HGB Ep. 616 - Heceta Head Lighthouse

Moment in Oddity - Book Wheel (Suggested by: Michael Rogers)

Many of us love nothing more than snuggling up with a good book, especially in the fall when there is a bit of a chill in the air. With the busy, chaotic world that we currently live in, having that time to delve into a novel can be difficult to come by. Back in 1588, there was a unique invention created by Italian engineer Agostino Ramelli. His invention was the book wheel. The book wheel consisted of a large rotating wooden wheel with individual stands upon which books could be placed. A person sitting in front of the wheel had the ability to rotate it to locate the next book they wished to read without ever leaving their chair. The book wheel looked very similar to a water wheel. Often, the book wheel was used when a reader was studying a particular subject and wished to reference multiple books on the same topic. To keep the rotating books at a consistent angle, gears were installed on each shelf to counter rotate at the same rate as the entire wheel. The book wheel weighed in at a whopping 600lbs and could hold approximately 8 books. Although the mechanics behind the book wheel were quite impressive, a 600lb rotating bookcase, certainly is odd.

Heceta (Ha see tah) Head Lighthouse

Lighthouses are literally a light in the darkness. Many have been located in remote places and all of them are located in areas that have suffered shipwrecks. Families living at lighthouses faced struggles and sometimes death. The Heceta Head Lighthouse is no different. Today, it has been turned into a bed and breakfast with beautiful views and at least one ghost. A legend claims that a young girl drowned here and her mother has returned in the afterlife, looking to find her. Join us for the history and hauntings of the Heceta Head Lighthouse.

The human history for Florence, Oregon begins with the Siuslaw (sigh you slaw) people who settled here more than 9,000 years ago. European settlers would arrive in the 1800s and they would fish and log and eventually set this up as a maritime port. Florence was incorporated in 1893 and there are two stories about how it got its name. One is that it was named for a shipwreck that occurred nearby and the other is that it was named for state senator A.B. Florence. One of Florence's odd claims to fame, we covered as a Moment in Oddity in 2020: the Exploding Whale Park. A large dead sperm whale was found putrefying on the beach in 1970 and this posed a real health issue. Officials needed to move it, but the whale was too large to be moved. Officials came up with a great idea that proved to be a poorly thought out solution. Why not dynamite the thing? And that is just what they did on November 12, 1970. The whole town came out to watch. And many of them probably wished that they hadn't because when the dynamite blew, bits of whale were everywhere. It slammed into the local laundromat and other buildings in the area, a large chunk of blubber crushed a car roof and everyone in attendance got a gory shower of blood and blubber. One would think a city would not want to commemorate this moment in history, but Florence did. On June 13, 2020, a new park was dedicated with a name that residents voted for in huge numbers. That name was Exploding Whale Memorial Park. Something else that Florence is known for are Rhododendrons. They grow along Highway 101 and throughout the town. The science fiction book and movie Dune were inspired by the majestic dunes of Florence. And apparently there was an accidental ban on sex in the town back in 1977. The Florence City Council approved a poorly-worded ordinance on November 26, 1977 that stated that it was illegal to have sex "while in or in view of a public or private place." They really just wanted to prevent public, you know...and eventually amended the ordinance. 

It is said that the location of the Heceta Head Lighthouse was a magical place, sitting 150 feet above the sea on a bluff. The name Heceta comes from Don Bruno Heceta who was part of the Royal Spanish Navy and he was sailing from Mexico to the Arctic Circle. The ship made it as far as Oregon when Heceta decided to turn around because his men were suffering from scurvy. He mapped out the headland before leaving Oregon and it was named for him. There was a dark gap between the Umpqua River and Heceta Head, so the Lighthouse Board commissioned building the lighthouse in 1888. 

A seven-mile wagon road was built between the site of the lighthouse and the public highway. Construction began in 1892 and rock was quarried from the Clackamas River near Oregon City. Lumber was provided by local mills and masonry came from San Francisco. Along with the 56-foot tall lighthouse, a barn, oil houses and dwellings were built. The light was lit for the first time on March 30, 1894. The first-order Fresnel lens was made in Birmingham, England, which was unusual since most were made in France. The Heceta Head lens has 640, two-inch-thick prisms, arranged in eight bull’s-eye panels, and revolves to produce brilliant white flashes. The first head keeper was named Andrew P.C. Hald and he had served previously at the Cape Mears Lighthouse. Hald had been born in Denmark in 1856. When he was fourteen, he took to the sea as a cabin boy aboard a full-rigged sailing ship. When he grew tired of being on the sea, he decided he would like to join the Lighthouse Service. His first job came in 1888 and he served as third assistant keeper of Cape Flattery Lighthouse. The following year he became the first assistant. He also lost his nine-year-old son that year when he drowned at the island station. Then Hald was sent to Cape Meares and then on to Heceta Head Lighthouse. He served five years at Heceta Head. 

The crews changed often at Heceta Head. A one-room schoolhouse was built for the children of the keepers in 1896. One of the keepers named Frank DeRoy told his son that students used kerosene cans to store their books, so that rats wouldn't eat them. 

In 1896, a Norwegian man named Olaf Hansen came to Heceta Head as first assistant keeper. Just like Hald, he left home at 14-years-old for the sea. His wife Annie joined him and the couple had six children and homesteaded. Olaf was promoted and sent to another lighthouse in 1903, but Annie chose to stat at their homestead. He would come back to Heceta Head the following year and would remain there until 1920. One of the Hansen daughters later recalled an incident with Thomas E. Alexander, who was appointed second assistant in 1912. She said, "There was one weirdo came in as an assistant here, Mr. Alexander. Mr. Alexander had a horse and one time he lassoed and threw that horse, tied his four legs together and sat on the hillside and threw rocks at that horse. We went and told our Dad, of course, what he had done. He reported it to headquarters, but he had to wait a week for the mail to go back and forth. Many times during that week, my dad and the other assistant would not go to the tower alone. They went up together because they were afraid of that man." 

When it came to the houses, the head keeper had the house closest to the lighthouse. The other house was duplex with the higher ranking assistant keeper being the next closest to the lighthouse. The chandeliers in the duplex reflected status as well with the first assistant having five bulbs in the chandelier and the second assistant had four bulbs. The head keeper had six bulbs in his chandelier. 

The keepers were responsible for manually winding the clockworks that powered the revolving lens every four hours. First shift began at sunset and ended at midnight. Second shift was from midnight to sunrise. The other keeper would be off. The keepers got every third night off. The watch room had a wood stove and a leather arm chair for comfort. Days were spent cleaning the lantern glass, polishing brass fittings, trimming wicks and filling the lamp reservoir. The npshistory website had this tidbit about the keeper's wives, "The Heceta Head women were fanatical window washers and cupboard cleaners, for the constant threat of a visit from lighthouse inspectors hung over their heads. These inspectors paid a surprise visit to the station once a year. They not only toured the tower and inspected lighthouse machinery, they also entered the houses and eyed cupboards, window sills and wood work. The more fastidious inspectors donned white gloves and ran their fingers atop sills and doors. Despite such stringent checks, few women were reprimanded for their housekeeping, although one was "cited" for a dirty laundry room because she had been sorting clothes into piles when the inspector came in, unannounced."
 
There was an accident near the lighthouse on the evening of March 25, 1927. A man named Frederick Huntington fell from an eighty-foot cliff above Sea Lion Caves to the rocks below and broke his leg. Head keeper Clifford B. Hermann and second assistant keeper Charles F. Walters hiked two miles to the spot and Hermann rappeled down a rope and set the man's leg, lashed him to a board and helped haul him up the cliff. All the keepers were commended for their work.

A garage and power plant was added to the station in 1934 and this electrified it. A 500-watt bulb replaced the incandescent-oil-vapor lamp and changed the light from a white flash every minute to a white flash every ten seconds. Electricity was added to the keeper's houses too. The addition of the electricity lead to the second assistant keeper position being eliminated. The bigger single dwelling house was razed and only the duplex was left. A coastal patrol was stationed at Heceta Head during World War II. Barracks were erected for the seventy-five coastguardsmen. The commanders stayed in the duplex. Clifford Hermann would be the station’s last civilian keeper and he retired in 1950. Full automation came in 1963. When the lens developed a bad lean, the Coast Guard proposed deactivating the lens, but the public shared their dissatisfaction with that so the Coast Guard opted to repair it. The lens eventually stopped in 2000 and was removed and replaced and reactivated in 2001. With automation, keepers were no longer needed, so the duplex was leased by Lane Community College. In 1995, the duplex became a Bed and Breakfast that serves up a seven-course gourmet breakfast. There are six rooms for rent. The house is a Queen Anne style house with a red roof and a white picket fence. The interior is themed turn-of-the-twentieth-century and there are black-and-white photos of former lighthouse keepers and their families. The people chosen to be the first innkeepers in 1995 were Mike and Carol Korgan. They started the restoration. When they retired, their daughter Michelle took over everything. 

There were two nearby natural structures of interest that no longer exist. The Heceta Head State Scenic Viewpoint used to be called Devils Elbow State Park. Within this area was Conical Rock or Parrot Rock. There was a divide here that people had to cross, by walking onto a rock next to Conical Rock. During low tide, this wasn't usually a problem, but at high tide, the tidal action was unpredictable. Currents could change up without warning. From the 1970s to the 1980s, seven people drowned here trying to get over the divide. This could be a reason for hauntings. Anyway, the Oregon State Parks Division and the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife made a plan to blow up a six feet by six feet section of rock. These people clearly like blowing up stuff. Now there is a big gap there, but no more drownings. The other natural structure was called the Eye of the Needle and was a rock arch at the southern end of the Devils Elbow Beach. It seems to have just disappeared in the 1930s from natural erosion. 

You really can't talk about lighthouses without talking about shipwrecks. These could be another reason for hauntings at a lighthouse. Clearly, the point of a lighthouse is to prevent the shipwreck. Many times, it was the amount of shipwrecks that decided what locations needed a lighthouse. And unfortunately, even after these lighthouses were built, there were still shipwrecks. One of the deadliest wrecks in this area, happened on November 4, 1875. This was the S.S. Pacific with 250 people on board and 600 tons of cargo. Some of that cargo was gold worth millions of dollars. The ship was doomed from the beginning of its voyage having left late from San Francisco and there weren't enough lifeboats on board. The cargo was loaded poorly too and the ship was tilting to the right side. So the crew filled the left side with water to even everything out. Eventually the ship tilted the other way and the water was removed. And we should probably mention that the Pacific had sunk once before and been repaired and was definitely past her prime. So on November 4th at 4pm, the Pacific had passed the Cape Flattery Lighthouse on Washington’s Tatoosh Island and was headed south into the Pacific Ocean. Several hours later, at 10pm, the Quartermaster, Neil Henley, was awakened by a loud crash and he saw water rushing into the ship. The Pacific had struck an 1,100 ton square-rigger named the Orpheus. Charles Sawyer was the captain of the Orpheus and he had just retired for the evening when he felt the ship turn dramatically to the port bow, so he went up to see what was going on. His first officer told him that he had seen a beam of light that he assumed was coming from the lighthouse and he turned according. The light wasn't from the lighthouse, but from the Pacific. Captain Sawyer stopped his ship and assumed the Pacific would change course, but it didn't. The Pacific blew her whistle and gave the Orpheus a glancing blow. But that strike was enough to leave the Pacific in grave danger as it wasn't structurally sound. The lifeboats couldn't be launched fast enough and the Pacific split in two. She sunk quickly killing everybody aboard the Pacific, except for two people. 

The nps history site wrote, "Despite the inclusion on the National Register, Heceta House gained public recognition not as a historic site, but as a 'ghost house.'" Henry and Anne Tammen became caretakers in 1973 and they were the first to report strange things. It started with noises they couldn't explain and they figured that this is an old house, there are strong winds outside, there are explanations for the noises. But the haunting ramped up. One night, the couple had another couple over to play cards. The game was interrupted by a high pitched scream. Some mornings, the Tammens would enter the kitchen to find several cupboard open. And then this really weird thing happened. They had put rat poison in the attic and one day they found it gone and in its place was a single silk stocking. 

The Tammens were caretakers when the school rented the buildings and so students were often on the property. Two students were on the porch one day when they claimed to see something gray ascend the porch steps. This gray thing was like a puff of smoke that floated, but it was long, like a human form. Most people attribute the paranormal at the bed and breakfast to one spirit, a spirit they have called Rue. There is no proof that there was ever a Rue at the lighthouse, but the legend goes that she was a former lighthouse keeper's wife and the couple lost their daughter to drowning at the lighthouse. We're not sure how Rue passed away, but because she is still broken-hearted, she has returned to the lighthouse to find her daughter. She mainly haunts the duplex where she supposedly had once lived. Her apparition has been seen floating in the halls, she takes guests belongings, rearranges furniture in the attic and knocks on the walls. Some students from Lane Community College are credited with coming up with Rue's name and this came from them using a Ouija board. Guests at the bed and breakfast are invited to record their experiences in journals in each room. Some stories talk about the weird knocking on the walls and another claimed to see the ghost of Rue sitting in a chair. 

One story claims that a worker named Jim Anderson was cleaning a window in the attic in 1975 when Rue appeared to him. It scared him so bad that he fled the house. He did come back a couple days later, but he refused to go into the attic again. He later was working outside the attic and broke a window and he repaired it from the outside, leaving the broken glass in the attic because he was that afraid to enter. When someone went up to clean up the glass, they found it swept into a neat pile. Other workmen had experiences too. Their tools would go missing and then they would reappear later where they were supposed to be. Things locked with padlocks would be found unlocked. 

Jessi Bunch wrote for PDX Monthly in August of 2024, "We also swapped Rue reports. The young woman staying next to us said she’d heard furniture moving. An older man mentioned the bang of a door downstairs. His wife said she’d had to take a Tylenol PM and was ready to leave. As we packed our bags in our room, the bathroom lights started to strobe. My dubious husband blamed old wiring. I’m not so sure." LordXenu23 wrote on Reddit, "My parents lived in the keepers house for a year in the mid 70's, before I was born. My brother told me he saw the ghost on a couple of occasions." The general manager in 2019, Misty Anderson, told KVAL13, "We make the beds, and then someone sits on it and there's an indentation like she's sitting there looking out the window. There was one lady that sat here in the middle of the day, and I was here, and said she watched the woman just float down this hall way like she was going to go out the front door, but there was not really anyone there." There are those who claim to hear conversations so is there more than one ghost here?

The lighthouse protected ships for years from danger. Does the property now harbor a ghost? Is the Heceta Head Lighthouse haunted? That is for you to decide!

HGB Ep. 532 - White Eagle Saloon

Moment in Oddity - Sky Camping

Camping can be a relaxing way to get out and enjoy nature. Some people rent camper trailers, others prefer to use tents and sleep on the ground. Both Diane and I have done our fair share of camping over the years, however there is one camping style that neither of us would be caught dead doing. This is known as sky camping. Sky camping is an extreme type of camping that is not for the feint of heart. It is definitely a unique experience in that the tent or hammock is suspended in the air from trees, cliffs or other high points. The scariest looking location is one we recently came upon in the mountains of Shanghai, China. At this particular location the sky campers are suspended over deep caverns in their little hammocks between mountains. It is said that the whole experience is quite safe. A person is tethered at all times. Umm... OK, NO! Worse yet is if "Nature Calls" and the whole business of how you 'do your business'. We'll let you use your imagination. Or, you can use google. There are many different ways that adrenaline junkies get their fix. But in our minds, resting in a relatively risky repose, suspended hundreds of feet above rocky crevasses, certainly is odd.

This Month in History - Planet of the Apes

In the month of April, on the 3rd in 1968, the movie Planet of the Apes was widely released across the United States. The American science fiction screenplay was written by Michael Wilson and Rod Serling of Twilight Zone fame. The film starred Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore, James Daly, and Linda Harrison. It was loosely based upon the 1963 novel of the same name. The premise of the movie is that an astronaut crew crashes onto an unusual planet sometime in the future. The astronauts encounter a strange society of ape like creatures who have developed into a civilization similar to a human one. With the apes demonstrating higher intelligence and speech. Serling rewrote the script outline several times before filming began. Production took place from May 21st until August 10, 1967, with set locations in California, Utah and Arizona. The final cost of the film came to $5.8 million. Planet of the Apes premiered at the Capitol Theatre in New York City before being released to the rest of the United States by 20th Century-Fox. The movie was a box-office hit, earning a lifetime domestic gross of $33.3 million.

White Eagle Saloon (Suggested by: Annie Caredio) 

McMenamins pubs, breweries and hotels are notoriously haunted. We've featured a couple of McMenamins establishments on episodes and The White Eagle Saloon is another one of those properties. The saloon describes itself as, "Echoing with tales of ghosts, mischief and mayhem, this 1905 saloon and hotel reverberates with live music and funky attitude." This is one of Portland's oldest bars and one of its most haunted. Join us as we explore the history and hauntings of the White Eagle Saloon!

McMenamins and beer go hand-in-hand. They operate 24 breweries and have brewed over 75,000 batches of craft beer. They have several IPAs, Black Rabbit Porter, Terminator Stout, Hammerhead, Ruby Ale and tons of other seasonal brews and such. Our favorite named one has to be Gnomesquatch, which describes itself in this way, "Watch out for the Gnomesquatch! Nocturnal by nature, these creatures are hard to find and rarely seen, so when they are the pictures are always fuzzy. But don’t fret! We have captured the essence of these elusive creatures in a hazy IPA. Gnomesquatch Hazy IPA has a nice pillowy mouth feel with flavors of citrus and orange marmalade. Enjoy a pint today and get out and get Gnomesquatching!" Mike and Brian McMenamin opened their first bar together in 1983, making the company 40-years-old. That pub was called the Barley Mill Pub and featured a barley mill from Oregon's first microbrewery. The brothers have always prided themselves on saving buildings and remaking them into their own vision with funky graphics, avante garde music and good food and beer. In 1998, McMenamins White Eagle Saloon was opened. 

The White Eagle itself dates back to 1905 and is located at 836 North Russell Street, close to the docks and railyards in one of Portland's oldest neighborhoods that had a reputation as being rough and tumble. This area of Portland was originally known as Albina and the neighborhood here is still referred to in that way. This had been a company town controlled by the Union Pacific Railroad. It was annexed by Portland in 1891. The White Eagle was originally named the B. Soboleski & Company Saloon for Barney Soboleski, who had immigrated from Poland at the age of 19, this started as a one-story brick building that was narrow and rectangular shaped. W.C Arthur and Co. were the architects of the second-story that was added in 1914. Not sure who built the original building, but the front as it appears now would have been done by that company. The front features a decorative brick facade and a glass transom across the front first floor entrance. Soboleski used the building to house industrial supplies until an economic boom hit Portland. A Russian immigrant from Polish-speaking Russia named William Hryszko partnered with Soboleski to open a saloon in the building. They decided to name it the White Eagle Saloon for the white eagle that is found on the coat of arms of Poland, which was a white eagle on a red shield. William Hryszko’s brother Joseph took over as the head bartender of the saloon after the second floor was added. That floor was run as a boarding house and Joseph lived in one of the rooms. 

The saloon became a type of Polish community gathering place and a favorite spot for industrial workers and sailors. A crazy story connected to the White Eagle at this time originated in the national press shortly after the bar opened. In June of 1906, the press dubbed Portland as "one of the worst centers of Anarchy of Russian origin." The fact that an anarchist Polish immigrant named Leon Czolgosz had assassinated President McKinley in September of 1901, made officials and the press suspicious of places where Polish immigrants would gather. This put the White Eagle on its radar. Rumors had been circulating that a dangerous Polish Anarchist group had been meeting at the bar to plot the assassination of President Theodore Roosevelt. On June 18, 1906, officers raided the White Eagle. Neither co-owners Hryszko or Sobolewski were arrested, but it took the media changing up the narrative and actually having a reporter go into Lower Albina to interview Sobolewski and other leaders of the alleged Anarchist group. The result of the interviews calmed the fears of the public and proved there was no assassination plot.

There were eleven pubs along Russell Street and competition was fierce, so the White Eagle started offering free lunches. Other pubs followed suit and it worked out really well for the poor of the city until the city of Portland banned the practice. The White Eagle needed something else to rise above the other bars and rumors circulated that they were allowing gambling and prostitution. Historians looked into the claim that a brothel was being run on the second floor, but no evidence was ever found.  The 1920 Census showed that no women lived upstairs at the White Eagle. And although this had a history of being a rough neighborhood, police records from 1906 to 1916 show little indication that prostitution had much of a presence here. There are some who claim that it was possibly the basement that was a brothel and that an opium den might have been down there too. Businesses that engaged in these kinds of practices used vault doors at their entrances. The White Eagle did have a vault at the top of the cellar stairway, but this was a modern addition made in the 1970s. No one knows why it was added, but the Saloon's blog wondered if it was to suggest that illicit activities had gone on to enrich the rumored history.

Barney Soboleski sold his interest in the business in 1914. The building would then be known as the Hryszko Brothers Building from then on and the siblings changed the building. They were the ones who added the upstairs floor and they extended the rear of the building. And then there was that little thing about Prohibition. This may be when some illicit activity DID get started with some illegal alcohol running between the Shanghai tunnels and the White Eagle. Mention of this tunnel also brings to mind the practice of "Shanghing" men at the bar. It is quite possible that inebriated men at the bar would get pulled into the tunnel and taken to the docks and loaded onto a departing ship. And while the White Eagle wasn't an official brothel, there is no doubt that men staying upstairs would hire women to join them in the evenings. Poker games were run in the downstairs bar. Although, technically, the Hryszko Brothers changed the business name to Hryszko Brothers Soft Drinks Emporium at the time.

After Prohibition ended, sailors became the prevalent customers at the bar. They would be bringing in the shipments of alcohol and stay to enjoy a few drinks. The Hryszko brothers changed the name of the White Eagle at this time because they decided to become an official restaurant. The new name became Hryszko Brothers Restaurant and Beer Parlor. The name changed again during World War II to Blue Eagle Cafe. That lasted until 1949 when White Eagle became the name again. The 1960s would bring in a rowdy crowd once again and the second generation of Hryszkos decided they wanted to sell. A New York immigrant named Tony Ferrone became the new owner and he had a vision of opening the place to live music. This turned the saloon into a hip spot to check out through the rest of the 60s and 70s. Audrey Sampson was his wife and co-owner. Early on, women were not allowed in the workingman's bar. If they wanted a beer, they would have to stand outside and pass an empty bucket inside to be filled and then carry the full bucket of beer back home. This wouldn't really become a bar where women felt welcome until Audrey had bought the bar with Tony.  By 1976, Philip Siegelbaum and Tyler Stevens were the owners. They moved the bar and remodeled everything. Charles Hughes bought the business in the late 1970s and although the establishment had already made its image more reputable, he wanted to solidify that. So he made a rule that bikers needed to remove their jackets when they entered, as well as any weapons. The bikers didn't mind. The White Eagle was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997 and as we said before, the McMenamins brothers purchased the saloon in 1998.

One of the coolest things about the saloon is the bar. It survived all the owner changes and renovations. It's hard to trace the origins of the bar, but most people believe that the beautiful ornately carved oak bar and back bar were built in the late 1800s in England and shipped around Cape Horn to be a part of the 1905 Lewis & Clark Exposition in Portland. Once the fair closed, the bar was bought to be installed in the newly built White Eagle. The tile floor features a Native American pattern. There was also a trough between the bar and the brass footrail that worked like a running water spittoon and according to former owner Charles Hughes, the trough was also used in the saloon's early days as a urinal. That trough is now covered with cement.  The upstairs runs as a hotel today featuring 11 rooms and is called a rock-n-roll hotel because it is right above a raucous bar with live music all night. So this isn't a place for early to bed light sleepers. 

As is the case with so many haunted locations, the line between fact and fiction is blurry at the White Eagle. There mostly is just oral history to fill in the formal records. One story that is told is that a lady-of-the-evening was killed by a jealous lover in an upstairs room. Her name is said to be Rose and she haunts the upstairs rooms of the White Eagle Saloon. Patrons claim to hear a woman weeping, possibly over a lost lover. Psychics have claimed to feel a deep well of sadness in the upstairs level. The basement, on the other hand, gives intuitives a feeling of violence and death. Strange noises are heard coming from the basement. Lore claims that white ladies-of-the-evening worked the upper floor, while black and Asian women worked in the basement. One of the women of color is said to haunt the basment. People are groped down here and the freezer door opens and closes by itself. Coins sometimes fall from the ceiling. One waitress was pushed down the stairs and after a couple of co-workers went to help her, they watched a mop bucket at the top of the stairs come flying at them. The waitress quit that day and didn't come back. 

Interestingly, the application for the history register talks about the ghosts. One section reads, "One of the ghosts seems to have been a Polish immigrant, Sam Warlinski. He supposedly worked at the docks for some time. Upon retirement, Sam was hired by the Hryszkos as a handyman and began boarding upstairs. (Other accounts report that Sam was adopted by the Hryszkos.) When the rooms upstairs were condemned, the Hryszkos told Sam that he would have to leave but that they would help find him a new place to live. The Hryszkos left to begin looking for a new boarding house for Sam. When they returned, they found him in his room dead of natural causes. The Hryszkos removed the body but locked the room just as Sam had left it. Contemporary accounts relate that it is now impossible to keep what had been Sam's room open. There have also been strange sightings in the upstairs windows and unexplained toilet flushing attributed to Sam." Historical records do seem to indicate that Sam died in Salem, Oregon, so did he just return here after his death?

A waitress was scared by an experience that she had. She was carrying a customer's order to their table  
and as she went to place it on the table, the plates flew out of her hand by themselves. Another unnamed spirit likes to tug on patrons’ shirts and staff members' aprons. Doors and windows open by themselves in all eleven rooms upstairs and apports appear out of thin air. One of the weirdest apparitions is described as being a vaguely human, teardrop-like form. This is usually seen looking out of an upstairs window.  

Seven years ago, a Reddit user wrote, " The following is not my experience, but was told to me by a stripper who dances in Portland Oregon. For years I've asked strippers all around Portland 'Have you seen ghosts?' One in 7 have, but only two stories stick out. Here is one of those true stories. A girl we'll call 'Angie' decided to go to the White Eagle Tavern, in the Albina section of Portland. Portland is divided by the Willamette River. West side is downtown Portland. East side is east Portland. About 6/8th's of Portland is on the east side. Back around 1900 the East Side was mainly forest and farms, with marshes, swamps, and an occasional "built up" area. One of these built-up "towns" was "Albina"; which is directly across the river from downtown Portland. In 1900, it was a small town of about maybe 700 people. It's social center was the White Eagle Tavern. On the first floor was a tavern. On the 2nd and 3rd floors were rooms (with no toilets...even today). In the basement was a brothel that included Asian girls, black girls, and a few white girls. During this time, it was illegal to be black in Oregon. So, if you were a black prostitute, you had to stay inside, and downstairs out of sight. Anyway, the story goes, they had a white prostitute who was in love with the piano player (they didn't have radios or cds in them days). But, a local cow boy (yes, they had them) were in love with the prostitute. A love triangle. Anyway, according to the legend, the cowboy was planning to marry the prostitute as soon as he came into a better financial situation. The cowboy told the piano playing to "stay away" from his woman, or else. He came into the Tavern, went to see the prostitute, only to see the piano player in bed with her. Well, he took out his gun and shot them both dead. Then, when he saw what he had done, he put the gun into his own mouth and pulled the trigger. Since then, some people have heard piano music (there is no piano), and a woman crying. Some people have seen a 3D shadow of a cowboy walking around upstairs. This is what I read online. The following is what the stripper told me. She said she didn't know that the White Eagle Tavern was haunted. Nobody told her. They went there one evening because a small alternative band they liked played there. They decided to rent a room for the night. The rooms were cheap (toilet at the end of the hallway). The rooms had no TV, no radio, a sink, but no toilet. But, they were planning to drink, the rooms were cheap, so they bought a room for the night. I think they paid 45 dollars. Anyway, they turned off the light and went to sleep. She said she 'heard' something, and she looked toward the door. She said she saw a 'shadow' coming through the door. The shadow looked just like a cowboy, but it was pure blackness. No features. No colors. She could hear the spurs on his boots as he started to walk past their bed. When he got to their bed he stopped, turned towards them, bent over, and looked at them. She could see no eyes. No features. Just pure blackness. He then straightened up, walked over to the sink, stared into the mirror (she could not see his reflection). He adjusted his cowboy hat, and then turned around and started to walk out. Once he got in front of their bed, he stopped, turned toward them, leaned over as if he was staring at them. She said she was so scared she couldn't move. He straightened back up, walked over to the door, walked THROUGH the door, and that was that. When he was gone she violently shook her boyfriend who turned over and said: 'I know, I know...I saw him too!'" 

Kathryn Kemp wrote on the McMenamins blog, "We recently stayed two nights at the White Eagle Saloon in Portland – one night on the way down to San Fran & one night on our way back. I want to start by saying that the bar & hotel are beautiful and the price is right but we now believe the hotel is haunted. Neither my boyfriend or I believed in ghosts, we are very logical people and we hadn’t read anything about the hotel being haunted when we booked it. Our first night in room 1 was wonderful and uneventful but our 2nd night in room 3 was down right scary. We had just got in from a brutal 10 hour drive and went straight to bed. We were lying in bed trying to fall asleep and the bed started moving up & down for no reason – we tried to rationalize that it was probably due to the bar below but it felt pretty creepy. My boyfriend proceeded to fall asleep but I was a little rattled and couldn’t sleep, I kept feeling like something was tickling my toes. I eventually fell asleep too and in the morning we were abruptly awoken by what felt like a object hitting the bed very strongly from below! We were both freaked, so much so that my boyfriend was looking under the bed. When we got up we also found that the water in the sink was running. My boyfriend felt that there was something in the room that just wanted us out so that’s what we did – no shower, no nothing – we high tailed it out of there! It wasn’t until today that we read many articles about the hotel being haunted. It’s too bad because we loved the place and the price was right but we won’t be able to do another night there. If you do chose to stay – don’t stay in room 3!" 

Ghost Hard conducted an investigation in October of 2023 and they said, "We experienced nonstop ghostly activity including intelligent responses from the ghost of Rose the Saloon girl. Through our REM Pod and EMF detector we had interactive conversations with the ghost in room three - supposedly the most haunted in the hotel. (Although the ghosts aren't confined to one place!) We spent the night in this haunted hotel - but we didn't get much sleep. And nonstop EMF detector action is a Ghost Hard first. We were blown away by the ghostly action we experienced." They have a video up on YouTube featuring the investigation.

Just two miles away from the White Eagle is the North Portland Library. The library started as a small reading room in a little house on Albina Avenue that opened in 1909. there were only 500 books in circulation there, but it was very popular. A quote from the annual report in 1910 said, "It is hardly possible to make comparisons to show the growth at North Albina. From the day this reading room opened, it has been a matter of wonder that so much could be done in so tiny a place.” By 1913, the reading room had morphed into a library with a new building designed in the Jacobethan style at the corner of North Killingsworth Street and North Commercial Avenue. The new location featured a children's reading room, a 150-seat meeting hall and many more books. Nurses used the building as a well-baby clinic in the 1920s. During World War II, the Red Cross hosted nursing classes and sewing circles at the library. The Black Resource Center was added in 1987. In 1996, the library was renovated and upgraded. The renovations held onto the historical feel of the building and it is very similar in style as to how it started.

And as could only be fitting in a library, it's reputedly haunted! The most well known ghost story is about the Shadow Man. Renovations done in the 2000s, added security cameras. One December, a couple of security guards were sitting in the security office joking around, when one of them caught something out of the corner of his eye on a screen. Upon closer inspection, they saw what looked like the shadowy figure of a man sitting in a chair in the conference room on the second floor. They both felt an eerie sensation. They knew the conference room was supposed to be empty. They went to investigate and crossed through the dark library to the second floor and found the room empty. They searched the entire room to make sure no one was hiding. The officers went back down to their control room and saw that the figure was still sitting in the conference room. The guards rushed back upstairs, but again found nothing. They reviewed the tapes later, and sure enough, the shadow man appears on tape in the conference room.

Patrick Provant, who had worked at the library, claimed that the bathroom on the second floor of the library was haunted by a spirit that liked to play with the hand dryer. He said that the dryer would turn on at random, often when he was using the bathroom. Patrick reported it to maintenance who fixed it. But the issue continued. They tried fixing it again and the hand dryer continued to do its own thing. Patrick said he decided to test the ghost and he asked it to turn on the dryer. Maybe it was a coincidence, but the dryer turned on. He tried the test again during a lunch break on another day and the dryer wouldn't turn on. He said, "I bet you a nickle you won’t turn it on." And it didn't. He went back to his desk disappointed and found a nickel waiting for him on his desk. A group of students from nearby Jefferson High School used the library to shoot footage for a school project on the paranormal. Patrick told them about the hand dryer and lead them into the bathroom. When he indicated which dryer was the one that went off by itself, the dryer turned on by itself. The students were terrified and ran out of the bathroom. 

We've covered some other Portland haunts like the Shanghai Tunnels and the Heathman Hotel. The city definitely has some interesting history and haunts. Is the White Eagle Saloon haunted? That is for you to decide!

HGB Ep. 482 - Heathman Hotel

Moment in Oddity - Longest Running Hotel

The hotel industry goes back way further than you might think. Sure, there are classic properties in historic cities such as Paris and Rome, but there's a hotel in Japan that has those places beat by centuries. The hotel is known as The Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan, and has been in business for over 1,300 years. It’s even been run by 52 generations of the same family until 2017. This Japanese resort is located near Mount Fuji and has been in business since 705 A.D.. The inn was founded by Fujiwara Mahito and its lasting appeal is attributed to the hot spring that has been free flowing without interruption since the hotels inception. In 2011, Guinness World Records officially certified the Keiunkan as the world's most historical and longest-standing inn. Although Mount Fuji is not viewable from the resort, it is located in the same region. Obviously, over its millennium of existence, the inn has continually been updated from the initial rudimentary pools in caves being replaced with more finished baths in wood huts, and so on. The Keiunkan is a beautiful resort boasting 37 rooms, a restaurant and moon-viewing platform. Since 2019, they have even had WiFi and the hot baths' machinery pumps 1,000 liters of naturally heated water per minute. The photographs are certainly stunning and it is obvious why this hotel has remained popular throughout the centuries, but a hotel run by the same family with a longevity of over 1,000 years, certainly is odd.

This Month in History - National Mint

In the month of April, on the 2nd, in 1792 Congress passed the Coinage Act, establishing the first national mint in the United States. During the colonial period, any monetary purchases were done with foreign currency, colonial currency, livestock, produce or other goods. After the Revolutionary War, the United States was governed by the Articles of Confederation which gave authority to individual states to mint their own coins. After the ratification of the Constitution it was determined that a National Mint was needed. At the time, Philadelphia was the nation's capital and thus was chosen for the mints' location. A scientist appointed by President George Washington purchased two lots at Arch and 7th Streets. On these lots a three story building was erected which made it the tallest building in the area and the first federal building constructed under the Constitution. Coins began production immediately and in 1795, the National Mint became the first federal agency to employ women which were hired to the position of adjusters. In 1835, after the initial gold rushes in the Americas, Congress passed legislation to build three new branch Mints to be located in North Carolina, Georgia and Louisiana. Later, in 1849 an additional Mint was established in San Francisco to accommodate for the California Gold Rush. Other locations were established as the nation continued its growth. Today, the Mint maintains production facilities in Philadelphia, San Francisco, Denver, and West Point, and a bullion depository in Fort Knox.

Heathman Hotel 

The Heathman Hotel is one of the few remaining historic hotels in Portland, Oregon. It beckons to passerbys with its red and white neon sign on the front of the entrance awning. The brick edifice signals that this is an old building, a historic building. Like so many historic hotels, this one hosted the rich and famous and has stories of tragedies and hauntings. Join us as we share the history and hauntings of the Heathman Hotel.

The Portland area was inhabited by the Upper Chinook Indians and the Multnomah People and they found the area to be rich in fish, berries and root vegetables. This was also prime hunting ground in the Tualatin Plains. These plains inspired the nickname used by early settlers, traders and trappers, The Clearing. Tennessee pioneer William Overton and Boston lawyer Asa Lovejoy bought  640 acres that included The Clearing and the waterfront that proved to be deep enough to allow this to become a port town. This was in 1843. By 1845, Overton was done with trying to tame this land and he sold his share to Francis Pettygrove who hailed from Portland, Maine. And that fact probably informs you where the name Portland came from. Portland was the largest settlement in the Pacific Northwest by 1850 and was the major port in the area for much of the 19th century. Today, Portland is known as being a center of counterculture, underground music like punk and home to so many microbreweries that some people call this Beertown. At the heart of the downtown is an entertainment district located along Portland's Great White Way. The Heathman Hotel was built here.

The Heathman Hotel is located at 1001 SW Broadway in Portland, Oregon and was originally known as New Heathman Hotel. This name was because there was already another Heathman Hotel in Portland. Today, that location is known as Park Heathman Hotel and its a residential building for low income seniors and disabled people. Both of these hotels were built by hotelier George Heathman, the original Heathman in 1926 and the new one in 1927. Heathman was born in Iowa, but his family relocated to Washington state when he was very young. Heathman moved to Portland in 1921 and found work as a general building contractor. His first major project was building the Red Men Hall in 1922. This group was formally known as the Improved Order of Red Men, which was a secret society that formed from multiple Revolutionary War-era secret societies. Heathman went on to build several other buildings in Portland and then he set his sights on hotels with the Roosevelt Hotel being the first in 1924. He then became a hotel executive and formed a partnership with a man named Virgil Crum and they would build the Heathman Hotels. Then Heathman died shortly thereafter in 1930 from a stroke at the age of 49. 

The New Heathman Hotel was constructed from concrete and covered over with brick, parts of which are dark and light colored brick that make a decorative diamond design. Architectural firm DeYoung and Roald designed the hotel in the Jacobean Revival style and it rose to ten stories. Heathman's vision for this hotel would be something that would cater to the upper crust like wealthy lumber barons, railroad magnates, investors and politicians. The lobby had dark-hued paneling that extended to the mezzanine and tall, arched windows allowed light to flood inside. A restaurant and cocktail lounge and commercial shops rounded out the first level. Meeting and banquet rooms were on the second floor. The rest of the floors had guest rooms, around 224 of them. There were 1,200 workers who constructed the New Heathman and they were all invited to a pre-opening party. This was followed by the formal grand opening on December 17, 1927.

The grand opening was a huge affair for Portland. Dedication speeches were made by both the mayor of Portland and the Governor of Oregon. Business leaders and all the city commissioners came out for the event and local radio station KOIN brought out a live band and orchestral pieces. And that wasn't just because the radio station wanted to be part of the festivities, the radio station would be calling the Heathman home. The station acquired sister station KALE and both used the mezzanine of the hotel for the stations. These were constantly upgraded and by 1940, this was called "the finest broadcast facility in the country." By 1955, both stations had moved out of the hotel. The Oregon Journal described the Heathman as "Portland's newest and most modern hotel" and "Its planning, construction and general appointments are as modern as human ingenuity and talent could possibly make it." The Heathman was in a perfect spot in the center of all the theaters with their bright marquees. Coffee and Portland seem to go hand and hand and the coffee culture started here in 1900. The Heathman contributed to this by putting in the largest coffee shop in the Pacific Northwest at that time. 

Rabbit Hole: One of the city's oldest coffeehouses is Rimsky-Korsakoffee House. This location was originally a private home built in 1902 in the Craftsman style. The coffeehouse was opened in 1980 by Goody Cable and she named it for Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The interior was themed on classical music. It's a quirky little place, but also a haunted one. Apparently the former owners, a couple of writers who had witnessed the Russian Revolution, are hanging around in the afterlife. Some of the haunting activity is actually rigged like rotating, vibrating and elevating tables.

Despite George's death, the Heathman family held onto the New Heathman until the early 1960s. At this time in Portland, much of the downtown had left for the suburbs and business slowed down. City leaders knew they needed to do something to reinvigorate the downtown area, so a performing arts center was planned. The Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall was opened in the old Paramount Theater. The Heathman was nearly unoccupied. The hotel underwent a major renovation in 1983 that finished in 1984 and cost $16 million. The main entrance was moved to a spot that once housed a gift shop and drug store. That drug store was Portland's first 24-hour pharmacy. Portland architect Carter Case and interior designer Andrew Delfino designed the interior to have new natural materials like marble and teak. The Tea Court was restored and a century old crystal chandelier that was once used in the U.S. Embassy in Czechoslovakia was placed above that Tea Court. All the guest rooms were renovated and furnished in various pieces representing 18th–20th-century styles of Biedermeier, Ming, Empire, and Regency.

The hotel was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in February 1984. Through the years there have been multiple owners. There was the Stevenson family, the Rim Corporation of Modesto, California, the McCormick & Schmick Restaurants, the LaSalle Hotel Properties and then finally the Pebblebrook Hotel Trust who spent another $20 million in renovations to create a semi-formal and luxurious hotel. As a part of this image, doormen are dressed as English Beefeaters. And the Beefeater costume thing continues inside in regards to a bronze sculpture of an English bulldog dressed in a Beefeater costume that is named Zelda. There is a dog bowl filled with water that is part of the sculpture. Zelda is apparently Zelda Wisdom, the star of a line of greeting cards. The sculpture was donated by Banfield Pet Hospital. The Heathman has always been known for its fine dining and the restaurant here has undergone many variations as well. The Heathman Restaurant & Bar was one of Portland's top restaurants and earned four stars from the Forbes Travel Guide in 2014. And all-offal menu was created in honor of Anthony Bourdain. Offal is awful, it's innards! The restaurant underwent a major renovation and reopened in 2016 as Headwaters that specialized in seafood. Today, the restaurant is apparently under renovation again with plans to open here in Spring 2023.

In 2011, Food & Wine listed the Heathman as one of the 21 most haunted restaurants and hotels in America. The paranormal activity at the Heathman seems to be centered on a column of rooms, running from Room 303 to Room 1003. An employee named Fidel Semper told CBS News in 1999 that a guest in Room 703 killed himself in 1975 because he couldn't deal with being blind or perhaps he fell out of the window. Semper was the one who found the body. He believes that this person may be one of the spirits haunting the hotel. People hear the screams of someone falling past these rooms and then the sound of breaking glass. The guest started from 703 and ended by crashing through the glass window of the library. The most haunted room of this bunch ending with 03 is that room, number 703. A woman who was staying in Room 703 came down to the front desk in 2008 and said she was very irritated that her towels had been thrown on the floor. She blamed an incompetent maid. The staff replaced the towels. Later that night, the woman found the towels on the ground again and she knew no one had been in the room.

Another interesting story told about Room 703 involved the TV in the room. A guest was unwinding and jumped in the shower. After clearing the suds from their ears, they heard a familiar sound. The television was on. But the guest hadn't turned the TV on. The guest got out of the shower, made sure the room was empty and then got back in the shower. A minute later, the TV was back on again. After showering, the guest went to the front desk and reported that something was wrong with the TV. A staff member accompanied the guest back to Room 703 and checked out the TV. Everything seemed to be working fine, so the staff member headed for the door. Before the staff member could leave, the TV roared back to life and the sound was all the way up. The hotel moved the guest.

In Room 503, guests have complained of being awakened from sleep by the sound of someone crying. When they look around the room, they see a figure that vanishes once seen. Things move on their own around the room as well. A guest was once again complaining at the front desk about her suitcase and clothing being moved when she had a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door. She thought someone had entered her room without permission. The manager did a key audit, so that they could identify who had entered the room. The audit revealed that the only person who had entered the room that day was the guest. The manager gave the woman a new key, but the next day, the woman reported that her clothes had been moved again. A staff member entered Room 503 and saw a giant ball of energy zipping about the room. One day, a housekeeper was actually able to catch a similar ball of energy in a picture and that photo hangs in housekeeping’s breakroom.

There are other hauntings going on in the hotel as well. Guests and staff report hearing strange noises and guests sometimes find that things have moved around in their rooms while they were gone, in ways that a maid wouldn't move things. Like whole pieces of furniture. Male apparitions have been seen by numerous guests, either standing at the foot of beds or sitting on beds. These spirits are not always seen, but sometimes felt as though they are sitting next to somebody. One guest claimed that a man had run out of the closet and then suddenly vanished. The hotel's library is also said to be a hotspot for activity. Room 510 reputedly has a crying woman in a chair. A longtime night auditor named Rob St. Helen collected stories in a packet that staff members and guests shared with him. One of the stories shared the tale of a shadow figure stepping off the elevator on the 8th floor. There used to be a grand piano in the hotel that people would hear playing when nobody was sitting at it.  

Tom Ogden writes in his 2010 book "Haunted Hotels" about a man named Max who stayed in Room 703. Max had gone out to take in some air and enjoy the city and when he returned to the room, he saw that the maid had not been in to clean. However, it DID seem that someone had been in his room. The chair at the table was pushed out and sitting to the side as though someone had sat at the table. And two of the water glasses from the bathroom were sitting on the table. Perhaps he forgot moving this stuff around? He went into the bathroom and was very puzzled to find two towels on the floor where he had only left one. Max phoned the front desk to verify that housekeeping had not come to his room and he was told that indeed, the maid was running behind. The desk offered to send her immediately, but Max said there was no need. He then explained that someone had entered his room while he was away. The person on the other end paused for a bit and then said they would send someone up.

As Max waited, he hoped he wasn't overreacting. Maybe he had forgotten moving things and using a second towel. He checked his suitcase as he waited and nothing was missing. The hotel manager and security arrived and checked the room and reviewed the electronic records for the lock. Max was the only one who had entered his room all day. The manager then cleared his voice, took a deep breath and explained that the hotel was haunted and that this room had an unusual amount of unexplainable activity. They offered Max another room, but he opted to stay put, although there was no further weirdness.

The Heathman Hotel has stood for nearly 100 years. In that time it has collected many ghost stories. Are these just legends or are there really spirits here? Is the Heathman Hotel haunted? That is for you to decide!

HGB Ep. 329 - Pittock Mansion Museum

Moment in Oddity - Monte Ne Ruins
Suggested by: Krystal Vines

William "Coin" Harvey was a very wealthy man and well, a bit of an eccentric. In 1900, he left his life in politics to begin construction on a health resort on land he purchased in Rogers, Arkansas. He dubbed the spot Monte Ne meaning Mountain Water. Before long he had built three hotels, a tennis court and indoor swimming pool. Two of those hotels, Missouri Row and Oklahoma Row, were the largest log buildings in the world. He built a secondary railroad line to bring people into the resort. Rogers was apparently not a place most thought of as a place to visit a health resort and the project slipped further into debt. Then Harvey went all in on his eccentric thinking and declared that he believed that humanity had reached its pinnacle - yes, in the early 1900s - and that civilization was going to collapse. He wanted to save all of this knowledge in a time capsule to show future humans what society was like at its peak. He devised a giant obelisk to put all this information inside of and called in "The Pyramid." He started an amphitheater at the same time. And then the Stock Market crashed. These projects going on in unison and a huge loss of money caused Harvey to abandon Monte Ne. Later, the White River was dammed to form Beaver Lake and Monte Ne was in the path. This means most of what was left of it is now on the bottom of the lake. That includes foundations and the tower of one of the hotels. And when lake levels are low, it is easier to see the ruins and the amphitheater usually emerges. The fact that Beaver Lake holds the ruins of a health resort and an amphitheater that emerges, certainly is odd!

This Month in History - The Napier Earthquake

In the month of February, on the 3rd, in 1931, the Napier earthquake hits Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. New Zealand lies along the boundary between the Indo-Australian Plate and Pacific Plates and those plates sliding against each other at 10:47 am on that day in February, reached a catastrophic 7.8 magnitude. The initial earthquake only lasted two and half minutes, but leveled nearly all the buildings in Napier and Hastings. Thousands of people were injured with over 400 hospitalized and 256 people were killed. The earthquake even caused the local landscape to change, even shifting up the coastline. There were many aftershocks in the following with weeks with 597 being counted by the end of February. In the wake of the Napier Earthquake, inadequate building codes were changed, no really tall buildings were built in Hawke's Bay again and most everything was rebuilt in the Art Deco style of the time. That means Hawke's Bay architecture is one of the finest examples of Art Deco in the world.

Pittock Mansion Museum (Suggested by: Michele Vaughn)

Portland would start as a pioneer town in the state of Oregon and grow into an industrialized modern city. One of the early families to make a mark on the city were the Pittocks. They were one of the wealthiest families in Portland society and they would use some of that wealth to build their retirement in the form of a chateau up on a hill overlooking the city. Today, it is a museum and reputedly haunted. Join us as we explore the history and hauntings of the Pittock Mansion!

The West Hills of Portland are also known as the Tualatin Mountains and they separate the Tualatin Basin from the Portland Basin. They were named after the Atfalati/Tualatin Kalapuya Tribe. The highest part of the range is Dixie Mountain and rises to 1,609 feet, so for a former resident of the Mile High City who hiked Fourteeners in Colorado, that's well, not exactly a mountain. One of the other peaks here is Pittock Hill and this is where the Pittock Mansion is located. Through this gap in the mountain range, supplies were brought via wagon to the ships in the port. I found something odd when I was researching these mountains. In a 2018 article, Yvonne Addington wrote, "The entire range doesn’t appear on any recent maps that I can find. They were partially shown on USGS maps over 50 years ago but not currently. The loss of identification of the entire Tualatin Mountain Range on state and federal maps is not a new problem. I made calls last year to U.S.G.S staff which confirmed their existence and said they can be put back on maps at their discretion but to date that hasn’t happened." That is so weird! This mountain range has disappeared from Oregon maps and weather reports. I guess this could be because they're more hills rather than mountains? When Henry Pittock arrives in Portland, it was little more than a muddy little town just getting started.

Henry Pittock was born in 1836 in London, England. His family relocated to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and that is where he grew up. His family owned a publishing company and he learned the ropes of the business starting as a young man. He set off west without a dime in his pocket and set his sights on Portland. He got there in 1853 and was only 17-years-old. His experience in printing got him a job with Thomas J. Dryer of Portland’s Weekly Oregonian. Of course, he didn't start out at the top. Let's just say, this was more like our modern day mailroom. He was mailing and delivering papers and working as a printer. And his pay was room and board, and when we say room, that's being generous. This was a space below the front counter. At least he had some blankets! His hard work paid off and he made his way to shop foreman. Apparently, the paper was not doing real well financially though. It couldn't afford to pay Pittock for this position, so he was made partner in the newspaper from 1854 to 1856. Thomas Dryer was heavily in debt with the paper, so he was probably relieved when President Lincoln appointed him to a position in his administration. By April of 1860, he had mortgaged the paper to Pittock and then transferred it completely to him in November. This is why Pittock is erroneously said to be the founder of The Oregonian. He didn't found it, but he owned it early and he would build it into what it would become.

That year, 1860, would be a great one for Pittock. Not only would he now own the newspaper, but he married Georgiana Burton who was twelve years his junior. Georgiana was the daughter of the man who owned the flour mill in town.  She was part of a pioneer family that had traveled from Missouri to Oregon in 1854. An interesting story from that trip is that Georgiana became lost and a Native American tribe found her and returned her to her family, but offered to buy her before they left. Not sure how true this is, but we wonder if the tribe figured the family didn't want her since she had become separated. She would found the Portland Rose Society that would eventually become the Portland Rose Festival. She was active in charities and her forming of a sewing society would eventually become the Women's Relief Society. And like so many active prominent women of her time, she was a suffragette.

Pittock had paid $300 for a plot of land in 1856 and this is where the couple would build their first home and have their children. They would build several homes on what became known as the Pittock Block. Their final home before the mansion was built, they lived in for fifty years. As the new head of the paper, Pittock decided that he wanted to take it in a different direction. He wanted to keep the politics out of the paper and keep the focus on actual news reporting. He wanted this reporting to be timely and he switched the Morning Oregonian to a six-day-a-week delivery. The way the paper was described was a paper that favored the Union, was “unflinchingly Republican” and that it would never purposefully injure an opponents’ feelings. Pittock had competition from two other papers, the Advertiser and the Times. Pittock worked hard to get advertisers and subscribers. The Civil War had broken out and he knew that he needed to get the latest news first.

Pittock came up with an amazing plan that would be costly, but very effective. The other two papers got their updates on the war via steamer, so Pittock looked to the Pony Express and stagecoaches for his updates. They would carry wire dispatches from the closest telegraph line. Pittock had such a good relationship with the telegraph operator that he got the scoop when President Lincoln was assassinated. The operator held back the information until The Oregonian published. Henry Pittock was driven and he would spare no expense to conquer the newspaper world in the Northwest. He pushed to get accounts current that the previous owner had allowed to become delinquent and he got subscribers to grow and grow, so that by 1880, 11,000 people were subscribed to the Oregonian, some of whom were far outside Portland. By the 1890s, the Oregonian was the most widely read paper in Oregon.

Pittock conquered other things as well. He was an avid adventurer and outdoorsman and was credited with being the first man to summit Mount Hood. He helped to found the Mazamas Climbing Club.  But there was also trouble. The editor for the Oregonian was Harvey W. Scott. Pittock had made promises to him about giving him interest in the paper, but Pittock actually gave it to another man because he needed an infusion of cash. This, of course, felt like a big betrayal to Scott. He would buy his own shares in the paper eventually, but the bitter feud between the men would continue between their two families for generations. Many times, Pittock had to mortgage his home to fund expenses for the paper. He eventually had to sell majority control of his publishing company, Oregonian Publishing Company to a group of other men. He and Georgiana had nine children, but only six made it into adulthood. The Depression of 1893 nearly bankrupted him. After mortgaging his home for a seventh time, he had to ask Thomas Corbett for a loan in order to hold onto his control of the paper. That was something he held onto with a vice grip, the paper. He wouldn't even give up control at his death.

Despite these money issues, Pittock did buy a lot of real estate in his lifetime and invested in lumber mills, paper mills, railroads, a bank and even a sheep ranch. These investments gave him enough wealth to build his dream home up in the West Hills in a spot overlooking the city on 46 acres. Construction on the Pittock Mansion began in 1909. Architect Edward T. Foulkes designed the mansion that would have twenty-two rooms and cover 16,000 square feet. The style is French-Renaissance and took until 1914 to be completed. An elevator was added late in the design after Georgiana had a stroke in 1913. The exterior is covered in Washington sandstone. The house is both architecturally amazing and had the upgraded technology of the day.

The interior had many unique trappings and a mix of styles from French renaissance, Edwardian, Jacobean and Turkish. There were the marble floors and oak-paneled cabinets that one would find in many elegant mansions of that time, but there was also foil lining the inside of the entryway's ceiling. Georgiana was very frugal, especially when she and Henry were first starting their lives and she had saved foil from old tea containers. The formal living room was designed with a curving outside wall of windows, which provided great views of the Cascade Mountain Range and Mount Hood. The grand staircase branches off to the right and left after hitting the center landing and is absolutely gorgeous, made from marble with a wood handrail and wrought iron balusters. This goes up three floors. There are twenty-three rooms including five large bedrooms, a sewing room, a music room, library, Turkish smoking room and a couple of sleeping porches. The house also was equipped with a dumbwaiter and modern luxuries like intercoms, indirect lighting, a central vacuum system and a walk-in refrigerator. There is a Steinway piano that Henry bought for his daughter here too. Fireplace mantels are carved wood and the ceilings feature shaped embellishments with several unique chandeliers.

There is an interesting shower in one of the rooms that is circular shaped and has semi-circular steel pipes circling the interior edge. There is a circular bathroom too with porcelain items like the sink and bathtub and that bathtub is rather small based on the picture we saw. It looks only big enough to sit in with your legs pulled up. In another picture, there is a dome shaped ceiling with gold accents and really neat designs with olive and red paint. Georgiana loved her roses and so, of course, she planted many on the grounds. The mansion has formal gardens all around it. The Gate Lodge is an Italianate-styled craftsman home built from concrete that sits next to what had been the original gated roadway leading to the mansion. This was the servant's quarters. This house was restored and decorated as it was in the 1930s and 1940s.

Georgiana died in 1918 and Henry followed her a year later after catching the flu. He asked to be brought to a window in the mansion, so that he could see his beloved Portland one last time. The mansion went into probate and his estate would be valued at $116 million in today's dollars. The paper went into a trust for 20 years and then was divided among his heirs, with two Pittock family members and one Scott family member overseeing everything. And as was the case with all newspapers, it eventually was sold to a bunch of newspaper chains over the years. The mansion stayed in the hands of the Pittock family and the Pittock grandson lived in the mansion until 1958. He tried to sell, but there were no takers and the house was heavily damaged in the Columbus Day Storm in 1962. The grand home was left abandoned after that. Right before it was going to be demolished in 1964, the City of Portland bought it with help from residents who raised $75,000 and after extensive renovations, it was reopened as a museum that you can visit today. In 2007, the Pittock Mansion Society took over operations. The house has appeared in several movies. The 1977 film "First Love" starring William Katt and Susan Dey, the 1982 slasher movie "Unhinged," the 1989 horror movie "The Haunting of Sarah Hardy" starring Morgan Fairchild and Sela Ward and the 1993 film "Body of Evidence." When one visits the museum, they can see items from the family and they might even experience their ghosts!

The mansion opened to visitors in 1965 and that is when reports about weird activity started. Both of the Pittocks and their groundskeeper died in the home. Some of the paranormal reports have included seeing windows shutting and latching on their own. There is also the sound of disembodied footsteps in the hallways. One of the really weird claims is that a portrait of Henry Pittock moves on its own around the house, but maybe not so weird considering that boots have been seen walking around without anybody being in them. Both guests and guides have seen apparitions in the house. Georgiana loved roses, of course, so the scent of roses is often smelled throughout the house. This usually occurs on the upper floors. Georgiana's apparition is seen in the garden as is the spirit of the former groundskeeper. One consistency in all the reports is that the ghosts are not malicious and love the home. One of the reasons why people believe that it is family members haunting the mansion.

We have heard stories from staff at many haunted locations having this same kind of experience when locking up whatever location it is they work at. You all know the drill at this point. They turn off all the lights, lock the door and head for their car. They get in the car and look up only to see every light in the location blazing. This happens at the Pittock to staff. One woman heard a picture fall off a wall while she was touring the house. She went to investigate and saw that a picture had indeed fallen off the wall. She watched as a woman wearing a long gown picked up the picture. The guest must have looked odd staring into this room because a guide came up behind her and asked if there was something the matter. She turned to the guide and said she was fine and just watching a woman pick up a picture that had fallen. The guide looked confused and when the guest turned back around, she saw that there was no woman in a dress in the room.

Henry and Georgiana Pittock didn't get to enjoy their beautiful home for long. Is that why their spirits might still be hanging around in the afterlife? Is Pittock Mansion haunted? That is for you to decide!

HGB Ep. 147 - Shanghai Tunnels

 
Moment in Oddity - Indonesian Man is 145-years-old
Suggested by: Corbin, one of our listener's sons

News broke last week out of Indonesia about a very unique man. He is incredibly frail and the name on his identity card reads, Mbah Gotho. That identity card also identifies his date of birth. Unbelievably, the card states that Gotho was born December 31, 1870. That's right, Gotho is 145-years-old. He has outlived all ten of his siblings, four wives and his children. He has reached a point where his only desire is to die and he has been preparing for that for twenty-four years ago. If his age can be confirmed, it would mean that he would hold the world record for oldest human recorded in our present era. That record is currently held by Jeanne Calment, a French woman who died in 1997 at the age of 122. When asked what his secret to longevity was, Gotho remarked that is was "patience." Such an answer coming from a man who has wished and prepared for death over two decades, seems rather ironic and the fact that he has lived so long, certainly is odd!

This Day in History - US President McKinley Shot

One this day, September 6th, in 1901, United States President William McKinley is shot and mortally wounded. President McKinley was attending the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo New York and he was shaking hands with the public inside the Temple of Music on that fateful day in 1901. The President had been re-elected for a second term in 1900 and he was a popular president because he liked to meet with the public. One member of that public waiting to meet President McKinley, was Leon Czolgosz. Czolgosz had lost his job during the Panic of 1893 and he was very bitter. He had turned to Anarchism and one goal of the political philosophy was to kill political leaders. Czolgosz shot the President when he reached to shake his hand. The bullet entered his abdomen. The President was rushed for medical care, but no one was able to find the bullet in his body and soon gangrene took hold. President McKinley died on September 13th. Czolgosz was sentenced to death and he met his end in the electric chair. President McKinley was the third president to be assassinated and it was his death that finally got Congress to charge the Secret Service with the duty of protecting the President.

Shanghai Tunnels (Suggested by C. Laurel Boaz, Lisa Lindermann and Michelle Vaugh)

Portland, Oregon was known in Victorian times as the "City of Roses" and it has retained that nickname for over a century. The Portland Underground is known more readily as the Shanghai Tunnels. These tunnels that snaked through what is today Old Town and Chinatown, were used for practical business purposes, but they also serviced the seedy side of things in the city. Some parts of these tunnels can still be accessed today and they reveal a dark, cob-webbed maze that one would not want to enter without a strong flashlight and a good guide. Spirits are reputed to lurk here. Is it because men and women were carried off for human slavery operations through these tunnels? Was it the era of Prohibition that has led to spectral activity? Join us as we explore the history and hauntings of the Shanghai Tunnels! *Fun Fact: "Keep Portland Weird" is its popular slogan*

Portland, Oregon early in its beginning was inhabited by the Chinook tribe. They were foragers and fishermen and it was this tribe that Lewis and Clark encountered on their expedition in 1805. The Chinookan people practiced flat-boarding, which is a process that would flatten the back of the skull. This would be started when a baby was 3 months old and continued until one year of age. The deformed skull was a sign of a higher social standing. For this reason, white explorers referred to them as "Flathead Indians." The Oregon Trail soon brought settlers to the area and the Chinook were pushed into a smaller region. The massive amounts of trees made Portland a lumber town. And the proximity it had to the Columbia River and the Williamette River gave it a foothold in shipping. Settlers flocked from the East Coast. Portland came by its name in a unique way. Believe it or not, it came down to the flip of a penny.  Two men, Maine merchant Francis Pettygrove and Massachusetts lawyer Asa Lovejoy, flipped a penny to decide if the town would be called Portland or Boston after their respective hometowns. Portland was incorporated in 1851 and today is Oregon's largest city.

During the 19th century, the demand for able-bodied men on ships grew. The best place to recruit these men was in port cities.  A practice began during this time because there were not enough men willing to go to sea. This practice was called shanghaiing and it took place in most major ports. Portland was one such place. Shanghaiing was at its base, kidnapping. In most places where this happened, men would be drinking in a bar and crimps or kidnappers would approach and offer them something else to drink. Usually this was drugged liquor. Other times, men were just knocked out or grabbed and tied up. The men would awaken to find themselves aboard a ship being ordered to work. Many would spend months at sea in servitude. Crimps were usually middlemen who would sell their victims to captains of ships. Shanghaiing had a unique twist in Portland, where this occurred from the 1850s to the 1940s, because there was an underground there.

Like most cities in the 1800s, Portland's streets were dirt, which meant that much of the time they were mud. This made it hard to transport goods in a bustling port city. A catacomb of tunnels was built beneath Portland starting in the 1870s with many finished by 1894, after the flood in the city that year. Chinese laborers built most of the substructure. The tunnels were brick archways built between basement areas of businesses. They snaked through the North End and South End of town. This basically would connect the modern day Chinatown to downtown Portland. In the North End of town was a bar known as Lazlo's Saloon. It is today a fusion restaurant known as Hobo's and this is where one of the main tunnels ran from. A trapdoor was located at the back of the saloon where victims were dropped down through, their shoes were removed and they were locked in a cell for a time. In case they woke up before they were moved to a ship that was ready to leave port, broken glass was spread on the floor, making escape difficult and leaving a trail of blood to be followed. That trap door has been tiled over at Hobo's Restaurant.

The main purpose of the tunnels was to connect the Williamette Riverfront to businesses in town, making the transport of goods easier. We have heard of similar tunnels in other cities and many times, these underground areas would be used for nefarious or secret purposes. They were used to carry people from gambling halls to opium dens to brothels, without being seen by the public. Access would come through the basements of these various establishments. During Prohibition, the tunnels were used to run liquor. Underground speakeasies were fashioned in the tunnels and barrels of booze were stored along the walls. Human trafficking continued until the early 1940s when it became no longer profitable.

The ease with which shanghaiing could be practiced in Portland because of the tunnels, made it one of the most dangerous cities to visit and it was considered the capital of shanghaiing. Men would be dropped through trapdoors down into the tunnels to be scuttled off to the port. Or at least, that is what the legends surrounding these tunnels claim. There is no actual proof that the tunnels were used for this purpose. While it is clear, that the tunnels were not specifically built for shanghaiing, they certainly could have been quite useful and we're sure that some kidnapped men and women were moved through them. Some researchers claim that number to be 1500 a year. And why wouldn't these tunnels be used? They are perfect for such a practice.

The tunnels are dim and dank, with cobwebs clinging to the dark corners. One can only imagine what the tunnels were like before they were finally closed off in the 1950s. Cascade Historical Society discovered the tunnels and opened up some of them and renovated them. These areas can now be toured. There are holding cells and unearthed artifacts from a bygone era in the tunnels. People reportedly died down here, either murdered or by accident. Something lurks here. Something not human and mainly unseen. Some experiences are residual and some are intelligent and violent. People excavating artifacts in the tunnel claim to have had bricks thrown at them. Paranormal investigators have set up wind chimes to indicate when a spirit passes by. This seems dubious at best since this area is under a shaking and vibrant city, but there is not suppose to be any air flow in the tunnels.

One of the spirits reputed to be here is found beneath the former Merchant Hotel. A young prostitute had been talking to some missionaries in the early 1900s and they told her that they wanted to rescue her from this life. Her employers discovered that she planned to leave and she was thrown down the elevator shaft. Her full-bodied apparition is seen not only in the Old Town Pizza that is located in what was the Merchant Hotel's lobby, but in the basement area connected to the tunnels. She has been seen in both black and white.

Those who died in captivity seem to remain in spirit form. They have been seen as full-bodied apparitions and felt as icy cold spots. Hulking dark figures are attributed to the crimps that ran people through the tunnels. Dark corners suddenly move as though the shadow has come to life. Some claim that these shadows have piercing red eyes.

The basement of the Lotus Nightclub is home to an evil and angry male entity that is reputed to be a bartender who worked in tandem with the crimps. Employees won't go into the basement alone. Glasses are thrown and moved around and CO2 tanks in the basement have been turned on by themselves. Glowing, human-shaped forms are seen climbing up stairs out of the tunnel. People have heard audible voices say both "stay" and "get out."

One of the most frightening experiences usually happens once a year on an anniversary. Back in 1902, the Jennifer Jo was a four-masted schooner that was leaving the port in Portland. On board was a crew of 100 men that had been shanghaiied. They were chained together in the hull of the boat. The ship sank in the Portland Harbor. The crew died. It is said that every year, on the day of the sinking, the crew runs through the entrance of the tunnels the closest to the water. They seem to be looking for the crimps that took them and enslaved them. Several people claim to have seen them and felt as though the group was going to run into them. Even more chilling are the claims of being touched by cold, wet hands.

There is a wolf associated with the tunnels, which seems strange. There is a legend about a Native American man who worked on a Longboat helping to turn the ships in the harbor and he was tall and strong. A crimp wanted to capture him because he felt he could get a lot of money for him. A group of men surrounded him on the streets. Suddenly, he shape-shifted into a wolf and got down on all fours. The men ran in terror. It is said that to this day, the cry of the wolf can be heard along the riverfront. Homeless people claim to hear the call on the night air. People who have heard it are sure that it is not a dog or a coyote. The wolf has been seen in the Underground.

The practice of shanghaiing was cruel and brutal. Such activity builds up strong negative emotions. How many men and women died wanting justice for what had happened to them? Were these tunnels used for shanghaiing? Do spirits of those who lost their lives in the tunnels still remain here? Are the Shanghai Tunnels haunted? That is for you to decide!

Show Notes:
Diane's article at Entwined Podcast:  http://www.entwinedpodcast.com/news/fingerfood10

Pictures from Christopher Klimovitz of Hunedoara Castle in Romania:

 

HGB Ep. 133 - McMenamins Edgefield

 
Moment in Oddity - The Crooked Forest of Poland

There is a forest in Poland that looks like something straight out of a Brian Froud illustration. One look at Poland's Crooked Forest and a person could believe that faeries are real and flitting about between the trees. The trees of this forest are not only weirdly bent, hence the name "Crooked," but they all bend in the same direction and the bend in their trunk is very low to the ground. There are around 400 trees here and they were all planted around 1930. Even more peculiar is the fact that this forest of trees is surrounded by a bigger forest of trees with perfectly straight trunks. It is believed that the trees were purposefully grown this way, perhaps to be used in boat making. But the outbreak of World War II has left whoecver was tending the grove and the purpose they had for the trees a mystery. But is this really something man-made? Could something paranormal have bent these trees this way? Perhaps some kind of energy field?We know Occum's Razor should cause us to lean to the man-made explanation, but isn't it more fun to believe that Faeries and gods got in a fight and this crooked forest was the result? So the forest might have been man-made, but even so, the Crooked Forest certainly is odd!

This Day in History - WWI Begins and Ends Five Years Apart
By: April Rogers-Krick

On this day, June 28th, in 1914, World War I began and on this day June 28th, in 1919, World War I came to end. Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to Austria-Hungary, and his wife Sofia, were assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia, by a Serbian nationalist. It happened as the royal couple rode through the streets of Sarajevo in an open touring car. Seven young radicals from an obscure Serbian-Bosnian nationalist group, called the Black Hand, lay in wait. An initial assassination attempt failed, but a wrong turn brought the car near Gavrilo Princip, who fired two shots at point-blank range into the Austrian Archduke and his wife. Within minutes, both were dead. Princip was arrested, but political tensions were so high between Austria-Hungary and Serbia that war broke out as a result. International alliances brought one country after another into the conflict. This is the event that triggered World War I. Five years of pure hell ensued. Many different forms of fighting and weapons were used in battle. World War I was the first major war in which airplanes were used as a significant part of the military. Trench warfare was one of the most harsh ways of fighting used in the battle.  Trenches were muddy, cold, and full of water. Soldiers were exposed to the elements. In the winter, temperatures in the trenches would fall below zero causing frostbite and the loss of toes and fingers. Soldiers were also exposed to diseases and sickness mostly carried by black and brown rats, but lice and other rodents contributed to the decline of health of soldiers. Along with illness, there was a limited amount of food and daily necessities. The harsh ways of trench warfare resulted in thousands of casualties. Besides firearms and grenades, chemicals were used. Chemical warfare was a major component of the first global war and first war of the twentieth century. Those chemicals included tear gas and the horrendous mustard gas. On June 28, 1919 the Treaty of Versailles, a peace treaty between Germany and the Allied Powers, was signed effectively ending the war exactly five years to the day that it began.

McMenamins Edgefield (Suggested by listener Jonathan Fishleder, Research Assistant Lynsey Smith)

McMenamins Edgefield is located in Troutdale, Oregon and it is an historic hotel that features a little bit of everything from fine dining to concerts to a movie theater to a distillery and brewery to a spa and golf.  The spot once housed the county poor farm and as we know from prior experience with other podcasts, these locations sometimes leave an essence of negativity that lead to hauntings. There are several spirits here and some of them seem to be hitchhiking ghosts like our infamous friends at the Haunted Mansion. We are joined on today's episode by our listener Jonathan Fishleder as he shares his visit to the location, the creepy feelings and experience that he had while there and how one of those entities decided to follow him home and what he did to get rid of it! Join us as we explore the history and hauntings of McMenamins Edgefield!

The area that would become the city of Troutdale, Oregon is located at the confluence of the Sandy and Columbia Rivers. Lt. Broughton and his crew discovered this spot in 1792. The first settlers would not lay stakes here until 1850 and one of those men was founder David F. Buxton. Former sea captain John Harlow planned out the town and built a trout farm. He called his farm Troutdale anf eventually the town would take that name. Harlow convinced the railroad to build a line near his farm, so he could ship his fish and that really established the town. His wife platted out the town after his death in 1883. The city really started building up in 1890. The city was incorporated in 1907. *Fun Fact: In the 1920s, Troutdale was known as the Celery Capital of the World.

Poor houses cropped up in many cities as a place to house the less desirables in a city. Portland had built Hillside Farm in their West Hills to house the disabled, ill and poor. Over time, the place had deteriorated and after an inspection in 1910, it was decided that a new place needed to be built. Multnomah County Commissioners chose Troutdale for the new poor house and they planned to make it a place that was more progressive. Their goal was to help the poor become more self-sufficient by running a farm. The farm would cover 345 acres and was opened in 1911. Originally, there was a main building with several outbuildings. There was also a pig farm and dairy.

The first people to move onto the farm were called inmates and there were 211 of them. Later, the term resident would be used, rather than inmates. The residents were divided into two groups. The group that worked in the fields would be rewarded with meat three times a day. Those that did not work only got meat at one meal. The Multnomah County Poor Farm was a huge success. Within three years there were 225 chickens, 100 Duroc hogs, a large herd of Holstein dairy cows, 420 Plymouth Rock hens, lots of crops, eggs, fruit, grain and twenty-seven acres of potatoes. The farm was able to feed all of its residents, patients at the county hospital, inmates at the jail and surplus was sold to markets.

The Great Depression brought the population at the poor farm to 600. It was overpopulated and to compensate, closets were turned into rooms and three or more people were put in each room. Many talented people were here and they turned the basement into a bazaar of sorts where they could sell their handiwork and people from all over Portland came to buy. World War II and President Roosevelt's New Deal would pull many of the workers from the farm and soon the only people left were the disabled and sick.

Some of the land was laid aside in 1959 and a county jail was built and the inmates were unwilling to work in the fields. The animals had to be sold and the farmland was leased out. The grand farm was falling into disrepair. In 1964, the main building was transformed into a nursing home and the name officially became Edgefield. In 1982, the nursing home was closed and everything was left abandoned. In its seven decades, all types of people had passed through the doors and each of them just needed extra help to make it in life. Two of those personalities were Frankie of "Frankie and Johnny" notoriety and the nephew of Confederate General Stonewall Jackson. He turned 100 while living at Edgefield.

Edgefield did not do well while it was abandoned. Vandals would break in and spray paint graffiti on the walls and steal whatever they could get their hands on, basically wreaking havoc on the property. As the buildings fell apart, they became dangerous and this was a huge liability for the county. They decided that the best decision would be to demolish the buildings. But the Troutdale Historical Society stepped in and they fought to stop the demolition. It took five years, but they saved the decrepit site. Now they had to find somebody who would want to buy the property. Microbrew pioneer brothers Mike and Brian McMenamin wanted to dip their toes in the hotel business and they saw the poor farm as a great place to start their business. People, mainly bankers, were a bit confused because McMenamins was associated with neighborhood pubs, not hotels.

The brothers got financing and they started with a winery, which was completed in 1990. In 1991, they added the brewery, a movie theater, Power Station Pub and eight rooms. Early success helped the brothers to renovate the main lodge and it was reopened with many more hotel rooms, a spa, a fine dining establishment and specialty bars. Later came artisan shops, gardens, a golf course and an area for concerts. What makes McMenamins unique is the fact that artists were set loose on the place. Every surface now has an artistic flourish celebrating the rich past of the site. Something more from that rich past lingers though. Based on the countless experiences we are going to share with you on this episode, it is clear that this is a very haunted and very actively haunted place. We'll share the experiences of guests and employees and then our listener Johnathan will join us to give you a first hand journey into the creepy and supernatural side of McMenamins Edgefield.

A housekeeper reported, "I was doing housekeeping about a month ago and I was standing at the foot of the bed when suddenly I felt ‘something' firmly grab my ankle and not let go until I jumped away. I looked under the bed and there was nothing. Freaked me out a little." Another housekeeper entered a room she had cleaned earlier and found the pillows tossed around. Earlier, the guest in that room had told the front desk that she awoke to find someone standing over her bed. Alison, a wine server, said “I have seen a nurse in the hallway upstairs (from the winery) and it was 11 o’clock in the morning. I was just walking with a bucket and I saw this 60s (styled woman), I could tell she had a little hat on. I could tell she had pantyhose on, that’s how clear she was.  And she was just walking and you couldn’t see keys but it looked like she was holding keys and she was coming this way and she kinda turned and she looked like she was going to open a door and then just vanished,” Berliner said about the full apparition she described as “obviously a nurse.” She also had the following experience: “I was walking on the west end, in between the second and third floor. I had had a couple of glasses of wine, I’ll admit that. It was my birthday. I was walking in where the mural of them handing the residents their sheets and stuff is, and I was really deep in thought about what these people must have gone through and how they felt, and right as I was thinking that, I didn’t see anything, but this energy went right through my chest. Took my breath completely away. I actually started hyperventilating. I was like ‘Oh my God, did it leave me?’ and I started shaking my hands and was like ‘Oh God, please let it be out of my body.’ I couldn’t tell."

Another guest reported to the staff that they were awakened by something tapping on her chest in the middle of the night and another guest wrote, "I felt a quick breeze and the strongest sweet scent came over me. It smelled like flowers, kind of perfume-like. . . . I lay in bed for an hour and saw shadows dancing on the walls, the ceiling and the window. Spirits were flying around the room - it was a great encounter." Another guest had a very unwanted encounter while taking a shower. She reported, "I was taking a shower then all of a sudden I felt a hand grab my butt. I screamed and grabbed my towel to dry off and get my clothes on. Right as I spotted my shirt, it flew up in the air!" Robin had the following encounter:  "My husband and I were married at Edgefield in August '09. As we were packing up and getting ready to leave, I wanted to take a picture of the inscription on the wall about the who the room was dedicated for. I lifted my camera, and before I put my finger on the shutter, the camera took a picture. Thankfully, my husband witnessed it happen, so I know I wasn't losing it! Awesome ending to an incredible event!"

AlexSandra McNabb reported, "My husband and I frequently go to Edgefield to just look around and catch a movie after dinner. One time when we were just wandering around the place we got in the elevator. This was before we were married, and as soon as the doors closed he started kissing me passionately. During the kiss, I felt someone grab a bunch of hair and pull! It was NOT my husband (his hands were nowhere near my head!). I sensed an older woman who was displeased with such a graphic display of private moments in a "public" place. Freaked me out at the time, but laugh about it now." Teresa S. wrote, "I was at Edgefield before you bought it. We had a company party there. I had no idea it was haunted at that time. I left the ballroom to find the ladies room and ended up looking at a wonderful mural of the history of the place (I hope its still there) I turned to find a janitor with an old rag mop in the hall and it smelled like someone was burning matches. I asked for the ladies room and he looked at me and pointed down the hall. I went where he directed me and it was really cold and no bathroom anywhere. I went back where I came from and he wasn't around so I went back to the ballroom and asked one of the hostess and she pointed me in the "right" direction and I told her about the Janitor and she said that was not a real janitor, and this place was haunted...I have not been able to come back no matter how curious I am about your renovations....Maybe one day."

Denise wrote after staying at Edgefield, "Just last weekend, 10-7-11, we spent the night at Edgefield. In the middle of the night while I was asleep a old man was standing over my bed wanting to shake my hand and I kept asking him what he wanted and he had to go (in my dream) and he just wanted to shake myhand, I finally shook his hand he smiled and I woke up...I am convinced I was visited by a spirit that lived there." Jennifer took pictures when visiting Edgefield and she was shocked to find the pictures erased. She said, "Summer of 2009 my bf and I spent the day enjoying the city taking pictures and visiting historical sites like the Edgefield. Upon reviewing the day's pictures at the end of the night, every single picture that we had taken inside the hotel had been erased while all the other pictures from the day remained. Nobody but myself had access to the camera, weird."

Debbie Wilson reported, "I have been going out to edgefield since I was 15 years old, and the house that used to be a boys home back in the1980s has always been creepy... and I know that its old land, and alot went on there before then, but my boyfriend, and I were walking around one night a while back it wasnt summer yet we snapped pictures all over thats what I always do hoping to get something, anything an orb, or a face,mist perhaps, but we were leaving the parking lot, and i was bummed not to get a thing. so I turned one last time to snap the house I was parked by, just one last shot i said, and looked at it and saw fog and a face of some kind in the middle of it, it freaked me out I just knew there would be nothing there again, and there it was everyone could see it that I showed it to, and then I lost the disk from my camera but if i ever find it i will post it its freaky!!!! and i will be out there again snapping away!!! I am waiting to get a pic of those old rocking chairs on the old creepy porches lol I will I'm sure lol!!!"

Renee wrote, "In 2010, My husband and i were staying at the Edgefield on the third floor in a corner room. After a night of dinner and fun we returned to the room to sleep. the next morning my husband asked why i had to get up last night and where i had went. i told him that i did not leave all night. he said that he thought it was me pushing off the bed, putting on the white robe and leaving. my husband told me that he could feel the pressure of weight in the middle of the king size bed, he thought it was me that had gotten up and layed back down. IT WASN'T ME! We have been back to the Edgefield on two other occassions. What fun..." and Cindy reported, "The second time that I stayed, I was in the shower and it felt like finger gently stroked my front shoulder blade. It wasn't a scary or mean presence. In October 2011, the last time that my husband and I stayed, we were both sleeping and at about 2 in the morning it sounded as though a large block of wood landed on the floor in our room. Neither of us realized that the other had heard it. When we talked about it in the morning, we noticed that there was a large carpet and couch on the floor where we heard the sound (we both heard it in the same location. We can't wait to go back in April!!!!! We LOVE this place and it definitely has spirits!!!"

An Anonymous person wrote, "I was at the Edgefield yesterday with my family to attend a wedding, and after the ceremony when the wedding guests were about to enjoy the wedding feast, I suddenly felt very groggy and fell out of my chair. {Good thing hardly anyone noticed when it happened.} Maybe whatever is haunting the Edgefield wanted to crash the wedding by pushing a guest out of his or her reception seat. {lol} Later, when my sister & I checked out the Edgefield's gift shop, I needed to use the bathroom, but had to hurry on out of there because I felt like I was being watched. It was creepy!" Justin stayed in the 90s and wrote, "Stayed at Edgefield one night back in late 90s during a company christmas party. Did not know the place was reputed to be haunted, and didn't believe in such things anyways. However as my wife and I were gettting ready to go to bed, I distinctly recall the strong presence of an elderly lady sitting in the room with us. I never get weird feelings like that (and never have again to this day). It was so strong I hesitated to disrobe for bed, and I even examined the room, wondering why my mind was insisting something was there when it wasn't. My wife remarked that she felt like we were being watched, which is an unusual statement from her. Oddly enough, it was a friendly, almost grandmotherly feeling, and I felt no fear or creepiness at all. Years later when I found out about the reputation and past of the hotel, it rattled me. Still does. Don't remember the room number, but it was on the ground floor and looking out the window, facing west, you can see the main entry way staircase."

Deanzie wrote, "I have also been haunted when I unwittingly stayed in a room on the third floor at the Edgefield in Troutdale (McMennamin's). When we got our room, I tried opening the closet door for extra pillows, but the door was locked. I then realized that there was a standing wardrobe in the room that had these items. Later that night, as my husband and I went to sleep, my head was on my pillow, and I heard an "unlocking" sound very loudly in my ear, like my ear was right up against a door. Shortly afterward, I heard creaky footsteps circling the bed. At the time, I was dismissive, and thought it was someone walking above our room. Even my husband woke up with a start, because the sound of the footsteps were so immediate. We both managed to sleep, but the next morning, we realized that there were no rooms above us, and no rooms were immediately next to ours. We were at the South end of the main hallway on the third floor. I think it was #304.
When I went back to work, I mentioned the event to my boss, who is familiar with The Edgefield (lots of interesting history to the place), and he described the shape of the slanted locked closet in the room, which I confirmed, and he said that that room was haunted. He reminded me of one of the paintings in the building that I clearly remember of one of the guest rooms showing a slanted closet with the door open, and in the blackness, there are a pair of eyes. I wasn't frightened during the event, and even the painting, the eyes themselves didn't look nasty, but that was quite memorable for me," and Kelly said, "I stayed in room #330 last night with two girlfriends. We came to Edgefield to see the FUN concert and stayed the night afterwards. I had a "sleep paralysis" moment in our room at about 2:30 in the morning. I could see something by the door and I was scared but I couldn't move. I yelled out because I was scared and one of my girlfriends woke me up. I've never had a "sleep paralysis" episode before. I also felt something grab my foot but I am not sure if I was dreaming or not. Then later in the night, at about 4:00 or 5:00 am, I heard bees buzzing loudly all over the room but didn't see any bees. I thought it was weird but went back to sleep. When we all woke up I told my friends and when one of them went into the hallway to go use the bathroom she saw that the murals outside of our room had bees everywhere. In one picture a woman is sitting in a rocking chair with a beehive on her head. I thought that was really creepy and I hadn't noticed the mural at all the night before. Fun and scary at the same time! Definitely going back again!"

Arline had an experience in 2010, "On 9/12/2010 - My husband, sister in law and I stayed and wondered the grounds late at night in search of paranormal activity. We took pics all over the place and caught some "mists" in the garden areas that couldn't be explained. We came around the corner of one of the restaurant terraces that sits below balcony's with two stairs cases on each side (don't remember the name) and felt something, so my husband snapped a few photos and caught a very compelling white mist/streak that is very "compelling". I would love to post but this only allows comments? Then I was walking down the hall from the room to the outside glass doors and I saw something small kinda like a white object run past the door on the "outside", it was short. When I walked thru the doors nothing was around? Very Cool place hope to return someday." Tammy wrote, "My husband and I just returned from the New Year's Eve 2014 party at the Edgefield.  We had a fabulous time!  We stayed three nights and had three experiences.  We were in room 203.  Our first night I walked to the bathroom and I saw an old man who was dressed like a janitor - black pants, black shoes, and white shirt like a uniform.  He had large black framed glasses.  He was crouching near the floor in what was a phone nook next to the ladies lounge.  He was in such a strange place and position that I stopped and looked at him kind of waiting to see if he needed help.  I smiled at him and he smiled back so I went into the ladies room.  When I came out just a moment later he was gone without a trace.  The next morning, I realized that the housekeeping staff had no such uniform and was certain he was a spirit.  I was completely blown away when I came home and read other encounters that happened in this same area near the beautiful mural between the second and third floors. We noticed nothing our second night but our third night, my husband and I were playing scrabble in our room and a very loud voice sounded like someone clearing their throat right behind me!  My husband and I both froze and he swore the sound was right behind me.  The rest of the night was pretty quiet, but the next morning I was brushing my teeth in that same bathroom and I swear there was a dog in the room with me!  There is no sound that can duplicate the sound of dog feet on a wood floor and that is what I heard.  I turned around and there was nothing there.  I even reached down to see if I could feel anything, but there was nothing there.  I stood there a moment and then said "you're a good dog aren't you." Then there was more nails clicking on the wood floor in a more excited kind of way.  I was very justified in my experience when I read the stories about a dog haunting the second floor!  Our encounters were friendly and very memorable!"

Sara wrote, "I stayed at Edgefield in Dec 2013 and my boyfriend and I went to sleep very early on purpose so that we could wake up in the middle of the night and hopefully catch some ghostly activity. We woke up around 1 am and we had only one lamp one and the said lamp turned off by itself, which at the time was not enough to convince me. We eventually went back to sleep. I then woke up not that long after I had fallen asleep to the sound and sensation of someone tap-tap-tapping on the mattress next to my head. We stayed in room 231, the Kazoo Kats suite, and since I am a devout cat lover, my thoughtful boyfriend took a picture of our door for me but the photo he took was black with dark purple stripes all across it. He was dumbfounded as he had never seen his camera behave that way and it was his father's camera before him and he never had any trouble with the camera either. I am convinced that Edgefield is haunted. I literally cannot wait to go back!" Ginger reported, "Oct 2014: I just stayed in room #310 two nights ago with my guy. I was in a dream state and felt the presence of something laying between us in bed. It was communicating with me and was gray in shape and color, and the energy of a woman. She floated away and woke both of us up at the same time at 3am. We didn't know until now that Edgefield has the reputation of being haunted."

Kristen wrote, "My friends and I started staying at the Edgefield for our cheap time away with just the girls....aka....heated mineral pool and wine. We were staying this past October 17, 2014 in room 39. We decided to use a ghost radar app to see what or who would come through. We received communication from" Warren" saying he was very poor (which makes sense considering what the building use to be). The next morning when we were getting ready to go to breakfast I couldn't find my hair brush. I dumped my purse out on the bed and literally shook it to make sure everything was out of it. I told my friends that they should go ahead of me to the restaurant for breakfast because I wanted to take one more look for my brush. Right after they left I went my purse....my brush was sitting on top of everything in my bag. I hadn't left my purse from the time I dumped it out and my friends were never close to my purse to put it in there. I think Warren was having a little fun or earlier he had messy hair." Sally-Ann said, "Spent a wonderful Christmas at the Edgefield 2014 with my husband.  It is not our first visit here but very excited to have a queen suite in the winery wing.  I have experienced para normal activity before in my life but this has been a first time at the Edgefield.  I am a light sleeper, and was on my left side, I awoke startled by someone peeling back the covers to completely expose my shoulder followed by a puff of icy breeze, I immediately rolled over to find my husband facing the opposite direction and snoring contentedly.  I woke him up and asked if he would stay awake for a while with me as I was freaked out and could not return to sleep. It was most definitely an eerie sensation and awareness that something else was there at that moment."

A family lives on property that was once part of Edgefield and they have been having haunting issues as well. Kimberley B. said, "My 5-year old and my husband were mentioning today, about how the property we live on (which was once part of the Multnomah Co. poor farm and is up the hill from Edgefield), is haunted. My husband said every once in a while, he'll get the sensation of his ankle being grabbed. And then my daughter mentioned how she sometimes feels her hair being tugged, or someone poking her shoulder while she is coloring. I've had moments, where I will walk in my home, feel a poke in the hip (as if I brushed up against an object), but when I look back, nothing is there. It reminded me though, of how my daughter was when she was between the ages of 1 1/2 and 3 1/2. I would always catch her in her room, talking to herself. At the hype of all these ghost shows, I sat down, and asked her a little more about it. She said that she was speaking to the "black guy" and the "white lady". I asked her what they looked like, and she described the black man wearing "dark clothes and dirt on top of his shoes". The white lady wore a white dress and a white hat. After a period of skepticism, I wrote into Edgefield, to ask if there was any information they could provide. (Because what year and a half year old describes a man wearing dirty clothes like that?) I was told that aside from apparations of a nurse, that there was also a black man that had wandered off the property, and when he was found, he had become trapped in a barbed wire fence and had died. I ask my daughter about it now, and she excuses it as an imaginary friend. But with the pokes here and there, you have to wonder."

With all these personal experiences, it's easy to believe that something is going on here. But is this paranormal activity? Could it just be residual energy? Could it be overactive imaginations? Is McMenamins Edgefield haunted? That is for you to decide!


Show Notes:
Oregon Encyclopedia –Poor Farm Edgefield
Poor House History – with links to Gov’t Documents
Mult Co Crops History Walking Guide
Photo Timeline and Official Website
Rm. 215 is the room reported to be most haunted.