Episode Details

In this episode of Invisible Histories, hosts Cari and Elke visit the Northern State Hospital Cemetery in Sedro-Woolley, WA — a serene field off Highway 20, holding many unidentified graves of more than 1,600 people once confined to Washington’s largest mental institution. Some of the patients’ graves have visible numbers and initials, while many more have sunken under the thick grass or have been damaged by weather.

We’re joined by John Horne, a local historian who has spent years painstakingly researching, mapping, and restoring the site. John shares stories of forgotten patients, missing records, and the evolving effort to honor those buried here — and reveals how advocacy, memory, and truth-telling intersect in the work of remembrance.

 Learn more:

• Northern State Hospital webpage
• Friends of Northern State Hospital Facebook Page
• Northern State Hospital Cemetery Facebook Group
• Finding Lillian Documentary: The lost patients of Washington’s abandoned mental hospital
• Duwamish Poor Farm Memorial Project
• "Under the Red Roof, One Hundred Years at Northern State Hospital" by M J McGoffin.
• Northern State Hospital Wikipedia page
• Atlas Obscura article about Northern State Hospital and Cemetery
• Seattle Times article about Northern State Cemetery July 23, 2025
• The Ghosts of Northern State Mental Hospital. Washington State

Credits:

Episode recorded on site at Northern State Hospital Cemetery

Edited by Elke Hautala

Cover art: Hugh Garrity's grave marker who died in 1911; design by Cari Simson

Music: Uppbeat.io: Stand and Be True by A Path Untold

Cari Simson and Elke Hautala formed Invisible Histories to visually and viscerally connect the public to experiences from the past. Their Invisible Histories podcast unearths diverse local stories and forgotten places. www.invisible-histories.com

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