UPDATE, 4:43 p.m.:

Press release from the Eureka Police Department:

During the morning hours of September 19, 2025, the Eureka Police Department was notified of multiple tagging incidents on several buildings that occurred overnight. Officers determined the graffiti to be consistent across all locations.

At one location, the words “This was never their land to extract from” were written beneath the drawings. At another, the phrase “The death of greed” was found. The images appear to depict a figure hanging from a rope while holding a flower.

This case is being investigated as felony vandalism. While the images are disturbing and have no place in our community, investigators have not determined a clear motive. The graffiti does not appear to specifically target any particular group or race. Regardless of intent, the depiction of violence has no place in our community, and EPD is committed to ensuring that Eureka remains a safe and welcoming city for all.

This remains an active investigation, and EPD is asking for the public’s assistance. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Eureka Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Unit at 707- 441-4300.

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Original post:

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The Eureka Police Department is looking to identify the person responsible for a repeated image that was tagged on quite a few buildings over the past 24 hours or so. 

The all-black paintings, some of which were applied atop existing murals, depict a figure hanging from a rope, head askew, with a flower at the end of one arm. Each suspended figure appears to be wearing a tuxedo or business suit but has no discernible hands or feet. Some of the images have been signed with the tag “KUUM” while others are accompanied by words regarding “THE DEATH OF GREED” and resource extraction.

[UPDATE: Another message, which has since been covered up, read “DON’T BE THE NEXT … .”]

EPD spokesperson Laura Montagna tells the Outpost that officers are investigating, and she believes the suspect was captured on security camera footage, though the department had not yet obtained it, to her knowledge. 

Lt. Luke Scown with the Arcata Police Department said that agency received at least two reports saying the hanged man image had been painted on the back side of the Allen Building, home to Barnes’ Pharmacy. APD has no suspects at this time, Scown said. 

There’s some discussion about this graffiti taking place over on the Humboldt subreddit, where a number of users agree that the image may be a political statement on the 21-year-old Black man who was recently found hanging from a tree on a university college campus in Mississippi. A county coroner ruled the death a suicide, but the man’s family is skeptical of that conclusion. They’re conducting their own investigation and plan to seek an independent autopsy. 

Is that what the image means? Who knows? A Facebook user who messaged the Outpost interpreted it as a “terrorist threat.” A woman who called in suggested that it represents a threat against the local business community and expressed fear for the safety of her family. [Clarification: She wrote to us on Facebook to specify that she’s “concerned that the local businesses of people of color are being targeted.”]

Meanwhile, many of the images have already been painted over.

While online opinions regarding the merits and intent of the hanged man art vary, the two local police departments were unanimous in considering them a crime.