Ghost City, Ore.
It's the 'end of the trail' for spooks — and that's good business for Clackamas entrepreneurs
With the approach of All Hallow’s Eve, the spirits of Oregon City are getting restless — and that’s good for business, according to Rocky Smith.
Smith owns and operates Northwest Ghost Tours, and in conjunction with the Oregon City Heritage Coordinating Committee, he is inviting the public to “Walk with the Spirits.”
“A lot of other cities on the East Coast, and all over the country, really, do year-round ghost tours,” he said. “We did a trial run through the summer to see how many people would want to do it.”
The results were almost frightening, according to Smith.
“It was very successful. We did tours on Friday and Saturday nights, starting in July and ended on Aug. 26. We brought in a lot of people from outside Oregon City, which impressed all of us,” he said.
One of the key goals of the committee has been to bring in people from outside Oregon City to visit local attractions, but to date the results have been mixed and success has been difficult to measure.
“Over the summer, I was down at the Pioneer Family Fun Festival in Clackamette Park. It’s a big event that draws thousands of people, but it’s hard to prove where they are all coming from,” said Smith.
When he started up his walking tours over the summer, Smith was careful to ask where participants lived and kept track of their answers.
“A lot of people came from all over the Portland/Vancouver area,” he said. “Only 15 percent were from Oregon City — the rest came elsewhere in the metro area or from outside the state.
“One lady brought her relatives who were visiting from California. She e-mailed them a link to our website, and they were really excited about the tour.”
He recalled another group that came across the river from Vancouver to spend an evening in Oregon City.
“They told me that they had never spent much time here, but they just had dinner at the Black Point Inn and they really liked it,” Smith said. “They didn’t even realize that it had just opened. They probably never would have come down here if it wasn’t for the tour.”
Believe it or not, the success of the tour has come in spite of a marketing effort with no more substance than a specter.
“I put a posting on the Internet on Craigslist, and that was it — that was the only thing we did outside Oregon City — and it worked,” said Smith. “This is the first time I can see that we’re actually doing it — we’re bringing in people from outside the city.”
During its October run, Smith is offering “Walk with the Spirits” six nights a week, and he’s recommending that ghost hunters interested in taking the tour on Friday, Oct. 13 or Halloween make reservations in advance.
“It’s going to get pretty busy towards the end of the month,” predicted Smith, who is already seeing groups of a dozen or more on weeknights.
The 20 block tour visits many historic sites atop the bluff, including the Ermatinger House and the McLoughlin House, as well as other notable homes and points of interest, including the promenade overlooking downtown and Willamette Falls.
“Overall, we visit about 10 different spots — it takes about two hours all together,” Smith said.
The tours provide a mix of local history and supernatural lore. Smith is active with the Trail’s End Paranormal Society, which has investigated many of Oregon City’s old haunts and found evidence of otherworldly entities.
“We seem to have quite a few experiences on the tour itself,” he said. “One night, we heard a door slam inside the Ermatinger House, which was weird because the house is closed up at night and there’s no reason for anybody to be in there.”
He continued: “There have also been some peculiar coincidences. One night when we were up looking over the river I was telling the group about the steamboat Portland that went over the falls, and when it did, it let out one last whistle.
“At that exact moment, we heard a whistle from one of the mills down below. That was kind of spooky.”
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Spirits of Oregon City
Famous personalities from the citys past return to their old haunts
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Now in its seventh year, the Spirits of Historic Oregon City tour will revisit the misfortunes that have descended on the community since it was settled by the Hudson’s Bay Company more than 150 years ago. These include the worst maritime disaster ever to occur on the Willamette and a typhoid outbreak in 1852, which created a haunting legacy that lingers still.
“This has evolved from a small event — a walking tour on a single night, until now it runs on two nights with three motor coaches,” said Rolla Harding, a member of the committee and caretaker of historic Ermatinger House. “Now, we even have a groupie. There is one lady in California who calls over the summer to see what we are doing, and she brings her friends up and they stay for the whole weekend.”
Real, live history
Participants will visit four sites around Oregon City: McLoughlin House, Stevens-Crawford House, Ermatinger House and Pioneer Mountain View Cemetery, where they will interact with living historians dressed in period clothing.
“All of these people, and there are more than 30 of them, do their own research from primary sources — letters and diaries written by the people that they portray,” said Harding’s wife, Marge. “These aren’t just stories. They are as close to the truth as we can actually get.
“We have a wonderful historian on our committee, Herb Beal, who has written several books. He has a tremendous knowledge of the history of this region, and he helps keep us on track.”
Among the tragedies that the tour will revisit is the explosion of the steamship Gazelle, docked above the Willamette Falls in Oregon City.
“She was docked on the river, and there were a group of passengers waiting to disembark, and another group was waiting to get onboard,” said Marge Harding. “The engineer wasn’t paying attention, and he stoked up the boiler too hot. The pressure built up until he couldn’t release it.
“He ran off the boat and up onto the bluff, where he watched it explode. In total, 28 people were killed, including the captain and many of the crew. That’s a little-known piece of history, and that’s what makes this fun — doing the research.”
After the tour, participants will be invited to return to Ermatinger House to participate in a spoof of a 19th century séance.
“Historically, in the 1840s, there was a resurgence of interest in spiritualism, and a belief that it was possible to make contact with the dead,” she said. “There were two sisters back east, named Fox, who took advantage of this and started performing séances. The used all sorts of contraptions and gimmicks to make the spirits appear to susceptible people.
Rolla Harding added: “It was a con game — a very successful con game.”
Partners for success
Unlike in previous years, when a dwindling number of seats were still available for walk-in participants, advanced reservations — with payment — are required. Reservations are available through the Rivershore Hotel. The hour-long tours depart the Carnagie Center every 20 minutes, and guests should check-in 15 minutes prior to departure.
The tour grew out of a desire among the individual committee members to help the public better understand history, and the lives of the people who lived it.
“It all started with the idea of using the month of October to talk about how people mourned during the Victorian era. Especially for women, there were a lot of rules and regulations that pertained to the mourning process,” said Marge Harding. “The other historic homes in the area wanted to be involved, so we formed the committee and it grew from there.”
Rolla Harding was quick to credit the other groups and organizations that have contributed to the success of the tour.
“We couldn’t do this without the support of the city, which provides the motor coaches from the Pioneer Center, and also the National Parks Service, which runs McLoughlin House, the Rivershore Hotel and Larry Potter, who provides us with access to the cemetery,” he said. “The committee pays for this event out of the proceeds and its own coffers, but we really rely on the support of these other groups.”
For her part, Marge Harding hopes that area residents will take the opportunity to learn about local history.
“We have a lot of young people who come every year,” she said. “I hate to use the word ‘educational,’ but it’s a good learning experience for the whole family.
“It’s not about spooks and goblins — it’s about the people who were influential in the beginnings of Oregon City.”