Anthropologist Professor Dale Croes Disputes Haunting by Rebecca Cadle and Annelise Tuttle

Dr. Dale Croes is currently a professor at South Puget Sound Community College. He works in the Anthropology department. Croes confesses his skepticism of the Lady in White, a ghost claimed to be sited on the SPSCC campus.
Actively involved in Archaeology diggings Croes receives blessings on artifacts by the leaders from the Indian Shaker Church.  The same leaders that bless the artifacts have attempted to search out the Lady in White but have found nothing.
According to Croes, if there is any supernatural activety on campus then the leaders would be the first to know.
Cassie Johnson, an active Anthropology club member since Fall 2009, said, "I've asked Croes about the Lady in White before and he started chuckling. He said if it really is some sort of presence here, its not an "Indian woman" who originated in the several local groups now referred to as "Squaxin". Dale has hosted elders coming to the school repeatedly, and they haven't reported seeing or sensing an ancestor in the vicinity of Building 22."

The rumor that Building 22 was built on an Indian burial ground let alone any type of burial ground is false according to Croes. Building 22 was built upon swamp lands.
According to Johnson, it is odd that most people claim to have seen the Lady in White in Building 22, the previous location where the artifacts were held.
"Our dry lab, wet lab, and main classroom have all been in that building previous to this year," said Johnson.
“They (leaders from the Indian Shaker Church) see people watching us at our dig at mud bay that I can’t see, but they are definitely the ancestors of the people that we are working on and they are checking out to make sure that it is okay with them that were doing this work with the Squaxin Island tribe,” said Croes.
“They come over to bless the site and make sure that we are safe and we have got involved with things that have stopped because there was something going on,” said Croes.
Because these spiritual leaders can see spirits who are on the other side, Croes must have them come to his lab regularly to make sure the artifacts he and his students dig up are blessed.

Croes said, “On the other side of the that the Indian Shaker Church leaders come in and check our artifacts and make sure that there is nothing going on like that that could be harmful to anybody including students. So if there was something unsettling about our artifacts they would have seen something. They have been blessed. I mean they wouldn’t leave our lab or our exhibit and be on exhibit for the public unless they had been blessed by these Indians who are looking for problems like that.”
Because they have to come and bless all of the artifacts, Croes said, “They have been here enough so they would have seen it (The Lady in White)”.
The point being Croes denies any connection of The Lady in White and the digs around campus. He disputed the rumor of the ghost showing up when an ancient burial ground was disturbed on campus by explaining that , “we never see any Indian sites like that on campus.”
They have been digging up an 1880’s railroad that used to run through the campus property. He wonders why people do not start rumors that it was a victim of a train accident. To him this would make more sense.
Or why can it not be a someone whose body was thrown in the swamp that was where building 22 is. He explained that back in the day peoples spirits would have a difficult time passing to the other side if they were thrown in swamp. These spirits are called bog people. To trap the spirit on this side was seen as a punishment.
According to www.anthropolgy.spscc.edu/node/26 Croes has both his MA and PhD in Anthropology emphasizing on Archeology. He graduated from Washington State University in Pullman. He also got his B.A. for Anthropology in Seattle at the U of W.
He mainly focuses on wet sites, which are places that have been waterlogged.
Croes has many impressive achievements such as his dig in Portland, Oregon. Where he worked with the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, and the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Indians. He was among one of the first people to dig at the National Historic Landmark wet site of the Sunken Village.
He also helped with the Hoko River wet site, which, is over 3,000 years old. He is collaborating still with a colleagues on creating a detailed account of the dig.
During Croes interview he explained that he has been working on a dig called the QWU for roughly thirteen years. This is a local dig. He collaborates with the Squaxin Tribe. He and the spiritual leaders are constantly visiting his that he keeps his archeological tools and things in, his lab has been there for eleven years.