Strange
Happenings on the Oregon Coast
By J.D. Adams
Amid the roar of the surf on the Oregon
coast, there are moans from tormented souls who are
lost in time. Departed pioneers, explorers, Native Americans,
sea traders, loggers, and soldiers, tricked into death,
reach out from their shadowy world to make contact with
the living. These ghosts walk the beach at night, and
float like mist in the inky darkness of the coastal
forest, reliving their last hours again and again, seeking
an answer to the hideous riddle that imprisons them
forever. In this land where cultures clashed and the
sea claims it’s own with windswept fury, the undead
are legion, each with their own personality. Some are
friendly, while others have a score to settle with the
living. When the wind whispers your name, beware.
The ghostly inhabitants of the Lincoln
City area are numerous and well documented, as this
website will attest: www.oregoncoast.org.
Ghosts walk in the North Lincoln County Historical Museum
late at night, and gather at a round table to discuss
future hauntings. At the North Lincoln Fire and Rescue
Station a specter known as “Bob” takes his
place on an old fire engine. And at the Wildflower Café
in Lincoln City, an apparition has taken up residence
to wish the staff well.
From this popular website: www.ghostofamerica.com,
come reports of ghosts from Pacific City to Newport,
occasionally headless or drinking blood, staggering
at Salishan Spit, and drifting at Devil’s Lake.
Native Inhabitants, who called it Skookum Lake, meaning
place of the evil spirit, noted a strange tentacled
creature there. A similar creature was seen by Stan
Allyn, author and the original owner of Depoe Bay's
Tradewinds sportfishing, who observed huge yellow tentacles
reaching from the ocean onto the beach near his home.
At Taft one can reflect on the history surrounding Schooner
Creek, which flows under Highway 101. Some say that
the ship this creek was named after still plies the
water around Siletz Bay. I invite you to come and walk
this beach - tonight. |