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Rainbows and Murder
14 Plays1 month ago
In today’s episode, Ana leads us down two very local legends with roots tangled deep in Seattle soil. We start in Georgetown, at a morgue you might already know. Then we drift over to the Admiral District, where a heartbreaking story refuses to stay tragic and instead becomes a brightly colored local legend… one no one can quite pin down, no matter how hard they try. See you Beneath the Evergreens! 🌲👻
⚠️ Content Warning: This episode includes references to abuse, trauma, and death. Listener discretion is advised.
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Transcript
Introduction to Beneath the Evergreens
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to Beneath the Evergreens, where murder, mysteries, and mayhem lurk in the shadows of the Pacific Northwest. I'm Jess. And I'm Anna. From haunted forests and unsolved disappearances to true crime cases very deep in the moss and the mist.
00:00:15
Speaker
We're digging into the dark secrets hiding under the evergreens. Each episode will explore real cases, eerie encounters, and the legends that keep the Pacific Northwest up at night. So grab your flashlights, lock your doors, and join us Beneath the Evergreens.
Jess's Crow Experience
00:00:55
Speaker
that's what was that that's staying in oh good lord yes welcome to welcome back thank you all for for joining us yeah we're super excited to be here super excited so it's been a juicy of a week but i am becoming a witch oh okay tell me more I have started feeding one crow and that run one crow grew to two crows and then it grew to three crows. And now I have, I'm not even joking, 45. You have...
00:01:29
Speaker
you have And there is nothing more powerful than walking out of your house and having all of these crows being like, and i feed them and then they come fluttering down they look at me. And then I just walk back inside. Like, yeah, I am that crow.
00:01:44
Speaker
And are you feeding them out of your hand or like throwing things in your yard for them? Not yet. That is the ultimate goal. But because of meetings at work, I obviously just feed them and then run back inside as fast as I can. But yeah.
00:01:58
Speaker
Okay. Okay. So that's very much of you. That's what I'm saying. And then when people drive by, a lot of people I've noticed have been like slowing down and like, what is going on over there? There's so many crows.
00:02:12
Speaker
Yeah. yeah That's amazing. Yeah. So I'm really excited about this. i wonder what my next power will be. I'm calling all of the nice forest animals. No rats or mice, please. But all of the other nice forest made animals that won't destroy.
00:02:26
Speaker
i could see it being like a like a kind of a cross between like a witch and like a Snow White. i feel like when I think of woodland creatures coming to people, I think of Snow White. What's funny is I was just talking. Who was I talking to about this today?
00:02:38
Speaker
I was like, I'm in my Snow White era, which I don't even know what that means. I think I was just talking about the crows, but which is really tired, which I think is actually more of the evil queen. Doesn't she have a crow?
00:02:51
Speaker
Like this, this Snow White. Yeah, I think she has a like she talks to the crow.
00:02:57
Speaker
Is it? It definitely is. she has She has a henchman and the henchman is the crow. Because she's the evil queen so she has a crow and then Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent has like the minions that are like the warthogs and the gremlins.
Introduction to Local Legends
00:03:21
Speaker
okay yeah start avoiding apples from now on can't take that risk i'm just gonna paint smiley faces on all my apples all right tell me your story i'm excited to hear it so i actually have two stories for today o okay i'm excited so the theme that we're rolling with is local legends local engines love it okay So in my mind, these are some stories that I've come across and I've been like, I dig into it. I'm like, there's not a ton there, but I thought today was a perfect time to kind of mesh them together. And then, yeah kind of talk about cool legends that I can't actually confirm. So all of this is like conjecture, but it's super cool.
00:04:07
Speaker
I'm about it. Let's go.
Georgetown Morgue History
00:04:08
Speaker
Okay. So the first legend we have is the the Georgetown morgue. So. yeah know but Okay. Okay. So if you live in Seattle or in the Seattle area in any capacity, I am sure you have heard of the the Georgetown morgue.
00:04:22
Speaker
It is the scariest haunted house during Halloween. Like I remember being a kid and being like, nope, there's no way I'm going there. Like I remember hearing you had to like sign waivers and all of these things. Like it's nuts.
00:04:33
Speaker
Still have not gone as an adult. I'm still way too scared. Same. But the history, i'm using quotation marks behind it is super cool.
00:04:47
Speaker
Except for the fact that we can't confirm a lot of it. I'm okay with this. I like living in that gray space. Right, right. But like, it's like just plausible enough. Like the first time I read it, I was like, oh, this this sounds like it could be. And then full disclosure, all this information is coming from the actual website for the the haunted Georgetown org. So it's like, buy a ticket, read our history.
00:05:08
Speaker
And then I tried to confirm some of the history. Doesn't all line up, but still super cool. You know what? It's lore. It's legend. Who cares? Right. There's like, i it twists and turns. Like, yeah.
00:05:21
Speaker
Okay. I'm so excited. Okay, go. Okay. so the morgue has changed hands. And for the sake of simplicity when telling the story, I'm just always going to refer to it as, as the Georgetown morgue, but it had, it's had different names over time.
00:05:36
Speaker
So it was originally built back in 1928 and, by Scott and Timothy Coling. So they built this, actually it wasn't even a morgue at this time, it was just a funeral home. They built it in the Georgetown neighborhood and just kind of built it up from scratch.
00:05:54
Speaker
They sold the the morgue to brothers Charles and Henry Broughton in 1939 so the cullings operated it for about 11 years and then sold it to the broughton brothers the broughton brothers expanded on the funeral home and made it into a crematorium so by when they did this they also added smokestacks so they could really accelerate the crematorium process i don't know the science behind creating people but it does sound like it it was, it was noted that the smokestacks were a part of this crematorium.
00:06:31
Speaker
Every, when you were saying that, I was like, oh my gosh, I wonder if it was created because of the Georgetown Potter's field that you just talked about. And maybe that's why it's there. So I don't know. My understanding is that they were separate things. Oh, okay. Okay. okay Yeah.
00:06:44
Speaker
The, yeah, I think they were separate, similar ish area, but also further down. Like, The Potterfield was for it like so kind of southern Georgetown. Yeah. And then the Georgetown Morgue is like further up like First Ave, kind of First Ave area. Okay. Okay.
00:07:00
Speaker
Yeah. So, I mean, not far in today's world, but I imagine a bit of a jaunt back in the the early 1900s. For sure. So, like I said, the Broughton brothers bought the morgue and then they turned it or they bought the funeral home and they turned it into a crematorium as well.
00:07:17
Speaker
Charles Broughton also built a small house on the same property. Why you want to live in the same area as your funeral home. Like, first of all, living in the same place that you work is an interesting choice.
00:07:32
Speaker
But then on top of that, when your work is like dead people, a little sketch. I couldn't be me. But... Yeah, I don't know. As a remote worker, i get the the ease of commuting is nice, but yeah, handling dead bodies and then I just, and being so close, I don't know.
00:07:52
Speaker
Maybe you get desensitized, but not for me. Little side note. i The area I grew up in, I remember there's this one street that I'd go past, not like often, but like not infrequently as well. And there was a funeral home, a hotel, and then another funeral home, like on a line on this street. And I just remember thinking really a very young age, like,
00:08:15
Speaker
there's no way I'm staying in that hotel. Couldn't pay me. Like, why are people even there? Like, it's very clearly funeral homes on either side. It's got to be haunted. Yeah. It's like Hotel California. You can check in, but you can never leave. Yeah, exactly. That's... I would stay there.
00:08:33
Speaker
I'll let you know where it's at. It'll be part of the road trip. Yes. So...
Tragic Events at Georgetown Morgue
00:08:40
Speaker
Again, Charles Broughton lived on the same property as he worked. It's a choice. And all was fine and dandy until about 1965 when a 5.7 magnitude earthquake hit Seattle. And while it didn't inflict a ton of damage on the city, it really impacted the crematorium. It actually caused one of the towers to tip, which smashed into the the upper floor of the crematorium and killed Charles Broughton.
00:09:09
Speaker
Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah. Yikes. Okay. Right. Henry was still alive though. And then he continued to operate the business by himself afterwards. Could you imagine? No. I think I would have to at least like,
00:09:25
Speaker
change locations or something i don't know oh yeah well and from what i'm seeing his wife uh or not charles's wife still lived in their house on that property that right a different time i guess i don't know i would be like i'm moving out immediately she did end up uh killing herself on that same in the same house like years later that's yeah this okay so tragedy upon tragedy here it only gets worse only gets worse okay so That was in 65.
00:09:57
Speaker
So flash
Macabre Lore of the Morgue
00:09:58
Speaker
forward to October of 1968. There was a business meeting being held at the funeral home. All the employees of the funeral home and then Henry Broughton as well.
00:10:10
Speaker
So there's nine people in total in here. It's kind of late having a meeting when two to three armed men come in to the the funeral home, bind all of the guests, and then forced them into the crematorium chamber.
00:10:27
Speaker
What? Yeah.
00:10:31
Speaker
Okay. There were no sort surviving surviving witnesses and no suspects were ever found for this. So they killed them? Yeah. Yes. this They killed all the employees.
00:10:44
Speaker
So one might this place is closed. Like every person in the Broughton family that was connected to this funeral home is now dead. Tragically. Not even like, oh, they died in their sleep.
00:10:58
Speaker
It was very peaceful. No. Buildings are falling on them. Suicides. And now armed robber. Armed robbery and murder. Yeah. And a funeral That's like, if I'm a robber,
00:11:09
Speaker
That is the last place I'm probably going. So the rumor is that they were involved with some torrid business. They were doing something they shouldn't have been doing. And that's why they they came in and killed everyone. But still, what what a way to do it.
00:11:25
Speaker
Yeah. Also, like, does not seem like the most efficient, like... that there's so much There's so much room for things to go wrong in that. Like, odd. Yeah.
00:11:36
Speaker
i'm I'm like a little in shock. Like, I did not see that coming. Okay. So, after that, there was no one left to operate the the funeral home slash crematorium from the Broughton family. The surviving relatives ended up selling what was left of it to the city of Seattle.
00:11:53
Speaker
And that is when it became the Georgetown Morgue. Yeah. I do have one last weird encounter that happened, during the the reign of the Broughton brothers. you know, it is all that it's all connected to them. Right. Yeah. so there was a jazz trumpet player named John Figgy Dorsey who passed away and his body was sent to the morgue for funeral proceedings.
00:12:22
Speaker
Okay. So while he was there, the brothers reported that there was a break in and it was discovered that Dorsey's body was missing from the embalming table. Like someone had taken his body.
00:12:37
Speaker
uh oh wait what what year was this 1947 okay because i'm like well maybe it was back in the day but it's too late i was like maybe it's back in the day when you know like people used to rob graves for like physicians or whatever so they could practice their medical stuff but i feel like this is too like they targeted someone Oh, they 100% targeted him because the next morning his dismembered body was found on the lawn of his house.
00:13:06
Speaker
His widow found him. What is the point of that? He was already dead. I don't know. It's just a sign. Yeah, so his wife returned his remains to the funeral home for further, like, processing and procedure. Like...
00:13:24
Speaker
What? did she like collect him in a crate? Like how does one return? m i don't know. I feel like they would come and collect him. Or like the police have to be involved. yes not i don't.
00:13:36
Speaker
Okay. That crazy. That is insane. Okay. And that is the, the legend of the Georgetown mor morgue. And that is why it's such a perfect place for a Halloween haunted house.
00:13:50
Speaker
For sure. It's got some, definitely the good bones for it. Right. I knew it was weird, but I didn't realize how weird. Yeah. the history was And, Again, just a disclaimer, I can't confirm really any of this. This is all legend, but damn, it's a good story. That is a great story. I am very intrigued. I feel like I'm go to have a rabbit hole later. But also by the Georgetown Morgue is a fantastic escape room.
00:14:18
Speaker
Oh my gosh. Yes. I love that place. It's one of the best escape rooms I've ever been to. Well, there's one in Kikarpa that's also really good, but that one is fantastic. Which escape room did you do when you were there?
00:14:32
Speaker
i did the cell block and then i've done the bank one and then i did there was a third one i can't remember the third one we did the i did the morgue one when i went i haven't done that one yet that's the one i want to do is that one crazy it's pretty it's pretty cool we had like too many people doing it i thought we were like eight of us so it was kind of like we're all like moving as a pack through it yeah but it was still really fun that's what happened with the the bank one i feel like there was like maybe too too many people like it was still really really fun but it was just when you have too many people it's hard to like i don't know everyone to look at all of the props while you're like or whatever yeah exactly like one person's jumping ahead because like they already got it and you're just like move around you're like wait for me i did one in west seattle where you're like you it was like in a submarine
00:15:25
Speaker
Oh, I can't do submarines. oh my God. Yeah. If you're claustrophobic, wouldn't recommend, but like it moved, it was like kind of cool. And then you like, you had to open and get yourself out. And then it was like a dessert island. I think it was really cool.
00:15:37
Speaker
That actually sounds really fun. You should send me the name of that. That sounds absolutely. Absolutely. I did one in gig Harbor. It's like gig Harbor escapes or something like that. My child wanted to do it for their birthday and it was a scary one.
00:15:53
Speaker
I will never give this again because you know who had to like bite the bullet and do all the scary stuff? Me. I had to like crawl in this like, like this bit. It was crazy. It was insane. I don't want to give away too much, but that
The Legend of the Rainbow House
00:16:07
Speaker
was an excellent story. I like that one. Right? Yes. So the next kind of local legend I have It has honestly even less information on it.
00:16:17
Speaker
This is a story that i so it's all been verbal. I can't, I've like finally found tidbits online, but like it's like really not anywhere.
00:16:28
Speaker
Okay. But it is the story of the West Seattle Rainbow House. Wait. Have you heard of this? Is it still there? no I don't I've heard I've heard of this. I think I've actually tried to find it.
00:16:42
Speaker
See so like it's like a weird common knowledge of people in the area. I hadn't heard of it in like a year ago I think. Yeah. But there's like nothing online about this rainbow house.
00:16:53
Speaker
Yeah, it was it is a local legend for sure. Because I've heard about this before. I just. Yeah, it's it's kind of crazy. So the story starts off. Actually, I'll tell my version of the story. And then I'm super curious what you've heard about it too. Because i feel like when a story is like all only like verbally told, like there's going to be discrepancies. And I'm like, I'm kind of interested now.
00:17:14
Speaker
For sure. Yeah. so the story that I heard starts with this kid named Adam. So Adam was gay And he lived with his family in the Admiral District of West Seattle. he decided to come out to his dad one day. His dad was infuriated and went on to kill both himself and Adam.
00:17:37
Speaker
And then the next morning, the house basically transformed into this rainbow house where there's rainbow colors and swirls. And there was a rainbow A on the roof. Interesting. Okay. Yes. And then the legend that I heard was that any time it was repainted, it would still it would come back to a rainbow. was kind of Adam making his mark on the world and saying he's still here.
00:18:01
Speaker
Gotcha. Yeah. I like that story a lot better than my story. What story did you hear? It's a club
00:18:13
Speaker
It's like a cool club in Seattle that has like rainbow LEDs. It's LBGQIA friendly. It's got, i don't know, some type of artwork, but it's supposed to be really cool to look at. Cause it's just like all rainbows, all beautiful abstract art, that kind of thing. No no cool story behind the scenes. No lore. I feel like a jerk.
00:18:36
Speaker
So the, Other kind of cool thing about this is that this story was allegedly featured on Unsolved Mysteries.
Myth and Mystery of the Rainbow House
00:18:44
Speaker
I can't confirm that. I can't find anything about that.
00:18:48
Speaker
But I did find an article in the West Seattle blog, which referenced the Rainbow House in some capacity. They didn't really mention the myth, but they did include a photo of the A on the roof. Like the A was definitely on the roof.
00:19:04
Speaker
and I can include a link to the the blog article in our source notes. Yeah. But so the the roof was there, but they are saying that the the painter or the man that lived there was a painter.
00:19:15
Speaker
And that's why the house was so colorful. it was like he had all this paint that he was using. And then once he passed away, his wife kept up all the colors as kind of a tribute to him. However, after they sold the house, sounds like they had like lived there for almost 40 years. Yeah. They sold the house. The new owners repainted it.
00:19:32
Speaker
So – That kind of shoots the the legend out the window. But the crazy thing is like, how how did this legend come to be? and I have no idea. And i have no idea how like anyone has heard about any of this.
00:19:47
Speaker
That's interesting. But it's so cool, right? And the story's horrible, but it's it's cool. And like I have friends that knew where it was at and like have driven past it a ton of times. And he was the one one that actually told me about this.
00:20:00
Speaker
But yeah we were looking it up together and there was nothing that any of us could find indicating more about the story. Interesting. Okay. I feel like I need to find this unsolved mysteries about this.
00:20:14
Speaker
Right? Like I was digging and I couldn't find anything, which that's kind of crazy that multiple people have heard. Well, I think mine can be discounted because I think you can find a club if that exists. So delete mine. But the fact that other people know about the rainbow house and have tried to search for it, that's very interesting.
00:20:35
Speaker
Right. My follow question is if you moved into a rainbow house, would you repaint it or would you keep it rainbow? honestly, I hate the attention. So 100% I would repaint it.
00:20:48
Speaker
I'd probably keep it. That tracks. Considering that I've been wanting to repay my house for like five years. Yeah. Yeah.
00:20:59
Speaker
Yeah, I would much rather just slip into the shadows with a nice beige house. was literally about to say beige. Maybe a green or like a light blue. I might branch out a little bit. A nice blend in to the Washington scenery. Yes.
00:21:16
Speaker
You do camouflage. Ugh. There you go. don't know about that. That's a little... Ugh. I love it. Interesting. Now I want to like go search for this house. Okay.
00:21:28
Speaker
That's going to go on our road road trip too. Absolutely.
Listener Engagement on Local Legends
00:21:31
Speaker
I've been, so I know where the Admiral neighborhood is yeah and now I'm like trying to figure out where it's at. And so if anyone, any if any of our listeners have a heard of the Rainbow House, a let me know what stories you guys have heard because I'm super curious. and then two, if you know where it's at, let me know so we can include it on our on our road trip.
00:21:50
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah.
00:21:52
Speaker
I'm very intrigued. Okay. And if there's a club called the Rainbow House, please sanity check me as well because I feel like it's out there. I'm just imagining you driving around West Seattle looking for this Rainbow House club. It's just not there. It was actually in an Uber, but that's fine. It was more... Paid for an Uber?
00:22:13
Speaker
Yeah. It was during Pride. Let's not talk about it. That was all craziness. Very interesting. Okay. I...
00:22:21
Speaker
I feel like I need to know more about this trumpet player who was wouldn't it be crazy if the trumpet player the house that they lived in was actually the rainbow house
00:22:31
Speaker
it would be crazy but I don't think it is I think that I think the trumpet player lived in Ballard Anna you can't prove any of this just go with it just accept it I feel this episode has really shown the differences in the two of us i like beige and facts Jesse likes rainbow and cool theories Oh, well, those were both excellent stories. Thank you so much. Yes, everyone, please tell us if you've seen the Rainbow House, if you have pictures of the Rainbow House. Let me know if you've been to the Rainbow Club.
00:23:01
Speaker
You can talk to us by sending us an email to btevergreens at gmail.com or you can submit directly on our website beneath the evergreens.com. We would love to hear from you. Or even if you have just any local legends that you've heard that you're interested in.
00:23:17
Speaker
lay them on us. We want to hear about them or listener stories, or even if you just want to say hello, you want to give a shout out, please interact. I promise we're friendly for the most part.
00:23:29
Speaker
Sometimes all right one of us usually is one of us, one of us, most, of the time, both of us, but you never know what you're going to get like like chocolates as they say.
Podcast Conclusion
00:23:40
Speaker
Well, that's it for today's dive into the dark corners of the Pacific Northwest. If you love the stories or shivered a little, be sure to subscribe and follow so you don't miss what's lurking beneath the evergreens next time.
00:23:52
Speaker
Thanks for joining us on Beneath the Evergreens. We appreciate you diving into the mysteries with us. Until next time, keep your rainbows open. Your club's locked. Ha ha ha ha.
00:24:05
Speaker
Ha ha ha ha.