What’s Up with All the Ghosts?
It’s that day. So of course we must speak of the ghosts. Do we or don’t we have an infestation of otherworldly spirits? Frankly, the historians are the wrong ones to ask, since technically we are supposed to deal with facts. But… you never know.
Below are just a few of the many fantastic stories from our hotel ghost logs, which are updated regularly with new ghostly content. Ask to have a look next time you’re visiting one of our properties.
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[revised from a 2010 blog]
It’s no big secret that some of our joints are thought to be haunted. The White Eagle Saloon & Rock ‘n’ Roll Hotel, for example, has long been included on lists of Portland’s most haunted spots, while Edgefield in Troutdale, Ore., even made it onto a national list of “Top Ten Most Haunted Hotels.”
We can neither confirm nor deny these reports – who are we to say either way? But you, our guests (and more than a few employees), are more than welcome to form your own conclusions — and many of you have over the years, so many that several of our properties keep ghost logs at the front desk. So when someone comes down from their room and starts by saying, “You’re going to think I’m crazy, but…” we encourage them to record their unearthly experience in the ghost log.
Here are just a few excerpts from the ghost logs over the years… and some may say it’s just the Hammerhead talking, but who knows for sure… Do you dare to stay the night with us, maybe get the chance to record your own entry in our ghost logs? Or do you already have a tale to tell? Let’s hear it, if so.
“Sensed a middle aged/elderly woman standing over the bed. Fought out of sleep. No one there.”
“I was doing housekeeping about a month ago and I was standing at the foot of the bed when suddenly I felt ‘something’ firmly grab my ankle and not let go until I jumped away. I looked under the bed and there was nothing. Freaked me out a little.” – As noted by hotel housekeeping staff
“I felt a quick breeze and the strongest sweet scent came over me. It smelled like flowers, kind of perfume-like. . . . I lay in bed for an hour and saw shadows dancing on the walls, the ceiling and the window. Spirits were flying around the room – it was a great encounter.”
“A woman informed us at check-out that she awoke to someone standing over her. That afternoon housekeeping reentered the room after cleaning it to find pillows tossed about. Then we had [another guest feel a] tap-tap on her chest in the middle of the night.”
“I was taking a shower then all of a sudden I felt a hand grab my butt. I screamed and grabbed my towel to dry off and get my clothes on. Right as I spotted my shirt, it flew up in the air!” — (We, uh, apologize for that one… we’ll have the manager speak to the ghost in question.)
My name is Jason im 45yrs old. I stayed in a room at the edgefield with my girlfriend who is now my wife, when i turned 21yrs old. It was just a random idea we planned for my birthday, to just chill out and do all the pubs on the property to drink and eat food. And also experience staying in the old hotel for the night. At the time, we had no clue of how haunted the property was. We’ve heard short stories about the history there, and also have had multiple friends that have worked there mention stories of paranormal experiences employees and guests have had. But at 21yrs old and beer thirsty, we never thought twice about the stories lol.
So after a long afternoon of good brews and food, we headed to our room we booked on the top floor. I dont remember what room number we stayed in, all i remember is it was down a long hallway. When we got to our room we realized there were no tv’s or a restroom in our room. Only desk lamps lit the big, vintage style room. I soon found out the restroom situation, way down the hallway outside the room. When i opened the door to the restroom, i instantly had a strange feeling walking in. The bathroom was big, and had that old school vintige feel to it. As i looked around making my way to the urinal along the wall, i felt as if someone was watching me the whole time, like someone was in there with me but there was nobody but me. I shrugged it off like, “whatever”. I visited the restroom a few times before sleep time, we were up until around midnight doing adult things ;). Still a little buzzed from the 6 gallons of beer i drank earlier, i woke up around 3am to visit the bathroom again down the hallway. As i made my way down the hallway to the restroom, i couldnt help but
notice the strange odd paintings on the walls, feeling like the paintings were looking back at me as i walked by them? As i walked into the bathroom i had that anxiety feeling of someone watching me, again. So this time, i ducked down and checked the toilet stalls to make sure nobody was there. I saw nobody in any of the stalls, and felt better about it, the anxiety wasnt as bad. Fyi- there are about a dozen toilet stalls, and a long old school urinal along the wall, big bathroom.. So as i walked up to the urinal on the wall, i looked around left and right one last time before i faced the urinal with my back to the toilet stals. As soon as i started peeing, i instantly felt like someone was standing directly behind me, next to me. As i pee’d, i kept looking left, right, and behind me. I felt whatever was there was very aggressive about letting me know it was there. I wasnt scared, but very curious about the overwhelming feelings i was having. As i finished my whiz, i obviously had to look down to tuck myself back into my shorts, for about 5 seconds. As i was tucking it back in the shorts, NO JOKE, a stall door opened directly behind me! I froze, standing there in complete shock! It was so spooky i couldnt even move to look at who it was, or what it was!? And i honestly could not move, like, it wouldnt let me move or look at “it”. I listened to whatever or whoever it was, walk to the door entrance leaving the bathroom. As soon as “it” opened the door to leave the bathroom, i finally was able to move and look towards the door entrance. And what i saw was a persons body quickly exiting the bathroom door as it closed. I literally ran to the door with the thought of “WHO OR WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT??!!” I made it to the door in about 3 seconds, opened the door quickly looking both directions down the hallway, and there was NOBODY there!! And there was absolutly no way someone could of dissapeared into a nearbye room without me seeing them, no way!!
As i walked quickly back to our room witch was about 30 yds away, i sware on my life that whoever was in that bathroom with me, was now staring at me AGAIN, through the paintings on the walls down the hallway! Every painting i looked at on the way back to our room, was staring at me?!
Im no pushover nor am i a drunk dumby lol. Im a believer in ONLY what i see or feel, myself. And im telling you all right now, the Edgefield is absolutley haunted. I saw “it” with my own eyes!
Oh yeah, that’s a good one, Jason! But, um, sorry about the voyeuristic ghost. We’ll report him to the manager. 🙂
Hi! I’m Stella, and I was actually up at Edgefield just a few days ago with some family and friends. They all went off to do things, so I walked around and eventually went up to one of the upstairs porch’s because the downstairs porch’s are always full. Anyways, I was up on the porch, reading a book. I was alone up there, and it was very quiet, but I was nose deep in my book (I was reading IT). All of a sudden, a tall dark figure caught my eye from the other side of the porch. It was turning toward the doors to go inside, but then it was gone. I know that Edgefield is haunted, and I can see spirits (there are 2 in my house and I have seen some in other places as well), but whenever I see one, it does still catch me off guard. I had this gut feeling that it was the spirit of a confederate soldier that I had just seen, but I felt a little crazy because I didn’t know why I was feeling such a specific feeling. So a few hours later, I bought the book on Edgefield’s history in the gift shop, and I found out that there had in fact been a confederate veteran that had lived and died there.
With finding that out, I was totally surprised, but now I don’t feel as crazy! I really believe that the spirit that I saw up there on the upper porch was that confederate veteran.
(Hotel Housekeeping staff here) Well Robert E. Lee’s nephew used to live in Edgefield so there’s a connection to the confederacy, although confederate soldiers probably did also make their way to Edgefield
IM SORRY! I meant Stonewall Jackson! NOT Robert E. Lee!
We stayed a few days ago as well and my mothers room she was in with my sister the lamps flickered one to the other repeatedaly at 2am after they unplugged them. i came into the room from the bathroom and they told me about it and as they were telling me the alarm clock started flashing 2:03am repeatedly. No alarm set. We unplugged it and it turned off laughed about it and then it started flashing 2:03am again. We checked for batteries and their were none. My partner came in and hid the clock and convinced my mom it was something else so she’d go to bed. Not our first encounter here but it was hers lol and it def. Spooked her.
That ghost was not ready to settle in for the evening, was it? We hope your mom will come back, someday…. 🙂
We stayed at Edgefield Oct 6-8, 2019. We were on the second floor West wing. About midnight the first night as we were just dozing off (I’d had no alcohol) we both heard a little girl’s laughter. To our knowledge there were no children staying in the rooms nearby. It happened again the second night. We didn’t think much about it and actually joked about the girl’s ghost hiding behind the armoire…until we got home and found out the hotel is actually haunted!
My daughter and I are scheduled to enjoy a short “staycation” next month during her Thanksgiving break and since I was in the area anyways, (my dog loves the park next door),
I figured it’d be best to book in-person and also cuz I hadn’t yet explored the actual hotel, just the grounds and pubs…
I should mention that we’re both clairvoyant and I’m an empath so supernatural/paranormal encounters are not a rare occurrence for us but I had no idea Edgefield was *that* active! –
Immediately when I stepped through the double doored entrance I felt an electric buzzing beginning in my ankles and slowly “crawling” up my calves, thighs and stomach.
It was quite a rush so I just stood there for a few seconds and let it run its course (!)
I get “insights” and “picture flashes” of life during a location’s greatest and worst moments in history…
As the hotel office staff person showed me the room we’d be staying in, we passed by a stairwell and I saw/sensed/felt a large group of young adults, possibly in high school, running down these stairs such as takes place between classes…..possibly in the 1920s.
I felt uneasy and rushed/intimidated in the Rabbit bar area and certain parts of the hall felt odd.
The office said there was a full flooding in September, some dumb teen did pull-ups on a pipe in the 3rd floor hallway….
I wonder if this increased or decreased the activity(?)
I’m now REALLY looking forward to our stay…… 😉
I just stayed here for 2 nights on a spur of the moment get away with my husband and 4 kids. We stayed in the family room in room 301on the third floor. It was a great comfy room. The first day we were there, we had a very busy day of exploring the grounds and seeing frozen 2 at the movie theater so we weren’t in our room or in the actual building very much. But that evening my older kids and husband went to the hot springs and I stayed back with our 2 year old and gave him a bath. While I was walking down the hall to the bathroom, I heard a baby crying and what sounded like little girls laughing. I didn’t see anyone but just figured it was coming from one of the rooms. During the night I kept hearing footsteps going up and down the hall. Then this morning, my son and I were coming out of the bathroom when I looked down the hallway when I saw a tall black man with dark curly hair wearing white “painter” overalls walking towards me. I didn’t hear his footsteps or anything which I thought was strange. but I figured it was just a worker? He was looking right at me but had an expressionless look on his face which I thought was weird. He also pretty much came out of nowhere? It was super weird but definitely gave me the chills. I am hoping it was just a worker and I’m just getting myself worked up over nothing!
So u saw a black guy walking down the hall and THAT’s your ghost story? 🤦🏽♂️
This is long overdue, but watching a “ghost show” on TV tonight drummed up a conversation between my husband and I about that one time we stayed at McMenamins in Troutdale…
It was in the beginning of October, 2015 when we visited Edgefield (traveled out from New Hampshire for my brother in law’s wedding). We stayed in a lovely room, which I can’t remember the number now… It was about 5 in the morning, the light just starting to brighten the room, and I woke up but tried to stay still and quiet to not wake up my husband. After a few seconds I heard a squeaking noise. In my mind I thought it was the sound of one of those antique crystal doorknobs in older homes that have a distinct “squeak” when you turn them. I heard it a couple of times and I finally whispered to my husband “Did you hear that?”. To my surprise he was also awake and coherently said “yep!” We stayed quiet for a few more moments and didn’t hear anything else but the excitement (or tension?) was palpable. Once we were up and moving around a little later that morning I realized the door to our room didn’t have a crystal doorknob so I became more curious and started turning knobs and handles the the room to see what could have made that noise. At the foot of our bed was a large wooden armoire and it had those metal drop pull handle thingy’s you use to pull open the door. When I looked closer, one of the pulls was in its normal, hanging down position. The other was lifted and pushed upright. As soon as I moved it to put it back down, the noise was exactly what we had been hearing that morning!! That distinct “squeaking” noise that I thought was a door handle was actually this pull (!!!). I called to my husband and asked him if that was the noise he heard as well and we both agreed, with ought a doubt that was what we had been hearing. The best part when I’m reminiscing about this experience was that at no point did my husband nor I have an uncomfortable or “heavy” feeling that people describe when they get goose bumps and are scared. We were perfectly comfortable and relaxed and I’m so honored to think we shared a moment in time with a former resident spirit of this historic and stunning building.
I haven’t been out to the West Coast since that trip but I would love to come and stay again, hoping for another amazing encounter.
My sister and I stayed in The Decemberist room at The Crystal Hotel. We made a few boomerang videos. I took some photos when she fell asleep. On them I can see (for lack of better word) orb. In the boomerang there are two and they move in a weird fashion. Not like dust floating. In the still photos I took when room was kinda dark. My sister was asleep and there is the same orb. I took the photos because something felt off. I didn’t see the video or picture until a few days later.
My wife and I have had many, many quiet nights at McMenamin’s properties, but do have a couple of stories to tell.
My story was at Anderson School, right after they opened. We were having late night cocktails in “The Shed” and I was seated on same side as the bar facing the door. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw an older man stand up (he was seated at on the stone base of the fireplace mantel) and move toward the door. Didn’t think anything about it, until I realized that I never saw him leave; at that point I looked around the room and saw it was just us, another couple at a table, and the bartender. I asked the bartender if he saw anything, or had heard that story before, and he didn’t want to talk about it. I’m still a little freaked out about it as the the image of the guy was so vivid – maybe someone can tell me that there is a secret door out of that room!
My wife had an experience at St Francis in Bend. We were staying in the first room down the hall from the front desk, to the left. We had been in the room for about an hour when my wife said that she could smell cologne. As she moved around the room, she said she could only smell it in a small area toward the foot of the bed. I tried, but could not smell it at all. She was frustrated with me, thinking I was playing a trick as she said the smell was strong and clear, like someone was just standing there with cologne on. After a little while (maybe five minutes) she said the smell completely went away. We stayed in the room for two nights and she never smelled it again.
One more quick one (this is on the funny side). Years ago we were at the Grand Lodge with our kids. It was a cold night and the heating at that time came for the old radiators, which popped and made all kinds of funny noises. The kids had never been around a radiator before and already a little creeped out by the old building, were convinced that the noises were ghosts, trying to get into the room. They were terrified, even after we explained the noise. Eventually they calmed down, but that is a running joke in our family to this day when we hear a strange noise.
Cheers
We stayed at Edgefield October 22nd and 23rd, and I can confirm now that it is absolutely haunted. In fact, I have photographic proof. You can’t post photos here, so I’ve included a link to a blog post on my website where I posted the photos. If you’re going there hoping to see a ghost and you can’t get room 215, don’t be disappointed. The whole place is haunted. You won’t be disappointed.
I was at Edgefield between 2005-2007 with a girlfriend. I walked in through the entrance and on the left side was an area with special secluded rooms. I walked by and saw an old fashioned baby stroller with large wheels and movable top. I stopped and said wait, walked backwards to where I saw the stroller and it was gone. I then told my friend what I saw and went through the door. We walked in and it smelled like new baby, I knew some how that is where the poor farm women had there babies. Don’t ask me how I knew I just did.
My husband and I fell in love at edgefield. It was our first getaway together and the place is truly magical and gorgeous. That being said we’ve had some crazy encounters but none like last night.
The first stay we had was back in 2014 and will forever have a place in my heart. I did have a small encounter that I shrugged off as me being overly tired. I woke up feeling like someone was standing close to the bed.
Fast forward to 2016 when we stayed at the powerhouse and I woke up in the middle of the night to see a man in a suit and top hat standing near the door. I also tried to shrug it off even though it freaked me out.
There are little things that happened on day trips but nothing like last night.
My daughter and I took a unexpected trip to Wisconsin because of a friend of hers going home on hospice. We flew back in late to Portland and instead of making the three hour drive gone my husband rented us a room not only for safety but because he wanted me to bring rubies home lol! My daughter (11 years old) and I arrive close to midnight we were given a room on the third floor in the very front of the building. We got up to the room and she asked about a door that was in the rooms I walked over and opened it expecting there to be maybe a bathroom (not normal with a room but the only logic I had) it appeared to be either walk in closet or storage area. I felt a scared feeling the moment I opened the main door to the room itself but upon opening the closet I felt scared. Not wanting my daughter to be freaked out by the random space I tried to close it however the door wouldn’t latch again. I ended up putting the suitcase holder in front. I tried to shrug off the bad feeling and my daughter and I went down to the car to grab a few more essentials. She didn’t want to go back to the room because it scared her. I stopped by the front desk to let the guy know I’d opened the door and couldn’t get it closed and he was apologetic but said “no big deal we can get it fixed tomorrow!” We went back up to the room and it felt even more scary. My daughter and I both felt like something didn’t want us there but I kept that thought to myself until we heard a loud bang in the storage area and the door was ajar. I ended up for the first time in my life asking for a new room. The second room was way smaller but we both felt relieved and like it was calming going into it. My daughter insisted on keeping the lights on and after an 8 hour trip of two planes I was too exhausted to care. She insisted I stay awake long enough for her to fall asleep. Once she was sleep I pulled the covers over my head to block out the light and then felt like someon e sat down on the bed beside my legs. I peered out and seeing nothing tried to ignore it. For about three hours I woke up every hour to someone either sitting on the bed or what felt like someone trying to smooth the blankets like they were tucking us in. I didn’t feel scared of whatever it was but was a little freaked out. My momma bear side being at full alert. Around 3-4 am I finally felt crazy but spoke and said “hey spirit I know you don’t mean any harm but I’m super tired and I really need some rest, you’re freaking me out can you please go?” I feel asleep after and didn’t wake until morning.
I love this place but probably won’t visit with my kiddos again lol! It will forever hold a place in my heart and my hubby will continue to come back. Whatever little old lady wanted to mother us that night I’m sure was trying to sooth our nerve from the first room!
It’s been a few years since my encounter but thought I should share. My sis in law and I were staying on a hot summer evening in 2020. I knew the haunted history of the hotel and like an idiot, borrowed the ghost log from the front desk. Before bed, I decided to read out loud some of the encounters to her and then jokingly said “Yeah right, haunted, ha!” Big mistake. In the middle of the night I had a terrible waking dream. I couldn’t see anything because the room was dark but I knew that something was at the end of the bed and it was “stealing” my energy. I couldn’t move and couldn’t see but I knew it was bad. Apparently I was making so much whimpering noises that my sister woke me up and asked if I was okay. I was screaming help, help, but it only came out as a whimper. This was not a nice spirit and it meant to teach me a lesson. I have never had an encounter like this and haven’t since. I of course googled it looking for a logical explanation and the closest thing I came up with was sleep paralysis. It felt very real and I haven’t had a case of “sleep paralysis” before or since. I have been going to Edgefield for 20 years, stayed many times, but this time was different. I firmly believe that there is something supernatural there and it made me a believer, unfortunately. I love that place but I won’t ever spend the night there again. We were on the second floor. A few rooms down from the famous haunted room 215. I prayed for protection and went to sleep..
We have the same story! I was just about to post mine and saw yours! In October 2019 I was visiting my sister in Portland. I shared a room with my mom and I was on a cot. Earlier that night with my sister I laughed at the ghost log in the lobby because I had stayed there so many times before and never experienced anything and thought it was nonsense.
I was a couple rooms away from 215 and later that night, around 2 or 3 am, I felt the blankets tighten over me and I heard something that I would rather not repeat here. I could barely speak and looked over to my mom for help but she was sound asleep. The moment passed and I forced myself to go back to bed but it’s something I’ll never forget. Lesson learned, don’t taunt the ghost log.
I love Edgefield. It’s one of my favorite hotels. I’ve stayed there many times and will continue to do so when visiting Portland but may request the first floor next time.
Hey I’m writing a paper on haunted places in Portland for class is it okay id I use your story or interview you?