The Mysteries of the City

Uranus Man/University District/Thurs April 8/3:45 pm: Officer Mahar reports: "[Today] I responded to the University Book Store regarding an individual whom store security had contacted for lewd activity. On arrival, a witness [witness one] stated that he and another witness [witness two] watched the suspect walk up to several different men, get on his knees, and sniff their anuses. He would then lean forward as though he was getting a book off the lower shelf. [Witness one] also said that when one male got up from a bench and walked away, the suspect walked over and started smelling the area where the male had been sitting. When the witnesses confronted the suspect about the incidents, the suspect said, 'Sometimes I forget myself and get carried away.' The suspect was trespassed from the bookstore."

Safe Pizza/City Park/Thurs April 8/Noon: Officer Sprecher reports: "At noon, Terry came to the North Precinct of the SPD to report a suspicious circumstance. Terry told me the following: Terry is a Parks Department employee. He was working in Gas Works Park, picking up garbage, when he noticed a Domino's Pizza bag in the water. He retrieved the bag and discovered a safe door inside of it. He gathered the bag and brought it to the North Precinct. The bag and safe door were dried before being placed into evidence."

A Dream of 1974/Downtown/Thurs April 8/10:50 pm: This phone message fragment is from a report penned by Officer Ceja: "I was raped in 1974. I killed the rapist. No cops were involved. I was in a mental hospital, Sacred Heart Hospital, in 1974. I was hospitalized. I was in the psycho ward. I think it was a dream; let me know if it was a dream?"

House of Minor Horrors/Sand Point/Sun March 28/3:29 pm: Officer Vallor: "Today, the victim came into the Seattle Police Headquarters to obtain documentation for a call that she made to the police last night. The victim called 911 because she heard a slamming sound under her house. An officer came out, went into the crawl space of the house, and found no indication of anyone being there. The victim also reported other recent and distant suspicious occurrences. She said in May 2003 she heard a sound similar to a man's coughing coming from under her house. In summer of 2003, she heard a motor and the walls rumbled when the toilet was flushed. In 2000, she had two sacks of bills stolen from her garbage. The victim's son lives in Louisiana and he cannot be contacted by phone. He was at her home in the summer of 2003 when she heard the unusual sounds from her toilet--" Unfortunately, this excellent report suddenly comes to an end at the word "toilet." Indeed, it could have gone on in this wandering manner for several pages.