The Enchanted Forest
Posted: 10.24.2024 | Updated: 10.24.2024
Located about an hour south of Portland, the small town of Turner, Oregon, is home to one of the quirkiest tourist attractions in the Pacific Northwest. The Enchanted Forest is a one-of-a-kind amusement park that opened in the 1960s and has welcomed thousands of visitors nearly every year since. Attractions include a winding path filled with characters from children’s storybooks, an old Western town, a log ride, and even a haunted house. However, the house may not be the only haunted part of the Enchanted Forest.
Is the Enchanted Forest haunted?
Over the years, stories have circulated that the Enchanted Forest is haunted by various entities who used to reside on the land. Voices of children and adults alike have been heard, and visitors have seen full-bodied apparitions of American settlers and Native Americans inside the park. Even staff are scared of certain parts of the park and have run screaming from the Haunted House, which some believe is genuinely haunted.
Want to learn more about haunted attractions in and around Portland? Book a ghost tour with Portland Ghosts today and experience Oregon’s spooky side for yourself.
The History of The Enchanted Forest
The concept for the Enchanted Forest came from the mind of Roger Tofte, a native of Wisconsin who ended up in Salem, OR. Born in 1930, Tofte always sought ways to express his creativity through business but ultimately decided to work for the Oregon State Highway Department to provide a better life for his wife and four children. However, Tofte’s creativity and business sense ultimately prevailed.
Tofte and his wife, Mavis, bought the original 20 acres of what would become the Enchanted Forest for $4,000 in the early 1960s, making $50 monthly payments. Construction began in 1964 and Tofte estimated it would take two years to build the amusement park’s first major attraction, Storybook Lane. As it turned out, the project would take seven years, and Tofte couldn’t find a bank to lend him the final $2,000 needed to get the park opened. Eventually, one bank decided to loan Tofte the money to complete the park and his vision.
In addition to banks not wanting to loan Tofte additional funds, his own friends had little faith in him finishing the project, referring to the Enchanted Forest as “Idiot Hill.” Tofte reportedly kept on pouring bags of cement until the Storybook Trail was completed.
The Enchanted Forest opened on August 8, 1971. The Toftes put out a simple sign that said they were open and 75 tourists made their way through Storybook Lane on the first weekend. News of the Enchanted Forest quickly spread, and by the second weekend, a thousand tourists lined up to see the park for themselves. Adult admission was a dollar, and children got in for fifty cents.
Hauntings At The Enchanted Forest
There have been reports of ghostly activity at the Enchanted Forest for years and some believe the hauntings predate the park itself. The Enchanted Forest sits near the site of the Conflict of Battle Creek, where white settlers engaged in deadly battles with the Indigenous Native Americans. Parkgoers have seen apparitions in clothing from the 1800s and in traditional Native American attire.
Staff have reported arriving at the park in the morning only to find rides set up and turned on even though no one has been in the park. They have also heard disembodied voices and feelings of being touched. Visitors have claimed to find items that were in their pockets suddenly displayed in the Old European Village exhibition. Electronics regularly malfunction within the confines of the park. Children have also insisted that they were transported to some sort of parallel dimension, and there have been reports of fae folk and other human-like entities in the park.
The Challenge of Mondor & The Haunted House
In 2018, the Enchanted Forest was featured on season 20 of Ghost Adventures. Throughout the episode, Zak Bagans, Aaron Goodwin, Billy Tolley, and Jay Wasley recorded audio and video footage at the park. The activity especially affected Goodwin, as he had visited the Enchanted Forest throughout his childhood. In the episode, Goodwin’s sister Amy recalled being touched on the shoulder by an unseen force when she visited the park as a young girl.
At the Challenge of Mondor ride, a ride operator named Chris showed the crew photos he’d taken of a moving light form. Chris also described feeling a strong bolt of energy shoot through him while working the ride. While investigating the ride, Goodwin heard animal-like noises, felt cold spots, and captured a disembodied voice saying, “Look at you.”
The Haunted House is a hotspot for the spirits. It’s said that a real house used to exist on the haunted attraction site, but no land records can confirm that. The Ghost Adventures team heard moaning and a child’s voice while in the attraction. They also captured audio recordings of a woman saying “Hello,” “This is my house,” “Home,” “Come to Mom,” and “Goodbye.” It was speculated that the female ghost was searching for the child spirit heard earlier. Bagans felt a cold hand on his back and asked the female ghost where she was touching him. She confirmed that she was touching his back.
A free-floating apparition was also recorded in one of the haunted house’s rooms. The spirit was so active that when Bagans asked it to move its leg, the spirit immediately kicked its leg up. Bagans said that he was completely drained of energy by the end of the investigation. Tofte’s granddaughter Ashley described the energy inside the Haunted House as “overwhelming” and “anxiety-inducing.”
Haunted Portland
Despite the chilling tails of the Enchanted Forest, it remains a popular tourist attraction, regardless of whether or not you believe in spirits. The greater Portland offers a variety of haunted attractions, all of which you can learn more about by booking a tour with Portland Ghosts. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, and keep reading our blog for more real Oregon hauntings.
Sources:
https://www.enchantedforest.com/history
https://www.travelchannel.com/shows/ghost-adventures/photos/ghost-adventures-enchanted-forest
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