Save The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus!

 The presentation on hoaxes reminded me of one of my favorite books as a child, Weird Washington: Your Travel Guide to Washington’s Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets.

While this book isn't necessarily centered around hoaxes, it does cover many urban legends in Washington State. Outside of that it covers hauntings, mysterious occurrences, and general oddities. While it was never stated as an influence, this book also reminds me of the Disney Channel show Gravity Falls which is set in Oregon.  

For this post, I want to shed some light on some of my favorite lesser known "legends" based in WA. 

J. Z. Knight - Wikipedia

J. Z. Knight is a spiritual leader known for claiming to channel a 35,000-year-old warrior spirit named Ramtha. She founded the Ramtha School of Enlightenment in Yelm, Washington, which teaches followers about consciousness and creating reality through thought. Critics have called her teachings pseudoscientific and the organization a cult. Supporters, on the other hand, praise it as a path to personal empowerment. This path to empowerment comes at the fair price of thousands of dollars and a yearly retreat to Yelm. Knight appeared on The Merv Griffin Show in the 1980s, bringing “Ramtha” into mainstream pop culture.

Maury Island incident - Wikipedia

The Maury Island Incident happened in 1947, when two men near Tacoma, Washington, claimed to have seen six flying saucers and recovered strange metal debris. They reported the event to the Air Force, but it was quickly dismissed as a hoax after investigators found inconsistencies and the "interstellar debris" turned out to be industrial waste. The case gained new life when “men in black” allegedly visited the witnesses, one of the first times that concept appeared in UFO lore. It’s now seen as one of the earliest examples of UFO conspiracy myths blending mystery with fabrication.

Pacific Northwest tree octopus - Wikipedia

Save The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus

The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus may be one of my favorite internet hoaxes. It is a famous internet hoax created in 1998 by Lyle Zapato, describing a fictional amphibious octopus living in the rainforests near Mount Rainier. The site detailed the “endangered” creature’s habits and threats from logging and climate change, citing photoshopped pictures. It became a viral tool for teaching digital literacy as many students believed it was real until learning it was satire. The site still runs today, and teachers use it to demonstrate the importance of verifying online sources.

Washington State has a rich? interesting? laughable? history of odd events and weird occurrences. While some of them are obvious hoxes, like The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus, some are serious and unsolved mysteries,
like D.B Cooper. 

I accessed this book via: Weird Washington : your travel guide to Washington's local legends and best kept secrets : Davis, Jeff, 1962- : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive if you would like to read it you can make an account and borrow the book for free. I highly recommend doing so!

Wacko Waco

First time U.S. citizens had a view of something crazy on live TV.

• Alex Jones was talking about Waco on his podcast and how he built his initial following.
• Makeshift fort built 7 miles outside of Waco — referred to as a cult or real, honest Christians.
• They used buckets for bathrooms.
• They were taught Koresh was the Lamb.
• Branch off of the Millerite Movement.
• Waco was the cheapest land in the U.S.
• Registered themselves as a church to avoid the draft.
• Became Branch Davidians.
• Believed that God picks individuals to be His prophets and they will be able to teach new biblical truths.
• Things revealed to Koresh: He is the reincarnation of Cyrus; he is the Lamb in the Book of Revelation. As the Lamb, he must take his followers, and they must fight to the death with Babylon (he believes this is the U.S. government), but Jesus will raise them and they will be appointed the new worldly leaders.
• They started buying semi-automatic guns and converting them to automatic before Clinton was elected.
• Did paramilitary training.
• ATF started to put together a case.
• They never once tried to figure out their religious beliefs.
• Branch Davidians knew about the raid; ATF showed up unprepared.
• FBI came in; CNN covered it the entire time.
• Had the birth of American militias.
• Alex Jones gained popularity.
• Demagogues discussion:
• Things these cult leaders say (how Koresh related to Jim Jones and Manson) “Just listen to me,” attempts to isolate followers. “If you disagree, then you just don’t understand. I’m doing this because I love you, and nobody else does.”
• Fire theories: CS gas started the fire? followers started fire as a Mass Suicide? Koresh started fire to protect them.

Here are the notes I took when Jeff Guinn came to speak to our class. I think this was a great discussion and I learned a lot about the Waco incident. He gave me a signed copy of his book which I am happy about. Looking back, I think it was valuable that we discussed the Millerite Movement as it showed the connections and parallels that provided a deeper understanding.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Movie Review

 I thoroughly enjoyed the movie Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. I thought it was a good representation of con artists because it showed them turning their back on each other quite often. Also, at the end they went back to scamming innocent people even after their last scam ended up horrible. Here are some of the things I laughed at and the theory of humor I thought they corresponded with. 

It’s better to be good and honest than to be not.” - Incongruity Theory 

“He called me Lady Fanny.” - Superiority Theory 

The leg whip scene - Superiority Theory 

When he’s running down the stairs and pretending to use his chair - Incongruity Theory

I noticed that most of the class laughed at the last two things in my list but not the first two. I think I laugh most often at funny/random sayings or unique references. As an early teen I really enjoyed Futurerama which tended to fall into that category. One of the funniest movies I have ever seen is Fantastic Mr. Fox which definitely falls primarily into the Incongruity Theory. I think I agree with both theories of humor and saw the class laugh at both examples. This being said, I think the class laughed at Incongruity Theory type instances more often. I really enjoyed spending time analyzing these theories of humor and how they impacted the class. 

Cloudy With No Chance of Christ

If someone told you the end of the world was tomorrow, what would you do? Sell all of your things? Quit your job? Dawn a white robe and climb and apple tree so you can ascend to heaven faster? These are all things the Millerites did in the 1840s after William Miller told them that Christ was returning to earth.

William Miller was a Baptist preacher and farmer from New York. After devoted studies of the bible, he became convinced that Christ would return to Earth around 1843 or 1844. His preaching and teachings spread quickly, amassing thousands of followers who were known as Millerites. His prediction for Christ's return was October 22, 1844. People traveled across states to be with other believers, and communities braced for the end of the world. When midnight passed and the skies remained unchanged, the event became known as the “Great Disappointment.” Instead of ascending to heaven, believers faced ridicule, confusion, and broken faith.

The aftermath of this event is almost just as interesting. As expected, many of the Millerites completely abandoned the movement as they felt betrayed. Others reinterpreted the prophecy, arguing that Christ had moved to Earth spiritually rather than physically. This reinterpretation eventually gave rise to new religious denominations such as the Seventh-day Adventist Church. What began as one man’s "calculation" ended up reshaping the American religious landscape.

I think this is an interesting event to study as it shows the profound impact of collective belief. Thousands of people trusted Miller so much that they completely abandoned their lives to follow him. They had no evidence besides what he told them! This shows how human nature desires certainty and hope, especially in uncertain times. This is still true to this day. Mass movements, whether religious or political, often rise and fall on the strength of belief and persuasion rather than evidence. 

On a micro level, this reminds of the current supplement craze. Somone with a platform can post that some random supplement can help with "mental clarity", "energy", or some other health buzzword. Their "evidence" could be nothing or a "study" that has absolutely zero credibility. This causes people to spend a ton of money on snake oil that doesn't actually help them. While there hasn't been a “Great Disappointment.” within the health industry, it would be interesting to see how many of these brands disappear once/if the FDA regulates supplements. 

Witch Please

The craze began in 1692 with Tituba, an enslaved woman from the Caribbean who worked in the household of Reverend Samuel Parris. When young girls in the village began having fits and strange behaviors, they accused Tituba of witchcraft. Under intense pressure, she confessed and even claimed that others in Salem were involved with the devil. Her testimony set the stage for one of the darkest and strangest chapters in early America. Once the accusations began, they spread quickly. Twelve-year-old Ann Putnam became one of the most vocal accusers. Though she later apologized, at the time her words carried enormous weight. Judges like John Hathorne aggressively pushed the trials forward, relying on “spectral evidence,”. This is an example where dreams and visions were used as evidence to prove guilt. These trials rarely even gave the accused a real chance to prove their innocence. Women weren’t allowed to have lawyers, Rebecca Nurse was tried again to be proven guilty after being proven innocent, and the trials had an overall “guilty until proven innocent” theme.  

The results of these trials were deadly and gruesome. Bridget Bishop was the first executed, while Giles Corey was pressed to death for refusing to plead. Even respected members of the community like Rebecca Nurse were condemned. Salem’s harsh living conditions, property feuds, fear of Native American attacks, and threats of war with France all fed the paranoia. Some historians even point to ergot fungus in rye bread, which can cause hallucinations, as a possible trigger. 

What I find the most interesting is how quickly trust collapsed. Neighbors turned on each other, and suspicion became stronger than truth. The Salem Witch Trials show how quickly fear can dismantle trust and reason.  The most important lessons I took away from this were the importance of protecting individual rights, the dangers of misused authority, and the risks of groupthink/mass hysteria. 

In class, we discussed these topics a bit deeper. I found it interesting that ergot fungus was completely discredited. Betty and Abigail were the only people who showed true “symptoms” . It is sad to think about how scared these girls probably were of the world around them. A fact I found interesting is that Ben Franklin’s aunt was an accuser, yet he is considered a founding father of science. The parallels to modern day are also interesting. There are many events that could be considered witch hunts in modern day that we aren’t analyzing. 

Gone Phishin'

Phishing and catfishing were once online scams online I thought only affected the careless. After studying them more deeply, I realized just how sophisticated and targeted these attacks have become. Online scammers often target vulnerable groups of people such as the lonely, the elderly, or those unfamiliar with technology. I have personally seen this through email phishing attempts at my internship. Scammers sent my team emails requesting gift cards with high urgency, explaining that our upper management needs funds as soon as possible. While our intern team is well versed with technology, we didn’t want to let our bosses down. Thankfully we were warned about this scam, but many had fallen for it in the past. This is not normally the case. In 2022 alone, phishing scams accounted for over $10.3 billion in losses. It is shocking to think that so much money can be lost through deception. This is an issue that needs more attention. 

That email scam is not the only way I have seen these scams in action. Almost weekly I get texts/calls from Texas Toll Tag bills, fake PayPal invoices, and remote job “opportunities”. Thankfully, years of caution has trained me to ignore these messages. Occasionally, I have had to ask for a second opinion because they seem so legit. I think that growing up with technology has taught my generation how to spot these scams fairly easily. Those who have not grown up with technology, such as the elderly, struggle more to see through these scams. This makes me nervous for people like my grandparents as their age group is often the most targeted. They have often sent me AI posts asking if they are real or not. 

When I heard about the scams different groups in class came up with, it made me nervous for the future. Technology has given us incredible tools, many of which people use for ill intent. Falling for these scams doesn’t make you stupid, it makes you human. My biggest takeaway from this research is that awareness is protection. Hover over links, double-check addresses, and look up the numbers contacting you. Scammers work hard and we must work even harder to escape them.