In 1948, Virginia Staples experienced an encounter in the basement of her Bremerton, Washington apartment that would leave a lasting impact on her life. While doing laundry alone, she spotted an unusual creature described as being as tall as herself, with an orange body, spindly legs, and a moving antenna. The fear from that encounter led her to leave the building immediately and she continued to struggle with nightmares for years afterward.

Over time, her sighting became the subject of discussion among researchers and writers interested in unusual phenomena. Possible explanations for what Staples witnessed have ranged from misidentification and psychological influences to suggestions of something more mysterious. Decades later, her account remains unique in its details and significance.

Key Takeaways

Virginia Staples reported seeing an unusual creature in her basement in 1948.
The experience had a deep and lasting effect on her life.
Researchers continue to debate possible explanations for what she saw.

Case Background: The Virginia Staples Encounter

Bremerton Apartment Setting

Virginia Staples lived in an apartment building on Denny Street in Bremerton, Washington in 1948. The property was described as one of several large, old apartment houses closely situated to each other, each equipped with a basement. Her building’s basement was unusually spacious, with walls that featured holes leading out to the area’s waterways—a detail confirmed by the building manager.

Tenants, including Virginia, used the basement for laundry. A washer, washtub, and clotheslines were installed there. On the day of the incident, Virginia was alone in the basement, completing her laundry when she sensed she was being watched. This unsettling feeling led her to discover a strange entity standing in one of the large wall openings.

Basement Features Table:

Feature Description Size Extremely large Wall Holes Connected to nearby waterways Laundry Setup Washer, washtub, clotheslines Apartment Type Large, historic, closely situated units Management Active, provided basement access

Following her encounter, Virginia hurried upstairs and left the building, never to return. The incident caused lasting fear and frequent nightmares, prompting her to move in with her cousin in Seattle.

Position in Unexplained Creature Reports

Virginia Staples’ report stands out in the body of unexplained creature sightings, often referred to in Fortean studies. The entity she described—a figure standing five feet tall, with a bright orange body, spindly legs, and a moving antenna—was unprecedented in published accounts up to that time. After thorough research, there appeared to be no other documented reports describing a similar being.

The event was first documented in Strange Magazine and later reproduced in a book on anomalous encounters. Other researchers speculated about possible explanations, considering misperception, influence from science fiction media of the 1940s, or memory alterations over time. The persistence of the memory and the trauma reported by Virginia indicated the sighting remained a defining moment in her life. Some have suggested that the creature may have come from the nearby waterways through the basement, while its closest comparison in her own experience was a very small shrimp—adding further curiosity to the case's enduring place in the literature of unexplained phenomena.

Key Elements in Fortean Literature:

First report of this specific creature type
No matching reports found despite investigation
Features as a unique and unresolved account
Referenced in both magazine and book form
Cited as leading to continued discussion and skepticism

Firsthand Recollection of the Strange Being

Washing Laundry in the Basement

The speaker recounts going alone to the basement of the apartment building to hang up laundry. The room felt unusually large and empty, with an unsettling sensation of being observed from the darkness. As she finished hanging her clothes, the feeling intensified until she finally turned around.

She describes freezing in place as she noticed something in one of the large gaps in the basement wall. Overcome by fear, she could not move or call for help in that moment.

Appearance and Features of What Was Seen

The being was approximately the same height as the observer—about five feet tall. Its body was a vivid orange shade, contrasting sharply with the dingy basement. It stood on several thin, spindly legs, resembling those of a spider, and had a single antenna on its head in constant, twitching motion.

A quick visual comparison later led her to believe the creature most closely resembled an oversized shrimp, though its antennae and movement made it appear even more unnatural.

Feature Description Height ~5 feet (same as speaker) Body Color Bright orange Limbs Multiple, thin, spidery legs Head Antennae in ceaseless motion Resemblance Compared to a giant shrimp

Immediate Response and Lingering Consequences

As soon as the being began moving towards her, she quickly left the basement and hurried back to her apartment. Terrified, she started packing her belongings immediately, unwilling to stay another night. She relocated to her cousin's home in Seattle and refused to return to the apartment.

The event left a lasting impact, resulting in persistent nightmares for years. Despite attempts to find a rational explanation, she remained deeply affected and convinced of the encounter's reality.

Enduring Effects on Virginia Staples

Emotional and Psychological Aftermath

Virginia Staples reported lasting distress following her encounter in the basement. The experience left her feeling deeply unsettled, and she continued to have vivid, disturbing nightmares for years. The emotional weight of the event was apparent even decades later, as retelling the story brought her to tears.

Impacts Noted:

Persistent nightmares
Ongoing fear and unease
Emotional reactions when recounting the encounter

She described being so frightened at the time that she abandoned her apartment permanently, choosing never to return.

Personal Efforts to Understand the Sighting

Staples took active steps to make sense of what she had seen. She visited an aquarium and compared the unknown creature to marine animals, finding a slight resemblance only to a very small shrimp. This comparison highlighted the strangeness of her experience—encountering something so unusual that nothing quite matched it in the real world.

Summary of Actions:

Sought out visual comparisons at an aquarium
Concluded the closest match was a tiny shrimp, despite the creature’s five-foot height
Remained convinced that the entity she saw was neither a shadow nor a known animal

Her persistent search for answers demonstrates how the incident continued to shape her perceptions and thinking long after it occurred.

Examination and Hypotheses

Interpretations Considered by Mike Dash

Mike Dash explored several possibilities to explain Virginia Staples’s unusual encounter. He suggested that the vivid sighting might have been a hallucination, possibly influenced by the popular science fiction films of the late 1940s. Dash also pointed to the potential for memory distortion over time, raising the idea that Staples could have misinterpreted a shadow or ordinary object in the dim basement as a fantastic creature.

Possible Explanation Dash’s View Hallucination Mentioned as plausible Influence from 1940s sci-fi films Considered a factor Memory alteration Suggested; details may have changed Misidentification Could be a shadow or everyday shape

Dash openly acknowledged Staples’s conviction that something extraordinary occurred but framed the core issue as the nature of what was experienced rather than doubting that the event left a lifelong mark on her.

Alternate Theories Involving the Unexplained

Some alternative interpretations move beyond conventional explanations. One line of thought considers the creature as a physical animal, possibly entering the basement through passageways that connected to surrounding water. Others entertain the idea that the event might have involved a being not bound by conventional reality—a visitor from another dimension or a supernatural origin.

Physical Entity Theory: Suggests a large, unknown sea creature could have used water-linked passages beneath the building as an entry point.
Paranormal Possibility: Considers whether the creature might have been a manifestation unrelated to ordinary animal life, such as an entity from another realm or a supernatural source.

Virginia Staples herself remained convinced that the entity was real, whether it was a rare biological specimen or something more mysterious, and described the encounter as a defining moment in her life, marked by fear and vivid memory.

Lasting Impact and Importance of the Event

The account of Virginia Staples' encounter introduced a previously undocumented type of creature to paranormal and Fortean literature: a human-sized, orange, shrimp-like being. This report stands out due to the uniqueness of its details and the lack of similar cases in published records, making it notable among other reports of unknown entities.

The emotional weight of the encounter is evident in the lasting distress Staples reported. Key effects included:

Persistent nightmares for years following the event
A decision to permanently leave her apartment, never returning after the incident
A continued search for an explanation, including comparing the creature to species seen in aquariums

Year of Encounter Location Description Psychological Impact 1948 Bremerton, WA 5 ft tall, orange, shrimp-like, thin legs Nightmares, relocation, ongoing fear

Interest in the case was amplified by both the original magazine feature and later discussion in books on unexplained phenomena. Discussion by writers such as Mike Dash has explored natural, psychological, and speculative explanations for what was witnessed, but consensus remains elusive.

This event continues to be cited as a unique entry in the catalog of unexplained phenomena, especially due to the rarity of the reported creature and the profound effect it had on the witness’s life.

The Terrifying Denny Street Apparition: Virginia Staples' Paranormal Encounter in 1948 Bremerton