Fatality Records is an anthology of music inspired by true stories of death and its many forms in the Pacific Northwest.

Created and curated by Seattle musician and songwriter, Amanda Winterhalter, the project features local songwriters creating music inspired by historical accounts and personal experiences.

Lonely Arts Club Interviewed Amanda Winterhalter in May 2019 About Fatality Records:

LAC: What was your first spark of inspiration for Fatality Records? What about Pacific Northwest stories of death intrigues you?

AW: I was by myself on Easter several years ago in a cabin on the Washington Peninsula. I sat at a table with a kerosene lamp and wrote letters. I listened to the Strait of Juan de Fuca rushing against the beach rocks. I thought about Hallie Latham Illingworth sinking into Crescent Lake in 1937.

I had heard about the Lady of the Lake as a teenager, reading books about Washington history and Washington ghost stories. I’m not a pursuer of the paranormal, but I’ve always loved a good ghost story. There’s usually something unresolved in a ghost story, and I like that. It makes the reader or listener have to choose what to think, what to believe, what to hope for.

Remember the movie Fried Green Tomatoes, and the car that gets pulled out of the lake? That scene (that whole movie) is so visceral for me, and when I learned about Hallie’s story, I had the same visceral response. Every time I come back to it, there’s a new layer to that response – why did she come to Port Angeles, so far from her origins on the other side of the continent? Why was she alone? Why did she marry such a monster? Why did it take so long to solve her disappearance? Why did her murderer face such small consequences? Is she glad to be a ghost story?

The Pacific Northwest is beautiful, resilient, and in some places wild and terrifying. Just like people. This diverse landscape and diverse people are full of stories that resonate with me, stories I hope people hear and tell forever. Who knows why we like the things we like?

Read the full interview here.