Is Portland Really Haunted? Locals Believe So

Portland was recently featured in a Travel & Leisure Magazine article about the most haunted cities in the United States, at number five. So, what's so scary about Portland?

The answer is underground! It is a network of so-called "Shanghai Tunnels". These underground passageways were used to move cargo from ships in port to businesses located downtown. There are also documented stories of more sinister events down there: murder, kidnapping, illicit drugs, and opium dens.

The "haunts" in the Rose City also include locations that are now home to bars and restaurants. If you take a trip to McMenamin's White Eagle Saloon you may see one of many apparitions that call it home. One is Rose, a lady of the night, along with the cook and bartender, Sam Warrick.

In the section known as Old Town down near the Willamette river, you will find Old Town Pizza. The building used to be home to a Merchant Hotel. The ghost Nina still visits those dining now and again even though she fell to her death down the elevator shaft while she was an employee at the lodging establishment.

Our last stop is the final destination for many, the Lone Fir Cemetery. Among the 25,000 souls entombed there, you will find asylum patients, Shanghai captains, and fancy ladies. Tours are available from the Friends of Lone Fir Cemetery.

While Portland was number 5 in the survey, New Orleans was first, followed by Chicago, Savannah, and St. Augustine.