Most Haunted Places in Portland, OR

Portland, Oregon is known for a variety of things – mainly the beautiful scenery and the friendly locals. However, what you may not know is that Portland is also well known for having an abundance of creepy places that are reputed to be haunted. Its growing reputation of being one of if not the most haunted city in America, continues to draw people in year after year.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the most haunted places in Portland, OR:

Let’s be honest – cemeteries are creepy places anyway, but Lone Fir Pioneer Cemetery takes it to a whole new level! The cemetery spans a large area and it has thousands of unmarked graves among the 25,000 buried there.

Some have suggested that these unmarked graves are the cause of the various ghosts that seem to be haunting the property.

There are a number of seemingly lost souls that have been reported wandering somewhat aimlessly around the burial ground.

Do you fancy a visit to a haunted Pizzeria? If so, then Portland’s ‘Old Town Pizza’ is going to be right up your street.  The pizzeria was once a hotel known as Old Town’s Merchant Hotel and it was there that a woman named Nina met her untimely demise.

Now, more than 100 years later her spirit is still lingering and she is often seen Nina wandering the lobby and the basement wearing a black dress.

Some staff have also felt her tap them on the shoulder. It is believed that she died after being thrown down the elevator shaft. Now she is the city’s most famous ghost and is responsible for earning Old Town Pizza a reputation as one of the most haunted buildings in Portland!

However, she may not be the only spirit in the restaurant! Staff have also seen a lady in white heading downstairs and some have followed to let her know that they are closed, but when they get downstairs she is gone!

From the outside, Pittock Mansion appears to be a beautiful and historic mansion that has been converted into a museum. However, those who venture inside the museum soon learn that appearances can be very deceiving.

Visitors often report some strange occurrences that are difficult to explain away! It is believed that the spirits of some members of  the Pittock Family are still lingering here and they are the ones responsible for the paranormal activity that has been recorded here which includes a haunted painting that apparently moves from place to place within the property all on its own!

Visitors have also reported disembodied voices, phantom footsteps, apparitions and window latches that come undone seemingly on their own!

See Also: The Most Haunted Hotels in Oregon

This is just a handful of the strange activity that has been reported in what is one of the most haunted mansions in Portland!

If there is one type of paranormal occurrence that really gives us the chills then we would probably have to say ghost ship phenomenon! There is something really eerie about phantom ships appearing and disappearing!

Portland’s Willamette River has its very own tale of a ghost ship. Over the last several years, local people have reported seeing a ship sailing down the river before blasting a foghorn and then promptly vanishing into thin air!

Some sceptics have dismissed the sound as a fog horn from a nearby railway bridge, but this does not explain the apparition of the ship so paranormal fans are not willing to accept that particular explanation.

Hollywood Theatre has been open since 1926, and with a building that old it is only to be expected that it is one of the most haunted places in Portland.

Those attending movie screenings here have reported seeing the spirit of a man roaming around the upstairs lobby area and also a ghostly woman who sits in the very back row of the theatre.

From time to time there are also sightings of a different female spirit pacing up and down the hall smoking a cigarette and staff have reported being tapped on the shoulder when nobody is near them.

Overall, the ghosts of Hollywood Theatre seem to be fairly benevolent.

The Crystal Ballroom is not only a historic music venue, but it has also long been known as one of the most haunted buildings in Portland.

There have been a large volume of reports of alleged paranormal occurrences in the property and it is largely agreed that this is the work of several different spirits.

It is fairly common occurrence that after a performance has ended and the audience have gone home, the staff and performers who are left behind will hear disembodied voices and phantom footsteps and will also see the elevator going up and down on their own!

Kell’s Irish Restaurant & Pub has long had the reputation of being one of the most haunted places in Portland and it is widely accepted to be because of its attachment to the Shanghai Tunnels, which we will discuss in more detail further down the list.

One of the most active spots is said to be Kells Cigar Room which is a space in the basement that leads directly into one of the Shanghai Tunnels.

The room is apparently haunted by the spirit of a firefighter named David Campbell who was killed in the line of duty. He is said to appear in full firefighter gear and is most often seen by those who have some sort of connection to firefighters.

However, this is by no means the only paranormal activity that happens at Kells! A piano downstairs has been known to play by itself and customers have reported hearing the sound of heavy breathing when nobody else is around.

Employees also report feeling someone brushing past them, chairs being rearranged and televisions being turned on when nobody is around. The owner even claims to have seen a face appearing in the mirror!

The White Eagle Saloon has earned its place as one of the most haunted places in Portland thanks to multiple sightings of a number of different ghostly apparitions.

These range from the ghosts of a former call girl named Rose and a pre-prohibition bartender named Sam to the trapped souls of innocent people who fell foul of the infamous Shanghai Tunnels.

In the early days, the saloon was so renowned for violent brawls that it was nicknamed ‘bucket of blood’!

For the most part, it does seem like the spirits are more or less harmless although, on one occasion, a waitress was pushed down the stairs by some unseen force leaving her with some pretty nasty bruises.

These days, McMenamin’s Edgefield is a luxurious hotel and venue, but before McMenamin took over Edgefield was a far less grand place – it previously served as a home for the sick, the poor and the homeless where residents could work in exchange for food and lodging.

See Also: Portland’s Most Haunted Hotels

It opened in the early 1900s and quickly became very overcrowded which resulted in a great deal of disease.

Large numbers of residents passed away due to sickness epidemics and their spirits seem to have lingered in the property.

Many guests at the Edgefield hotel have reported seeing apparitions in their rooms or wandering the halls.

One of the most haunted places in Portland is also one of the most famous spots in town. We are, of course, talking about the Shanghai Tunnels which run underneath a large portion of Portland.

The underground network of tunnels and passageways was used to kidnap unsuspecting men and women and force them into human trafficking.

See Also: Oregon’s Most Haunted Places

Men would be drugged or knocked unconscious and be dragged into the tunnels before waking up hours or even days later when they were already far out to sea having been sold to work as crew on ships.

Meanwhile, women would also be taken and be forced into prostitution or slavery.

As you might imagine, many of the people who were kidnapped ended up dying in the tunnels before they could be moved on and is the souls of these innocent victims who are said to be haunting the tunnels.

Visitors have said that they can hear disembodied screaming and murmuring voices while taking a tour of the tunnels.