Hello Friends!
Steve Stockton here with you!
Welcome to our latest video.
In this episode we're covering the mysterious case of a whole village
of children that went missing while picking berries in Yacolt Washington.
Now, Yacolt Washington is a strange place I've had the pleasure to visit on many occasions.
First time I ever passed through there - before I even knew anything about
it - I felt that the place was off and my traveling companion agreed!
The name the “Yacolt” literally translates to a place of “evil spirits” or
“haunted place” In the language of the Chelatchie.
No one is certain why the area has such a mysterious name, but it's speculated that a tribe
that occupied the area long before white settlers came along the Chelatchie and gave it that name.
Now we in this community all know that clusters of berry pickers. Not many of the missing persons
map perhaps none are more mysterious than the story the missing Yacolt Washington children.
Now to understand how the children went missing, we must first visit the history of the area,
which the incident happened
In 1901, A massacre between two local tribes the Chelatch and the Willmy Indians took place
near a lush green forest where blueberries and wild strawberries grew in abundance.
The Chelatchie claimed the berry area as their own and fiercely guarded it,
say journeyed there's a tribe once a year in a pilgrimage to gather berries.
On one occasion though, the Chelatchie found a group of Willmy Tribesmen in the berry field
and a massacre ensued. With the Chelatchie being the victor of the battle
All the Willmy were thought to have been slaughtered, but a young maiden
from the doomed tribe managed to escape into the forest.
Upon their return the following year, the Chelatchie heard an ethereal female voice singing
the Willmy death song from deep into the forest and upon entering the area where the singing
was coming from saw the ghostly figure of the lone surviving maiden disappear into the woods.
The singing continued along with the sightings of her at random intervals.
It was surmised by the Chelatchie Tribesmen that she was a ghost of her people
sent to enact revenge for the slaughter of the tribe.
As mentioned previously, one of the translations of the word Yacolt is "spirit"
In the early 1800s epidemics and plagues swept through this area
and much of The Pacific Northwest.
Leaving the settlements that were established in the Yacolt area decimated.
In some villages they lost up to 90 percent of their people from diseases like;
The Black Plague, Influenza, Smallpox and Cholera.
Losing that many people at once caused the remaining villagers
to move away from their homes seeking others to form larger establishments.
There were so many deceased relatives and neighbors the natives were unable to
bury them all and had to leave the bodies out exposed to the animals and elements.
Over time, the homes they built would fall into disrepair, being
reclaimed by the elements much like the bodies.
The area would soon be barren and perfect for a new village to claim and build on
and that's exactly what would happen in this case.
The first Anglo settlers to move into the Yacolt were Andrew Joseph and Charlotte Eaton,
In 1852 the Eaton family left Wisconsin in search of a better life.
Before landing in Yacolt, they lived in a small settlement on the Lewis River.
In 1873 a flood destroyed that home.
Having lost everything, the family moved west where they eventually ended up in Yacolt.
They lived in the area being the only homestead until 1887.
The next family to move into the area was the Garner family.
Shortly after more settlers moved to Yacolt and
the once Eaton homestead was now growing as a town.
The new settlers Edgar Rachi and the Landon, Parker and McCutcheon families
helped grow the town's population to 50 by the turn of the century.
Rachi started to keep a diary of the happenings in the town and of its residents.
It's recorded that at least three of the residents had some type of mental issues.
Having a good population and starting to prosper - the town
of Yacolt was becoming a popular place to live.
It's rumored that the townspeople were very welcoming to newcomers.
Often helping them build homes and cooking large
meals to feed the volunteers as well as the new family.
As the town grew Rachi continued to keep a diary of the curious residents even writing about a
man that claimed to be chased by little witches and was haunted by a spirit that talked to him.
Being heavily involved in the gossip and all other news in Yacolt
Rachi detailed other mysterious cases that were rumored to be happening around town.
Another of these stories had a resident saying that he had visions of oil on his land
and was also being haunted by little witches.
Third towns person was admitted into an asylum the reasoning for this is unknown although it seems
there was something off about the town even then. As if these stories weren't weird enough...
there were several illnesses that swept through the small community affecting many citizens
such as cancer the origin of which no one could explain.
Yacolt was also known as the town of fire.
It appears the town was cursed from the first
battle by the natives until the turn of the next century.
One of the worst fires in Washington's history struck the area and raged from
September 11th through the 13th of 1902.
Dry winds upwards of 60 miles an hour blowing through three counties
aided in the fire that destroyed just shy of 300 000 acres and taken the lives of 38 people.
At least 146 families homes were burned displacing these citizens
many grabbed what they could loaded their wagons most barely escaping with their lives.
Now Yacolt proper was mostly untouched by the fire buildings survived little to
no damage however several farms were leveled and their animals perished.
There were only a few families left after the fire had devastated Yacolt
they would not yield to the fire's terror rebuilding the town and deciding to stay.
The circumstances surrounding the fire were mysterious but it did
provide a unique opportunity for the remaining residents.
There were a lot of scorched and dangerous trees known as widow-makers.
A man by the name of Frederick Weirhauser decided to make a business using the
trees for timber to help rebuild the town and business was good.
The affected trees covered much of the surrounding lands and they were there for the taking.
This also helped keep people safe as these trees were dangerous and could fall at any moment.
So many trees required a lot of help
loggers came from far and wide hoping to work for Weirhauser 's company.
The town was rebuilt and the surface of trees were sold to paper mills.
About the same time the lumber business was taking off
the Yakima railroad finished an extension of track running from battleground to Yacolt.
This caused the population to explode and it was now easier
to move the trees on trains across the country.
In 1908 Yacolt became an incorporated town.
Let's visit more about Yacolt and the supernatural.
As we've explained it's no secret that Yacolt is a mysterious area
and has had many tragic events in its history.
One resident just 11 years old named Chloe Zafont started to see apparitions in her home.
It started with a ghostly woman that would visit her bedroom
and a red-eyed man that would thump up and down the family's home stairs and
stand at the foot of her bed staring at her while she slept another tale
talks of a ghost that likes to shake the tables of a town pub right in front of customers.
I've been in this establishment and it does indeed have a strange feeling. In fact,
the owner at the time told me that she often children laughing and running up
and down the stairs at night when there was no one in the restaurant downstairs.
I talked to another lady who claims that on her way home from school
as a child she would often be chased by Native American braves
that were only about three feet tall in an empty field behind her house.
Now these stories pale in comparison to the children that went missing
while picking berries in the forest.
So what happened to these children? and where did they go?
On a misty rainy day, as many are here in The Northwest Territory,
The Chelatchie Tribe sent their children out to pick berries.
They often use these berries to barter with other tribes for items they needed or wanted.
As the children picked up their baskets and said their goodbyes – the adults would have
no way of knowing this would be the last time they saw their children.
Off into the forest the kids went singing songs and talking amongst themselves.
They needed to get back before dark and the berry patch was a couple miles away.
The rain made for a miserable walk and there was no time to play as they usually like to do.
Reaching the berry patch they focused on filling their baskets.
When in the distance, there was a woman singing a song. A woman from the legend!
The children all simultaneously dropped their baskets full of the
wonderful juicy berries and walked towards the singing.
One by one they disappeared into the forest. Hours passed and the elders of the tribe began to worry.
The children never took this long and especially on a dreary day like this.
Some of the native younger men formed a group and
started toward the berry patch in search of the children.
Upon reaching the berry patch, the mystery deepened. They
looked all around and called out for the children by name but received no answer.
The forest was eerily silent.
The men decided to split up into two groups;
one would stay in search and one would return to the settlement to tell the elders of the trouble.
They also needed to tell their medicine man.
These medicine men were often used to find lost members or track them missing.
Well while the others were gone the first group continued to search.
One of the men heard a faint crying sound coming from the trees in the distance.
As the men cautiously approached they could tell it was a child sobbing.
In fact, they seemed to recognize the voice of a boy from the village.
The boy's father was fetched and he was able to lure the child from the trees.
The child was found to be in shock.
They rushed him back to the settlement and for days tried
to get him to tell what had happened and where the other children were.
But all the boy would say was they left me for the singing woman.
The tribe members at this point knew the children were most likely lost to a Churro.
She's a type of spirit in the forest that likes to sing
to lure unsuspecting souls where she sucks their life force or kills them.
She can shape-shift and latches onto trees which she can become one with.
She is said to be the spirit of a woman that had died during childbirth.
Blaming men for her plight, she targets them or the children
as the men are strong and the children youth.
She's an extremely ugly creature with a forked tongue that's also black and
uses it to cast spells to lure kids.
She also has a pot belly and claws for hands.
However, she can make herself beautiful through shape-shifting.
This is how she lures people in, children she usually lures by singing.
Not long after the tragedy of that rainy miserable day
the Chelatchie Tribe completely vacated the area calling it evil and cursed.
Every settlement that came to the land thereafter was doomed to suffering
Each turn of a century saw the town people go missing but unlike the group of children
they would just disappear one at a time.
Many more tragic circumstances would ensue;
Strange Deaths, Crop Failures and as we spoke of the fire known as the Yacolt burn
that threatened to destroy the entire town.
Today Yacolt Washington is a thriving little town having tripled in size since the 1900s.
There are stores coffee shops places where you can purchase art
you can even visit local farms for fresh meat and produce.
Although there have been some Bigfoot sightings in the area recently.
But Yacolt will always be known for the mystery of the missing children of the Chelatchie Tribe
who disappeared while picking berries.
Well there you have it folks!
What a strange tale!
If you're in this area of The Pacific Northwest be sure and
visit Yacolt Washington to see if you don't get a strange feeling inside the town.
I look forward to your comments.
Please keep it friendly and respectful.
In the meanwhile, be good to yourself and each other
and I'll see you just a little farther on down the trail.
I'm Steve Stockton and I'll talk to you next time