Mysterious Pacific Northwest

The Lodge at St. Edward Park has lived several lives. Opened in 1931 as a Catholic seminary, the building served that purpose until 1976, when the seminary closed and the property entered decades of decline. During its years of limited use, stories emerged of apparitions, shadow figures, objects moving on their own, a strange encounter involving three figures, a wine goblet that reportedly flew fr...

Long before Jimothy became Seattle’s internet-famous raccoon, the Pacific Northwest had a long history of making animals into celebrities. Tusko. Bobo. Ivan. Namu. And plenty of other animals who captured the public’s attention and became part of our local history. But why do we single out certain animals and become so fascinated with them? And what does that fascination tell us about the way our...

From a young man arriving in Seattle with just ten cents in his pocket to building Washington’s only battleship and one of the most extraordinary estates in the Pacific Northwest, Robert Moran’s story is incredible all on its own. But what happened after he built Rosario may be even more mysterious. In this episode, we will take you on a ferry ride through the San Juan Islands to uncover the fasci...

A disease that once killed millions across the world quietly arrived in Seattle in 1907… hidden aboard ships traveling north from San Francisco. When the first victims fell ill, doctors realized the unthinkable had happened — bubonic plague had reached the city. Panic spread through the waterfront as health officials raced to understand how it arrived and how far it had spread. The answer lurked i...

Nearly fifty years after sixteen-year-old Pauline Elizabeth Brazeau was brutally murdered outside Calgary, modern DNA technology finally gave investigators the answer they had been searching for. In this episode, we trace Pauline’s life from Yorkton, Saskatchewan, to her final night in Calgary, examine the decades-long investigation, and explore how forensic genetic genealogy transformed a cold ca...

In 1875, the steamship Pacific disappeared off Cape Flattery with hundreds of passengers aboard. Only two survived. For nearly 150 years, the wreck remained hidden beneath the Pacific Ocean until one diver spent thirty years searching for it. This is the story of one of the greatest maritime mysteries in Pacific Northwest history—and why the greatest treasure wasn’t the gold, but the people histor...

This week, we’re stepping inside Mind of a Serial Killer: The Experience for one of our most unique episodes yet. We had the opportunity to sit down with LaKendra Tookes, host of the exhibition, to talk about the experience, the artifacts, the stories behind the displays, and what visitors can expect when they walk through one of the most talked-about true crime exhibits in the country. We also di...

We're Back... well almost! We just wanted to get on the airwaves and let you know we are definitely coming back with fun, new, and exciting episodes next week! We love you guys and appreciate your patience! -Love Jen & Sarah

In the summer of 1902, escaped convict Harry Tracy sparked one of the largest manhunts in Pacific Northwest history after breaking out of the Oregon State Penitentiary in a violent escape. Moving through Oregon and Washington, he hijacked boats, took hostages, and repeatedly slipped through law enforcement after a series of deadly gunfights. For weeks he stayed ahead of posses until he was finally...

What happened to DeOrr Kunz Jr.? In July of 2015, a two-year-old boy vanished from Timber Creek Campground outside Leadore, Idaho and was never seen again. Search crews combed the Idaho wilderness for days. Helicopters circled overhead. Dogs searched the forest. Volunteers moved through creek beds, ravines, and abandoned mine shafts deep inside the mountains. But investigators found nothing. No fo...

For the final episode of  The Long Road to Oregon , we’re taking a step back. After following the trail through its stories, its people, and everything it carried with it, this episode is a reflection—on the series, the history, and what stayed with us after spending so much time on that road. It’s also a look back on two years of the show, how our storytelling has evolved, and what comes next. Th...

For the final episode of  The Long Road to Oregon , we step back from the trail itself and look at what was left behind. Not just the miles traveled—but the lives changed along the way. The families who made it, the ones who didn’t, and the places that grew from a journey that was never as simple as it’s often remembered. This episode reflects on the road west—what it required, what it cost, and w...

The journey beyond the trail with the Denny Party—families who didn’t stop in Oregon, but continued north in search of something more. From a difficult landing at Alki Point to the first uncertain days of settlement across Elliott Bay, this episode explores what it meant to arrive… and realize the journey wasn’t over. This is the story of early Seattle—its beginnings, its challenges, and the peopl...

For this episode of  The Long Road to Oregon , we’re looking at a version of the trail many of us remember a little differently. Before the research, before the real stories—for a lot of us, it started with The Oregon Trail. Decisions, supplies, river crossings… and the message we all remember. This episode looks at what the game got right, what it left out, and how that version compares to the re...

For this episode of  The Long Road to Oregon , we follow one of the most infamous stories of the overland journey—the Donner Party. What began as a hopeful crossing turned into a fight for survival in the Sierra Nevada, where early snow, starvation, and impossible choices reshaped every life in the camp. This episode traces the full story—from the decision to take the Hastings Cutoff to the winter...

For the next episode of  The Long Road to Oregon , we follow the story of the Whitman Mission—a place many emigrants passed through at the end of the trail, and where rising tension, disease, and cultural misunderstanding came to a breaking point in 1847. This episode looks beyond a single version of the story, tracing what led to that moment and what followed—through firsthand accounts, historica...

This episode of  The Long Road to Oregon , we’re tracing the trail through the homelands of the sovereign nations who lived along its length—Otoe-Missouria, Pawnee, Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Shoshone, Nez Perce, Cayuse, Umatilla, Walla Walla, Chinookan peoples, and many more. This episode honors their history, their endurance, and the world emigrants entered long before the trail had a name. Sover...

For this of  The Long Road to Oregon , we’re following the women who walked the trail long before it became history. The women who delivered children between river crossings, drove wagons when tragedy struck, held families together through sickness, storms, loss, and miles of dust. Their stories, woven through diaries and memories, shaped the trail just as deeply as any wagon wheel. Women of the O...

We’re launching a brand new Oregon Trail series—digging into the real stories behind the wagon ruts, the dangerous shortcuts, the lost parties, and the moments where hope and survival collided on the road west. Our first episode drops this week, starting with the Meek Cutoff, often called Oregon’s “other Donner Party.” A massive wagon train. A promised shortcut. A deadly desert passage. And a wint...

For our next episode on  The Long Road to Oregon , we’re digging into one of the harshest realities emigrants faced on the trail: cholera. The sudden sickness that moved through camps without warning, took lives in hours, and left miles of quiet graves along the roadside. This chapter follows the real stories, the medical truth, and the families who tried to outrun a disease they didn’t understand...

For Episode 1 of  The Long Road to Oregon , we’re going back to 1843 to follow the first great wagon train west. This is the story of the families who gathered on the edge of Missouri, joined their wagons, and carved the earliest deep ruts toward Oregon. The beginning of the trail as we know it. Episode 1: The Great Migration of 1843 is out now everywhere you stream podcasts! #thelongroadtooregon...

We’re starting something new. As we reach two years of  Mysterious Pacific Northwest , we’re taking a moment to look back—at where this show began, the stories we’ve told, and how much it’s grown. And from there, we’re stepping into something that’s been a long time coming. The Long Road to Oregon  is a series rooted in a story that feels familiar to so many of us—but the deeper we went, the more...

On Christmas Eve 1945, a fire tore through the Sodder family home in Fayetteville, West Virginia. By morning, five children were missing. No remains were ever found. The explanations didn’t match the evidence. And the questions left behind have lingered for nearly eighty years. This week, we’re diving into one of America’s most unsettling unsolved cases — the disappearance of the Sodder children,...

In this episode, we ride deep into the gold-laden gulches of early Montana—where law was scarce, tempers were quick, and justice was often measured in rope. From the boomtown chaos of Bannack and Virginia City to the haunting hangings beneath Helena’s “Old Hangman’s Tree,” this story follows the rise of the Montana Vigilantes: citizens who took justice into their own hands amid robbery, murder, an...

This week we head to Attu Island, one of the most remote and forgotten battlefields of World War II. A place of brutal fighting, heavy loss, and the ghost stories that followed. Was it truly haunted… or does history itself linger in places like this? Listen now to: The Haunted Battlefield of Attu wherever you get your podcasts. #MysteriousPacificNorthwest #Podcast #TrueHistory #WWIIHistory #Alaska...