Mystery and Murder
Lake Crescent often lies quietly as an oft-
seen treasure only making headlines when
it gives up an old secret, such as the 2002
discovery of the wreck of
a 1927 Chevrolet
that carried a
missing couple,
Blanch and
Russell Warren, to
a watery grave in
July 1929.
This is not
the only
secret
the old
Lake has
held. In
1936,
Hallie Latham
Illingworth, a Kentucky native who
became a waitress at Lake Crescent Tavern,
married a local beer truck driver. Multiple
reports of domestic violence ensued and
the local police were called
several times to intervene.
Before Christmas in 1937,
Hallie suddenly vanished.
Her family didn't hear a word
from her for months, while
her husband claimed she
ran off with another man.
He later left the state and
moved to California with a
woman from Port Angeles
with whom he was rumored
to be romantically involved.
For three years, Hallie was considered a
missing person.
On July 6th, 1940, two fishermen on Lake
Crescent spotted a woman's body floating
on the lake, the body was nearly perfectly
preserved.
According to
HistoryLink.Org, "The dead
woman's flesh had turned to something
like Ivory Soap", a condition known as
'saponification.' The soap-like condition
resulted from minerals in the lake
interacting with the fats in the woman's
body. The lake's near-freezing temperatures
had virtually refrigerated the corpse for
years.
The body was identified as Hallie, who was
then dubbed The Lady of the Lake by locals.
Her husband was eventually arrested for
her murder. Beaten and strangled to death,
Hallie's body was weighed down with heavy
weights and dropped into the deepest part
of Lake Crescent. Many say that the lake is
still haunted.
