My family moved to the Yakima Valley back in 1977 from Lake City, WA. After living in my grandparent's rental home for a few months, my folks finally found a house that my dad fell in love with out in West Valley.
My pops still lives in the dwelling that was built around the turn of the 20th century so it is well over 100 years old. It's an old farmhouse back when there just orchards out that way. It rests on Summitview Avenue -- aptly named for its scenic view of the Mt. dams vista -- back when the road out that far was only two lanes with no sidewalks or street lamps. A lot has changed since but there's one thing that might still be sticking around.

The "Woo-Woo Lady".

Todd E. Lyons, Esquire's childhood home in West Valley
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That name was coined by my maternal grandfather when he came over for a visit shortly after we had moved in. He said he was visited by her in the middle of the night. At the time, I didn't think much of it as my "Papa" was quite capable of spinning tall tales. I got a bit more curious when my uncle described the temperature in the bedroom he was sleeping in one time getting outrageously hot in very short notice. Weird but the house, being as old as it is, always had weird creaks and quirks.

It wasn't until my senior year in High School that the idea of the house being haunted got real. My buddy, Mat, asked me if I wanted to go sledding with him and his aunt and cousin. I said yes and they said that they'd pick me up at our house on a Saturday morning. When the time came, they pulled in to the long driveway and I ran out in the winter air to meet them. When I got in the car, Mat's uncle Jim Berndt -- my high school English teacher at the time -- asked icredulously, "Todd, you live in that house?!?!" Of course I was like, "Yeah". He said, "Oh, man -- we used to RUN past that house when we were kids!" implying that there was something, indeed, spooky about it.

My dad, who did some research at the hall of records did discover some eerie facts about past inhabitants of the house. We were just the fourth family to ever live in the home and some of the previous owners had some creepy demises.

For instance, there was a tree in the backyard that wasn't there by the time we moved in. You could still see where the trunk of it used to be, however. Apparently, one of the children of a previous owner hanged himself in that tree and they subsequently removed it. The other finding was that of a homicide that took place in the top floor. Another family had the matriarch get suffocated to death by one of her kids.

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Was SHE the "Woo-Woo Lady"? I don't know. I was never bothered by anything or anyone the whole time I lived there. I still visit my dad often and I only have great memories of Wiffle Ball games in the front yard and a happy childhood.

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