This past month, we have been posting spooky facts about Portland on our Facebook page, so we thought it might be fun to share some of these facts on the blog. Here are some things you may want to know about Portland, and which might help get you in the mood for Halloween:
- The restaurant Old Town Pizza in NW Portland is haunted by a ghost named Mina. She won’t bother your meal, but she may come by to say hi.
- SW Stark St and SW 2nd Avenue are said to be haunted. Apparently, before bridges connected the East and West sides of the city, we had the Stark Street Ferry on which Portlanders would traverse the Willamette. Often, there would be funerals processions or simply bodies that needed transport to their proper burial places, and these would go onto the ferry.
- Pittock Mansion is said to be haunted, possibly by the Pittocks themselves. Investigators have said that the Pittocks were so happy there, they didn’t want to leave.
- Hoodoo Antiques is another old Portland building – but it isn’t haunted. The articles within the building are.
- The Benson Hotel is haunted with friendly ghosts. One such ghosts may have been a porter in a previous life, or maybe it is just really friendly. Either way, a disabled guest was helped to bed by this apparition.
- The White Eagle Saloon in North Portland is said to be haunted by a former employee.
- The Hollywood and Bagdad Theaters are haunted. The Hollywood Theater has had a few ghost sightings, while the Bagdad has had some unexplained phenomena occur.
There are plenty of other little ghost stories all through Portland and Oregon. In fact, we are living in one of the top ten most haunted cities in America, according to USA Today.
With all this in mind, we wish you a happy and fun October with a minimum of ghosts and spooks.