dept of lost entities and theoretical hoaxes
All over Broadway, flyers announce “Theres a living mountain in lake washington” and ask “HAVE YOU SEEN WILLATUK?” At first I thought it might be an explanation for the reports of late autumn swimmers, but a Google search turns up only two pages mentioning Willatuk.
One is for willatuk.com, which appears to be a promotional site for a film about Seattle’s Sea Serpent. The other is for the consulting firm that designed the site. I’m not entirely convinced that the film exists and suspect that the flyers might be guerilla marketing in support of a web joke.
So, has anyone seen (or heard of) Willatuk? Or have thoughts about its (or the film’s) existence?
I saw Willatuk but nobody believes me
It is real. very, very real. Enjoy the flick when it comes out.
A few summers ago I was swimming off the shores of Magnuson and I saw something very very large come up towards the surface. Too large to be a fish, I frantically swam towards shore and got the hell out of the water! I don’t know what it was….Willituk maybe?
I thought I was the only one…
We go out to the lake all the time to hang out in our boat. One time we dropped in at Kirkland like we usually do and took off on our way to Lake Union to go to get a bite to eat and have some drinks. It was late night when we were coming back, which by then everyone was quite inebriated, but me. I was just holding my warm beer all night pretending I was wasted since I don’t drink that much.
It was scary because as we were coming through the arboretum, my friend in the front said “watch out for that bouy”. It was really dark now and I had a hard time seeing it, but when I did, it appeared to be moving. It looked more like a large turtle but didn’t swim like a turtle. It plowed through the water and then disappeared. Willatuk? It’s too freaky for me to think about. My drunk friends didn’t even care they just wanted to get to the party.
I saw something…. or I think I did…. it was grey and so was the night. There was a luster to the hump, and I swear it moved, then I saw a smaller bump, maybe the head? Or was my mind playing tricks on me? There must be a movie out there, since no one would believe this – I mean the sheer size of it – unless it were captured on film….
I was the friend in the front of Alden’s boat that night…Willatuk is quite real. I got a good look at his tail as he submerged and started to swim away, it’s pretty scarred and marked up…I imagine from getting nicked on all of the boat props on the lake.
I’ve lived in or around Seattle most of my life, and thought the Willatuck thing was a load of crap. But sure enough, something happened. After several beers one summer night, some friends and I jumped into Lake Washington at the Kirkland Marina. Seconds later, something monstrous jumped out of the water. It was bigger than anything I’d ever seen, the splash was enormous.
Everyone just froze. After a moment or two of terror, we all swam back to the dock. I can’t tell you for sure it was Willatuck, but I’m a believer now.
Did anyone ever used to jump off the abandoned viaduct near the UW Arboretum? My first time, I was perched up there, trying to work up the nerve to jump off, when I looked down and something didn’t seem right. It was like this tremendous shadow gliding under the surface of the water but moving at an ungodly seed. It only flashed below for a second or two, and instinctively I backed down off the perch, asking if anyone had seen it. Naturally, my buddy I was with just thought I was coming up with a lame, last minute excuse not to jump. All along I thought that maybe it was my subconscious messing with me so I wouldn’t jump. But now I’m not so sure.
Can’t say I’ve ever heard of Willatuk before, but I saw the movie webiste and that definitely looks real to me. I might even check it out just to see what kind of evidence they present.
P.S. FYI, I did end up making the jump a week later – scary but fun!
Wow, it’s really amazing that the Wilatuk legend is resurfacing. Back when I was going to college at WWU, I took an Art History class on Indigenous Cultures, and the professor brought in a hand carved statuette of a sea serpent type creature. It was carved in whale bone by a member of the Dwuamish tribe sometime in the early 19th century, and our professor said that it was a spirit totem or something.
I’m inclined to be skeptical myself, but the Dwuamish tribe did live in the Seattle area, so the statuette could have been carved based on some type of aquatic animal that lives in Lake Washington. The movie sounds interesting, I never really thought much of it before, but I’m interested now to see if there is anything to this legend or not.
I too Googled Willatuk after seeing the flyers on Capitol Hill. I am surprised at the similarity the
I too was a non-believer until that one fateful day. What a sight….
I am a cryptozoologist who lives in Sydney Australia. There are several refernces in this part of the world of similar fresh water serpents. I am convinced of the relationship between WILLATUK and local serpents such as the Mirreeulla. See references in link below on my website which documents serpents.>>>>>>
THE HAWKESBURY RIVER MONSTER – Dharuk tribal Aborigines of the New South Wales central coast, north of Sydney, have preserved traditions of enormous reptilian
Years ago, my girlfriend and I used to sneak into the Ballard Locks at night while the salmon were running and net them. We had just moved back to the city and we were broke. It was great, the salmon would feed us for months and we could sell what we didn’t eat down at the docks. One night, there appeared to be a frenzy on the east side of the locks. I thought it was a big shark at first, but with a closer look, no dorsal fin was present. I’m not sure what it was, but it was big, and it was taking all the fish that were rightfully mine.