During the early morning hours of March 1, 1910, an avalanche roars down Windy Mountain near Stevens Pass in the Cascade
Mountains, taking with it two Great Northern trains and 96 victims. This is one of the worst train disasters in U.S. history and the worst
natural disaster (with the greatest number of fatalities) in Washington.

The train stopped under the peak of Windy Mountain, above Tye Creek. Heavy snowfall and avalanches made it impossible for train
crews to clear the tracks. For six days, the trains waited in blizzard and avalanche conditions. On February 26, the telegraph lines went down and communication with the outside was lost. On the last day of February, the weather turned to rain with thunder and lightning. Thunder shook the snow-laden Cascade Mountains alive with avalanches. Then it happened.....White Death!!!

On March 1, some time after midnight, Charles Andrews, a Great Northern employee, was walking towards the warmth of one of the
Wellington’s bunkhouses when he heard a rumble. He turned toward the sound. In 1960, he described what he witnessed:
"White Death moving down the mountainside above the trains. Relentlessly it advanced, exploding, roaring, rumbling, grinding,
snapping -- a crescendo of sound that might have been the crashing of ten thousand freight trains. It descended to the ledge where
the side tracks lay, picked up cars and equipment as though they were so many snow-draped toys, and swallowing them up,
disappeared like a white, broad monster into the ravine below".

One of the 23 survivors interviewed three days after the Wellington train disaster stated:
"There was an electric storm raging at the time of the avalanche. Lighting flashes were vivid and a tearing wind was howling down
the canyon. Suddenly there was a dull roar, and the sleeping men and women felt the passenger coaches lifted and borne along. When
the coaches reached the steep declivity they were rolled nearly 1,000 feet and buried under 40 feet of snow".
The 23 injured were sent to Wenatchee. The bodies of the 96 dead were transported on toboggans down the west side of the
Cascades to trains that carried them to Everett and Seattle. Ninety-six people died in the avalanche, including 35 passengers, 58
railroad employees sleeping on the trains, and three railroad employees sleeping in cabins enveloped by the avalanche.

For more information on this and other paranormal ghost investigations visit www.pihausa.com (Paranormal Investigations of Historic America).