OddWA #7 - Salt Chuck Oluk Triptych

Anywhere people live by water, they tend to see strange stuff in it. Dip below the surface and every sea or lake has monster yarn or two. Washington state, with its 3200 miles of coastal waterways, is no exception. Stories of a large, serpent-like critter have been reported by newspapers and inebriated fishermen alike since the 1800's.

The Oregonian newspaper dubbed their local serpent Colossal Claude in the early 1930's. Around the same time in British Columbia, The Victoria Daily Times had a contest to name the local sea monster, selecting Cadborosaurus or "Caddy" as the winner.

The name I like is the one used by the Lushootseed Salish: Salt Chuck Oluk. I couldn't pick a single story, so I decided to make a three-panel picture, each depicting a Salt Chuck tale from a different time.

Panel 1

Panel 1 shows a family trip to the Dungeness Spit from 1961. Two sisters and their children reportedly saw a strange, long necked serpent frolicking in the water between the Spit and Port Townsend.

Panel 2

Though Salt Chuck stories are most often associated with the Strait of Juan De Fuca and the interior waterways of Washington and B.C., quite a few are set near the mouth of the Columbia River. The crew of a fishing boat all told of a close encounter in 1939.

Panel 3

Sea monsters play a part in the lore of many local Native American tribes. An atlatl (spear thrower), adorned with a carving of a great serpent was unearthed near La Conner and was dated to 200 A.D. Similar monsters can be seen in numerous petroglyphs scattered throughout Puget Sound and British Columbia.

These are generally explained as images of spirit guides, but the Squamish tribe has a very tangible take on Salt Chuck Oluk. Tribal lore says that sightings grew more common with the arrival of white settlers. This, they say, is because Salt Chuck is a "hated totem," personifying the greed and avarice that Europeans/Americans brought with them.

As this greed infected the tribe, Salt Chuck Oluk appeared near Brockton Point blocking the entire channel. A young warrior -- Tenas Tyee -- went forth to slay the serpent, armed with only his hunting knife. He dove into the waters every day, seeking the serpent's heart. After four years, he succeeded, freeing his people from their unnatural lust for gold.

Salt Chuck Oluk may have left the Squamish alone after that, but something like him kept appearing for years to come. Interestingly, stories seem to stop after the 1960's. It could be Salt Chuck has been replaced by more glamorous creatures, like Big Foot and space aliens, or maybe we're just not looking hard enough.

CK

OddWA #6 - The Great Airship Rash of 1896-97

It all started with the sighting of a great, propeller-driven airship over Sacramento in 1896. Soon after, towns from Texas to Canada reported seeing similar craft. These sightings continued into 1897. Marble, Washington was no exception. Mill workers reportedly saw an airship flying toward the northeast on May 5th, 1897. A local paper reported that, "It was in full view, and the fans could easily be recognized."

Similar newspaper accounts were invariably upbeat and congenial. It seemed to be generally accepted that clever individuals had built such machines, even though the golden age of zeppelins was still some years away.

CK

OddWA #5 - Armillaria Ostoyae

One day you're on top of the world, and the next you're second best.

A giant fungus was discovered near Mount Adams earlier this decade. Washington's Armillaria Ostoyae (a.k.a. Honey Mushroom) covers 1500 acres, and was determined to be the largest single life form on earth.

Barely a year had passed before a bigger Armillaria was discovered in Oregon, estimated at 2000 acres.

I'd like to take this opportunity to encourage our local contender. Don't give up! You can recapture the lead! That, or civic minded Washingtonians may have to pay a little visit to visit Oregon, sauteing pans in hand.

CK

OddWA #4 - Mr. Cooper's Jump - 1971

A man calling himself "Dan Cooper" single handedly ushered in the era of modern airport security when he hijacked a plane on its way to Seattle from Portland. D.B. Cooper also spawned countless yarns, theories and debates as to whether he survived his jump from a Boeing 727 over southern Washington... in pitch darkness... in the middle of a rainstorm.

I do think that solving this mystery would be a shame. Living in concealment for 38 years, or moldering in a remote forest are both less interesting than a bona fide folk hero.

CK

OddWA #3 - The Harvard Exit

Long before the building was converted to a movie theater, the site of the Harvard Exit was home to the Woman's Century Club of Seattle (which still holds meetings there). Over the years, folks have claimed that ladies of a bygone era are still knocking about the place. Some say they've seen Bertha Landes, who was club president in 1915 and mayor of Seattle from 1926 to 1928.

CK

OddWA #2 - Lady of The Lake - 1940

Lots of cars and people have gone missing in Lake Crescent over the last century, and they tend to stay that way.

There have been exceptions. This depicts Hallie Latham Illingworth, a lady whose body was dumped in Lake Crescent and subsequently turned to soap. This was due to unique properties of the lake, including incredible depth, low nitrogen content and high calcium. Nobody was more surprised when she popped to the surface three years later than her murderer husband, who was extradited, arrested and convicted thanks to the evidence found on the perfectly preserved (if rather soapy) corpse.

I went swimming in Lake Crescent years before I ever heard of the Lady of The Lake, and there was something genuinely creepy about the place. You can see more than a hundred feet down the steep cliffs at the water's edge. It's the only time I ever experienced vertigo while swimming.

CK

OddWA #1 - Kenneth Arnold - 1947 - Mount Rainier

This is the first picture in a series portraying a oddities and strange events from my home state of Washington.

Whether or not you believe Kenneth's Arnold's account of seeing nine disc-like shapes, it's a great story and is generally regarded as the first modern UFO sighting, kicking off a period of saucer hysteria in the late 1940's.

Interesting side note: When researching his plane, a pilot friend directed me to a website that tracks planes using their call letters. Arnold's CallAir A2 is still flying! It's currently owned by somebody down in Florida.

CK

Self Portrait of The Artist as A Spastic Gamer

This is pretty much how I look on the weekend. And weekdays.

CK

It was free

I've been doing enough non-game stuff lately, I figured I'd just start another blog. I can easily ignore two blogs for the price of one, thanks to the fine folks at Google.

This is where I plan to post pictures I've been doing in a semi-diorama style, hence the name. Other pieces may show up now and then too.

CK