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Haunted Fun in Stumptown

Ah, my favorite holiday draws closer and closer. While I still haven’t solidified my Halloween plans, you can be sure that they will involve at least one of the following locations…

CATHEDRAL PARK: There was a time when the area under the St. Johns Bridge was the location where children would wait for the Berry Bus to pick them up and take them to work in the mild Portland summers. In the 1930s a small girl was making her way home, completely unaware of the terrible men stalking her. The small girl never made it home. Her body found days later, the police found evidence that she was tortured long before she finally died. Although one time a location for drug dealers, addicts, and hobos, Cathedral Park is now a pleasant local gathering site maintained by the City of Portland. However, on many nights the police and neighbors hear the cry of a small girl screaming for her life. When people arrive, the park is empty.

THE PORTLAND MEMORIAL: The building on SE 14th Ave. and SE Bybee Street looks like just any other apartment building in the Portland Metro area. Neighbors may not sleep as well if they knew that they share a street with 58,000 dead, and room for 120,000 more. Started in 1901, the Portland Memorial is a sprawling building that merges various style from Victorian, to Art Deco, to Spanish Villas. Overstuffed sofas and benches invite visitors to stay a while in the memorial. Allowing anyone to visit, give them a call at 503-236-4141 to get the times.

SUICIDE BRIDGE: While not the official name of Vista Avenue Viaduct, the stone bridge built in 1926 has moved in and out of favor with would be jumpers. The bridge stands dozens of feet in the air, with nothing but five lanes of pavement and MAX tracks waiting below. Take a friend, take many friends. Have some record EVP from above and some from below…Then compare notes.

OLDEST IN THE CITY: As my final entry I want to give you fine readers a double whammy. The first is the Morrison Pioneer Cemetery located where SE Belmont merges with SE Morrison. The cemetery is the oldest home of the dead within the Portland city limits. Although many voices and orbs have been heard by visitors, it is the crypt known as the "Wall" that is considered the most haunted grave in the country. A tall structure standing in the middle of the cemetery, the crypt is hard to miss. Even your friendly neighborhood Geek has seen and heard entities within the crypt, and has the video to prove it. The final location is the Little Church in Sellwood. Located just outside Oaks Parks (which has it’s own "residents") the Little Church was moved to the area by the Metro Regional government many years ago. Still used for special events and film crews, the Little Church has a steady stream of orbs and rods coming in and out.

There are many, many more haunted sites within the city of Portland, even more so if you extend your search to the outlying towns and parks. Although any location that has a history can be haunted, there is something about the Pacific Northwest that seems to attract "strangeness"… Take a look at where so many serial killers come from… You won’t sleep very well anymore.