The Mausoleum

It's supposedly haunted. Set in the forest surrounding Roche Harbor, this monument of life and death is stunningly creepy.

Don’t sit in the chairs.

That’s what they say about the John S. McMillin Memorial Mausoleum, or Afterglow Vista, as it’s called. Legends also claim that no rain falls between the columns and that at night, a blue glow can be seen dancing among the thick trees and twinkling stars overhead.

It’s like something out of a fairytale. Situated on the far coast of San Juan Island, Roche Harbor is a beautiful port with long docks and pristine, white structures. It’s where my family has a condo, and where my brother got married.

But before it became the resort destination it is today, it was a lime production facility, founded by freemason and hardcore Methodist, John S. McMillian. The kilns are still visible today, but the lime ran out a long time ago. John moved to the Washington Territory from Indiana in the 1880’s (reports differ on exactly when, but sometime between 1882-1886). He quickly built a small empire and amassed an incredible wealth.

Six years before his death, he commissioned the construction of his family’s Mausoleum. It was finished the year of his death, 1936, and cost approximately $30,000. In today’s money that’s $723,287.05. We’re talking rich-rich.

The Mausoleum serves as the final resting place of John S. McMillin, his wife Louella Hiett, and their children: John Hiett McMillin (born and died 1878), Fred Hiett McMillin (1880 – 1922), Paul Hiett McMillin (1886 – 1961), and Dorothy Hiett McMillin (1894 – 1980).

Much to my feminist dismay, Louella’s chair doesn’t have her birth or death date, or even her name. It just says “wife of John S. McMillin.” And to that I say, fuck John. Louella deserved her actual name on that chair.

Afterglow Vista is covered in Masonic symbols and meaning. Each piece of its construction has a purpose. The structure consists of six pillars — five are finished and one is intentionally “broken” — encasing a limestone table meant to symbolize the McMillin family dining table. As if they’re meant to sit and eat together for all of eternity. Truly, a nightmare.

The columns are the same size as those in King Solomon’s temple, and the broken column symbolizes the concept that death breaks the columns of life - that a person dies before their work is complete. Which is kind of bleak because I hope to accomplish my life goal of becoming the neighborhood witch way before I die.

There is a seemingly empty space at the table and there are rumors of why, but according to the site’s information, it’s so every family member could see the view while eating. Others claim its meant to symbolize the son who pulled away from Methodist Christianity.

Let’s go with the explanation that the chairs are situated where each family would have actually sat at their dining table. Did they really have a place setting for little John? Maybe they did. But I kind of hope not. To be constantly reminded of that heartbreak and the child’s absence would be torture.

And if they didn’t always set out a place for John Jr., which I don’t believe they did, then the table really isn’t accurate at all. But merely what John Sr. wanted it to look like. So why the empty space? Maybe it’s as benign being able to see the view, or maybe it’s Adah, who is also mysteriously buried at Afterglow Vista.

Coby’s getting haunted for sure now

And here’s where shit gets weird. The Mausoleum doesn’t just contain the McMillin family ashes. The cremated remains of Adah Beeny (also spelled Ada Beane), who served as a caretaker of the McMillin children or as John S. McMillin’s personal secretary (reports differ), are interred in John Hiett McMillin’s crypt.

Yeah, the dead baby’s cyrpt also contains the family nanny’s remains. What the hell.

It could be because their first child, John Hiett McMillin, died shortly after being born, in 1978. The McMillins didn’t move to Roche Harbor until around 1884, six years later. It’s possible that they took the cremated remains of their son with them, but it’s also possible that the baby’s crypt was empty.

But that doesn’t answer the question as to why in the world is the nanny is interned in this place.

John S. McMillin’s chair

Rumor has it that after Adah’s death in 1955, her ashes were put in a mason jar and sat on Paul McMillin’s desk until he ordered their removal.

Seattle Met Magazine reported that Neil Tarte, a manager at Roche Harbor, was told bring Adah’s ashes to the Mausoleum. “Ever since that day we put her ashes into the copper urn in the family crypt, she’s refused to leave us alone at the resort,” Tarte told the Seattle Weekly in 1987. “Lights go on and off. Doors open and close. The blender turns itself on. The usual ghostly pranks.”

The usual ghostly pranks don’t explain what others claim to have seen over the years. Like the rumor that the family sits in their assigned seats during full moons, and that no rain falls on the table.

I’ve stayed at the hotel and can confirm there is something “off” about the place. When I was there, it felt like I was being watched at times. And there were sounds that I couldn’t quite explain away. Nothing concrete, but just a feeling.

Maybe Adah doesn’t want to rest with the McMillians. Or maybe she doesn’t feel like its her place to be in their family crypt. Whatever the case, the reports all claim that the hauntings did not start until the ashes were moved.

So maybe, just a thought here, stay with me, we put her somewhere else. Somewhere her soul can rest eternal, rather than meandering through the hotel and restaurant and scaring the staff.

Just a thought.

If you’re ever up at Roche Harbor, Afterglow Vista is worth the trek. highly recommend.

Remember, stay difficult and always question authority.