OK, seriously. What is it about our city of subdued excitement that attracts some of our country’s most well-known murderers from the last 50 years?
Of course, it’s common knowledge Kenneth Bianchi (one of the Hillside Stranglers) worked as a security guard in Bellingham before he was arrested by our very own police department for murdering two Western Washington University students in 1979.
John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo — the infamous D.C. Snipers — spent a few months here before beginning a cross-country rampage to Washington D.C. in 2002. They even stayed at the Lighthouse Mission and Malvo attended Bellingham High School.
Billy Milligan (who is not technically a serial killer, but is notorious enough to have his own Netflix docuseries) briefly hid out on High Street after escaping a mental hospital and possibly murdered someone while here.
Like in any town in the great state of Washington, there are some unsubstantiated rumors that Ted Bundy and Gary Ridgway — two of the most nefarious serial killers — passed through. The Waterfront Seafood and Bar off Holly Street has even been dubbed the “serial killer bar” because several of the above-mentioned people are rumored to have frequented it.
But, what is it about little old Bellingham? We know it’s grown astronomically recently due to everyone in California realizing how great it is here, but up until 10 years ago, it was just another sleepy, coastal town — almost in Canada — that no one paid much attention to. Yet, it attracted some of the most abominable serial killers. Is it our gray, Vitamin D depriving skies? The endless woods offering abundant opportunity for murder and mystery?
Could we be harboring more serial killers?
