There are two major areas of activity in the park, the first is along 5 Mile Drive where the spirit of a young girl still rides her bike long after being killed. The other is in the Pagoda where the deaths of a bride caused her groom to commit suicide, he still searches for his bride to this day. Read below for more details on both hauntings.
Hauntings
5 Mile Drive: In the late 1980's a 14 year old girl named Jennifer B disappeared while riding her bike in the park. Her body was later discovered and her killer was never caught. Late at night the sound of a bicycle can be heard around the 5 Mile Drive. Several years later a couple flagged down a Park Police officer and admitted she had been driving on the drive after the park was closed. She said as she was rounding the turn by the Narrows viewpoint, she observed a young girl standing next to the side of the road with a light colored bicycle. She pulled over and her boyfriend got out to ask the girl if she was okay, since it was late and the park was closed. The boyfriend screamed and jumped back in the car and kept screaming at her to go. As she was leaving, in the red tail lamp glow, she saw the girl vanish. The boyfriend was shaking and later told her the girl had no eyes but was smiling at him. Several other people have said that they have seen a girl riding alone near dusk and whenever they stop or look back at her, she vanishes.
The Pagoda: This structure used to be the trolley terminus at Point Defiance in the early part of the 20th century. The building was remodeled and is now rented out for weddings/parties. Visitors, workers, and the Police have reported hearing footsteps made with hard soled shoes walking around the building after dark. The footsteps seem to be walking down the stairs on the east side of the building, then abruptly stop. Sighing can be heard at other times and there are cold spots in the storage area below the building. A tale has been told about a young newlywed couple during the 1920's. The husband and wife would catch the trolley to Point Defiance and the husband would see his wife off for the day to visit her parents on Vashon Island. Small groups of boats would shuttle people to the island for a fee. The husband would return in the evening to meet his wife. As the small launch she was riding in approached the Boathouse area, it took on water. Many people were thrown overboard in the confusion and the husband observed with his pocket spyglass his wife flailing in the water in her heavy period clothes as she went under. Overcome with grief, he walked down the stairs to the marbled restroom, pulled out a small pocket pistol and shot himself in the head. It is said it is his ghost that haunts the Pagoda.
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