Olympia Oddities: True Crime and Washington Weirdness with Trista and Steven
Trista and Steven of the Olympia Oddities podcast are our guests for this episode.
Trista was born in Lacey and grew up in Little Rock, just south of Olympia. Steven came to Washington from Nashville and sells mattresses at Mattress Ranch. Their show covers true crime, local history, cryptids and the strange corners of the state, with Trista doing the research and Steven coming in cold so he reacts the way a listener would.
They talk about stories they’ve covered, from Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment, their most popular episode, to Starvation Heights and John Tornow, the outlaw who hid in the woods near Satsop. Trista has visited the site of his final shootout, marked in the woods with memorials, and they share the lumberjack legends of the fearsome critters, like the agropelter.
The oddities tour runs to Marsh’s Free Museum in Long Beach, home of Jake the Alligator Man, with the old world’s largest frying pan across the street, plus the world’s largest egg in Winlock and the Museum of Unnatural History in Walla Walla. Scott adds his own stories from the bunkers at Fort Worden in Port Townsend and Fort Casey.
For lunch, Trista sends listeners to Wayside in downtown Olympia, where the whole menu is plant based and Steven swears by the vegan mac and cheese. Steven’s pick is Old School Pizzeria. They also talk about plans for their first live show, at the Pacific Northwest True Crime Fest in Auburn.
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Founder and editor of Explore Washington State, which he started on Anderson Island in 2010. A lifelong Washington resident who has lived in Tacoma, Ellensburg, Olympia and Seattle and now calls Wenatchee home, Scott curates every place we recommend and answers reader questions himself. He also hosts the Exploring Washington State podcast.
