This has been a tale a long time in coming. I have put off the terrible memories for as long as I can, but I must share this story with anyone who will read it. Maybe sharing the terror and pain can finally erase the nightmares that have plagued my sleep since that fateful day.

A few months ago my boyfriend and I decided that we were spending too much time watching Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and that we needed to get out and do something. Since it seems that I am always the one forced to come up with something new and interesting to do, I suggested the Point Definace Zoo in Tacoma. This might seem a strange thing to suggest, and I thought at the time that I was suggesting it because it was once again time to get in touch with my inner child and I wanted to see the sharks, but I now believe that there were other forces at work in making that decision.

It started innocently enough. Andrew and I went to my parent’s home so we could look up directions to the zoo and print them out. I do not own a printer, and neither of us was interested in copying the directions out onto a piece of paper. Yes, both of us are very lazy. The trip to my parent’s place probably cost us about twenty minutes, but we didn’t care. It was worth it to be able to utilize the printer. Directions in hand, we were on our way once again. The tip to Tacoma was uneventful, and with the aid of the MapQuest directions we were able to find the zoo with little difficulty. It was a nice day, and we were ready for some relaxing zoo fun. I even told Andrew that before we left we had to ride the recently restored carousel that was set up.

We wandered through a couple of the exhibits, non threatening small animals and fish. There was a special seahorse exhibit in the small aquarium, and we enjoyed ogling at the strange little fish. Then, we made our first mistake. We went to see the sharks.

That section of the aquarium was eerily quiet, and the sharks were circling their tank with silent malevolence. We watched the sharks, agape at their majesty, when the worst thing immaginable happened - the glass cracked, then burst forth with a mighty rush of water, spilling the sharks directly towards us! With my handy waterproof camera I was able to snap the shot you see here of one of the sharks coming right for us, intent on our demise! Andrew and I made a mad dash for the exit, swimming as fast as we could away from the wicked beasts! We forced the door open, and with the help of some of the zookeepers, forced the door closed again as the water forced it’s way through. Fortunately none of the sharks escaped as well, and we were safe once again. We heard one of the zookeepers muttering under his breath, “second time this month”, and decided to get the hell out of the aquarium.

The hot sun dried our sopping clothing quickly, and though all we wanted to do was escape from the hell that the zoo had now become in our eyes, we managed to misread our map and took a wrong turn - right into the jaws of the waiting Siberian tiger!




Terror does not begin to describe what we felt when that tiger looked over us measuringly, then casually leaped over the safety moat and fence with a mighty spring, and came right for us! Andrew threw the map into it’s face, temporarily blinding it and giving us time to escape. Our lives were safe once again, but now we were without a map with no way of navigating the maze of pathways, each one of which could lead to a deadly trap. We gathered our courage, realizing that the only thing to do was to forge onwards, and moved on.

The creatures we encountered next all seemed to have some evil glint in their eye, even the most innocuous of them. Puffins, reindeer, they all seemed to be planning something cruel. Maybe this was just paranoia on our parts, but I will swear until the day I die that all the zoo was plotting our death that day.






Fleeing the puffins and deer, we found ourselves near the polar bears.




Clearly this was not a good place to be.

Swiftly bypassing the beluga whale who was doing tricks for fish treats, wolves, and several other potentially fatal encounters, we finally found ourselves back at the exit. And the carousel. Determined to get some fun out of our experince, Andrew dragged me to the ticket booth and purchased two tickets. Before I could protest, it was too late, and we were on the carousel as it whirled around the sickening speed, making griding noises that made one start to doubt it’s stability. You can plainly see the terror on Andrew’s face.



When it finally stopped, we bolted out before the entire mechanical structure colapsed on our heads - and headed straight into the gift shop. But even the gift shop, a building that we thought of as a safe haven, wasn’t safe. We were surrounded by danger, even in a room filled with inanimate objects.


We escaped that day safely, with only our scarred souls bearing the marks. I hope that my sharing this experience with the wider public will start to heal those scars. So if you are planning a trip to the zoo any time soon, beware.

Anything can happen.