SHORELINE, Wash. -- The mystery behind a piano that someone placed carefully in the woods north of Seattle has been solved. 
 
 
 
 Since the weekend of August 2nd, the piano has been charming joggers, hikers and school kids who happen upon it in Shoreview Park near Boeing Creek in Shoreline. The console-style piano is carefully perched above a ravine and leveled between two massive Douglas fir trees that suggest a cathedral-like surrounding. 
 
 
 
 One jogger said the sound of the keys resonates through the trees. 
 
 
 
 That the mystery piano is horribly out of tune doesn't seem to stop people from plinking its keys. 
 
 
 
 Hidden under the lid is an aging business card from a piano tuner with handwritten notations on it "January 7, 2012." That tuner told KOMO 4 News he has fastidious records that show the piano was owned at the time by Joey Odenberger of West Seattle. Odenberger said that he offered it for free on CraigsList several months ago. 
 
 
 
 Who got the free piano next? Gina Matassa did. 
 
 
 
 "It was unbearably out of tune," said Matassa, who also lives in West Seattle. 
 
 
 
 She loved her free piano anyway. Her mother is well-known jazz singer Greta Matassa, who knows music well. Together, they determined the piano was beyond repair. 
 
 
 
 "And so I paid to have it hauled off - to a dump, I assume, or wherever pianos go," Matassa said. "And then I heard that it was in a park!" 
 
 
 
 What did she think when she saw photos of her piano in the forested park? 
 
 
 
 "I thought 'that's great!' But I hope I'm not in trouble!" she said. 
 
 
 
 She's not. But what about the piano haulers who put it there? 
 
 
 
 We went to their address to find out more. What was their motivation. Was it purely to save money by not taking the piano to the garbage dump? 
 
 
 
 Helge Carlsen came to the door of the blue house in Shoreline. 
 
 
 
 "Are you the guy who hauled it?" we asked. 
 
 
 
 "My son is," conceded Carlsen with a touch of sheepishness. He explained he was as surprised as anyone. 
 
 
 
 Carlsen says he's a piano collector with an enormous appreciation for the instrument and a warehouse full of them. He said he saw the KOMO 4 story earlier and then mentioned it to his son. 
 
 
 
 "I just said 'I wonder who put that out there.' You know, I didn't know. And then he said 'we did!'" said Carlsen, suggesting his son shares his love of pianos. "I thought it was a cool idea." 
 
 
 
 His son, Kaare, told us on the phone he and two friends used their all-terrain dolly to take the piano into the woods where people could enjoy it in a spiritual setting. He said it pains him to see pianos go to the garbage dump. 
 
 
 
 "Well, there's a big problem with pianos going to dumps these days," he said. 
 
 
 
 He hopes someday to use piano parts to make art so at least some of the old pianos can live on, and that was the inspiration behind his piano caper; a final hurrah for one piano. 
 
 
 
 "And be enjoyed one last time," he said. 
 
 
 
 Of course, eventually the piano will become litter. But the Carlsen's vow to haul it back out of the park long before it loses its integrity. 
 
 
 
 The City of Shoreline Parks Department, which has an officially sanctioned "pianos in the parks" initiative, was charmed that it had inspired Carlsen's piano hijinks. And they are equally charmed that he intends to eventually remove the piano too. 

 SHORELINE, Wash. -- The local parks program that puts real pianos in public parks is pleasantly surprising a lot of people. 
 
 
 
 But what really surprised the organizers behind that "Piano In The Parks" program is a new, mystery piano that has turned up in the forest in Shoreview park, north of Seattle. This piano is not part of their program. 
 
 
 
 Scott Parker and his dog walk through the park all the time, but on Sunday morning he noticed something different. 
 
 
 
 "And we kind of came this direction more," Parker said of his walk through the forest. "And it was just like this. And the sun was on it. I caught it out the corner of my eye. Wow. There it was. Ha!" 
 
 
 
 There in the forest sits a mystery piano. 
 
 
 
 Parker could hardly believe it. Not just the piano, but the idea. 
 
 
 
 "I just think it's beautiful," he said. "And someone's act of putting it here was a beautiful thing to do." 
 
 
 
 It's impossible to resist plinking the keys a little, even though it is very, very out of tune. But it is so in tune with its magnificent surroundings that you can imagine grand piano music. 
 
 
 
 There's only a fine line between music and nature, they say. Rising skyward, the two massive Douglas firs form nature's cathedral sitting on either side of the mystery piano. A creek below only adds to the harmony. 
 
 
 
 But let's take a reality check. The Shoreline Parks Department says the piano is not authorized to be there, even though one person in the office seemed charmed by the idea of the mystery piano. Unlike the sanctioned pianos in the parks, this one has no weather protection. So the next heavy rain will damage the piano and eventually it will become litter. 
 
 
 
 While no one is sure where the piano came from, Parker did find a clue inside. 
 
 
 
 "There is a card. A clue," he said. 
 
 
 
 Taped to the underside of the lid is an aged business card from a piano tuner. We contacted him and he helped us contact the person who owned the piano - at least as of the tuning job in February 2012. We left word with that person. But, alas, no response from whoever hauled the mystery piano to its verdant altar. So for now it remains a mystery ready to play off-tune music for anyone with an imagination.
– The mystery behind an old out-of-tune piano that appeared in early August in Shoreview Park just north of Seattle has been solved, and nobody had to pull any strings. The piano itself, which was not a part of the local "Pianos in the Parks" program, came with a clue: the business card of a piano tuner taped to the bottom. Talking to the tuner, journalists at KBOI2 were able to track down the man who'd owned it when it was tuned in 2012, and who gave it away for free to Gina Matassa, daughter of well-known jazz singer Greta Matassa. When the two determined that the piano was beyond repair, Gina paid to have someone haul it away, and the son of that man, Kaare Carlsen, was the one who took two friends, the piano, and an all-terrain dolly into the forest. "Well, there's a big problem with pianos going to dumps these days," he told KBOI2. He says he'll take it away soon, before it litters its surroundings in any way. Meanwhile, hikers say they've been pleasantly surprised by the instrument, which is perched between two gigantic Douglas firs above a creek, reports KOMO News. "I just think it's beautiful," one hiker says. "And someone's act of putting it here was a beautiful thing to do." (Check out another unlikely venue for an instrument to be played.)