Haunted Trails & Forgotten Places: Spruce Railroad Trail
The stories beneath the beauty of Lake Crescent
Lake Crescent is one of those places that almost doesn’t seem real. The water is deep and blue-green, the mountains rise around it, and the forest comes right down toward the shoreline. In October 2018, when I was spending a season hiking places with a reputation for being haunted, the Spruce Railroad Trail offered something different from the hiking trails that I had already visited. Here, the haunting was woven into the landscape itself.
The trail follows the route of an old railroad along the northern shore of Lake Crescent. The railroad was constructed during World War I and was used to transport spruce for aircraft production. Today, much of that old railroad grade has become a hiking and cycling trail, allowing visitors to move through a landscape that once served a very different purpose.
But the railroad isn’t the only history surrounding the lake.
Lake Crescent has its own ghost story, one connected to a woman named Hallie Illingworth. Hallie worked at Lake Crescent Lodge and disappeared in 1937. Her body was eventually found in the lake, and her husband, Monty, was later convicted of her murder.
Over time, Hallie’s story became connected with the legend of the Lady of the Lake. Stories developed about a woman appearing in or around the water, and reports of a mysterious figure became part of the folklore surrounding Lake Crescent.
Whether anyone has actually encountered a ghost is impossible to establish. Those accounts belong to local legend and personal reports rather than documented evidence of a supernatural presence. But the history behind the story is very real, and that distinction matters.
I think that is part of what makes places like Lake Crescent so interesting. A beautiful landscape can hold difficult history without looking anything like the story that happened there.
When you look at the lake, you see the mountains reflected in the water. You see trees and sky. You see a peaceful shoreline. Nothing about the scenery immediately tells you that a woman lost her life there decades ago.
But once you know the story, the landscape changes
The lake is still beautiful
The trail is still peaceful
The trees are still trees
But now there is another layer
That is something I noticed repeatedly during my October hikes. History changes the way we see a place. Once we know what happened somewhere, we can never quite look at it in exactly the same way again.
The Spruce Railroad Trail is a particularly beautiful example of that. You can walk along the old railroad grade and think about the people who once worked there. You can look across the water and think about Hallie. You can notice how the forest has grown around the old route and wonder how many generations have passed through this landscape since the railroad was active.
And then there is the story
The Lady of the Lake
Maybe she is a ghost
Maybe she is a story that grew from tragedy
Maybe the legend has changed with every person who has told it
Folklore doesn’t always require an answer
Sometimes the mystery is part of what keeps us listening
When I think back to that October hike, I don’t remember Lake Crescent simply as a haunted place. I remember it as a beautiful landscape carrying a difficult story, and I think there is something important about allowing both things to exist at once.
Continue Exploring October in the Apothecary
The stories continue from here.
Poisonous Plants, Medicine & Myth
Old plants, strange histories, medicine, mythology, folklore, and the stories humans have woven around the botanical world.
Haunted Trails & Forgotten Places
Old paths, forgotten places, local history, and the stories that linger in landscapes long after the people have gone.
More October stories will be added throughout the month.
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