1910-1916. Those who remember him told me that at this point in his life, Frank was cranky and plain spoken, yet would cry at weddings. He was my great-great grandfather.

The old Union Army veteran lived with the family of his daughter, Jennie Hoss. He died suddenly at the breakfast table, Dec. 11, 1916. The former family home in Centralia served as a bed and breakfast under a few owners for a time and is now the local headquarters down there for Windermere Real Estate. It has been reported over the years that Frank, along with a child, are still hanging around the building in the form of ghosts.

A Goblin Damned

A little ghost story from history to help set the mood for Halloween. This is from the Spokane Falls Review, March 1, 1888. The gentleman named Everett Willis in this article is no relation to me as far as I know.

City Limits Gazette at The Evergreen State College

Not very many academic libraries have a near complete set of City Limits Gazette 1991-1993,  and those that do probably don't have copies out on open stacks-- except for The Evergreen State College Library. 

Notice how the staff used logos by Max Traffic and Bruce Bolinger to decorate the holding box.

I'm happy to note that on the shelves CLG is neighbors with Vital Speeches of the Day and American Literary History. Hoit-de-la-Toit company!

As an added bit of trivia, CLG is shelved at about the same point where the TESC Library ghost was spotted walking into an invisible door in 1988.

The Interstate Bridge Ghost

When I was down in Vancouver, Washington yesterday I took the opportunity to pay a visit to the  gravesite of former Vancouver Mayor G.R. Percival, thought by many to be the identity of the frequently seen Interstate Bridge Ghost.

The details of Mayor Percival's mysterious demise can be found on a post in Between the Lines.

Percival's headstone was nearly entirely covered with matted grass. After I cleared some of it off I was surprised to see his name was given as "Grove R. Percival." Most of the other sources give his first name as "Grover," the cemetery manager even wrote "Grover" on the location map he gave me. In fact, somewhere I found his full name as "Grover Reed Percival."

Yet another mystery to add to the list about this individual.

Morty Comix # 2479

Morty Comix # 2479 was left in one of the public bulletin boards in McCleary, Washington. The main grocery store (with a great staff!) has some James Abbott murals on the side. Nadine is the only vehicle in the parking lot. This building was constructed in the 1940s and some say it is haunted.

In the last photo on the far left you get a glimpse of the seamy underbelly back alley in our thriving metropolis.

Phone photo 2109

Main Hotel

Sou'wester

Seaview, Washington

Room number three is rumored to have a ghost

Phone photo 1911

The Windermere Real Estate headquarters in Centralia, Washington

In the early 20th century this was the home of my great-grandparents, Theodore and Jennie Hoss. My Mother was born in this place. Supposedly, the ghost of my great-great grandfather, Walter Francis "Frank" Reeves, a crusty Wolverine Civil War vet, and later a civilian Custer scout (according to family lore) who came to Washington before statehood, died at the breakfast table in this house in 1916 and is still hanging around as a ghost there. Frank saw some horrible stuff in the Civil War, being at Cold Harbor and The Wilderness. He was also at Appomattox. I'm told he considered U.S. Grant, quote, "A drunken butcher."

I am so grateful to Windermere for preserving this structure. They did a beautiful and impressive job. This home was, I'm told, designed by the same architect who created Hoquiam's Castle.

OlyGhostBusters

Just stumbled across the OlyGhostBusters website. The focus is on the "Lady in White," the ghost who is alleged to roam the campus of South Puget Sound Community College in Olympia, Washington. The site reprints my "Ghosts and Love" article from Olympia Power and Light March 24-April 6, 2010 and includes a brief interview which was via email, as I recall.

A Short Walk Through Evergroove-- a Comix-eye View

The main "Red Square" and Library Building for The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. It was somewhere on these bricks Lynda Barry dropped a human skeleton and looked in horror as it shattered into tiny pieces.

Behind these doors in the CAB Building (Campus Activities Building), before the place went through a major facelift, sat the office of the student newspaper, The Cooper Point Journal when Matt Groening was editor. Today the area houses student activities offices.


I was amazed and pleased to see the Stairwell Dragons are still with us! Our fellow cartoonist David George was fascinated by this spiral mural. Cruz Esquivel and I shared an adventure with local law enforcement.











The area where the Library Ghost was originally spotted in 1988. According to the eyewitness who returned to area and demonstrated where the ghost had been seen, the being would've been walking away from the camera in the center of the photo.

The huge stairs are now absent, but this is the spot where Evergroove's amazing dedication ceremony took place in 1972.

This squat little cube is actually an air vent and one of many entrances to the fabled steam tunnels. If you are inside this thing you can see people through the grate.

Bezango: Ghosts and Love

Olympia Power & Light March 24-April 6, 2010.

Typo alert: "Washington State Academy" is supposed to read "Washington State academic."

The illustration was originally on the cover of one of Max Traffic's issues of Buzzizyk and reprinted in Retreads 14. Is that heart flying away, or, coming in for a landing?

If you are into ghost hunting and sightings in the Olympia area, the colleges seem to be the places to start. I understand that in addition to The Evergreen State College and South Puget Sound Community College, there is another ghost (a monk who committed suicide? Did I get that story right?) over at Saint Martins University in Lacey.

Library Comix

Although this was really a comic book by committee, the group pretty much let me do what I wanted with the graphics and story for the little tour guide critter.

The Evergreen State College was where I attended school in my undergrad years (1974-1979), and I returned there to work as the acting head of cataloging in the library from 1986-1988. When I arrived as an employee the printed library guide then in use was a Lynda Barry booklet that had apparently been modified and reprinted for a few years.

My version was first published in 1987 and then revised and reprinted for the 1988 and 1989 school years, but by that time I had moved on. I don't know if it was published beyond 1989. It is safe to say that out of all my comix this one has had one of the highest copy counts.

Trivia:

Pages 4-6: The Library has since been gutted and rebuilt. There was a ghost residing on the floor on page 6. He was seen by a library student worker in 1988 striding from the "Big Hole" to where the letters "PA" are drawn. I'm told he's still around. This fellow was the subject of one of my Bezango columns for Olympia Power & Light.

Page 16: Morty the Dog readers might've heard of Marge Brown (1956-2006) who was also known as an animator and all around nice person.

Page 20: Yup, there's yours truly. With less weight and more hair.