August 17, 2018: Official Report on Liminal Activity across Kitsap County
From The Desk of Garrett Kelly
Class “A” Liminal Cartographer
Still settling in over here. On my first overnight I was home alone and locked myself outside of my new house at 10:30pm. My first instinct was that this must have been my peers in the ‘Society’ hazing the new guy at the Bremerton outpost, but as the minutes ticked and it became increasingly clear no one was gonna jump out to say I was on Cryptid Camera, I realized I had just been a dummy who went outside to ‘turn off the sprinkler’ without making sure the door wouldn’t auto-lock. To make matters worse, I was IN MY UNDERWEAR – and I eventually had to go knock on the door of the neighbors to ask to borrow a phone so someone could rescue me (and BRING ME SOME PANTS).
Regarding my stated mission of investigating the paranormal underbelly in Bremerton:
- I have done some preliminary daytime explorations of Holland Rd out in E. Bremerton. There are longstanding rumors of a ghost of a girl who was hit by a car while riding her horse. On my quick site visit, the sun was still shining so I felt no heebies or jeebies but I’m making plans to come back at night and document more thoroughly.
- I will soon be making my way to the concrete face that instantiated at Evergreen Rotary Park back in the 60s. Here is a picture from the Kitsap Sun.
- I also have a lead on the possible location of the Seattle’s Famous Mystery Coke Machine (recently gone missing). In a Facebook group for Bremertonians, I have heard word of two similar “mystery” machines; I plan on asking some questions and see if I can pick up any leads. From the Facebook post:
Did you know you can get discounted Coca-Cola products at their distribution warehouse on Auto Center blvd next to the Cash and Carry?
There are two vending machines out front.
20oz bottles $.50
Monster energy drinks $1.25
There is a catch……they are all mystery buttons.
You won’t know what you’ll get.
- I have spent a fair amount of time on the Seattle -> Bremerton ferry. One of my favorite new rituals is staring at the waves and unfocusing my eyes as the sun sets over the water. The reflections make for an amazing 3-D magic eye puzzle – perhaps you too can stare at this picture long enough and see the thousands of meditating humanoids floating above the water ….
- I was lucky enough to recently be on the ferry boat as it slowed down and encountered an unmanned vessel floating in the waterway. I got out my binoculars, but did not see any Lime Bikes onboard the ghost ship.
I am in a bit of a liminal state traveling back and forth between the Seattle and my. new home on the West Sound – and there have been several times where the traffic to get to the ferry has been so gawd-awful, I’ve decided to wait it out and putz around Seattle on my scooter confirming sites on the Liminal Seattle map.
Lsat week I went to a new massage therapist and met up in her Wallingford home. As I was discussing how constantly finding myself curled up in the fetal position while working on the Liminal Seattle map had done a number on my back, the masseuse interrupted to say: “You saw the gnome outside right?”
I had in fact NOT seen ‘The Gnome’. She went on [paraphrased]: ‘Recently the house on the corner was bought and sold and one of the first things the new owner did was cut down a beautiful fig tree that had been an iconic feature of the neighborhood. Many of the neighbors were quite sad to see it go. The new owner had a wood carver come in to transform it into a bear or a dog – but the carver refused to do it.
He said that the tree had a different form that it wanted take on – and so he carefully transformed the stump into this creature”.
After my appointment was over, I ran outside and captured some pictures. This is around 34th/Burke.
There are a also a few carved owls around the back. It’s a spectacular piece, and it inspired me to seek out some other sites in the city.
I headed to the Wedgewood Rock – a spot I hadn’t heard of until this very website was launched and Yex shared his own meditative visions experienced at the rock. The site is an ancient glacial stone “deposited more than 14,000 years ago by the Vashon Glacier,” and “it was a landmark for Native Americans in what was once a dense forest.”
It currently sits right in front of a home in the Wedgewood neighborhood. It’s impressive. I held my hand up to it for a while.
The last place I stopped is Licton Springs. I had heard of the neighborhood but was not well versed on the history of the site – only recently discovering there is an actual spring there. The Seattle Parks deparment website says this is a park you “must see” but has no pictures of the AMAZING SPRING oozing this red iron mud…
Let me tell you all now: YOU MUST GO THERE. Licton Springs is a magical park camouflaged by the typical playgrounds and picnic’s and people walking right by. Meanwhile, hidden in plain sight is this amazing cold spring bubbling up from the ground. While searching for the spring, I found myself in all of these weird paths and foot bridges, stumbling across people alone in their own world with their backs turned to me, staring into the brush. I tried talking to a few people and most of the people “there” would not even acknowledge my presence…..
I cannot believe I have never been to this place before. I did a little bit of research on the park and discovered that it is an important site for the Duwamish tribe.
For generations, the Duwamish Tribe gathered at Licton Springs, together with their relatives by marriage, in the proper season for harvesting sacred Red Ochre pigment, necessary for spiritual celebration and renewal. Like the Duwamish Tribe, neighboring First Nations consider the sacred site le?qtid to be a tangible cultural property inherited from their male or female Duwamish Ancestors. As a result of inter-marriage, neighboring First Nations have a material interest in access to and preservation of the sacred site liquid.
For Chief Seattle’s Duwamish Tribe of Indians, Licton Springs is one of the last spiritual places remaining in our ?ál?altid (Ancestral Homeland). Licton Springs is located on the South Fork of tuw’Xú?bid (“Thornton Creek”).
AGAIN: GO SEE Licton Springs. I lived in Seattle for 15 years and I can’t believe I never really even heard of it. It’s a spectacular place that I can’t believe isn’t more of a ‘destination’.
I also recommend you checkout Hidden Hydrology, which has a great walking tour tracing the flow of secret water emerging from Licton Springs all the way to Green Lake! Hidden waterways are an important part of the Liminal sciences, and speak to the underground vitality in our surroundings. There is a life force literally flowing all around us – check out this amazing picture from an old Seattle history book featuring a creek running underneath the bank on 45th & University Ave. If you’re in the area, maybe ask a teller if you can see their basement stream?
I highly encourage you to go on a liminal jaunt around your neighborhood using sites from the map and discovering new ones for others to explore! And if you send us a little chronicles of your adventures for the Liminal Seattle Newsletter, we’ll even send you some Sasquatch fur in the mail that is DEFINITELY NOT just my beard trimmings!!