More than 40 additional spikes found in Green Lake

Volunteer divers from Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle searched the south end of Green Lake this morning and found 41 metal spikes in the water, including 15 that were sharpened.

The divers found the upright spikes off the docks at the small craft center.

Several of the spikes found today had curved ends.

Claude Wreford-Brown with the Center for Hyperbaric Medicine at Virginia Mason, who led the dive today, said the curved ones might be in the water for a reason and may not be malicious.

Wreford-Brown, one of six divers searching the lake, said they found plastic sheeting at the bottom of the area where they searched and speculated that the spikes were there to hold the plastic down.

However, Jason Frisk with the Green Lake small craft center, said the area was searched in 2005 and no spikes were found then.

Another diver, Matt Harrington, also said he doesn't think the spikes were planted maliciously and that they appeared to be there to hold down some barriers, possibly to control weeds.

He speculated that the sharpened spikes were that way because of corrosion. He said he's seen rounded spikes at other city beaches to hold down weeds.

The spikes were found 10 feet from the docks in 8 feet of water. Many of them were rusty.

Seattle police divers found a handful of sharp, upright spikes last week.

Earl Thomas, a nurse at Virginia Mason, said that when Wreford-Brown heard about the spikes, he offered to search the lake.

"There's a lot of divers on our staff. We're doing this as a public works thing," Thomas said.

Frisk, who said the spikes will be turned over to Seattle police for analysis, said he has no idea why some of the spikes are curved, but was glad the divers found more spikes this morning.

He said there was some speculation that the stakes held down a barrier planted two decades ago to control milfoil on the lake, but he said those stakes were plastic.

There was also some speculation that the spikes might be related to a theater that operated at the south end of the lake years ago.