PNW Haunts & Homicides

PNW Haunts and Homicides
  • 4.5 (157)
  • True Crime
  • Updated Weekly

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 they never sleep or leave their houses again. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/pnw-haunts-homicides--5955451/support.

PNW HAUNTS & HOMICIDES

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  1. 6d ago

    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

  2. Aug 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

  3. Aug 24 ·  Bonus • Subscribers Only

    The Dark Strangler, Every Landlady's Nightmare - BONUS

    Hey Creepy People! This is the bonus episode we promised for the Earle Leonard Nelson episodes. Here’s the link to the book we talked about by Denise Beddows – The Forgotten Forty-Four: Victims & Survivors of America’s First Serial Sex Killer.

  4. Aug 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

  5. Aug 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

  6. Aug 7

    Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus & Tacoma's King Octopus: Washington Cryptid Legends

    Dive into the weird world of Pacific Northwest cryptids as we separate fact from fiction. This week, we're climbing into the forests of Washington to investigate the legendary Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus, one of the internet's most famous hoaxes that became a surprisingly convincing lesson in online misinformation.  Then we head beneath the Tacoma Narrows Bridge to uncover the legend of the terrifying King Octopus, a cryptid inspired by real giant Pacific octopuses. Is there really a monster lurking under the Tacoma Narrows, or is the truth just as fascinating?  Tune in for paranormal legends, cryptid lore, strange history, and plenty of Pacific Northwest weirdness. This episode explores how myths are born and why some creatures refuse to sink beneath the waves. 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

  7. Aug 6 • Subscribers Only

    Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus & Tacoma's King Octopus: Washington Cryptid Legends

    Dive into the weird world of Pacific Northwest cryptids as we separate fact from fiction. This week, we're climbing into the forests of Washington to investigate the legendary Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus, one of the internet's most famous hoaxes that became a surprisingly convincing lesson in online misinformation. Then we head beneath the Tacoma Narrows Bridge to uncover the legend of the terrifying King Octopus, a cryptid inspired by real giant Pacific octopuses. Is there really a monster lurking under the Tacoma Narrows, or is the truth just as fascinating? Tune in for paranormal legends, cryptid lore, strange history, and plenty of Pacific Northwest weirdness. This episode explores how myths are born and why some creatures refuse to sink beneath the waves. 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

  8. Jul 30

    Two Girls, Two Parks, Two Killers: Michella Welch & Jennifer Bastian | Tacoma, Washington

    In 1986 the North and West End neighborhoods of Tacoma trusted their parks. That was, until two girls disappeared from public parks in Tacoma, Washington within a few miles and a few months of each other, both stories ending in tragedy. Twelve-year-old Michella Welch disappeared from Puget Park on a bright Wednesday afternoon in March. Thirteen-year-old Jennifer Bastian vanished from Point Defiance Park while riding her brand-new Schwinn bike that same year in August. For nearly three decades, investigators believed the girls had been killed by the same man. The circumstances were too similar to imagine otherwise. As Jennifer's mother Pattie put it, there couldn't possibly be two monsters in Tacoma. And yet – there were. In this episode we walk through what happened to Michella and Jenni, the assumption that shaped multiple decades of the investigation, the evidence that finally broke that assumption apart, and the two very different paths that led to justice. Their cases also led to Jennifer & Michella's Law – the 2019 Washington legislation that expanded mandatory DNA collection for convicted felons and now stands as a legislative legacy for both girls. Michella Welch and Jennifer Bastian were just little girls who should have had the chance to grow up. Both were blonde, blue-eyed girls on their bikes, doing exactly what kids had always been trusted to do – enjoying their local park. If the story moves you, we'd love it if you shared the episode - it helps the show, and most importantly these two girls deserve to be remembered by name. 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

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Trailer

4.5
out of 5
157 Ratings

About

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 they never sleep or leave their houses again. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/pnw-haunts-homicides--5955451/support.

Information

  • Creator
    PNW Haunts and Homicides
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    490
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © PNW Haunts and Homicides
  • Show Website
    PNW Haunts & Homicides
  • Provider
    Caitlyn Shearer

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