Private Pioneer Cemetery and the Thirteen Steps Legend
Redmond Duval Rd, Woodinville, WA 98072
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Private property; no public access. Written permission required from owner to visit.
Access
Limited Access
Three-terraced hillside; difficult terrain with steep grades
Equipment
No Photos
Est. 1901 · Pioneer Cemetery · Washington State History
Maltby Cemetery — formally Paradise Lake Cemetery or Paradise Valley Cemetery — was established in 1901 in what is now Woodinville, King County, Washington, twelve years after Washington became a state. The site is one of the older burial grounds in the region, predating Woodinville's suburban development by decades.
The cemetery occupies a three-terraced hillside off Redmond Duval Road, approximately 20 miles east of Seattle. Ownership passed to private hands over the years, and the cemetery now exclusively serves family members of those interred there. The entrance path is gated and chained, with No Trespassing signs.
Visitors requesting access may submit a written request to the owner with a proposed date and time. The grounds are actively maintained and some headstones have been replaced, indicating ongoing stewardship. Visiting without permission is trespassing.
Sources
The Thirteen Steps legend at Maltby Cemetery circulates through the Pacific Northwest with enough specificity to suggest it originated from real features at the site.
The stairs described were not a typical above-ground crypt entrance: they began at ground level and descended 13 steps below grade into what accounts describe as a below-ground entrance to an opulent family tomb, built by a locally wealthy family. The stairs themselves were visible; their destination was not.
The reported phenomenon, according to multiple accounts, was consistent: descending all 13 steps and turning around produced a view that was not the cemetery above, but a vision described as hell. The subject of this experience would stop moving, fall to their knees, and emerge from the steps either catatonic or functionally mute. Bystanders at ground level observed nothing unusual — they watched someone walk down, stop, kneel, and come back up visibly changed.
Accounts consistently report that the stairs were subsequently destroyed — specific dates range from the early 1960s to 1992, depending on the age of the person telling the story. The reason given for their removal was the psychological toll the site was exacting on visitors.
Reports of women in old, ragged clothing wandering among the graves predate the staircase legend and persist independently of it. Physical contact has also been reported: visitors describe being struck without visible cause.
The cemetery's current condition is well-maintained, and the family plots are active.
The cemetery is located off Redmond Duval Road approximately 20 miles east of Seattle, accessible only with written permission from the private owner. The cemetery itself is hidden off the road, set on a terraced hillside. Visiting without permission constitutes trespassing. The entrance path is chained and posted with No Trespassing signs.
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