Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1893-07-07
THE MURMURING SEA.
A SOLEMN SOUND AS OF SWARM
ING BEES SALUTES THE EAR.


ING BEES SALUTES THE EAR.
The Air vibrates From Some Hid.
den Cause What Is II? The
Spirit of ssOld Prince" and n
Theory BASED Upon Rational
Causes, both Have Advocates.
"The Mystery of Skookum Bay"
would be an appropriate title OF a
story that might be developed out OF
something strange and wierd" that
prevails on one Of the bays not many
miles from Olympia. Skookum Bay
beg ms at Cape Horn, just below Area
dia, and extends westward for several
miles on beyond Shelton. is broken
with narrow channels and sharp points
around which the incoming tide
rushes and tumbles with the fury of
mill race. WhirlpoOls and eddies
sometimes make it dangerous for the
boatmen who live on these waters.
The tide is so strong that Sound
steamers have to work hard when they
stem it, and it is possible for person
to take long boat ride without pull
ing a stroke, by getting into the cur
rent when the tide is flowing out and
coming back when the tide comes in
again. These surroundings tend to
intensity the mystery that broods over
this bay. For thirty years its exist
ence has been known, but nobody has
been able to solve it.
One evening about dusk the writer
of this article put out into the bay.
just around the point from Cape
Horn. He was accompanied by q
resident of the Sound, who had been
around the original Cape Horn three
times and had spent much of his time
upon the high seas. The tide was
almost full. The wind was fitful and
the sails of the boat alternately fut-
tered and filled as the craft made its
way through the water. Turning into
the wind the boat came to q standstill
and the boatman asked,
"DO you hear that buzzing sound?"
1t was not audible at first, but soon
it could be heard distinctly. 1t seemed
to come up from the depths of the
water and sounded like thresbing
machine in the distance or a big
swarm of bees near by. The sound
rose clear above the rush OF the water
and was totally unlike anything else
within hearing.
"Whst is it?" asked the writer.
Nobody knows" said the boatman.
at has puzzled people on this bay for
the last thirty years. 1t can be heard
at different points along the bay from
Cape Horn to Willey's mill, but no.
body has been able to locate it. OF
course it has made some people super
stitious. They will not pass certain
points at night because OF this sound
in the water. tell you it is enough
to make a person wish he was some
where else when he hears it at night.
| remember one night l was coming
around Skookum point with my wife
and we heard it. Why it was terrific.
1t made the boat tremble and my wife
became so frightened that she wanted
to jump out Of the boat. / wanted to
stop and see if could locate it, but
she wouldn't let me. Others have
heard it the same way. One man in
the neighborhood says it is the ghost
of Old Prince who was found dead in
his shack near Skookum point several
years ago. A man was drowned near
the same point u few years back and
it is thought his spirit is troubling the
water along with that Of Prince. No.
body is able to account for the sound
except upon the theory that it is
caused by the water rushing over
cavities in the bottom of the bay.
This seems highly probable as the
sound is heard only at high tide and
when the water is in rapid motion"
One man says he has heard the
sound as far as Arcadia. Some de-
scribe it as resembling a big Eolian
harp as the notes change and become
somewhat musical. Families living
on the bay have hunted for bees
around the house when they heard it,
before they knew that it came from
the water. An effort has been made
to trace it to some mill, but it seems
to have been as vigorous Is ever when
all the mills were still. People have
become 80 familiar with il that they
show it to visitors as one of the at
fractions of that part of the Sound
1t seems to be generally agreed that it
is caused by natural means, but no.
body has been able to decide or dis
cover just how the natural means"
operate.