59 replies to this topic

[scorpyo]

Selleck WA is a small town at the foothills of the Cascades in Western Washington State. Although I am not an active hunter, this place inspires.

Selleck is about 2 miles from Ravensdale- another small community. I have heard many people describe Selleck as a creepy little town, however I'm having difficulty finding information on it. I would estimate that it probably has about 1,000 citizens total, if that.

I am looking for information/history on the town and the School structure that preceeds the town. Please read below if you'd like more of the story- just reply- I have runout of internet resources on the place.
_______The Story_________
My wife and I discovered the town one night as we decided to "take a road and drive it till it ends.". We made our way past Covington, Kangley, and then Ravensdale.

There is a school as you enter the town that piqued our interest. My wife and I fancy ourselves sensitive, although in different ways. We passed the school- found the end of the road, turned around and departed the tiny town within about 5 minutes. However, this school, building, whatever it is- stuck in our minds. We both got one of the strongest feelings of horror and revulsion that we've ever experienced when we came upon it. The building appeared to be abandoned on our first visit.

Our second visit occurred some 2 years later. We found our way out on the road, going to the town. We anticipated the sight of this building- and again we were dumbfounded. This time, it was because we swore that the building was just off the road-way. However, it turns out that the building is actually about 200 feet back from the road- a noticable difference. The road had not changed - but somehow our perception was THAT skewed.

Admittedly, both visits have been by night. Since, a crew of people went out in the daytime and snapped some pictures. All the pictures came out with nothing save an image that has something in a window. As the image is a little blurry, and you can not distinctly see anything out of the ordinary, I did a little Photoshop-ing on the image to reveal a difference in contours. The figure is plainly visible after the alteration as the apparent "depth" of the figure is different than that of the curtains.

Please let me know if you have history of the town- we've heard some things like logging or mining, but no one seems to be able to account for this "unearthly" building.

[ranch501]

Well, I think I can answer a few of your questions about the town of Selleck as my husbands family owned the town back in the 1960's. The town was an old logging town. Pacific States Lumber Co. ran it in the 1930's & 1940's. The town consisted of at least a dozen rental houses. My husbands family had lived in the mill supervisor's house. The school house, you refer to, was actually used back then as an elementary school. He thinks it was through the 4th grade and it has always been 200 feet off the roadway. There was a post office and a community hall also. The old school wasn't haunted back then, but who knows if it is now.

[scorpyo]

Thanks, Ranch, For the history. It doesn't answer much, but at least someone out there has some information on it. Any dasterdly dirty deeds done or doing? I would suspect it was probably a very quiet community, and it certainly seems so now.

I've talked to at least 1 person directly about the school house, and she didn't have anything good to say about the current occupants (she was not direct or specific- and this was about 6 years ago).

How much history do you have in the area (Western Puget Sound)?

[ranch501]

We haven't been back there for probably 25 years so I really can't tell you much about what it is like now. It never was a high class town. Just a wide spot at the end of the road. My husbands family owned and rented out the houses. It must have gone down hill from there. As far as quiet, my husband tells of stories, as a young teenager having grab a shot gun and go quiet a drunk that decided to tear up the town. I'm afraid that was the highlight of the town back then. It is just a town that everyone forgot.

[evad_83647]

I've been there and I remember the schoolhouse also. I bet it has been ten years since I saw it. I don't remeber anything else about the town except the schoolhouse, strange. I don't have anything to add sorry.

I lived in western Washington most of my life and I can tell you about places that aren't on the map. I lived in the southern sound area so most of my experiences are there. There is this indian Cemetary above the town of Union on the canal...

[Markway]

I'm from a North Sound pioneer family. Puget Sound is very cut up, and most towns were more isolated than in most places. Until the '20's there weren't many roads, and not a lot until the '50's and '60's. The trees were so huge that most people used the sound and the rivers to get around.

In most places around the US there are checkerboard type roads. On The Sound there were/are few N/S roads, with small side roads trailing off into the woods to some tiny spooky place, or into the mountains for logs or coal. There are still places where it is not safe for an outsider to camp without knowing the community.

I'm a North Sound snob though. It always seems that if there's a murder, or some child molester's done something horrible, it's down around Covington, or Lakewood where it happens. Sorry folks, no burning crosses on my lawn please.

[Countess]

Hello

I remember back in the sixties my aunt lived out in Selleck and we went in and out of the old school with my cousins. Mostly Harley Biker people there when she lived there and they would tell us the old school was haunted by a man who was a killer and he had killed several children by hanging them from the rafters in the old school. I have visited the location over the many years and taken many pictures, there have been several different familys who have lived in the old school and they place a star atop it at Christmas time. As for any ghosts, I have not personally seen any but others claim to have seen them. Some wont even go by it at night, others drive by it at night and peek in throught the windows. It is not too far from Black Diamond which has it's own haunted cemetery.

[susiecue7]

[quote name='scorpyo' date='Sep 26 2005, 01:49 PM' post='220584']
Selleck WA is a small town at the foothills of the Cascades in Western Washington State. Although I am not an active hunter, this place inspires.

Selleck is about 2 miles from Ravensdale- another small community. I have heard many people describe Selleck as a creepy little town, however I'm having difficulty finding information on it. I would estimate that it probably has about 1,000 citizens total, if that.

I am looking for information/history on the town and the School structure that preceeds the town. Please read below if you'd like more of the story- just reply- I have runout of internet resources on the place.
_______The Story_________
My wife and I discovered the town one night as we decided to "take a road and drive it till it ends.". We made our way past Covington, Kangley, and then Ravensdale.

There is a school as you enter the town that piqued our interest. My wife and I fancy ourselves sensitive, although in different ways. We passed the school- found the end of the road, turned around and departed the tiny town within about 5 minutes. However, this school, building, whatever it is- stuck in our minds. We both got one of the strongest feelings of horror and revulsion that we've ever experienced when we came upon it. The building appeared to be abandoned on our first visit.

Our second visit occurred some 2 years later. We found our way out on the road, going to the town. We anticipated the sight of this building- and again we were dumbfounded. This time, it was because we swore that the building was just off the road-way. However, it turns out that the building is actually about 200 feet back from the road- a noticable difference. The road had not changed - but somehow our perception was THAT skewed.

Admittedly, both visits have been by night. Since, a crew of people went out in the daytime and snapped some pictures. All the pictures came out with nothing save an image that has something in a window. As the image is a little blurry, and you can not distinctly see anything out of the ordinary, I did a little Photoshop-ing on the image to reveal a difference in contours. The figure is plainly visible after the alteration as the apparent "depth" of the figure is different than that of the curtains.

Please let me know if you have history of the town- we've heard some things like logging or mining, but no one seems to be able to account for this "unearthly" building.
[/quote/]

Hello,

I currently live in one of the rental houses in the town of Selleck. I have not been able to find much history on the town either. I have not heard any stories about the school house. I have only been inside the building one time, for a town meeting. The owners generally don't let people in there. I have heard that they have some old pictures in the shcool, but I haven't seen them.

There are some ruins of the old mill left. Mainly just the silo, and a couple of building/foundations.

I have heard from some of my neighbors, that they have had encounters with poltergeist type spirits. I just recently started getting interested in taking pictures of orbs. I have always been interested, but when I found out that you could capture orbs and images on film, I started taking pictures in and around my house. There are orbs every where.

I never get creepy feelings or anything like that. I do think it is pretty neat that they are here.

[countchadula]

My father and I moved to Selleck in about 1978. We lived in something akin to a quarry just below the old post office (about half a mile from the school). My family still lives there today. I attended school in the schoolhouse for a couple of years. My friends and I were the last group of students to go through the school before they closed it in 1980 due to financial reasons.

The following information is accepted town history. It may or may not be correct as it’s been passed along from townsperson to townsperson, adult to child, child to child, and back again; inaccuracies may have been collected along the way, purple monkey dishwasher. Anyone with accurate knowledge, feel free to correct. Selleck was once a somewhat successful turn-of-the-century logging town. It was much larger than the cul-de-sac it is now. Legend has it, the entire town somehow burnt to the ground. I’ve been told the logging industry of the era, much like the rail industry, relied heavily upon immigrant labor. Allegedly, many of these laborers were killed in the fire. No one felt like investing the money to restore the town, so it staggered along from century to century, and became the cesspool it was when I was a child. As someone’s already noted, many of the original buildings’ foundations may still be found near the mill pond. The most striking of these is the burn tower. It has unfortunately become a place for neo-nazi pussies to graffiti their hateful messages. There is also the remains of a large buiding we used to call the bank. The only reason we called this building a bank was because of a large steel vault or ventilation system or something tangled and twisted in the ground. Behind this area, a large concrete monolith can be found. As an adult, thinking on what it was and what its purpose might have been, it seems likely it was some huge counter-weight of some sort. As children, we would marvel at it, climb on it, climb into it (it has a very tight square hole running through the center, and a small shaft rising in the center). If you attempt to find these still-cool structures, be aware that the property is now owned by people that don’t much care for sightseers.

The school itself is a roughly two-story, square building that sits (always the same distance ;) off the main road just before the cul-de-sac. It housed all six grades of children, two grades to a classroom. The lower floor housed the cafeteria which doubled as a gym on rainy days, restrooms, and several other rooms I can’t recall.
The upstairs housed the small library and the classrooms as well as the offices of the principal and nurse. This second floor had two short staircases at either end of it. These staircases put the two small rooms at either end of the building up slightly higher than any other room. The room on the north side of the building, facing the woods of the watershed and overlooking the covered court, was the nurse’s office. The room to the south of the building overlooked the small pasture just at the edge of ‘town’. I don’t recall this room having a particular purpose, though it may have been storage. A fond memory of the school while it was still living was of the school’s last principal, Mr. Bolton, who would come into each classroom everyday and read aloud from a book. This has little to do with the history of the building, but it’s a memory worth sharing of things that no longer happen.
The basement of the building was largely unfinished concrete. There was a main hallway through the area, with small rooms at even intervals on either side. It seems the basement was used mostly for storage and maintenance. During Hallowe’en festivities, the basement was used as a haunted house event. Surprisingly, it wasn’t that scary.

In the years following the closure of the school, my friends and I would sneak into the building often. Ingress was achieved through a small vent just big enough for thin children to wriggle through in the basement wall. Despite entering during the day on our first venture, it was still quite black inside that smelly, quiet basement. Of course, we hadn’t thought to bring a flashlight. After wandering about there, we made our way up into the school with which we were more familiar. This was only a few months after the school had been closed, but the building had already been heavily vandalized, and was showing sings of rapid aging and weathering. I recall all the tiling had peeled from the floor and caused walking to be a loud affair.
Over the next year or so, we went into the abandoned school a few more times, at least once at night. The thrill quickly wore off, and by that time, the strange vehicles had begun to arrive.

These vehicles were of the crappy class, part vehicle, mostly living quarters… old run-down campers, squalid-looking trailer house things. No one knew what they were doing there, parked off the west side of the building. They could have been squatters, though one rumor claimed they had purchased the school property cheaply and now used it to park their live-in vehicles and such. Whatever the case, they took advantage of the school’s then-drooping covered play-court. I don’t believe I ever saw those people, only the evidence of them in the form of their dilapidated dwellings.

In the few years I attended the school, and the many years after in which I lived in the town, I heard of no hauntings or unusual activities (aside from the school-squatters). The creepiest thing about the school has nothing to do with hauntings, but with the deep woods of the Seattle watershed that envelope the playfield directly behind the school. I vividly remember playing at recess and often stopping dead to stare into the dark, waiting hulk of these woods. Even then, I knew kids were sneaking back there to smoke (and conduct even more illicit activities), but it was still an awesome presence, knowing those woods went on and on for miles. It was many years later that I began hiking in those same woods (leave no trace, of course) in search of my big, shaggy friend Sasquatch. If you’re dead set on stalking a paranormal event in that area, I can strongly recommend Bigfoot; hauntings, however, I can not. Good luck to you!

[dantheman_24]

I have been to selleck and everybody that i have talked to who has also been there says that the church is very creepy with the cameras and everything. but the thing that freaks you out the most is that the people that live in the town of selleck are always just awake waiting for people to show up. When i was there i saw many unusual things such as children just staring out of the church and a man just standing in the middle of there yards (this is at 1 in the morning) and looking at there house. and as we kept driving past the man he never moved or looked at us. but then people started coming out of there houses and walking after us and taking pictures of us. We did not do anything to bother them but they just walked behind our car as we kept driving around the town and then as we came around to the church again (for those who have been there they know that the road circles around and starts going back the way you came) a man came out of the church (who sits in a church at 1 in the morning) and also walked right at our car. They made no attept to communicate with us they just casually walked directly at us. Everybody who i have talked to about this town says that they have been chased out of the town also. I have also heard scary stories of the people of selleck pointing guns at cars that come in their and shooting off shotguns to scare of people that want to see the "haunted church". If the people of selleck dont want people to bother them then they shouldnt act weird towards the cars that arrive their because that just gives reason for the people to come back and tell their friends about it. Everyone that i know goes to selleck to see the people that live there act really weird.


So i was wondering if anybody could tell if the town has a lot of like vandalism or something like that that would cause the people to always be on watching out for cars coming into their neighborhood??

[wendylynn]

I have grown up in the town of Selleck. I am 25 and for as long as I have been alive it has been owned by my Grandfather. My Grandfather has also lived in the school house until he died 2 years ago. Now the school house is occupied by my Uncle and Aunt who also own about 50 houses in the town. I have seen many old pictures of the town and even large scale models that are inside the school house. The town was a very successful logging town and there was a large fire that took out most of the town, I had not heard of any deaths in that fire but I could be wrong. There are a few buildings still standing from that such as the burn stack and the pay house or bank if you want to call it that. The old school house and the theater are also still standing but I believe they were built shortly after in a effort to rebuild. The school house has been many things it started as a hotel/ boarding house for loggers and immigrants. It then became a fire house for a short time. Then finally a school. Although creepy and rundown I have never heard of an hauntings. and because the town is a historical land mark no repairs can be made without great effort and government approval. There are many interesting things inside of the school Such as all the fire equipment is still there boots, hoses, helmets, etc. And when I was young lots of the school stuff was still there. Since then my grandfather donated many of these artifacts to the black diamond museum. If you see any strange people in the windows or standing outside that is just my other Uncle Paul who lives with my Aunt and Uncle there, he is mentally handicapped. As far as taking pictures I am a photographer and have shot many successful images of the school house the inside of the school and the town of selleck. It was my Grandpas dream once to rebuild the town and start and Christian university out there. So even though it is scary I have never seen any paranormal activity there. I think it is just fun for peoples imaginations to get the better of them. If anyone does drive out to see the school please do not throw rocks at it or break windows, my family does live there. My Uncles says at least every weekend people drive up and do some vandalism because they think it is haunted, but people do live there so please be kind.

[sothernexposureak]

First of all, it's a old school, not a church. And how would you like it if we came to your street drove real slow and stared at your house at 1:00 in the morning? You might be a little freaked out too! People come in and vandalize our properties, have NO respect for anything. (maybe not you) The people of this town are hard working people too! We get up anywhere from 2am and on to go to work. When we have people come in to look at "the haunted school" and cus and scream at the top of their lungs and throw rocks at the school and wake us all up!!! We seem to get a little upset! Would'nt you??? We like our town and it has cleaned up alot from the 70"s and 80"s. If you would like to come up here please be repsectful to others! Maybe you could ask an adult about the town, if you're curious... some of us do know some of the history. or go online and type in Selleck,Washington, you might find some history.

[ranch501]

Wow, thanks everyone who has added a little part of history on Selleck. It is so good to know that the little town still exists. Has any one rebuilt or updated any of the old houses there?

[Garagesalebarb]

Hello all who read this, I am a resident in the town of Selleck. We have lived here nearly 4 years and enjoy the small town life. This is a fantastic place, surrounded by beautiful meadows, forests, fresh air and friendly towns people. For the most part is it quiet and idllyc. The owners, who do live in the old school, and the managers, who live in the town, work extremely hard to keep the grounds clean, landscaped, and well manicured, the homes clean, painted and in good repair. We who live here by and large love this place. We have clean air, quiet streets that our children can play in, our pets are safe from traffic, and we live in some neat old American Craftsman Style Homes. We know all of our neighbors and watch out for each other, can you say that? We enjoy the bicycle clubs who ride through here frequently in the summer months and all of the inquiring drivers, tourists, or just the folks who took a wrong turn coming into our town. We all are glad to stop and chat, and talk about our town. Most of us are newer to the town and are learning about the history as well. There are books that you can get, one in particular is called Company Towns, the Black Diamond Historical Society has a lot of information about Selleck. The town has a lot of memorbilia as well and has been thinking about having a small museum in the future. I grew up in Black Diamond, went to grade school there in the 50's, our school came to Selleck frequently to participate in sports activities. I remember the town to be bigger back then. Now I reside here. I can tell you that I frequently go into the old School House at all hours as I have a storage area there and have never seen a ghost or anything paranormal. It is an old building and the owners do keep it up as per the restrictions of a historical building. Because of the historical nature of the building, they can only do so much to it. They just painted it last year and would do more if they could. The reason that I am posting this is because of all of the recent activities surrounding rumors about our town. We have people drive into the town at all hours of the night, sometimes starting as early as 9:30 P.M. and as late as 3:00 A.M. stop in front of the school, yell obsenities, throw eggs, approach the front entrance trying to enter the buliding, throwing rocks to break windows, getting out of the car standing in the front yard of the school with arms outstrectched yelling "Ghost here I am, come get me", racing through the town, reving engines, honking horns, and hollaring. When we come out of our homes to investigate, or approach the cars to see what is going on, or when we try to talk to them, they take off, usually with a four letter word explitive. We are not given a chance to talk to anyone or answer any questions. Do you think that these people are interested in information, at these hours? We do not know the intent of these people, they don't stop to ask questions, they cause mischief, interrupt our peace, sleep, and quiet lifestyle. Do you think we are weird because we want know what is going on and to protect our homes? We do not approach the cars with guns, rifles, sticks, cameras, or hostility. I personaly have seen people cross a private property signed area with sticks, or crow bars and head out to the lighted cross, what do you think their intent was? I came out and asked them. "Can I help you. are you lost", only to be told as they were running to their cars "Oh we are meeting a friend out here who is pulling an all nighter", to which I replied, "I live here, no one is pulling an all nighter in the town and it is 2:30 in the morning". This is what we face two, three and even four nights a week. Let me ask you, how would you feel if several nights a week, one, two, even three and four nights a week someone would pull up in front of your house, sit there and just stare, or get out, throw eggs, rocks, yell and scream, cuss and use obsenities at your home? Wouldn't that cause you to react? What would you do? We call the police and report it now, with license numbers and descriptions of the vehicles. We would like you all to know that our old School is not haunted, has not moved back from the road, that we are family oriented people with children, who work and live in your community. We are friendly and would be happy to answer any questions, if we can, about the town or the school. Because the school is old, it may look the part of being haunted, it is not. It is a private residence and the family who owns the town lives in it. The voices you hear and the people you see are the members of this very alive family. They do have security cameras, do you blame them? How many of you have security systems in your own homes? So because they have security cameras, you think they are weird? I would think that not having security, in light of the recent activities would be weird. PLEASE NOTE THE SCHOOL IS NOT HAUNTED, NO CHILDREN DIED THERE, EVER. The school is a PRIVATE RESIDENCE. THE LIGHTED CROSS WAS PUT UP BY THE OWNER, OUT OF RESPECT AND IN HONOR OF HIS FATHER WHO PASSED AWAY TWO YEARS AGO. We all love our town and the beautiful area that we live in, it is very unique, and with growth everywhere, won't be this way long. Please come enjoy our town, enjoy your drive, ask questions, we are happy to share what we know. But please make it at reasonable hours. Thank you all.

[dantheman_24]

well i wasnt trying to be rude, attack, or call the residents of selleck weird i was just trying to find out why you guys are always on the the look out (which i now know so thank you for enforming me). but i am not one of those people who throws things or makes a lot of noise so dont attack me for asking. now that i know i have told people about it and most of my school has no more interest in looking at the old school (sorry for calling it a church. jeez)

and yes if people were driving past my neighborhood and vandalizing it late at night i would want to stop it also.