From the Whidbey News Times:

http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/wh…..63262.html

Ghost train: Oak Harbor man investigates disaster at Stevens Pass

By JESSIE STENSLAND

Whidbey News Times Assistant editor

Oct 30 2009, 2:44 PM · UPDATED

Oak Harbor resident Bill Robards is making a documentary movie about the tragedy at the small Washington town of Wellington nearly a century ago. An avalanche killed 96 passengers on two trains that were stuck in a snowstorm.

The 100-year-old story is compelling on its own, but it’s modern footage that makes the movie-in-progress something unusual. Armed with cameras and audio recorders, Robards and his cohorts went to the eerie site of the tragedy to meet the victims.

That’s right, the souls of those who died still haunt the area, or at least some people believe so. Robards said Wellington is considered one of the most haunted places in the state. He decided that the upcoming anniversary of the March 1, 1910 accident and the current fascination with ghosts in popular culture made it an ideal time to tell the story.

“I am by no means a ghost hunter,” he said. “I just put together this group of people to make a documentary.”

The movie will be called “Avalanche of Spirits: The Ghosts of Wellington.” The filmmakers invited paranormal experts, media and friends to a Halloween party at the site last weekend to celebrate the completion of filming. At least a couple of apparitions joined the party, which Robards said became evident when he and a friend went for a walk in the pitch black night.

“At exactly the same time, we both heard a child’s voice,” he said. “That was kind of strange.”

Robards is producing the film with Karen Frazier, a paranormal reporter for the popular magazine “Paranormal Underground.” Her husband, Jim, is also involved with the project.

Robards, a novice in ghost-hunting circles, is the narrator of the movie. He said he began the project skeptical about the existence of ghost, spirits and other things that go bump in the night.

But now he’s become a believer.

“Honesty I didn’t expect to find anything. I was just interested in telling the story,” he said. “But I experienced some things I couldn’t explain. There was a couple of times I was totally freaked out.”

Robards is an aspiring actor; show business is definitely in his blood. He’s appeared in a couple of low-budget films, “Loved Ones” and “Allure.” In fact, he said his second cousin is the late, great Jason Robards — though the two never met.

The documentary, Robards said, will focus on the terrible tragedy, which is the worst avalanche in the nation’s history. The haunting tale begins with the desperation of the passengers on the two Great Northern trains that were stuck during a nine-day snow storm on the mountainside. Wellington, which was later renamed Tye, was a unincorporated railway town at the west portal of the original Cascade tunnel.

A lightning storm rolled through the mountains and soaked the blanket of snow. It triggered a giant avalanche that swept the two trains about 200 feet down the mountain. Officially, 96 men, women and children died, though Robards thinks the death toll was much higher. Newspapers at the time reported that as many as 118 people were killed. Miraculously, 27 people survived.

Robards said he and Frazier have gathered archival photos, court documents, telegrams, newspaper stories, letters and other materials to tell the story of the tragedy.

To explore the alleged haunting, Robards said he invited two paranormal investigative teams to go to the site and see if they could find evidence of apparitions. The Northwest Paranormal Investigation Agency is a Gold Bar-based group founded by Bert and Jayme Coates. Robards said the couple is fascinated by the site and visited about once a week over the last five years, gathering evidence of unearthly activity.

“There is literally no one more knowledgeable about Wellington,” Robards said.

In addition, Robards said he tapped the Auburn Paranormal Activities Research Team to investigate the accident site.

“The two teams have very different methods,” he said. “It was really interesting to follow them around.”

Frazier said that, as a reporter, she’s normally somewhat skeptical or at least non-biased about the unusual things she writes about. But in this case, she’s pretty certain that the area is indeed haunted. Events at the recent Halloween party at Wellington reaffirmed her feelings.

“For the first time ever, I actually saw a full-bodied apparition,” she said.

That night, the Coates captured what appears to be a ghost peeking out from behind a pillar on video. It’s posted at their Web site, http://www.nwpia.com.

There’s not much left of Wellington itself. Robards said there’s a parking lot and some crumbling foundations of the buildings. The mountainside is still littered with debris from the trains. The creepiest thing of all, he said, is a giant snow shed that was built to protect trains after the tragedy. It was abandoned long ago when the trains stopped traveling through Wellington.

Some folks think translucent souls have taken up residence in the unholy structure. Robards claims that both teams found convincing “class A” evidence of paranormal activity, including photos and audio recordings.

“We have audio of a man singing in Italian,” he said, noting that some train workers were Italian immigrants.

The next step is to edit and the footage and record Robards’ narration. Robards said they hope to have the documentary completed by the beginning of the year.

Then they hope to have the film distributed by the time the 100-year anniversary rolls around.

“It’s an important story we wanted to tell in a different way,” Robards said.

To find out more about the project, visit http://www.avalancheofspirits.com, or http://www.billrobards.com.

Very cool! It just keeps getting better! /biggrin.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

We have another article coming out in another paper on Monday. /smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':D' />

Another article in the Bellingham Herald:

http://www.bellinghamherald.co…..689/story/…ments_Container

Bellingham native documenting ghosts at N. Cascades disaster site

DEAN KAHN – THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

The first time Karen Frazier had a possible encounter with a ghost, she wrote it off as maybe a dream, or just her imagination.

But the second time, years later, convinced her that they're real, and the Bellingham native is helping to make a documentary about the experience.

A 1984 graduate of Bellingham High School, Karen (Riseland) Frazier attended college with plans to become a teacher, but instead took a series of writing and marketing jobs.

About 20 years ago, she and a former husband lived in a small apartment in Bremerton while he was stationed at a nearby submarine base. Strange things would happen while he was at sea and she was home alone, Frazier said. Latched doors would open and close.

"The bed would depress next to me," she continued. "I would hear this voice whisper in my ear. 'I love you,' it would whisper."

Then, in August 2008, she became a writer, editor and marketing director for Paranormal Underground e-Magazine, even though she still considered herself a skeptic about the supernatural.

But Frazier, 43, is nothing if not inquisitive, and energetic. She now writes, blogs and does other media work about all things paranormal. She also has co-written a book about past lives, and her own book, "Supernatural! Exploring the Mysteries of Our Universe," is coming out soon.

Last July, she and her current husband explored Wellington, in the Cascade Mountains, with Bill Robards, an Oak Harbor actor developing documentaries about the paranormal, and with two teams of paranormal investigators researching the presence of ghosts at Wellington.

If there's a potentially spooky place, it's Wellington, a remote, mountainous site near Stevens Pass. On March 1, 1910, an avalanche there rolled two snow-bound Great Northern trains into a ravine, killing at least 96 people. It's one of the worst train disasters in U.S. history.

While visiting the site, something or someone poked Frazier in the shoulder and back of the head while she was sitting down, she said. When she turned around, no one was there.

Then, driving home, "it felt like there was something in the car with us," she said.

About a week later, at home in Chehalis, she heard something click in her marble entryway and her dogs began barking. She investigated and found her son's saxophone strap on the floor, instead of under his yearbook on the stairs, where she had placed it, she said.

When she stepped outside to see if someone was there, she heard someone behind her, in the house.

"I heard a little kid's voice say, 'hi,'" Frazier said. "I turned around, nothing was there."

Back at Wellington, the investigators have reported hearing disembodied voices, seeing shadowing figures and tiny lights speed about, and ghostly figures peeking from behind concrete pillars.

Two weekends ago, Frazier visited Wellington again and says she saw a "full-body apparition."

First one I've seen," she said in an e-mail. "Pretty cool."

Frazier and her husband are helping produce the documentary, and she's writing the script for the 90-minute production. They hope to release the film March 1, the centennial of the disaster.

"To me, the history is almost more important than the ghost part," Frazier said. "The ghost part is just interesting."

Some of the comments from readers about the article are below. They are about what I expected. Just so you all know – I haven't made a good living for myself in spite of what people believe they know about me.

Todd2 wrote on 11/02/2009 10:45:25 AM:

I do not believe this sort of superstitious nincompoopery merits coverage in the Herald. Come on, Mr. Kahn, there are far more important stories out there worthy of our attention.

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chachi wrote on 11/02/2009 09:45:52 AM:

"The bed would depress next to me," she continued. "I would hear this voice whisper in my ear. 'I love you,' it would whisper."

Current Husbandm maybe???

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democat wrote on 11/01/2009 11:16:38 PM:

There is nothing that has happened to this woman that doesn't happen to most of us, all the time. "Something" poked her in the shoulder? I get that every day. It's called a muscle twitch.

Notice how it "felt" like there was someone or something in the car with her? Well, if you're of a mindset to be thinking about such things in the first place, then sure, your mind can make you feel like someone else is actually there – but you're still alone. Notice how so many things seem to happen to her when there is no one else around – like maybe witnesses? When her husband was gone, she felt or noticed a lot of things, didn't she? How strange.

I'd really love to believe in ghosts, and I mean that in all seriousness. But that doesn't make a bunch of mind-manufactured nonsense any more real. When I retire, I intend to go to a bunch of "haunted" places just to debunk these "mysteries" for myself. Pray for me, and wish me luck (BOO!).

She HAS made a nice living for herself. That part is REAL.

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camille wrote on 11/01/2009 07:52:12 PM:

Skeptics to hants are like atheists to foxholes.

One night spent in the Overlook would convert them all.

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lurker wrote on 11/01/2009 04:23:08 PM:

Adorable. A writer trying to sell books just *happens* to have access to ghosts! And of *course* she's a "skeptic", because no one would believe her otherwise. Oh well, as long as it garners free plug in the paper, what the heck.

Massive eye roll.

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abra819 wrote on 11/01/2009 03:19:05 PM:

cool

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LoneRosePhotography wrote on 11/01/2009 02:32:32 PM:

Replying to ShuksanTahoma (11/01/2009 07:49:57 AM):

"Knock knock!

Who's there?

Boo!

Boo who?

You don't have to cry about it….":

corny but cute

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ShuksanTahoma wrote on 11/01/2009 07:49:57 AM:

Knock knock!

Who's there?

Boo!

Boo who?

You don't have to cry about it….

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toadie wrote on 11/01/2009 07:06:32 AM:

"The ghost part is just interesting."

And profitable.

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CaliberGuy wrote on 11/01/2009 06:19:32 AM:

Replying to redmountainfarm (11/01/2009 00:18:21 AM):

"It is not a good idea to have elementals following you around.

If there are ghosts, where are the ghosts from accidents 5000 years ago, 10,000 years ago, or 50,000 years ago? It seems we would be teaming with ghosts.":

not necessarily ghosts tend to be those that do not want to pass on to the after life, whether it is that they don't know they are dead, are afraid to. Although I would not like the idea of being fallowed around by a spirit unless I knew for certain who the person was (IE passed away loved one) as it could be a demonic spirit in disguise/or a spirit under demonic control used to gain ones trust.

Allen902 wrote on 11/01/2009 05:53:18 AM:

A good psychiatrist might help.

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redmountainfarm wrote on 11/01/2009 00:18:21 AM:

It is not a good idea to have elementals following you around.

If there are ghosts, where are the ghosts from accidents 5000 years ago, 10,000 years ago, or 50,000 years ago? It seems we would be teaming with ghosts.

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camille wrote on 11/01/2009 00:06:36 AM:

"The bed would depress next to me," she continued. "I would hear this voice whisper in my ear. 'I love you,' it would whisper."

OMG, if that was me I would have been seriously out of that house quicker than a canary's heartbeat!!

Congrats on the article. It was great!

Isn't it sad that complete strangers assume they know about your life and business. /rolleyes.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':P' />

/laugh.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> Yes. I could respond, but why bother?

OMG Monkey – you are my new PR person! LMAO.

Thanks guys. At this point, we're grateful for any press we can get. /smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':P' />