The Woman in White

On May 18, 1980, the deadliest and most destructive volcanic event in the history of the United States took place: Mount St Helens in Skamania County, Washington erupted.  Fifty-seven individuals were killed, 250 homes and 47 bridges were destroyed, deep piles of ash were left hundreds of miles away, and nearly $3 billion in damage resulted. 

The eruption blew off more than 1000 feet from the top of the mountain and caused a major debris avalanche resulting in a massive crater one mile wide. 

For almost five months after the calamitous eruption, stories about an eerie female hitchhiker dressed in white started to circulate.  Numerous people came forward to report they had encountered a “woman in white” while driving on local highways; their headlights would shine on a woman walking along the shoulder, gesturing that she needed a ride.  Those who picked her up claimed she would sit quietly before she began to talk about Mount St. Helens.  In every instance, the woman had leaned forward and whispered something eerie and along the lines of, “It’s going to erupt again.”  When the driver would look at the woman in their rearview mirror she would be gone.

There were so many similar reports of this that they were actually broadcast in local news reports and various police departments throughout the area were notified that they would likely several reports from drivers claiming to have seen the woman.

Perhaps what’s most eerie about the story is during some of her last manifestations, the woman reportedly told drivers, “The volcano will erupt between October 12 and 14.”  People assumed the woman had meant October 1980 so many waited apprehensively wondering if the volcano would indeed erupt.  But those days came and went without incident and soon the stories of the woman in white were forgotten.

Twenty-four years after the devastating eruption that changed the landscape of southwestern Washington, Mount St. Helens awoke in late September of 2004 and began spewing ash and steam thousands of feet into the air.  Scientists predicted that while it would certainly not be as catastrophic as the eruption of 1980, the main event of this awakening climax with molten lava pushing through the surface.

The legend of the woman in white had all but been forgotten – that is, until scientists finally recorded lava coming through the crater floor.  The date?  October 12.