Today, on the corner of North 34th and Evanston, stands a building. From the outside, it is nondescript, except for how far above the ground it is built. Below the building is a newly poured, three-level parking garage and . . . the one reason to be afraid this Halloween. Wing-It Productions and the Fremont UNconventional Centre bring us the Fremont Haunt, a reputedly haunted warehouse, in the hope of proving the existence of the supernatural and creepy. Your buck benefits local nonprofits PROVAIL (solutions for unmet needs of disabled children) and the Wallingford Boys and Girls Club.
The warehouse has had a disturbed history: It’s estimated that nearly 100 people have died, been killed, or are buried on the site where the warehouse now sits. Supposedly, in the late 1800s when white settlers moved into the area, the natives were driven off the land and the area was used as a logging camp and mill. On Oct. 11, 1901, five loggers’ corpses were discovered without heads on the site of the burial ground. Immediately the dislodged natives were blamed, but then a logger named Emil Hodges was found hanging dead by his neck in his work shed. Blood was splattered all over him and the shed, and the five heads were at his feet. The note scrawled in his barely legible writing read: They told me to do it. They sang to me. They sing to all of us.
Thirty years later, in 1931 at the height of prohibition and after the logging camp had been closed due to the scandal of the murders, a place called Emil’s stood on the spot. The name was considered a joke, based on the aforementioned logger. On Oct. 19, 1931, a fire broke out in Emil’s, and while most of the 80 or so patrons got out, 11 were burned to death when the only door was mysteriously closed and sealed shut by the heat. The flames were so high it was reported that they could be seen in Seattle, which at the time was miles away. The fire burned so hot that remains were never found.
The property stood empty until 1971, when a warehouse was built. Later that year, part of the roof caved in and four workers fell to their deaths. While other workers rushed to help them, a strange laugh echoed through the warehouse. No one was sure where it came from.
For all the creepy history, the Fremont Haunt is simply one of the best. Now you’ll find a dank and dark parking garage that is a labyrinth of meandering corridors and cluttered rooms. While you roam the ghastly halls of the maze amid the unsettling sounds, you are only beginning to prepare for what happens when you head down to the next floor. Will you be the next victim?
Fremont Haunt.Corner of North 34th and Evanston in Fremont, $10 adults, $6 kids. 7-11 p.m. weeknights and 7p.m.-midnight weekends Oct. 25-31.
