Lake Crescent is a magnificent body of water located entirely within Olympic National Park. It’s known for its brilliant blue water and its clarity, which is caused by a lack of nitrogen in the water inhibiting the growth of algae.

But as beautiful as it is, this lake is sadly the site of something quite sinister and unpleasant.

In 1936, a woman named Hallie Latham Illingworth married a local beer truck driver. Hallie was a waitress at Lake Crescent Tavern.
Tom Collins / Flickr
The man was a known womanizer, and the marriage was terrible. Hallie would show up to work with bruises and black eyes, and there was at least one domestic violence incident where the police were involved.
As the holidays approached in 1937, Hallie disappeared.
Jane / Flickr
Hallie's husband, Monty, told everyone that she had run off with another man. But no one heard from Hallie again, not even her family. Eventually, Monty moved to California with a woman from Port Angeles.
Three years later, in 1940, a woman's body floated to the top of the lake.
Kevin Dooley / Flickr
The body was discovered by two fishermen. And although the woman's features were unrecognizable, her body had been perfectly preserved. She was later identified as Hallie.

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What happened to Hallie's body is called saponification, which gave her skin the consistency of Ivory soap.
Nagarajan Kanna / Flickr
The soap-like condition resulted from minerals in the lake interacting with the fats in Hallie's body.
Monty was arrested for Hallie's murder and brought back from California for a trial.
John Westrock / Flickr
Monty swore that Hallie was alive when he last saw her. But Hallie's friends identified clothes worn by the dead woman as belonging to Hallie, and her old dentist testified that the woman's dental plate was definitely Hallie's. When rope used to tie Hattie's body was found to match rope that Monty borrowed from a storekeeper on the lake, he was convicted and sent to prison.
Lake Crescent is a picturesque and peaceful place. But what happened here was definitely tragic.
Bala Sivakumar / Flickr
Hallie was called the Lady of the Lake by locals, and some people swear she haunts the area.

If haunted houses exist, surely a haunted lake isn’t much of a stretch. After all, Washington even has a haunted hiking trail.

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