- In the darkness of night in remote Alaska, Peter Bevis,
a sculptor from Fremont Washington and the salvager who brought the Kalakala
home to Seattle, recalls hearing the voices of laughing women. He relates
how workers saw a pile of burned parchment paper on the floor of one of
the decks only to discover the date was the anniversary of a drowning and
footsteps that were seen in the snow on a deck leading nowhere. Indeed,
some of the most active paranormal activity of mysterious lights seen dancing
inside has been recorded on film by a Seattle Tacoma ghost research group
- A.G.H.O.S.T.
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- Kalakala - who is she?
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- She started out as the Peralta in San Francisco and her
maiden voyage was July 2, 1935 in which 100,000 people watched her launch.
In 1928 five persons drowned after falling off her deck due to a ballast
shift. A fire burned her down to her hull in 1933 and she started anew
in Seattle with Captain Peabody who used a new technique called electro
welding instead of rivets. One has to wonder the enormous energy embedded
in her hull. She served the war efforts well by ferrying millions of people
to Bremerton during WWII without a passenger fatality or serious injury
and even rescued a pilot in 1936. Her final run as a passenger ferry was
Oct. 2, 1967. In 1998 she was blessed by a Russian Orthodox priest before
she made her trip back to Seattle.
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- Cursed, blessed, haunted, sensitives say she is running
the show. Has there been evidence in the past of unusual activity? Engineers
said she protested leaving Seattle by blowing a piston when she was sold
in 1968 to be used as a floating cannery.
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- Dudley Doright vs. Snively Whiplash
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- Peter Bevis became a hero when he salvaged the Kalakala
from Alaska after working on her for three years. He first fell in love
with her in 1984 after his shipping boat passed her by many times. As a
sculptor he loved her art deco curves and he saw the beauty beyond her
rust and dirt and proclaimed KALAKALA, your coming home! He removed plants
and dirt and debris from her decks and brought her into Seattle with an
escort of boats to a cheering crowd of thousands. For five years Peter
Bevis and volunteers spent hundreds of hours renovating her yet high moorage
costs and bankruptcy finally necessitated the sale and auction of the Kalakala.
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- In 2004 the Kalakala was sold to a new owner Stephen
Rodrigues who spent four months trying to find moorage. The Makah Native
American Indian Nation honored her and initially welcomed Rodrigues with
open arms with free moorage. There were only an estimated twenty in town
to welcome her to Neah Bay.
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- Did Rodrigues treat her right? Her new owner tied
her to a dock in which she couldn't hold her moorage due to rough surf
and weather. He towed her out a ways and then according to the people at
Neah Bay he just left her. No repair or restoration was started.
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- Broken Promises?
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- The handful of jobs Rodrigues promised to the Makah Indians
never materialized over the next five months and has resulted in the Makahs
suing concerning this broken agreement and pier damage.
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- Investor Beware
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- Newspaper articles started reporting Rodrigues' numerous
erratic comments to sink her stating he would be forced to sink her if
he couldnt garner $500,000 in funds from selling her movie rights on ebay.
Idle threats? Steve Rodrigues states he is dissolving his Kalakala foundation
in the following week and then adamantly denies the statement the next
day.
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- Mysterious Makahs
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- Archeological digs have shown the Makahs have been in
the area for over 4,000 years if not longer. The Kalakala is just a small
adventure in their long history and they remain calm and dignified in contrast
to Rodriguess outbursts. Despite what happens to the Kalakala, a recent
visit to the area's museum, hotel and cafe along side the Olympic Peninsulas
Neah Bay showed the area is indeed the beginning of the world.
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- Thinking of a day trip?
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- It is one of the most beautiful pristine mystical places
in the state of Washington and at least for the time being may be a persons
last chance to see Kalakala with her lights dancing on the waves.
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- Seeing the Mystery yourself
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- The Kalakala is visible from the 112 highway and is across
from the Makah Museum. Neah Bay is on the very West end of the Olympic
Penninsula and the museum is open 7 days a week. A person can enjoy a Kalakala
burger or pancake breakfast at the Makah cafe or an espresso down the road
next to the marina. Neah Bay is the entryway to Cape Flattery - a location
with its own spirituality and legends of little stick people playing on
the beaches under moonlight.
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