PNW Haunts & Homicides

By PNW Haunts and HomicidesComedy True Crime History

PNW Haunts & Homicides episodes

October 16 Portals to Hell: Devil’s Gate, A Haunted Road & Creepy Real Estate
Are there really portals to Hell hidden in the United States? In this episode, we explore the creepy legends surrounding Devil’s Gate Dam in Pasadena, California, the haunted Riverdale Road in Colorado, and a Salem, Oregon, house that sparked rumors of a gateway to the underworld. From occult rituals and curses, to phantom cars and ghostly joggers, we’re diving into paranormal encounters, haunted places, and terrifying urban legends. Are these places truly supernatural, or is there a more earthly explanation?

Visit our website! Find us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Patreon, & more! There are so many ways that you can support the show: BuyMeACoffee, Spreaker, or by leaving a rating & review on Apple Podcasts. Sources
54 min
October 08 Women in Black: Ghosts Stories & Dark Urban Legends
This episode dives into the eerie legends of the Women in Black. We start in Yakima, Washington, where a mysterious woman in a black dress was reported in 1897. Witnesses described a tall, silent figure racing through the streets who could supposedly shapeshift into a massive black hog, earning her the terrifying nickname Hog Devil. But was Yakima’s first ghost actually a supernatural entity, a woman sneaking out to meet her lover, or an elaborate prank?

Then we travel to Sleepy Hollow, New York, where a mysterious veiled Woman in Black haunted the streets in the late 1800s, before an encounter with police revealed a shocking possibility. From there, we head to Bangkok, Thailand, and the legend of the Women in Black of Wat Samian Nari, two ghostly sisters who reportedly hitch rides in taxis before disappearing, only to reappear crawling along the railroad tracks. Finally, we visit Fort Warren in Boston Harbor and the legend of Melanie Lanier, a Confederate soldier’s wife whose tragic story supposedly led to the haunting of the island by a guilt-ridden Lady in Black. But there’s a major problem: there’s no historical record that Melanie Lanier ever existed. Are these women ghosts, victims, hoaxes, urban legends, or something stranger?

Visit our website! Find us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Patreon, & more! There are so many ways that you can support the show: BuyMeACoffee, Spreaker, or by leaving a rating & review on Apple Podcasts. Sources
48 min
October 01 Look For Me If I Don't Come Back: The Jack Family | Prince George, British Columbia
On the night of August 1, 1989, Ronnie Jack met a stranger at a Prince George pub who offered him and his wife Doreen jobs at a logging camp near Cluculz Lake. By 1:30 the next morning, Ronnie, Doreen, and their two sons, 9-year-old Russell and 4-year-old Ryan, had climbed into the man's dark pickup truck and driven off into the night. They were never seen again.

More than three decades later, the disappearance of the Jack family remains one of British Columbia's most haunting unsolved cases. In this episode, we walk through the timeline of that night, the RCMP composite of the bearded stranger, and the anonymous 1996 call that pointed police to a ranch that never yielded any answers. We examine the layered history of intergenerational trauma, residential-school abuse, and forced displacement that shaped the family's world long before the night they vanished. We also have a new-ish voice joining the discussion of where the case sits today – welcome Taylyn!

If you have any information about the disappearance of Ronald, Doreen, Russell, or Ryan Jack, please contact the Prince George RCMP at 250-561-3300 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477.

Visit our website! Find us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Patreon, & more! There are so many ways that you can support the show: BuyMeACoffee, Spreaker, or by leaving a rating & review on Apple Podcasts.
1 hr 26 min
September 24 A Documentary, a Dog, and a House With Rules
A woman gets a 3 a.m. email from a documentary producer who says he's spent a year developing a project about her life. What starts as flattering turns unsettling fast, and she can't seem to stop what's already in motion. Then a dog who's never shown a hunting instinct in his life starts locking onto something in the corner of a cabin near Mt. St. Helens — frozen, tail up, eyes fixed on nothing. He won't play his favorite game. He keeps getting up to follow it, checking corners like something's actually there. And then, just as suddenly and strangely, it stops. We close things out with an inheritance that comes with three very specific house rules. The rules seem simple enough — until he decides to break one.

Thank you to the authors of this week's stories: Joe Zazzara (u/pieater727) and u/OK_The_Nomad

Visit our website! Find us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Patreon, & more! There are so many ways that you can support the show: BuyMeACoffee, Spreaker, or by leaving a rating & review on Apple Podcasts.
48 min
September 17 Haunted Filming Locations of Practical Magic 2 | English Ghost Stories
This episode explores the haunted filming locations of Practical Magic 2, from a nearly 900-year-old English pub to the ruins of a medieval castle. While the original Practical Magic was filmed in Washington’s San Juan Islands, the sequel was primarily filmed in England, including recreated sets of the iconic Owens family dream house.

At The Royal Standard, England’s oldest-claimed pub, reported paranormal activity includes candles mysteriously going out, laughter from an empty cellar, apparitions, and unexplained singing. Nearby Hag Pit adds even more witchy folklore!

At Old Wardour Castle, a medieval English castle damaged during the English Civil War, visitors report seeing the Grey Lady, and hearing voices and strange activity in the castle’s surrounding woods. Plus, one visitor shares a very unexpected paranormal encounter in the grotto.

So while Practical Magic 2 may have traded the Pacific Northwest for England, it seems the sequel found plenty of its own spooky magic in these historic and haunted locations.

Visit our website! Find us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Patreon, & more! There are so many ways that you can support the show: BuyMeACoffee, Spreaker, or by leaving a rating & review on Apple Podcasts. Sources
53 min
September 10 Fall Adventures: Practical Magic & Cemetery Tours
In celebration of Practical Magic 2 coming out this week, we’re returning to an episode where we visit the bewitching Pacific Northwest seaside town where Practical Magic was filmed!

The enchantment doesn't stop there—while chatting with Margaret from Friends of Lone Fir Cemetery, we delve into her passion for preserving historic sites and the engaging tours that breathe life into forgotten stories.

Our conversations even traverse through enormous pumpkin growing competitions, tea leaf readings, and Samhain celebrations! As spooky season unfolds, our tarot reading advises caution and strategy, ensuring you're well-prepared for whatever may come. Whether you're a movie enthusiast or a history buff, there's a little something for everyone in this episode, promising thrills and chills with a side of humor.

Interested in volunteering at Lone Fir Cemetery!? Email Margaret - [email protected]Rooted in History: Unearthing Lone Fir Cemetery's Haunting Past

Check out Aimee in the Pacific Northwest's blog for more cool stuff!

Visit our website! Find us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Patreon, & more! If you have any true crime, paranormal, or witchy stories you'd like to share with us & possibly have them read (out loud) on an episode, email us at [email protected] or use this link. There are so many ways that you can support the show: BuyMeACoffee, Spreaker, or by leaving a rating & review on Apple Podcasts. Sources
1 hr 12 min
September 03 The Search and the Silence | Besalynn James, Lummi Nation / Bellingham, WA
Besalynn Mary James was 62 years old when she disappeared from her home on the Lummi Nation reservation in January 2025. Her boyfriend told police she left at 2 AM to go for a walk in freezing temperatures. After she didn’t return, it took four days for him to report her missing.

What her sister found when she went to check on Besalynn's dogs didn't match his story. The clothes he said Besalynn was wearing were still inside the trailer.

In this episode, we walk through the timeline of Besalynn's disappearance, the contradictions in her boyfriend's account, the complicated jurisdictional reality of investigating a major crime on tribal land, and the systemic crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people. We also look at what Washington State has built in response to that crisis, and what it still hasn't been able to deliver to Besalynn's family: answers.

As of the time of this recording, Terry Bowman remains an uncharged person of interest. The FBI's Seattle Field Office continues to actively investigate. If you have information about Besalynn's disappearance, contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI, submit a tip at tips.fbi.gov, or call the Lummi Nation Police Department at 360-312-2274.

Visit our website! Find us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Patreon, & more! There are so many ways that you can support the show: BuyMeACoffee, Spreaker, or by leaving a rating & review on Apple Podcasts. Sources
1 hr 14 min
August 27 Wolf Creek Inn: Oregon Ghost Stories & Haunted History
In Southern Oregon, the historic Wolf Creek Inn has welcomed travelers, celebrities, and curious guests since the 1800s. Originally built along the Applegate Trail, it became a popular stop for settlers, miners, stagecoach passengers, and later railroad and highway travelers. The inn has hosted famous guests including Jack London, John Wayne, Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, Orson Welles, and Sir Anthony Hopkins. Jack London especially loved the inn, spending a summer writing there, and his former room is now preserved in his honor. Today, Wolf Creek Inn is the oldest continuously operating hotel in the Pacific Northwest and a historic Oregon landmark.

But Wolf Creek Inn may have more than just famous guests. Visitors and staff have reported footsteps, mysterious voices, flickering lights, apparitions, strange dreams, and objects flying across rooms. Ghostly entities reportedly include a female stagecoach driver, the spirit of Jack London, and even stories of a bizarre vampire-like creature roaming the hotel!

Just a few miles away, the Golden State Heritage Site, a former mining town now considered a ghost town, has its own spooky reputation, including shadow figures and the spirit of a preacher.

With decades of paranormal activity, the Wolf Creek Inn may be one of Southern Oregon's most intriguing haunted hotels.

Visit our website! Find us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Patreon, & more! There are so many ways that you can support the show: BuyMeACoffee, Spreaker, or by leaving a rating & review on Apple Podcasts. Sources
1 hr 1 min
August 20 The Dark Strangler, Every Landlady's Nightmare | Part 2: Earle Nelson | Portland, Oregon
Picking up where we left off in Part 1, Earle Leonard Nelson — the man newspapers called the 'Dark Strangler,' the 'Gorilla Man,' and the 'Gorilla Killer' — unbeknownst to the public or authorities had left the Pacific Northwest and was heading east. Behind him: a trail of victims across California, Oregon, and Washington, including four in Portland alone. Ahead of him: a killing spree that would accelerate across the Midwest and Eastern United States before finally being brought to a halt in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Part 2 follows Nelson to Iowa, Kansas City, Philadelphia, and Buffalo where he would continue his brutal crimes. His final ten days would become the most violent stretch of the entire spree — five women killed across Detroit, Chicago, and Winnipeg between June 1st and June 10th, 1927. It's Winnipeg where the trail finally catches up with him, thanks to a jeweler, a barber, and a citywide search of boardinghouses.

We follow Nelson's arrest, trial, and eventual execution — hanged on Friday, January 13th, 1928 at the Vaughan Street Jail, becoming the 13th person to hang there, after walking 13 steps to the gallows. His confirmed count of over twenty victims would stand as a horrifying record in America for nearly fifty years.

Visit our website! Find us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Patreon, & more! There are so many ways that you can support the show: BuyMeACoffee, Spreaker, or by leaving a rating & review on Apple Podcasts. Sources
1 hr 12 min
August 13 The Dark Strangler, Every Landlady's Nightmare | Part 1: Earle Nelson | Portland, Oregon
From San Francisco to Winnipeg, he carried a worn Bible and a strange but seemingly polite smile. He answered ads about homes for sale and rooms for rent where he was invited in by unsuspecting, vulnerable women. Between February 1926 and June 1927, twenty-two women and one eight-month-old baby lost their lives to Earle Leonard Nelson – the man newspapers of the day called the 'Dark Strangler,' the 'Gorilla Man,' and the 'Gorilla Killer.' Four of those killings took place in Portland, with three occurring in a single week.

Earle Leonard Nelson was almost certainly the first serial sex murderer of the twentieth century in America; a distinction most true crime listeners have never heard because his crimes predate the term "serial killer" by roughly half a century. As an orphaned child in San Francisco, he suffered what many believe was a devastating and life-altering accident that seemed to break something in him. We follow him through repeated stints at Napa State Mental Hospital, and into the cross-country killing spree that made him briefly the most-hunted man in North America.

His Portland victims – Beata Withers, Virginia Grant, Mabel Fluke, and Blanche Myers, killed between October and November of 1926 – led to what may have been one of, if not the first serial-killer safety advisories in American history, issued by the Portland Police Bureau. Amidst the chaos of his killings, we’ll also talk about the unlikely survivors and other victims slain in his brutal spree across the country. Though the trail comes to a final conclusion, eerily on Friday, January the 13th, of 1928 in Winnipeg, his confirmed count of twenty-two would stand as the American record for nearly fifty years. Then the case, and the man, despite massive impact at the time, quietly slipped out of public memory.

If this story moves you, we'd love it if you shared the episode - it helps the show, and most importantly the story deserves to be remembered.

Visit our website! Find us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Patreon, & more! There are so many ways that you can support the show: BuyMeACoffee, Spreaker, or by leaving a rating & review on Apple Podcasts. Sources
1 hr 6 min

About PNW Haunts & Homicides

From the publisher's feed

Join Caitlyn and Cassie as they chat about true crime, the paranormal, and all kinds of spooky sh*t in the Pacific Northwest. Just two "normal-ish" friends who wanted more local, creepy stories so…