With Halloween around the corner, I wanted to do something to get myself in the spirit of the spooky season. I have always been intrigued by ghosts and the paranormal, so when I heard about US Ghost Adventures and that they offer ghost tours of real-life haunted places, I knew this was something I had to do. I mean, why spend hours in long lines for fake haunted houses when you can experience the real thing?
US Ghost Adventures hosts tours in more than 170 cities across the United States, blending history, storytelling, and just the right amount of fright. They go above and beyond traditional ghost tours—with haunted pub crawls, history walks, and even food tours. For those looking for something truly spine-tingling, US Ghost Adventures also offers overnight stays in infamous locations like The Lizzie Borden House, The Villisca Axe Murder House, and The Welty House. Whether it’s a haunted stroll or a walk through pivotal moments of America’s past, every tour is an opportunity to connect with history, culture, and community.
When I discovered that there were ghost tours available in Portland, which is 20 miles away from where I live, I booked one for myself, my husband, my son and his girlfriend. (My husband is not the least bit interested in ghosts but agreed to tag along to keep me out of trouble, I guess.)
Tours are offered every day of the week. I chose the Punishment, Penance and Poltergeist tour which began at 8 pm. I thought about choosing the 10:30 pm Dead of Night tour, which might have been a bit spookier (but Portland is scary enough on its own with or without the help of ghosts.) Plus, the city can get pretty crazy, especially later at night and on weekends- so I booked the earlier time slot on a Thursday evening for my Portland ghost tour in hopes that it wouldn’t be too busy- although I had my fingers crossed that the ghosts might be buzzing!
We met our guide, Brendan at the Harlow hotel in downtown Portland, where our tour would begin. There was only one other couple in our group, which was nice. I like smaller groups. Before we set out on our ghoulish adventure, he handed out those EMF ghost detectors to each group for fun so that we could hopefully pick up ghostly activity.
Brendan was friendly, funny, quick-witted (like a stand-up comedian vibe) and an incredible storyteller. He was down to earth, articulate and engaged with each person in the group, made everyone feel comfortable and kept our attention. He was very knowledgeable about the city of Portland and its popular landmarks. It was interesting to learn not just about the city’s most haunted places, but also other facts about Portland’s dark history. (No wonder it is haunted, yikes.)
Brendan led our group through the streets of Portland, stopping along the way at the haunted buildings along our route to tell us about the ghosts that haunted each place and the stories behind each one- One of which is Old Man Benson- (Simon Benson) the founder of The Benson Hotel, built in the early 1900s. Old Man Benson was fiercely against alcohol, and is apparently offended that a bar was built into his hotel after his death. His ghost has been spotted by people drinking in the bar, standing there in a dark gray suit, giving stern looks of disapproval. He is also known to sneakily whack your glass of booze right out of your hand at times.
Another ghost is a young woman named Nina who haunts the Old Town Pizza restaurant, which used to be the Merchant Hotel, built in 1880. Nina was a prostitute working in the hotel and she wanted out. Traveling Christian missionaries allegedly offered her a way out in exchange for information about the brothel, or about certain clients. She agreed, but soon after, she was found dead at the bottom of the building’s elevator shaft after she was thrown down it by someone who felt betrayed. That shaft has since been turned into a booth in the back of the restaurant, and Nina has been spotted walking (floating) around the restaurant warmly greeting diners with a gentle smile and a nod. (I am planning on having lunch there one of these days in hopes of spotting her.)
As for Poltergeists- you’ll find one of those lurking around the Roseland Theater. While the theater has hosted to some of the biggest names in music (my son played there a few years ago as well) its apparently haunted by a young man, (a former employee) who was brutally murdered inside the building and whose spirit manifests as a reminder of his tragic end. He likes to pull pranks on unsuspecting patrons by knocking over bottles and unwinding electrical cords.
I also learned about the famous Shanghai tunnels running underneath the city, and what they were used for and how they are haunted with the spirits of those unfortunate souls who cruelly lost their lives down there. (It has to do with early century human trafficking.) Apparently, there are tours that take you into the tunnels, but I’m not sure I could handle feeling ghostly hands on my shoulders, like our guide described others experiencing.
The spookiest part of the tour was probably the parking lot that was built over a Native American burial ground. It turned out that the early settlers in Portland who stole the land from the Natives, started developing the land which was a sacred burial ground. The developers simply dug up the bodies that were buried there and tossed them away like trash. Over the years, any business that had been built over that land was doomed to failure, or had sinister things happen to the owners and customers. Eventually, it was recognized as cursed, so today it remains a parking lot. (You can still see the remnants of the previous buildings, it is eerie.)
My son Braxton and his girlfriend Molly
Brendan described how until recently, he would bring his tour into the parking lot as he told his group about the history of the land, until he realized that standing in this parking lot made his body tingle (as if the spirits were reminding him to respect their place of rest) and so he no longer enters it, out of respect to them- and the tingling has never returned. He told us how others on his previous tours were strangely affected as well when they walked onto that parking lot. (One lady burst into tears when she entered and felt like a sinister energy was pushing her back!)
I didn’t feel anything myself, but our EMF (ghost) detector started flickering when we entered that parking lot!
Here is a video about Portland’s Ghost Tours.
Overall, the experience was both educational and spooky in the best way. I learned so much about Portland’s haunted history, and while I didn’t personally see a ghost, the stories and atmosphere were more than enough to give me chills. I highly recommend booking a tour for yourself—you never know what you might encounter.
To book your own US Ghost Adventures tour visit: https://usghostadventures.com/
Leave a Reply