Everett Archives: Evergreen Cemetery

The autumn vibe at Everett’s Evergreen Cemetery is a pure Ray Bradbury scenario: moonlight on the tombstones, leaves scuttling across the road. a giant pyramid in moon shadows which contains the remains of Everett city founders.

Cue the fog machine, ghostly theremin music, and howling wolf sound effects.

A lot of history has been laid to rest at the 100-acre Evergreen Cemetery since it was platted in 1898. It’s become a permanent resting place for about 50,000 souls (and counting). A close eye and a bit of knowledge will help visitors to resurrect the dead and glean information from their lives. 

Let’s take a closer look at this graveyard and see what secrets we can uncover.

There are some curious burials here. Consider the millworker who is buried next to his severed arm. The arm was buried first and some decades later the body was interred in an adjoining plot. There’s the deceased gentleman who requested to be buried sitting upright in an armchair.

As you walk along, you discover that buried here are folks from all strata of society: sheriffs, millworkers, killers, governors, massacre victims, teachers, senators, and city founders of high status. There are many people who lived such regular, average lives (if such a thing exists) that they warrant no historical mention — yet there they are with the others. All of these people have passed on, it’s true, silently into the afterlife.

Maybe you’ve heard of the high schooler tradition of Rucker’s Tomb. Go there at midnight and look for ghosts around the pyramid/moonlit ziggurat. This is said to be a haunted place. (Note: this is not advisable. Please show respect for the deceased by keeping your distance and not climbing on the family’s tomb). The Rucker family still lives in Everett and they carry a key to this catacomb. 

Also buried here is a man with the last name of Startup, who was the founding father of the city of “Startup” in the Skykomish River Valley (surprisingly, the town’s name has nothing to do with ascending a mountain). 

Pioneering female educator, Emma Yule, is also buried here. She founded and taught at Everett High School, a feat which is all the more remarkable, considering her role as a single woman at the turn of the 20th century. After she left Everett, she traveled abroad to Alaska, and the Asian Pacific, before returning to be buried here next to her nieces.

Her coffin was carried by pallbearers who were former students. 

In the moonlight stand five state champion trees. “State champ” trees are the largest of their species in the state. Evergreen has five of them. 

Another thing you may not know is that the cemetery was also the setting for a Hollywood film. 

The movie  “Assassins” was filmed here in 1995. The movie stars Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas. In the movie, they have a big shootout among the headstones in the cemetery and for a split second, you can see Rucker’s tomb in the background of the scene. 

Want to learn more about this plot of sacred ground? There are occasional tours through the cemetery. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for tours hosted by various civic organizations. 

There’s also a podcast on the library’s webpage, as recorded by the late Everett historian and archivist David Dilgard. This engaging and informational podcast is a perfect accompaniment for your own self-guided tour of this historic burial ground. 

Or, just drive or walk by the Evergreen Cemetery yourself, perhaps on a bone-chilling October evening, and keep your eyes peeled for any sort of ectoplasmic activity. 

You may be surprised what’s still a-haunting our old mill town. 

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