ECCC Fan FAQs

There are many legends about where the name of the giant squid in Puget Sound -- the mighty Kraken – originated. Some think it’s the sound the great beast makes when it smashes the timbers of passing ships. Others think, for some reason, it has something to do with ice hockey. The true story dates back to 1960. The captain of the Bainbridge Island Ferry – a grizzled sailor named One-eyed Willie – was sitting at a pub near the dock. Just as he was opening his beer, in the new fangled poptop cans that had been introduced a year earlier, the elusive monster poked his head out of the sound and looked right through Willie. At that very instant, as Willie pulled the tab on the beer, the can let loose a “craaaaackin’” sound. “Well, I’ll be darned,” Willie said, about both the can and the beast, “it’s a Crackin!” Terrified the behemoth would capsize his ferry, Willie quit his job then and there, opening the Kraken’s Keep – changing the spelling at the urging of a customer who worked in marketing -- the very next day. It’s been serving libations and welcoming gamers, fans, and people of stripes ever since

It’s common knowledge that trolls like pickles. Maybe it’s because pickles, like the trolls, are sour. Or maybe they just need something to go with their hamburgers. Either way, trolls like pickles. Anyway, more generations ago than we can count, our ancestor, who was part pixie and part human, was captured by a group of trolls. She tried everything to bargain for her life—she offered money, land, even the hand of her sister in marriage—but the trolls wouldn’t be swayed. They strung her up by her heels over a pot of boing water, intending to make pixie soup.   

Just as our pixie ancestor was about to meet her end, her wife strode into the camp of the trolls, rolling an enormous barrel with one hand and carrying a torch with the other. The barrel, if you didn’t already guess, contained pickles. “Let my wife go or I swear on all the spirts in the land and sea that I will set fire to this barrel of pickles.” The trolls immediately freed our ancestor and took possession of the pickles.  

Inspired, our two ancestors escaped and opened this tavern. The Pickled Pixie has been in our family for generations, always passed down through daughters. Please note: We can no longer confirm our pixie ancestry though we do occasionally and accidentally perform feats of magic.