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Weird Travel Guides
Weird Washington: Your Travel Guide to Washington's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets
Ah, evergreens, coffee, rock, and rain. That's pretty much it, right? Well, no. There is a whole lot of weird going on in our state. Washington is home to some of the weirdest travel destinations, scariest legends, and most colorful folks in the United States.Because there are so many odd and unusual tales, cemeteries, beasts, and people here, it took two authors to traverse the state to document it all. With cameras and notepads, and apples (of course) in hand, Jefferson Davis and Al Eufrasio boldly ventured the highways and byways, back roads and forests, shorelines and mountaintops to investigate all the state has to offer.For starters, there are lots of unexplained events here—in fact, we're ranked number two in the whole country for mysterious America's only unsolved hijacking happened here; look up, but watch out for raining rocks, mysterious flying men, and UFOs; look down, and you might uncover a body turned to soap in Crescent Lake or deadly monsters in Lake Washington.Where else can you find a tribute to a giant squirting razor clam? Discover Ozette, our own Pompeii of the Pacific Northwest, cruise by Gospodor's monumental controversy on your way to Gravity Hill, but if that's Bigfoot you see, no worries because here in Washington, Bigfoot saves lives! Investigate the elusive Northwest tree octopus, feed a hungry ghost at Starvation Heights, and see what's not going on in Aberdeen. Yes, Washington is a whole lot weirder than you ever imagined, and Weird Washington is here to show and tell you all about it.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published May 6, 2008
9 people are currently reading
192 people want to read
About the author
Jefferson D. Davis
7 books3 followersJeff Davis was born in Vancouver, Washington in 1962. According to family tradition he is related to his namesake, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy. Jeff is an Army brat who grew up playing in and around the Vancouver Barracks. This led to an interest in the military and history. Late night horror movies led to an interest in ghosts, mythology, and archaeology.
After a three year enlistment in the U.S. Army, Jeff returned to college where he earned a Bachelor's degree in Anthropology. For several years Jeff worked for the U.S. Forest Service as an archaeologist in the Gifford Pinchot, the Boise, the Umatilla, and Mt. Hood National Forests.
In 1995 Jeff and his wife moved to England for a year where he earned his MA in Archaeology at the University of Sheffield. His thesis topic was the lifestyle of the Viking settler in Greenland. That is where he received the inspiration for his publishing company name, Norsemen Ventures.
In addition to his work as a freelance archaeologist and researching books on the paranormal, Jeff is planning on traveling to Greenland and producing a documentary on the Vikings who settled there.
After a three year enlistment in the U.S. Army, Jeff returned to college where he earned a Bachelor's degree in Anthropology. For several years Jeff worked for the U.S. Forest Service as an archaeologist in the Gifford Pinchot, the Boise, the Umatilla, and Mt. Hood National Forests.
In 1995 Jeff and his wife moved to England for a year where he earned his MA in Archaeology at the University of Sheffield. His thesis topic was the lifestyle of the Viking settler in Greenland. That is where he received the inspiration for his publishing company name, Norsemen Ventures.
In addition to his work as a freelance archaeologist and researching books on the paranormal, Jeff is planning on traveling to Greenland and producing a documentary on the Vikings who settled there.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
November 12, 2017
I was hoping for more creep out stories. I did find out info on a trio of monuments alongside the I5 corridor I've always wondered about...but nothing that really intrigued me.
February 25, 2017
I think "Weird" is the perfect name for this book. They claim it is a travel guide but the majority of the entries are stories about local legends, fabled people (JZ Knight, Butch Cassidy, D.B. Cooper) or creatures like Bigfoot and Thunderbird. There are a lot of silly stories about UFO's , a tire eating hole in the ground, lots of haunting's, ghosts, and your typical drunk teenager in 1962 "saw something go bump in the night" in a foggy cemetery stories. Numerous places hypothetically you could visit but they are private property and the book ask that you respect that and also warns that many of them have security or private guards. Now there are some attractions among the "Roadside Oddities" you can easily visit; Ye Olde Curiosity Shop in Seattle, the attractions in Long Beach, Freemont, and Stonehenge but if you are local you don't need a book to tell you this. There of course are a few others, the Lee's grave, Jimi Hendrix grave and then a lot of others could be drive-bys of the exteriors if you were in the area & really interested. The book is exactly what it claims to be- weird.
June 29, 2009
I got this thinking it might be a fun way to tour the state on a vacation coming up. Turns out it's mostly ghost stories with a smattering of other weirdness that mostly isn't tourable. But it was fun none-the-less. The authors are ghost hunters and wackiness investigators first and writers second, so some of the writing got on my nerves (as well as the overemphasis on ghosts), but it was a fun read and great to keep on the coffee table for a while.
November 6, 2008
I was excited about reading this book, but we are just not that into ghost hunts and houses of mystery. I might have found this book totally awesome and intriguing at age 9, but I had questionable taste back then.
April 4, 2011
It's an amusing read, but really not terribly useful if you're hoping to find less run-of-the-mill places to visit (most entries have prominent warnings about private property and not trespassing).
November 11, 2019
I thought a lot of the stories were interesting, especially since I only recently moved to Washington. As one of the other reviews mentioned, there is quite a lot about haunted places, which really doesn't interest me, but that more like a quarter to a half of the book, not the entire thing. My favorite story was the legend of the spirits that became Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Hood, and Mt. Adams.
October 21, 2017
I've got to get directions to a couple of these spots -- I'm especially interested in the anti-gravity hill around Prosser.
November 11, 2024
Being from Washington had to read!!
January 20, 2025
Very fun!
June 3, 2009
Weird Washington book review 5 stars - finished 6/2/09
Eat local, act local, shop local. The localmotion craze is taking over every facet of our lives these days. In 2009, my little family made a plan to travel local. We love to see the sights, visit new places and try exciting things we've never imagined before. However, the carbon footprint of airline travel rests heavily on my soul & I admittedly don't prioritize giving my money to carbon-offsetting programs. So, this year, we're committed to our own version of "stay-cations," limiting our travel mostly to places within a two hour drive of our home (ok, we make an exception for Vancouver BC but hi, Vancouver is awesome). My dad used to say that if you don't like where you live, you should move. (He never was one for family vacations!) So my family is working on really loving where we live.
We're curious and easily entertained roadtrippers, so there's always plenty for us to see, but it helps to get a guide. I've been pouring over WA travel guides for six months now, and Weird Washington has the most contributions to our family's summer plans. I'm especially thrilled by this series because one of my photos is going to be in the Weird Oregon book! But even before that special, personal tie, I adored the Weird Pennsylvania book, and I'm so stoked there's a similar book for WA. There is actually an entire Weird travel guide series, including a lot of states and England. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weird_(T...
This might be a unique market niche - I am exactly the kind of person who checks roadsideamerica.com anytime I'm passing through a new town or region. Weird Washington is like a heavy, hardback bound copy of those weird stops and sights, with some research, context and history thrown in for good measure. I left it on my dining room table for a few weeks, and it seemed like every member of my family was thumbing through it at some point. From giant roadside sculptures to pop art, haunted cemeteries to freaky museums, Weird Washington takes you on a non-stop rollick through the hills, forests, valleys and waterways that make stay-cations more fun than vacations. I appreciate that the Weird team advises that you stay away from the smaller historic family cemeteries - it's really disrespectful to send visitors tramping through private places. I almost wish they had left the off-limits places out of the book, though. Troll Haven is way out of my price range of accessibility, so it might be better if I didn't long to visit it so much. I just really love the wonderful, wild, weird stuff that road sides provide. We visited the Museum of Mysteries in Seattle and enjoyed their oxygen bar on the recommendation of this book. Many of my favorite strange places appear in these pages, and I loved getting more backstory than I could have learned on my own. It also jump-started my Bigfoot curiosity. That's a story for another time.
Eat local, act local, shop local. The localmotion craze is taking over every facet of our lives these days. In 2009, my little family made a plan to travel local. We love to see the sights, visit new places and try exciting things we've never imagined before. However, the carbon footprint of airline travel rests heavily on my soul & I admittedly don't prioritize giving my money to carbon-offsetting programs. So, this year, we're committed to our own version of "stay-cations," limiting our travel mostly to places within a two hour drive of our home (ok, we make an exception for Vancouver BC but hi, Vancouver is awesome). My dad used to say that if you don't like where you live, you should move. (He never was one for family vacations!) So my family is working on really loving where we live.
We're curious and easily entertained roadtrippers, so there's always plenty for us to see, but it helps to get a guide. I've been pouring over WA travel guides for six months now, and Weird Washington has the most contributions to our family's summer plans. I'm especially thrilled by this series because one of my photos is going to be in the Weird Oregon book! But even before that special, personal tie, I adored the Weird Pennsylvania book, and I'm so stoked there's a similar book for WA. There is actually an entire Weird travel guide series, including a lot of states and England. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weird_(T...
This might be a unique market niche - I am exactly the kind of person who checks roadsideamerica.com anytime I'm passing through a new town or region. Weird Washington is like a heavy, hardback bound copy of those weird stops and sights, with some research, context and history thrown in for good measure. I left it on my dining room table for a few weeks, and it seemed like every member of my family was thumbing through it at some point. From giant roadside sculptures to pop art, haunted cemeteries to freaky museums, Weird Washington takes you on a non-stop rollick through the hills, forests, valleys and waterways that make stay-cations more fun than vacations. I appreciate that the Weird team advises that you stay away from the smaller historic family cemeteries - it's really disrespectful to send visitors tramping through private places. I almost wish they had left the off-limits places out of the book, though. Troll Haven is way out of my price range of accessibility, so it might be better if I didn't long to visit it so much. I just really love the wonderful, wild, weird stuff that road sides provide. We visited the Museum of Mysteries in Seattle and enjoyed their oxygen bar on the recommendation of this book. Many of my favorite strange places appear in these pages, and I loved getting more backstory than I could have learned on my own. It also jump-started my Bigfoot curiosity. That's a story for another time.
February 16, 2014
This was a simple little book that at times was fun and interesting. I am not particularly interested in stories of UFOs or ghosts, but I do know there are people who are. This is a good book for them, so for what it is, it is good, perhaps four stars. It gets three stars from me though because I thought the pictures and figures could have used captions so we could know what we're viewing. Also, sometimes, the pictures did not match what was being described with effort within the text, and I wanted to see that. Perhaps that was a matter of what the authors could actually photograph on private properties? Anyway, it was nice break from Moby Dick :)
June 6, 2016
Road trip? I now have a summer of cruising around Washington in my plans. I can hardly wait to see those places i have seen before, visit the places i have just dreamed about, and finding the ones i just found out about. The authors have peaked my interest to the maximum. Next stop maps and plotting the first trip. Can hardly wait to share with the world how awesome Washington is. A fabulous read.
October 16, 2010
Loved this book and the little tidbit stories about all things odd in Washington. Would love to get my hands on the Weird Oregon one now.
January 10, 2011
Bobo, Bigfoot, and the Dancing Wild Man of Factoria.
February 7, 2011
I was skeptical that this book would be worthwhile but I really enjoyed it. I think it offers a lot of fun ideas for when you are on a long road trip or even need a cheap quick weekend adventure.
June 1, 2011
It's a weird book, that I checked out on a whim and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Apparently there are "weird" books for other states and one for the US. I recommend, checking them out.
August 4, 2011
What an fascinating book! So much I didn't know about the "weird" state I am living in.
August 5, 2011
this book was good- it gave a lot of fun places to visit, and stories I didn't know about right around here!
Read
February 23, 2013makes me want to go travel and look. Looking for more books on sanitariums and creepy places.
May 1, 2015
nice book about the weird in washington.
June 10, 2013
Half this book is very interesting- half of this book is just odd and unbelievable. I did learn that a road not even 1/2 a mile from me is supposedly haunted though!
September 7, 2013
I found some really cool places to visit using this book, such a cool guide that I even bought a copy for a friend.
November 13, 2013
The best way to get to know a new state of residence is to read about it in books like this one. Now I've got a whole lists of places I want to visit. Very fun and informative!
August 16, 2015
It's Frances Farmer, not "Francis" Farmer.
June 6, 2016
I picked this book up at a second hand store for $.89 so I couldn't pass it up. It tells a bunch of interesting stories and facts about Washington state. Some i'd heard of and some I hadn't.
March 3, 2016
Great book, great guy.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews