Mysteries of Morgan Junction

| Seen around town | Wildlife | WS miscellaneous

One is a sound, one involves wildlife, both were sent in by WSB readers wondering if anyone else has experienced something similar, or better yet, has relevant info.

First, the sound:

Over the last couple of years I have heard a recurring noise in the Morgan Junction area. It sounds like a surging hum. It only happens every so often and almost always in the morning. When it does happen, it lasts for a long time and is quite intrusive. Has anyone else heard this noise? Does anyone know the source?

We checked with our favorite “knows everything in MJ source” and it was news to her. Maybe not to you? Next, from a different reader, the “wildlife”:

I’m not sure if we are the recipients of presents from friendly neighborhood cats or if there’s a sudden high mortality rate in the West Seattle rat population.

We arrived home late Wednesday night to find a large (8-9″ before tail) white rat lying inside a garden hose coiled next to our front steps. He seemed completely uninjured – at first we thought he might just be a heavy sleeper – but upon closer inspection we realized the rat was quite dead. Not a mark anywhere to be found on him.

Friday morning we found a younger, smaller brown rat no more than 6 inches away from where the first one ended his life.

Again – no visible signs of foul play on or around the dead rodent. This is the first time we’ve seen a single rat anywhere in the neighborhood in the 6 years we’ve lived here, and 2 in front of our house in 2 days seems like too much of a coincidence.

We live on 39th near the Morgan Junction and just downhill from the reservoir replacement on 35th.

Before we entertain any further paranoid scenarios, we thought we’d see if you thought this worthy of posting on the WSB incase other neighbors have experienced a recent rise in dead rodents, a plague of locusts, whatever.

Anyone?

Lou August 26, 2007 (2:27 pm)

The only dead rats we’ve seen are the ones in our traps :-) We have a rat problem going from our garage into our between between the first and second floor. We’ve gotten most of them and had the openings sealed.

I suspect your rats are from a neighbor who is putting out poison. The larget pest control companies (ie, Terminix) will use poison to get rid of rats. This causes them to get extremely thirsty and they head outside looking for water then die.

It’s also possible that the construction project has stirred up the rat populations and maybe they are laying poison out around the resevoir.

The House August 26, 2007 (4:47 pm)

I haven’t had any problems with rats or locusts, but I thought I saw a guy walking on water down at Lincoln Park. Might be the vodka, though.

Jan August 26, 2007 (6:16 pm)

TA August 26, 2007 (7:38 pm)

I believed the claim of a certain rat poison that the rats would become thirsty and die while looking outside for water. I believed it until we used the poison and the rat died inside the wall right next to our bed. The smell is impossible to forget as well as impossible to mask. That was not the end however; the flies laid maggots which hatched into huge flies all at the same time right next to our bed. We use traps now.

M August 26, 2007 (9:03 pm)

Ewww, I’ll be on the lookout for rats now. Not the most pleasant thought, but it’s good to know they are a problem lately.

Maybe that sound the first poster is hearing is the reservoir construction. When they first started it, there were very loud noises in the morning (starting around 7am), but they have tapered off dramatically and I don’t hear that much construction noise early in the moring anymore. But the noise probably echos down the hill a bit. I could be wrong, but the noise they made was substantial at times, and some of the work would rattle our house a bit.

flipjack August 26, 2007 (10:27 pm)

I believe I know what the sound is, described as a surging “hum”. I had asked around about what this big intrusive wall of sound that I heard occasionally and was told that it is Boeing testing jet engines.
It is quite intrusive and seems to get worse in the winter months I think. One time my front door was almost rattling. I can see how most people, being desensitized by the surrounding everyday noise pollution, wouldn’t notice because it actually sounds like a wash of flying jet airliners that never go anywhere and then it ends rather suddenly. I’ve heard it at all times of the day and evening hours.

Underachiever August 27, 2007 (7:09 am)

Ferry boat engines @ Fauntleroy docks account for the mysterious hum methinks.

old timer August 27, 2007 (7:44 am)

Re: dark noise
I’ve heard the annoying low cycle hum many times over the years. It comes and goes. Jet engine testing on a weekend morning is not high on my list of suspects, but some kind of large refrigeration compressor does. It can also sound like a large ship’s engine although the direction of the noise never changes. From my vantage, 37th AV. SW, the sound seems to come from the West.
Morgan Mystery indeed!

K August 27, 2007 (8:43 am)

i have been repeatedly told that surging sound comes from ferry’s and tankers on the water.

flipjack August 27, 2007 (9:56 am)

Yes, if the hum is indeed a hum with a recognizable frequency or tone, then that’s not what I was talking about…must be something else and freighters and ferries sound like they may be the culprits.
THe sound I was referring to though can be heard all along the sound end of West Seattle from highpoint down to Lincoln Park and sounds like a huge jet engine anyhoo thar ya be,.

Ruth August 27, 2007 (12:55 pm)

Last week driving down Roxbury (about a mile from home), a medium size brown rat climbed out from under my hood – by the wipers – and sat staring at me at a traffic light. I was pretty freaked out – needless to say – and started to honk my horn to get the critter off my car. He scurried away – headed for Safeway. Gives me the creeps just thinking about it….

I heard horror stories about “Rat Center” when I moved in 10 years ago – but this is my first rat experience – hopefully my last!

mark August 27, 2007 (6:42 pm)

I saw a dead brown rat, about 6 inches long, on the sidewalk the other day on 40th near Edmunds.

Dis August 27, 2007 (7:56 pm)

Both mysteries solved: Phil Spector’s in town.

Chet August 28, 2007 (7:35 am)

LOL Dis

wundrgrrrl August 28, 2007 (8:10 am)

another thought about the mysterious sound… Maybe submarine sonar activity??

I live at the north end of Beach Dr and hear it often coming from the Sound, between 5:00-6:30am. It only lasts about 2 minutes and the frequency is disturbingly low – not like anything I’ve heard on a passing freighter or ferry…

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