NIC: We’ve got a lot to cover this week, from Meerkatnip’s mysterious request for a meeting, allegedly sent from my computer, to Karl van Sant and his enormous cassette tape collection. But first, before we crawl, or fall, any deeper down the rabbit hole that is Tanis, I wanted to step back and take stock of where we’re at.
From Professor Adams to William Blake and Jack Parsons to Charles Forte, there’s a lot of ground to cover as far as the myth of Tanis is concerned. I thought it might be helpful to bring in another voice, somebody outside the story, to ask a few thoughtful questions, to maybe help me figure out where we’re at and perhaps, more importantly, where we might go next.
NIC: Most of you will recognize that voice. It’s, of course, my good friend and one of my producing partners, Alex Reagan. She was kind enough to sit down with me to ask a few questions about Tanis.
NIC: On January 31, 2013, a young man named Rory Anderson committed suicide by jumping off a bridge in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. His family was devastated. He had no history of mental illness and no apparent motive to end his own life. He had just started a new job and had recently started seeing a new boyfriend. They were, by all accounts, happy. In order to figure out Rory Anderson’s part in our mystery, we need to head south.
Los Angeles is a beautiful, sprawling city. A city of palm trees and promise, of sun and surf, and seemingly endless opportunity. L.A. is a place where dreams can and do occasionally come true. But what happens when dreams are promised but not delivered? There’s a dark side to dreaming.
Take, for example, the Cecil Hotel. Built in the ‘20s, the Cecil fell hard during the Great Depression and never really recovered. Several notorious Los Angeles murders happened at or are reportedly connected to the hotel. For example, Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia, allegedly made the Cecil her last stop before her violent death. In addition, a number of serial killers, including the Night Stalker, Richard Ramirez, resided at the Cecil during their heydays.
Numerous suicides and other violence have plagued the hotel for decades, including one resident jumping to her death and killing a pedestrian in the process. Recently renovated to appeal to patrons looking for a boutique-style hotel, the Cecil still seems to find more than its share of darkness and controversy.
In January 2013, the management of the Cecil Hotel began receiving reports of foul-tasting water from some of the occupants. One resident complained that her shower would run black for a few minutes before turning clear enough for her to get in. So management grabbed the key, unlocked the door to the roof, disabled the alarm, and climbed the high ladder to the water tower. When they opened the door and shined their flashlights down onto the dark water below, they discovered the body of 21-year old [REDACTED], naked, floating next to her clothing. She had somehow made it through the locked door, past the alarm, up the ladder, and into the water tower.
You may remember a video that went viral in 2013. The video featured [REDACTED] in an elevator, acting very strange. In the video, it looks like she was either playing some kind of hide-and-seek game with somebody, actually hiding from somebody, or suffering some kind of mental break. The LAPD called it death by accidental drowning. The toxicology reports came back negative and there were no injuries to her body.
There were some pretty wild alternate theories about [REDACTED]’s death. You remember Jack Parsons, the author of the short story, “Where Is Tanis?” and the leader of the North American chapter of Aleister Crowley’s religion, Thelema? Well, apparently, in the late 19th century, while staying at the Cecil Hotel in London, Aleister Crowley wrote a poem. That poem was about Jephthah, a judge in Israel who sacrificed his own child Siela. Siela S-I-E-L-A is an anagram for [REDACTED]. At the time, Crowley also drew a picture of an alien he believed he had contact with, an alien he called Lam.
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NIC: Some believe that [REDACTED] was possessed by Aleister Crowley, and that the elevator buttons she was pressing seemingly at random actually corresponded to verses in the Bible, that she was calling out to God to save her. Others believe [REDACTED] was performing something called The Elevator Ritual or The Elevator Game, the so-called most dangerous game in the world, a game that claims to take you to another dimension.
The game is quite simple. You need an elevator at least ten storeys high. You enter the elevator, which must be empty, on the first floor. Then, you press the fourth floor button. Upon reaching the fourth floor, you press the second floor. On the second floor, you press a button for the sixth. When you get to the sixth floor, you press the button for the second floor again. Upon arriving at the second floor, press the button for the tenth. When you reach the tenth, you press five.
Now, when the door opens on the fifth floor, a young woman may enter the elevator. You must not look at or speak to her. At this point, you press the first floor button. If the elevator starts moving up to the tenth floor, instead of down to the first, you may keep going. If, however, the elevator starts moving down, get out as soon as possible and under no condition look back at, or speak to, the woman. If you reach the tenth floor, however, you may either choose to stay in the elevator or get out. If you get out at this point, the young woman will ask you where you’re going. Do not answer or look at her. You’ll know you’ve reached the other world if you’re alone. At some point you’ll pass out, and when you wake up, you’ll be somewhere else.
To be honest, the whole things sounds like something out of a Haruki Murakami novel to me. There are other very specific visual cues, something about seeing a red cross in the distance which would let you know that you’re still in the other world. Getting back is complicated. You must press the same buttons in reverse. But getting back doesn’t appear to be guaranteed. For example, if the elevator ends up ascending out of sequence, you must find a way to stop the elevator before it reaches the tenth floor. Otherwise, you might be lost forever. Alternately, if you find yourself back on the first floor, check your surroundings very carefully. If anything seems even the slightest bit off, do not exit the elevator, for this is not your world.
Back in our world, hopefully, Meerkatnip explains how she found the name [REDACTED] connected to Tanis.
NIC: Meerkatnip sent me some interesting information on the Haida and Xanu, which we’ll get to shortly, I promise. But first, following Meerkatnip’s Tumblr comment lead brought me to [REDACTED]’s hometown, Vancouver, BC, which is also where I live part-time. I’m actually Canadian, in case you hadn’t noticed. I’ve been splitting my time between Vancouver and Seattle for the past ten years.
[REDACTED] was, by all accounts, kind, intelligent, and warm. She was missed. [REDACTED] had been taking a very common antidepressant, but by all accounts had never been suicidal. But, and here’s where it gets interesting, one of her friends, a young man who didn’t want to be named or recorded for this podcast, told me that a couple of days before she left for California, [REDACTED] had spent the night with a friend of hers. A friend named Rory Anderson.
They stayed at a cabin that Rory recently inherited from his uncle. That cabin was located in Olympic National Park in Washington State, right around the Puget Sound area. Less than two weeks later, on January 31, Rory Anderson committed suicide by jumping off that bridge. The next morning, [REDACTED] was found naked, floating in a water tower in Los Angeles.
NIC: Meerkatnip’s information on Xanu was interesting. Even if, like she said, there wasn’t very much of it. It turns out that the Haida are actually very serious about protecting their oral tradition. So serious, in fact, that they’ve outlawed documenting their histories and stories. The Haida believe this total commitment to their oral tradition is the only way to keep that tradition alive.
So, what did Meerkatnip find? Well, it was a series of articles written by a young graduate student at the University of Washington named Bethany Collins. She wrote her thesis on the Puget Sound War, an armed conflict that took place around 1855 between the local US military and the Native American tribes of the Nisqually, Muckleshoot, Puyallup, and Klickitat. Like Professor Adams indicated in that unaired Atlantis segment, the Haida were there as well. Haida raiders had been operating in the area for decades.
Nisqually Chief Leschi mentioned this in an interview prior to his execution, around the time of the Battle of Seattle. The Haida, by all accounts, were interlopers, cautiously tolerated by the Nisqually. They arrived in the area sometime around the dawn of the 19th century. They claimed they were called there to protect the thing that they called Xanu. The Nisqually called it the Spirit of the Forest. Bethany Collins, in a lecture recorded a few years ago, explains how the Nisqually really weren’t fond of the Haida.
NIC: Meerkatnip also forwarded a video by English author Daniel Gallagher discussing his novel, Killing in the Rain, a book about serial killers and why there were so many of them in the Pacific Northwest.
NIC: Professor Gallagher said something about this region is magnetic. Something else that is magnetic are cassette tapes. Two things happened last week that are probably not connected, but there’s something about all of this stuff that has me thinking a bit like a conspiracy theorist. Case in point: first, all of the cassette tapes I brought back from Karl van Sant’s collection were blank, somehow magnetically wiped clean over the weekend.
Our IT person tells us it looks like a electromagnetic pulse of some kind wiped out all of the cassette and our spinning drives. Thankfully, we switched to solid state backup last year, so aside from losing the audio on those cassette tapes, it’s more of a nuisance than anything else. It wasn’t until I called Geoff van Sant that I discovered the other part of the coincidence - or conspiracy, if that’s your preference.
NIC: So, coincidence or conspiracy? Or is it neither? Is it just the stuff of life? Either way, every single tape, every bit of audio from Karl van Sant’s cassette project was lost. Or so I thought.
NIC: The article that Meerkatnip sent was interesting. There’s the photo of Kevin Murray, messy hair and wide, staring eyes, just like she described. The article is brief, it reads, “Diners at the Mile Low Roadside Café on interstate 5 rushed out to the parking lot in a panic when an armed gunman entered and began shooting patrons inside, killing three.
“Twenty-seven year old Kevin Murray entered, repeating the words, ‘I found it, now it sees us,’ over and over as he fired his weapon at the remaining diners. When he finally ran out of bullets, he entered the kitchen and slit his own throat with a butcher knife. Murray and one of the diners remained in critical condition for several hours. The wounded diner survived her injuries; Kevin Murray did not. Police are investigating Murray’s personal background, but there doesn’t appear to be any concrete motive for this attack.”
There is something else, however. Something geographically interesting about DuPont, Washington. Remember the fur trapper who murdered nine of his companions way back at the dawn of the 19th century? Well, that happened at Fort Nisqually. You can actually experience a recreation of Fort Nisqually today. There’s a replica of the original Puget Sound European Settlement, complete with the fort and fully-costumed interpreters. But, if you want to experience the recreation of Fort Nisqually, you’ll have to visit Tacoma. The original location of Fort Nisqually, however, wasn’t actually in Tacoma. It was actually twenty minutes down the road. Right in the middle of what is now DuPont, Washington.
So what do we know about Kevin Murray? Well, we know that he frequented the same deep web bulletin board as Karl van Sant, the man who posted that mysterious Craigslist ad. Also, posting to that board was Jeffrey Anderson, the man who went out for cigarettes and never came back. [REDACTED]’s friend Rory’s uncle. Kevin Murray’s shooting spree took place in DuPont, Washington. Rory Anderson and [REDACTED] recently spent the night in the Puget Sound area cabin Rory inherited from his uncle Jeff. These geographical similarities are very interesting.
And speaking of interesting events taking place in or around the Puget Sound area, I’m sure a lot of you are waiting for an update on the Tara Reynolds mysterious cabin situation. Well, it’s taken a lot of back and forth, but I’m happy to report that I’ve been able to set up a meeting with Tara’s brother Sam, the guy who originally posted those messages and audio recordings. He’s going to be in Portland for a few days early next week and I’m going to drive down and meet with him. He has yet to give us his permission to record that conversation, but we’re hopeful that permission is forthcoming. I’ll keep you posted. But for now, I’ll leave you with this:
NIC: Mysterious incidents relating to or occurring in the Pacific Northwest are piling up. But is that because I’m looking for them? Is the act of searching for connections to Tanis making me see connections that aren’t really there? Would it be the same thing if I were exploring the mythology of Iceland or northern Scandinavia? Would the act of focusing my attention there make those areas appear to be more supernaturally active? I don’t know, maybe. But I feel like there’s just something about the Pacific Northwest.
Next week, I’ll be speaking with Avery Ellis about Pacifica and a whole lot more. Also, we’re reopening the Jack Parsons case, sixty-three years after the rocket scientist’s controversial death.
It’s Tanis. I’m Nic Silver. We’ll be back again next week. Until then, keep looking.
SITE NOTE: Thank you to the wonderful Melissa and her editorial eye. This transcript has been updated with minor corrections.
Also, we have decided to entirely redact the name of one person who has passed away whose name was used in this episode. It appears in this transcript as [REDACTED].
From Professor Adams to William Blake and Jack Parsons to Charles Forte, there’s a lot of ground to cover as far as the myth of Tanis is concerned. I thought it might be helpful to bring in another voice, somebody outside the story, to ask a few thoughtful questions, to maybe help me figure out where we’re at and perhaps, more importantly, where we might go next.
- ALEX: I’ll do my best.
NIC: Most of you will recognize that voice. It’s, of course, my good friend and one of my producing partners, Alex Reagan. She was kind enough to sit down with me to ask a few questions about Tanis.
- NIC: Okay, well what do you got?
- ALEX: Well, I have some questions.
- NIC: Okay.
- ALEX: So… Tanis is this elusive, moving thing. And I’m just wondering so far what your sort of thoughts or theories are, your gut-feelings about… what this thing is.
- NIC: That’s… that’s a great question. I… It’s… that’s… I think that’s what’s propelling me forward is, is not knowing what this thing is. I don’t have a box or a place to fit it. I mean, it’s… I think it’s the way people talk about it, and the way people describe it, and the, more than the fact of the thing itself?
- ALEX: Right?
- NIC: that’s pulled me in. Like the writing… the short story, the Runner, the red rock, the, the Calm. The what? [laughing] You know? I just - and, and just the Blake poem, and Professor Adams; although, I mean, I know he’s kind of alone on an island with this whole thing, but there’s just something about his, his manner of speaking that makes me believe him. You know? Uh, so… I dunno. I think it’s just everything surrounding the myth.
- ALEX: Right.
- NIC: There hasn’t been anyth- there hasn’t been a red light, or a full stop… sign, you know? So until I hit that…
- ALEX: Right. Of course.
- NIC: I’m going to keep going.
- ALEX: Yeah. Good.
- NIC: Yeah, well, we’ll see what happens.
- ALEX: I’m also wondering… So, there’s not anything about Tanis on the internet?
- NIC: Not really, no. Just what we covered.
- ALEX: Right. So, if there’s a broad conspiracy that deletes everything, why is your show allowed to go on? You’ve got your website, the podcast…
- NIC: Well, that’s a good question, and I think it has everything to do with the time in which we’re living: the information age. There’s just no possible way for even the NSA or the CIA or a giant corporation to keep something offline. It just, it spreads too quick. I mean, as soon as we upload a podcast, it’s, it’s all over the world. There’s just no way for them to take everything down anymore. It just, it would be, you know, it would be impossible. So, I think that if there is a broad conspiracy, and, of course that’s a huge if, um… the best they could do is, you know, manage the information or attempt to bury it under more information, or Vladimir Putin it. Or me. [laughing]
- ALEX: Oh no! [laughing]
- NIC: You know.
- ALEX: Well, I hope it doesn’t get that far! [laughing]
- NIC: Yeah, I hope it doesn’t either. I hope he doesn’t listen to this show. [laughing]
- ALEX: Okay, well, following that line of thinking, if things have changed and this alleged conspiracy can no longer keep the lid on Tanis the way that they used to...
- NIC: Yes?
- ALEX: Why aren’t there more contemporary reports of Tanis popping up?
- NIC: That’s a good question.
- ALEX: I thought so.
- NIC: Well, the thing is, I think they might be popping up.
- ALEX: Yeah?
- NIC: Yeah. But the problem is I’m not sure we know exactly what it is that we’re looking for.
NIC: On January 31, 2013, a young man named Rory Anderson committed suicide by jumping off a bridge in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. His family was devastated. He had no history of mental illness and no apparent motive to end his own life. He had just started a new job and had recently started seeing a new boyfriend. They were, by all accounts, happy. In order to figure out Rory Anderson’s part in our mystery, we need to head south.
Los Angeles is a beautiful, sprawling city. A city of palm trees and promise, of sun and surf, and seemingly endless opportunity. L.A. is a place where dreams can and do occasionally come true. But what happens when dreams are promised but not delivered? There’s a dark side to dreaming.
Take, for example, the Cecil Hotel. Built in the ‘20s, the Cecil fell hard during the Great Depression and never really recovered. Several notorious Los Angeles murders happened at or are reportedly connected to the hotel. For example, Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia, allegedly made the Cecil her last stop before her violent death. In addition, a number of serial killers, including the Night Stalker, Richard Ramirez, resided at the Cecil during their heydays.
Numerous suicides and other violence have plagued the hotel for decades, including one resident jumping to her death and killing a pedestrian in the process. Recently renovated to appeal to patrons looking for a boutique-style hotel, the Cecil still seems to find more than its share of darkness and controversy.
In January 2013, the management of the Cecil Hotel began receiving reports of foul-tasting water from some of the occupants. One resident complained that her shower would run black for a few minutes before turning clear enough for her to get in. So management grabbed the key, unlocked the door to the roof, disabled the alarm, and climbed the high ladder to the water tower. When they opened the door and shined their flashlights down onto the dark water below, they discovered the body of 21-year old [REDACTED], naked, floating next to her clothing. She had somehow made it through the locked door, past the alarm, up the ladder, and into the water tower.
You may remember a video that went viral in 2013. The video featured [REDACTED] in an elevator, acting very strange. In the video, it looks like she was either playing some kind of hide-and-seek game with somebody, actually hiding from somebody, or suffering some kind of mental break. The LAPD called it death by accidental drowning. The toxicology reports came back negative and there were no injuries to her body.
There were some pretty wild alternate theories about [REDACTED]’s death. You remember Jack Parsons, the author of the short story, “Where Is Tanis?” and the leader of the North American chapter of Aleister Crowley’s religion, Thelema? Well, apparently, in the late 19th century, while staying at the Cecil Hotel in London, Aleister Crowley wrote a poem. That poem was about Jephthah, a judge in Israel who sacrificed his own child Siela. Siela S-I-E-L-A is an anagram for [REDACTED]. At the time, Crowley also drew a picture of an alien he believed he had contact with, an alien he called Lam.
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NIC: Some believe that [REDACTED] was possessed by Aleister Crowley, and that the elevator buttons she was pressing seemingly at random actually corresponded to verses in the Bible, that she was calling out to God to save her. Others believe [REDACTED] was performing something called The Elevator Ritual or The Elevator Game, the so-called most dangerous game in the world, a game that claims to take you to another dimension.
The game is quite simple. You need an elevator at least ten storeys high. You enter the elevator, which must be empty, on the first floor. Then, you press the fourth floor button. Upon reaching the fourth floor, you press the second floor. On the second floor, you press a button for the sixth. When you get to the sixth floor, you press the button for the second floor again. Upon arriving at the second floor, press the button for the tenth. When you reach the tenth, you press five.
Now, when the door opens on the fifth floor, a young woman may enter the elevator. You must not look at or speak to her. At this point, you press the first floor button. If the elevator starts moving up to the tenth floor, instead of down to the first, you may keep going. If, however, the elevator starts moving down, get out as soon as possible and under no condition look back at, or speak to, the woman. If you reach the tenth floor, however, you may either choose to stay in the elevator or get out. If you get out at this point, the young woman will ask you where you’re going. Do not answer or look at her. You’ll know you’ve reached the other world if you’re alone. At some point you’ll pass out, and when you wake up, you’ll be somewhere else.
To be honest, the whole things sounds like something out of a Haruki Murakami novel to me. There are other very specific visual cues, something about seeing a red cross in the distance which would let you know that you’re still in the other world. Getting back is complicated. You must press the same buttons in reverse. But getting back doesn’t appear to be guaranteed. For example, if the elevator ends up ascending out of sequence, you must find a way to stop the elevator before it reaches the tenth floor. Otherwise, you might be lost forever. Alternately, if you find yourself back on the first floor, check your surroundings very carefully. If anything seems even the slightest bit off, do not exit the elevator, for this is not your world.
Back in our world, hopefully, Meerkatnip explains how she found the name [REDACTED] connected to Tanis.
- NIC: Hey, thanks so much for getting back to me.
- MK: No worries.
- NIC: So, can you go over what you found?
- MK: Yeah, the girl in the water tower thing reminded me of that shitty horror film with Jennifer Connelly.
- NIC: That movie wasn’t that bad, was it? [Pause.] You know, that movie is actually a remake of a Japanese film?
- MK: Good to know.
- NIC: Right, so...
- MK: Okay, okay, well, it was a comment posted to [REDACTED]’s Tumblr, and…
- NIC: Sorry, before we get into that story, could you just go over that meeting that you thought I tried to set up last week?
- MK: Okay. What about it?
- NIC: Well, could you explain exactly what happened?
- MK: Sure. You, or somebody using your computer IP address, asked me if I could meet about a job.
- NIC: And what did the message say exactly?
- MK: I’ll dig it up, hold on.
- NIC: Thanks.
- MK: Okay. Um… “Hey, MK, meet me at JJ’s Coffee at 3pm this afternoon. I have a job for you. It’s easy, two days, five figures. Please be discreet, I don’t want the people I work for to know. Thanks, Nic.”
- NIC: MK?
- MK: That’s my name. That’s what they call me.
- NIC: Well, I didn’t know that.
- MK: Well, I didn’t know that you didn’t know that.
- NIC: How would I know that?
- MK: I know that your name is Nicodemus.
- NIC: [A pause.] I never told you that. I never tell anybody that.
- MK: Exactly.
- NIC: Okay, I see your point. Kind of.
- MK: Hey, I’ve gotta jet pretty quick, do you want me to finish the story?
- NIC: Yes, please.
- MK: Okay, it was a comment posted to [REDACTED]’s Tumblr right after her body was found. It was, uh, somebody called… Tigernuts and it was deleted sixteen hours after it was created, but not by the original poster.
- NIC: Um, Tigernuts?
- MK: Tigernuts. It said, “[REDACTED] was here, Xanu. January 20, 2013.”
- NIC: Xanu? The Haida word for Tanis?
- MK: Mm-hmm. I added that to my search algorithm after listening to your podcast.
- NIC: Oh, you listen to the show?
- MK: Yeah, I just wanted to make sure you didn’t make me look like an asshole.
- NIC: [laughing] And what did you think?
- MK: It’s okay.
- NIC: [laughing] Thank you. I think.
- MK: I’m mainly into comedy podcasts, so no offense.
- NIC: Okay.
- MK: I sent over a digital package on Xanu, but there’s not much.
- NIC: Apparently the Haida have an oral tradition, they don’t really write stuff down.
- MK: Yeah, I know.
- NIC: Oh.
- MK: Like I said, I listen to your show.
- NIC: Right, sorry.
- MK: Okay, great, let me know what you think on the Haida shit, but I gotta run.
- NIC: Okay, I’ll, um...
-
- [Skype disconnects.]
NIC: Meerkatnip sent me some interesting information on the Haida and Xanu, which we’ll get to shortly, I promise. But first, following Meerkatnip’s Tumblr comment lead brought me to [REDACTED]’s hometown, Vancouver, BC, which is also where I live part-time. I’m actually Canadian, in case you hadn’t noticed. I’ve been splitting my time between Vancouver and Seattle for the past ten years.
[REDACTED] was, by all accounts, kind, intelligent, and warm. She was missed. [REDACTED] had been taking a very common antidepressant, but by all accounts had never been suicidal. But, and here’s where it gets interesting, one of her friends, a young man who didn’t want to be named or recorded for this podcast, told me that a couple of days before she left for California, [REDACTED] had spent the night with a friend of hers. A friend named Rory Anderson.
They stayed at a cabin that Rory recently inherited from his uncle. That cabin was located in Olympic National Park in Washington State, right around the Puget Sound area. Less than two weeks later, on January 31, Rory Anderson committed suicide by jumping off that bridge. The next morning, [REDACTED] was found naked, floating in a water tower in Los Angeles.
- NIC: Could you read what you found?
- MK: I sure can. Ready?
- NIC: Ready!
- MK: Okay, it’s from...
- NIC: Sorry, maybe first tell us how you found it?
- MK: Okay. I’m not sure if you’re aware, but there are a lot of conspiracy types in my… line of work.
- NIC: Hacking?
- MK: Information.
- NIC: Right.
- MK: So some of them get together and chat online, bulletin boards and floating chat rooms, etc. Always covering their tracks though, using proxy servers and elaborate redirects, you know?
- NIC: Sounds complicated.
- MK: For you, sure. Uh… turns out one of these conspiracy guys was a pretty hardcore Xanu dude. He posted a bunch of Xanu theories on a deep web bulletin called, Fish and Tackle.
- NIC: Fish and Tackle? And what’s this guy’s name?
- MK: Jeffrey Anderson, Rory Anderson’s uncle.
- NIC: I’m assuming since Rory inherited the cabin that Jeffrey’s no longer with us.
- MK: Correcto.
- NIC: How did he die?
- MK: He didn’t.
- NIC: I’m sorry?
- MK: Well, maybe he did, but maybe he didn’t.
- NIC: I don’t get it.
- MK: He disappeared about ten years ago; he was declared legally dead in January 2013.
- NIC: Oh. Okay. Anything else?
- MK: Yeah, you know who regularly posted on the Fish and Tackle bulletin board?
- NIC: I’m gonna go with Karl van Sant?
- MK: Hey, you’re getting pretty good at this stuff.
- NIC: Thanks.
- MK: Don’t let it go to your head. What do you think of the Xanu stuff?
- NIC: Um… It was really interesting, thank you!
- MK: You need anything else, let me know.
- NIC: Thanks again, for all -
- [Skype disconnects.]
- NIC: ...okay.
NIC: Meerkatnip’s information on Xanu was interesting. Even if, like she said, there wasn’t very much of it. It turns out that the Haida are actually very serious about protecting their oral tradition. So serious, in fact, that they’ve outlawed documenting their histories and stories. The Haida believe this total commitment to their oral tradition is the only way to keep that tradition alive.
So, what did Meerkatnip find? Well, it was a series of articles written by a young graduate student at the University of Washington named Bethany Collins. She wrote her thesis on the Puget Sound War, an armed conflict that took place around 1855 between the local US military and the Native American tribes of the Nisqually, Muckleshoot, Puyallup, and Klickitat. Like Professor Adams indicated in that unaired Atlantis segment, the Haida were there as well. Haida raiders had been operating in the area for decades.
Nisqually Chief Leschi mentioned this in an interview prior to his execution, around the time of the Battle of Seattle. The Haida, by all accounts, were interlopers, cautiously tolerated by the Nisqually. They arrived in the area sometime around the dawn of the 19th century. They claimed they were called there to protect the thing that they called Xanu. The Nisqually called it the Spirit of the Forest. Bethany Collins, in a lecture recorded a few years ago, explains how the Nisqually really weren’t fond of the Haida.
- COLLINS: In the decades leading up to the Puget Sound War, the Nisqually existed peacefully with the Haida. The Haida, generally a northern tribe, had arrived in the area sometime around the dawn of the 19th century. By all accounts, the Haida kept to themselves, but eventually there were reports of Nisqually going missing and numerous violent livestock murders. Not long after that, they started finding the bodies of Nisqually murdered, in shockingly violent ways. The Nisqually blamed the Haida and their mysterious Xanu, the strange Spirit of the Forest.
-
- But reportedly, both Nisqually and Haida were going missing. The Haida claimed they were blessed to be taken by Xanu; the Nisqually weren’t so sure. The Nisqually were worried about losing their people in the forest, but they were far more concerned about something else: the ones who came back. Both the Nisqually and the Haida reported people returning from the woods, changed, having been lured in by Xanu, or as the Nisqually came to call it, the Dark Spirit Which Moves. Those who came back were… different. They would often commit suicide, or worse: unspeakably violent crimes against their families and friends. The Nisqually eventually moved out of that area of the Puget Sound, leaving the Haida alone with their mysterious Xanu.
NIC: Meerkatnip also forwarded a video by English author Daniel Gallagher discussing his novel, Killing in the Rain, a book about serial killers and why there were so many of them in the Pacific Northwest.
- GALLAGHER: What is it about the rain? Is there something in that gloomy, beautiful emerald darkness? Something that brings out the worst in us? Does the Pacific Northwest actually create serial killers? Or are they drawn here? Do the deep green forests and the perennial rain draw something out? Something dark and elemental?
- In the world of serial killings, the Pacific Northwest is the capital. Willie Pickton killed at least fifteen, but most suspect more than sixty. One thing that I don’t believe many people know about, or at least are willing to talk about, is the fact that Pickton, the pig farmer/butcher from Vancouver, Canada actually began his killing spree here near Seattle. A handful of his victims, including his very first, were taken from around the Seattle and Bellingham areas. Robert Lee Yates of Spokane confessed to fifteen murders, but most believe his victim count is more than double that number. The Green River Killer, perhaps the region’s most infamous operator, killed at least forty-nine souls. Again, most believe that number is extremely conservative. The body counts in this area are incredibly high, significantly higher than the national average. Ted Bundy, Gary Ridgway, and so many more committed their crimes in this area.
- Why? Is the Pacific Northwest a kind of real-life Twin Peaks? I believe it is about the weather. Endless gray fog and drizzle. But there’s also something about the quality of the light. It’s just different up there. The Pacific Northwest is the end of the frontier, and you can feel it. Something about this region is magnetic, pulling the most dangerous and evil among us beneath its dark green canopy. Like Ted Bundy famously said to one of his coworkers as he walked her to her car every night after work, “Lock your doors.”
- [Applause is heard.]
NIC: Professor Gallagher said something about this region is magnetic. Something else that is magnetic are cassette tapes. Two things happened last week that are probably not connected, but there’s something about all of this stuff that has me thinking a bit like a conspiracy theorist. Case in point: first, all of the cassette tapes I brought back from Karl van Sant’s collection were blank, somehow magnetically wiped clean over the weekend.
Our IT person tells us it looks like a electromagnetic pulse of some kind wiped out all of the cassette and our spinning drives. Thankfully, we switched to solid state backup last year, so aside from losing the audio on those cassette tapes, it’s more of a nuisance than anything else. It wasn’t until I called Geoff van Sant that I discovered the other part of the coincidence - or conspiracy, if that’s your preference.
- [A phone is heard ringing.]
- GEOFF: Hello?
- NIC: Hey, Geoff?
- GEOFF: Hey, Nic. How’s it going?
- NIC: Good. How’s everything going with you?
- GEOFF: I can’t complain.
- NIC: Great, so, like I mentioned in my message, the box of Karl’s cassette tapes you lent us was wiped out by an electromagnetic pulse or something. I just wanted to say I’m so sorry about that.
- GEOFF: Ah, man, no worries. There’s one less milkcrate full of crazy in the world.
- NIC: Right, right. Well, I was wondering if you’d be willing to trust me with some more of your brother’s tapes. We built a protective, shielded area so nothing like that can happen again.
- GEOFF: I’m afraid that’s impossible.
- NIC: I completely understand your reluctance. Is there any way I could convince you to change your mind?
- GEOFF: Oh no, I’m not reluctant. I don’t give a shit about those tapes.
- NIC: [A pause.] Oh. Okay, so why can’t we borrow them?
- GEOFF: They’re gone.
- NIC: They’re gone?
- GEOFF: Yeah, I sold them.
- NIC: You sold them? To who?
- GEOFF: Yeah, some guy called up out of the blue, said he knew Karl and wanted to buy everything. Radios, tapes, the whole deal. Even offered to clean and vacuum. They were in and out in two hours and the place was spotless, so best decision I ever made. He gave me a check for… let’s just say it was a hefty sum. Hey, if you know anybody looking to rent a basement suite, let me know.
- NIC: Will do. Thanks, Geoff.
- GEOFF: Alright, bud, talk to you later.
- NIC: Mmkay.
- GEOFF: Bye.
- NIC: Bye.
NIC: So, coincidence or conspiracy? Or is it neither? Is it just the stuff of life? Either way, every single tape, every bit of audio from Karl van Sant’s cassette project was lost. Or so I thought.
- MK: Uh, that’s shitty.
- NIC: Yeah, it’s all gone.
- MK: Well, you still have the tape you played for me.
- NIC: Sadly, I don’t. The electromagnetic pulse or whatever it was wiped everything. That audio wasn’t backed up.
- MK: No, no, no, I mean you have it because I have it.
- NIC: You have it?
- MK: Like I told you, I record everything that comes across my desktop.
- NIC: That’s great.
- MK: Yeah, it has its moments.
- NIC: Could you send me that file?
- MK: I already did it.
- NIC: Of course.
- MK: Morse code.
- NIC: I’m sorry, what?
- MK: Embedded in the signal, there’s Morse code. The same thing, the same numbers.
- NIC: Why would somebody embed Morse code into the message?
- MK: I dunno. It’s easier to translate, I suppose. Maybe it’s more universal? Like, alternate reality game people do this all the time, they record Morse code messages under some kind of other audio to try and make kids feel like they’re discovering something. It’s fun, actually. But I checked. This particular Morse code originates with the signal, it wasn’t added after the fact.
- NIC: Thanks.
- MK: No sweat.
- NIC: Is there anything else?
- MK: Yeah. The reason I called.
- NIC: Okay?
- MK: I found something connected to your thing.
- NIC: Well, what is it?
- MK: Remember the Fish and Tackle bulletin that I told you about earlier?
- NIC: Right, where you found Rory Anderson’s uncle Jeff?
- MK: Yeah, exactly. So, these guys use aliases to post, of course, but a few of them use the same alias elsewhere, so I was able to dig up some real names.
- NIC: Cool.
- MK: There’s two additional Fish and Tackle participants, Kevin Murray and Miranda Hayes. Nothing strange about Miranda… yet. But Kevin Murray pops up.
- NIC: Uh, pops up where?
- MK: Okay, well, I found an article through an old microfiche internet file search engine in Portland.
- NIC: Okay.
- MK: There’s a picture, maybe a driver’s license photo, of this guy, mid- to late-twenties, got messy hair, wild, shocked eyes. And then the headline, “Gunman Shoots Three, Kills Self in DuPont, Washington Restaurant.”
- NIC: Could you sent me this article?
- MK: Already sent.
- NIC: Why do I even ask?
- MK: You’ll figure it out eventually.
- NIC: Thanks.
- MK: You betcha. Good luck!
- NIC: Okay.
NIC: The article that Meerkatnip sent was interesting. There’s the photo of Kevin Murray, messy hair and wide, staring eyes, just like she described. The article is brief, it reads, “Diners at the Mile Low Roadside Café on interstate 5 rushed out to the parking lot in a panic when an armed gunman entered and began shooting patrons inside, killing three.
“Twenty-seven year old Kevin Murray entered, repeating the words, ‘I found it, now it sees us,’ over and over as he fired his weapon at the remaining diners. When he finally ran out of bullets, he entered the kitchen and slit his own throat with a butcher knife. Murray and one of the diners remained in critical condition for several hours. The wounded diner survived her injuries; Kevin Murray did not. Police are investigating Murray’s personal background, but there doesn’t appear to be any concrete motive for this attack.”
There is something else, however. Something geographically interesting about DuPont, Washington. Remember the fur trapper who murdered nine of his companions way back at the dawn of the 19th century? Well, that happened at Fort Nisqually. You can actually experience a recreation of Fort Nisqually today. There’s a replica of the original Puget Sound European Settlement, complete with the fort and fully-costumed interpreters. But, if you want to experience the recreation of Fort Nisqually, you’ll have to visit Tacoma. The original location of Fort Nisqually, however, wasn’t actually in Tacoma. It was actually twenty minutes down the road. Right in the middle of what is now DuPont, Washington.
So what do we know about Kevin Murray? Well, we know that he frequented the same deep web bulletin board as Karl van Sant, the man who posted that mysterious Craigslist ad. Also, posting to that board was Jeffrey Anderson, the man who went out for cigarettes and never came back. [REDACTED]’s friend Rory’s uncle. Kevin Murray’s shooting spree took place in DuPont, Washington. Rory Anderson and [REDACTED] recently spent the night in the Puget Sound area cabin Rory inherited from his uncle Jeff. These geographical similarities are very interesting.
And speaking of interesting events taking place in or around the Puget Sound area, I’m sure a lot of you are waiting for an update on the Tara Reynolds mysterious cabin situation. Well, it’s taken a lot of back and forth, but I’m happy to report that I’ve been able to set up a meeting with Tara’s brother Sam, the guy who originally posted those messages and audio recordings. He’s going to be in Portland for a few days early next week and I’m going to drive down and meet with him. He has yet to give us his permission to record that conversation, but we’re hopeful that permission is forthcoming. I’ll keep you posted. But for now, I’ll leave you with this:
- NIC: Excuse me?
- AVERY: Yeah?
- NIC: Avery Ellis?
- AVERY: What?
- NIC: Avery Ellis?
- AVERY: That’s right. What do you want?
- NIC: Well, I’d like to, um…
- AVERY: Are you recording this?
- NIC: My name is Nic Silver. If you don’t mind, I’d like to ask you a few questions.
- AVERY: Cool. Well, if you don’t mind, I’d like to ask you to fuck off.
- NIC: It’s about a novel called Pacifica.
- AVERY: [A pause] Meet me outside, five minutes. And turn off that fucking voice recorder.
NIC: Mysterious incidents relating to or occurring in the Pacific Northwest are piling up. But is that because I’m looking for them? Is the act of searching for connections to Tanis making me see connections that aren’t really there? Would it be the same thing if I were exploring the mythology of Iceland or northern Scandinavia? Would the act of focusing my attention there make those areas appear to be more supernaturally active? I don’t know, maybe. But I feel like there’s just something about the Pacific Northwest.
Next week, I’ll be speaking with Avery Ellis about Pacifica and a whole lot more. Also, we’re reopening the Jack Parsons case, sixty-three years after the rocket scientist’s controversial death.
It’s Tanis. I’m Nic Silver. We’ll be back again next week. Until then, keep looking.
SITE NOTE: Thank you to the wonderful Melissa and her editorial eye. This transcript has been updated with minor corrections.
Also, we have decided to entirely redact the name of one person who has passed away whose name was used in this episode. It appears in this transcript as [REDACTED].