Chapter Two
September 26, 2026
September 26th, 1946. 9:49AM Pacific
CONFIDENTIAL To the Custodian of this File:
I trust the first set of duplicate papers arrived last month and remain safely in your possession. I am sending the enclosed records from my first visit to the Waltham Building and Liberty Hotel.
The materials recovered during the August 22 boiler repairs remain unexplained. They appear to be connected with last year’s poisoned liquor incident, yet the containers look decades old and were found wrapped in a newspaper dated June 5, 1889, behind masonry the workmen believed had remained undisturbed since the building was constructed. I have recorded the condition of the wall and the recovered objects in the accompanying Case Notes. I am not yet prepared to accept any conclusion about how they came to be there.
The building plan led me from the boiler and coal bin rooms on the west side to the former ground floor entrance on the east, now beneath the present sidewalk. A hotel key opened a secured door leading into the areaway. Once inside, I found a second locked door near the former main entrance. I could not open the door, so I photographed it and the surrounding masonry.
While inside the areaway, I detected the odor of horses and heard what resembled an animal shifting in harness beside a wagon. I found no source for either occurrence in the passage or on the street above and have recorded the incident in my notes.
Interviews with the residents produced further accounts of returned belongings, unexplained cooking smells, a red cloak, and lights or matches failing near the areaway. These accounts are included in my notes, although I have not yet determined whether they are relevant.
My next step will be to develop the film. Copies of the floor plan, property card and Case Notes are enclosed for safekeeping, along with the 1889 newspaper and a recent news clipping that may be relevant.
I am also enclosing the business card the men produced when I asked how they had found me. They said it was lying on the pavement in front of the hotel on the morning the boiler repairs began. The paper is yellowed, brittle and badly worn. The design on these cards is new, printed only recently and I have given them to very few people.
Yours very truly, B.B. Wolf
DUPLICATE RECORDS
1. Case Notes
2. Real Property Card (Waltham Building)
3. Waltham Building Architectural Floor Plan
4. Newspaper Remnants, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 5, 1889
5. My business card
6. Newspaper clipping regarding stolen shoes, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
9/24/46, 9:10 a.m., document review:
I visited the County-City Building at 516 3rd Ave and obtained copies of the original 1890 Waltham Building architectural basement floor plan from the City Engineering Department and the 1937 Real Property Card from the Assessor’s Office.
1:40 p.m.
Notes on 1890 Waltham Building Basement Floor Plan:
The drawing originated as the 1890 ground floor plan with main entrance to the east, and was revised in 1893 after the surrounding street grade was raised shortly after the rebuild following the Great Seattle Fire. The former ground floor was retained as the basement. The revisions show the South Second Street sidewalk areaway and retaining wall of the infilled raised street level on the east, the alley areaway and new coal chute on the west, and vault lights admitting daylight from the sidewalk above. Address shows South Second Street, reflecting earlier Seattle street names before this street was named Occidental Ave S. in 1895
Notes on Real Property Card regarding The Waltham Building 311–313 Occidental Ave S, The Liberty Hotel.
Information confirms size of basement and area under sidewalk, other fixtures and facilities associated with the hotel
9/25/46, 4:00 p.m., site visit:
Liberty Hotel
Mr. Dwyer (hotel clerk) gave me a tour of the hotel.
Main entrance to the hotel at 311 1/2 sits between 311 to the north and 313 to the south, which are occupied on the ground level by Ida La Wansky’s merchandise salvage shop, R.L. Cook Sales & Supply Co., and Pacific Coast Export Co.
The hotel entrance is up a stairwell that leads to the desk on the 2nd level. The 2nd and 3rd floors are exclusively for the hotel. The hotel is primarily dormitory style, with beds arranged similar to a military barracks. There is an office on the second level and 8 private rooms on one side, 20 beds on the other. The third floor has about 60 beds. Altogether, about 80–90 men are on the premises on any given night. Each level has two toilet rooms and a urinal, sinks and one shower with hot water, and a cloakroom. There is a drinking fountain on the second level. There are signs prohibiting loud talking, smoking, and drinking on the premises. Each man shows their bed check ticket at the desk when they come in. The clerk keeps a record of the lodgers. He showed me his ledger, payment tracking, bed check receipts with bed or room numbers, et cetera. Many of the men have lived here for years and are well known to each other.
9/25/46, 4:50 p.m., site visit interviews:
I spoke with a few men regarding unexplained incidents.
Mr. Arthur Thompson had his shoes go missing, which he assumed to be stolen by another lodger. He filed a police report and spoke with a newspaper reporter who published his story. The next morning, his shoes were under his bed freshly shined and with new laces.
Four lodgers spoke with me about cooking smells on site. Food smells waft upstairs around supper time. They state the nearest cooking facilities are a few blocks away.
Mr. Dwyer joined the men to add they had also seen a woman’s red garment (a long, woolen hooded cloak in an unusual style) hanging in the second floor cloakroom, always briefly. They stated no one has witnessed a woman entering or leaving the premises wearing this cloak. Mr. Dwyer stated he most certainly would have noticed a woman in the hotel.
5:25 p.m., site visit basement:
Notes on Basement:
Basement is mostly empty of any furniture or machinery except for the non-functioning elevator machinery, the boiler, some debris and old construction materials from previous businesses. Original entrance on east side now connects to underground areaway. It is boarded up and padlocked. (Very unlikely anyone could enter the basement through the areaway.) Old stored or abandoned luggage (some looks ransacked?) sits in the basement near the padlocked door.
I was able to gain access to areaway with Mr. Dwyer’s master key. Area is largely neglected but there is evidence people have used it for illicit purposes in the recent past (a small pile of discarded liquor bottles that look to be a few years old and a stained musty mattress sit against the retaining wall under a brick arch.) Visibility was not ideal as the electric bulbs are very dim at this end of the basement and areaway, but the overhead vault lights from the sidewalk above let some light through. (Mr. Dwyer showed me that he was unable to light even a match on the east side of the basement, but on the west side he had no problems. How curious! Could it be the dampness of the underground areaway seeping in?)
I took photos of the underground portion of the front of the building with my flash bulb. Considerable debris rests against this area, occluding what appears to be a door that I was unable to access. (There is no corresponding passageway on the opposite side of the wall in the interior of the basement, where the original north stairwell is located, and this door does not appear on the 1890/1893 floor plan. Hopefully my photos will shed some light on the condition of the area on this side beyond what I could see with the bare eye. The surrounding masonry otherwise appeared sound.
site visit basement, continued:
The areaway smelled of damp brick and earth, as is common in older Seattle cellars. Sounds carried and echoed in the manner expected of an enclosed corridor beneath a sidewalk. While examining the eastern front wall, however, I detected the unmistakable odor of horses. Shortly afterward, I heard what resembled a hoof striking the pavement, followed by the creak of harness leather and the movement of a wagon. I found no source for either the odor or the sounds in the areaway or on the street above. Passing traffic, distorted by the acoustics, may account for what I heard, though not for what I smelled. I have added the incident to the list of unexplained occurrences at this address.
6:10 p.m., evidence inventory
The recovered materials included one can of “Red Rid” brand denatured alcohol solvent and a crate containing twelve sealed mason jars, packed in newspaper dated June 5, 1889. The jars are unlabeled, and their metal lids are heavily rusted. The solvent can cap is rusted shut; its label is faded and stained. I cannot account for deterioration of this degree after one year. The objects appear decades old.
6:40 p.m., visit concluded
[signed B.B. Wolf]
When asked how they found me, the men from the hotel told me my business card was on the sidewalk on Occidental in front of the Liberty Hotel the same day the poison whisky and solvents were found sealed in the wall. This is a new business card design I had only shared with a handful of people by August 22, yet the card looks like it’s been through the wringer.
The original 1890 ground floor architectural drawings for the Waltham Building at 311-313 Occidental Ave (formerly South Second Street) with 1893 revisions to account for the raised street grade that converted the main ground floor into the basement and created the areaways that make up Underground Seattle
The 1937 Real Property card from King County showing the details of the Liberty Hotel at 311 1/2 Occidental in the Waltham Building
I interviewed Mr. Thompson who informed me that after he spoke with the Post-Intelligencer Reporter, his shoes were returned in better condition, shined and with new laces.
The solvent and jars were wrapped in a Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper dated June 5, 1889.
Originally published in
The Werewolf Post No. 2, The September Full Moon
THE WEREWOLF POST, September 2026 Full Moon
MISSING?
Caption: Postmaster Wanda out for repairs
Neighbors were surprised to find Postmaster Wanda absent from her usual portal in the cluster mailbox this week. “I went to get the mail and nearly had a heart attack when I saw she was gone!,” said one resident. Any concerned parties can rest assured that Wanda will return after some brief repairs.
Heroes Work Here has braved the elements of the wet Seattle climate for 21 months with minimal damage, which came as a great relief. Repairs will hopefully allow her to weather similar conditions for years to come.
In October she will travel to Portland, Oregon for the Portland Miniature Show. She will be exhibited alongside two other pieces from artist Miriam Stone Wilson.
UNEXPLAINED FINDINGS
Caption: Nowhere to be found
A group of lodgers at the Liberty Hotel rooming house in Pioneer Square, Seattle, contacted a private investigator after dangerous materials were found sealed in the walls of their hotel. This is a developing story.
PORTLAND MINIATURE SHOW PROMISES TO DELIGHT
The Portland Miniature Show will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year, under the new leadership of Parrish & Kris Bleau. During the three-day event, there will be workshops, Mini Acres, giveaways, exhibits, special guests, artisans, and dealers. There is guaranteed to be something for every miniature lover to enjoy at this show.
Join the fun October 16–18, 2026 at the Sheraton by Marriott, 8235 NE Airport Way, Portland, OR 97220. Ticket prices range from $6–$30. Register early for best workshop selection. For those traveling from the north, please check traffic conditions and allow extra travel time, as southbound I-5 closures may still be in effect.
SUPERNATURAL MYSTERY DEBUTS
The first chapter of the new serialized story The Unburning was released to email subscribers on the last full moon. After a short time, the story was then made available to the general public. Access to specially prepared printable miniature items is available for everyone on the email list. This month’s installment reveals the impossible discovery that sets the story in motion.
CLAIRVOYANCE
MME R.R. HOOD — NATURAL BORN, GIFTED in telling past and future. All troubled may call for guidance. Hood House on South Second Street between Main and Jackson. Protective Charms, Remedies and Balms also prepared for a small fee.