If you’ve ever been to the Northgate Mall in Seattle, you’ve probably noticed… not much, because it looks like an ordinary mall. And it is perfectly ordinary in many ways, right down to the Auntie Anne’s pretzels. But the Northgate Mall was actually the first fully indoor shopping center in the nation (a decision made thanks to Seattle’s rainy weather), and that’s not even the most interesting thing about it.

The Northgate Mall started with 18 stores in April of 1950.
Andrea Albrecht / TripAdvisor
By 1952, there were over 70 tenants.
The bustling mall has now been a local landmark for over half a century.
Eric Flapjack A. / TripAdvisor
And with a major renovation planned over the next couple of years, it's fun to look back on this mall's eerie history.
In the early 1970s, notorious serial killer Ted Bundy used to hang out in the parking lot at night, where he'd stalk potential victims.
Andy Nystrom / Flickr
In fact, one night Ted Bundy actually helped a woman get her purse back from a thief by apprehending him in the parking lot. Ironically, he was called a hero by the police.

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As we all know, Ted Bundy was eventually exposed as one of the most horrifying serial killers of all time, with more victims than we will ever know.
Andy Nystrom / Flickr
And Bundy stalked countless women from this very parking lot. In fact, the amount of time he spent on I-5 in that area was one of the things that later linked him to the murders.
Here's the weirdest part: Ted Bundy wasn't even the only serial killer to frequent this mall.
Jack T./ TripAdvisor
In 1983, Tracy Ann Winston was abducted from the mall and murdered by Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer. The, the following year, a white-supremacist group carried out a bank robbery there. Some even say this building is haunted.
The renovation of Northgate Mall will begin soon and will include the addition of a park and a hotel.
Jack T. / TripAdvisor
Nothing can change its creepy past, but its future looks bright.

It’s worth noting that Washington might be the only state to have a mall that has an entire “Terrorists and serial killers” section on its Wikipedia page. We definitely live in a wonderfully weird place.

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