Walk through Stumptown’s dark streets to hear the freakish tales of the ghosts that make Portland the most haunted city on the west coast.
Are you ready to experience the dark side of Portland’s past and meet the real ghosts that haunt its streets? Join us on a nightly ghost tour, to the most ghost-infested places in Downtown Stumptown. Only Portland Ghosts will show you the wickedly bizarre side of this charming city.
The Experiences You've Heard About
Kat Mcdonald
Victoria is wonderful extremely informative and fun
12.07.24
Jorge E Gonzalez
Morgan was an amazing lady who explained everything Excelent.
Thank You Morgan.
Join us for an immersive evening of fun and fright as we make a toast to Portland's nightlife, and uncover the centuries-old darkness that lies beneath the city.
Tour Meeting Location: 309 SW Broadway, Portland, OR 97205
Downtown Portland was a rough area in the early days of the city, a new port bringing in people from all over the world. Many of these newcomers had shady pasts and had no qualms about victimizing others, even if it meant killing to get what they wanted.
Portland Ghosts will reveal the details and unexpected twists best experienced in Portland’s silky black night when the cover of daytime is drawn back to expose a history of darkness. Discover how men and women alike fell prey to a multitude of evils that roamed the city blocks.
Shanghai Tunnels
The Shanghai Tunnels sound as though they’re out of a horror movie, but the barbarity that took place in these unlawful passageways is a part of Portland’s history that torments the city to this day. Tales of mystery and grief entwine across their gloomy expanse, luring guests into a world where the present and past collide in an eerie symphony of long-forgotten secrets and lingering spirits.
Old Town Pizza
Located in the 1885 Merchant Hotel Building, Old Town Pizza is a Portland eatery loved for its delectable take on everyone’s favorite. But at one time, far below ground in the Shanghai Tunnels, the nefarious deeds of human traffickers contaminated the city. Chairs move on their own in the pizza parlor, and strange apparitions give clues to a spirit left behind from this dangerous time.
Erickson’s Saloon
What is now apartments was once one of the largest and most famous taverns in the Pacific Northwest. However, the shameless acts of debauchery and the building’s ties with hundreds of merciless deaths are the legacies it holds. Ghostly activity in the saloon manifests itself in several ways, from unexplainable chilly locations to the unsettling sound of ghostly footsteps reverberating down its hallways.
What to Expect on your Portland Ghost Tour
In the quiet Northwest, Portland has been doing its own thing for over 160 years. Much of the early history was lawless, with local villains letting nothing stand in the way of their quest for profit. Hear about the history of the Shanghai Tunnels below the city sidewalks, once used to smuggle incapacitated innocents to a life of slavery on the high seas.
Some of the buildings you’ll see in Portland date back to the late 1800s and early 1900s and retain much of their early charm. They also retain the spirits of their original occupants, who have never quite let go of this earthly realm. See these upstanding establishments that have inadvertently become the sites of bizarre bedevilments and sent many running in terror.
Uncover a cursed history overflowing with nefarious and deadly criminal activity that made the entire city of Portland a redlight district teeming with salacious and sinister deeds. From a deadly fire that destroyed tens of thousands of buildings and hundreds of victims to an organized criminal network that “shanghaied” thousands of innocent sailors and workers-Portland is a city of hauntings and continues to produce chilling episodes of unexplained activity that unsuspecting visitors claim to be eyewitnesses to.
Discover the Horrors That Haunt Portland
Learn about the twisted account of the death of 21-year-old publicity agent Timothy Moreau and where his ghost lingers.
Visit the menacing Erickson’s Saloon and uncover the disturbing details that involved being “shanghaied.”
Discover the unusual tale of HooDoo Antiques’ extraordinary portrait that possesses the spirit of the woman it was made for.
Check out Electric Lettuce, a dispensary with proof of its unexplained otherworldly activity on surveillance.
Take a walk to the Benson Hotel, where a ghost is said to patrol the bar and knock over drinks of those who’ve had too much.
Why You Should Book Your Portland Ghost Tour Tonight!
You want to know the real story of Portland
There’s so much more to Portland than its recent hipster revival; it has its own unique atmosphere and its own quirky history. Like the dedicated fire chief from the early 1900s who still hangs around Kell’s Irish Bar. He led practically the entire Portland Volunteer Fire Department into a blaze at an oil distribution plant, nearly losing his life. The firehouse he was stationed at is just a block and a half away from Kells Bar, maybe he haunts his regular bar waiting for the next callout?
Portland’s early development got a boost when it was discovered the Willamette River was deep enough to allow ocean-going ships to dock. The rapid development in the previously densely forested land meant a great deal of the tree stumps were left standing, some in the middle of new roads and besides new houses. Some were painted white, so people didn’t trip over them. One visitor reported more stumps than trees in Portland, giving it the Stumptown nickname.
Your haunted tour will take you to a curated selection of locations with fascinating stories, and authentic ghosts that reveal this city’s history and the darker side of its past.
You only have a short time in Portland.
Portland’s downtown is easily walkable, and the carefully chosen route takes you to the best 8 or 12 locations to give you an entertaining look at the city’s ghostly past. We walk past the rebuilt Erickson’s Saloon, which once had one of the longest bars in the country, nearly 700 feet long, 30 bartenders could serve 300 men 10c pints of German beer, or 5c pints of domestic!
Upstairs at Erickson’s Saloon was a disease-infested sex factory, ‘street girls’ operated a rapid turnaround brothel in deplorable conditions. The ghosts of the original building that burned down continue to haunt the masonry building there today, confused ghosts of loggers have been seen hurrying around the upstairs, now a set of apartments.
This is just one of the 8 locations on the standard tour that all have fantastic stories attached, if you want more, opt for the extended tour to see an additional 4 locations that put you in touch with the true character of this town, and the stories of its longest residents!
You are skeptical of the Supernatural.
We won’t try to change your mind if you don’t currently have the imagination to see the connection with the energy we put into the world and our continued presence after we die. Even if these compelling ghost tales don’t change your mind, we’ll leave you with a vivid and atmospheric tour through the history of Portland and its past residents.
Like Frank Woon, restauranteur, Chinese immigrant, and gangland boss! He used imported thugs from San Francisco (where nothing good comes from!) Frank hatched a plan to establish his gang as the pack of top dogs. His brainwave devolved into an eighteen-minute street fight, with blood and corpses left in the street afterward, and Frank still not the top dog. He tortured a succession of rivals in his restaurant storage room over the years, many of whom had his stacks of onions as the last things on this earth that they saw.
Later on, Frank started being tormented by the ghosts of his rivals; he was seen running from his restaurant late at night, chased by nobody. He was later found dead on the second-floor balcony one day, clutching a stick, his eyes wide open. Portland Ghosts tour will show you where Frank haunts today and what has become of the Restaurant.
You want something the whole family will enjoy.
Ghost tours can sometimes focus only on the gory details, ruining any chance of a good night’s sleep. They tend to exaggerate the bloodiness and diminish the subtle art of a good scare. The approach at Portland Ghosts is to paint a vivid picture of the lives of the people in the stories, the better we recreate a truly absorbing picture of life in Old Portland, the more scared you will be when we reveal the bloodcurdling nature of their deaths and how they continue to haunt us!
However, we don’t want anyone to lose sleep, even younger members on the tours. We proudly encourage the whole family to come on the Portland Ghosts tour and see what it was like to be convicted of the most serious crimes and sentenced to death at the Multnomah County Courthouse, now the site of the impressive and beautiful City Hall.
We’ll tell you the stories of the people who haunt the City Hall today, and what strange supernatural acts they use to make their presence felt.
You've done the hipster stuff and want to know more.
Portland has a great vibe, good community, and some really off the beaten track things to see and do. The Ace Hotel downtown is about the hippest place to stay, and it’s just down the road from the ‘best book store on earth’ Powell’s Books. If you have been to the Smoked Vegan restaurant up in Cathedral Park and rented a 90s mountain bike from the guy who is also an urban goat farmer (true story), then you might be looking around for what else Portland has to offer.
The rain here is pretty regular or threatening, at least, so there are a bunch of great cinemas and film festivals here. The Northwest Film Center has a great theatre and a constant rotation of events. But if you are looking for something a bit more personal, then try Portland Ghosts. You’ll hear engaging and thrilling stories told by knowledgable and entertaining local guides from the very spots the spooky stories happened; you will hear tales from throughout the fascinating history of Portland.
You will hear 8 stories of horrible hauntings, but no one will jump out on you, and nothing is going to explode or appear out of nowhere. Instead, the carefully researched and skillfully told stories will paint an engrossing picture of the real lives our ghosts led and the tragic circumstances of their death. We let your own mind do most of the work, imagining the pain, and turmoil, the injustice, and fear, so when you hear the verified accounts of the hauntings these ghosts create today, the fear will be all of your own making.