- Oregon has a diverse landscape and is known for its forests, volcanoes, lakes, and coastline on the Pacific Ocean. It has many reports of paranormal creatures like Bigfoot and a sea serpent called Colossal Claude. - One account describes a logging camp terrorized by an 8-foot tall, hairy ape-like creature along the Chetco River in 1890. Several men who went looking for it were later found brutally killed. - In Portland, the historic Benson Hotel is reportedly haunted by the ghost of its founder Simon Benson and other spirits like a mischievous young boy. The hotel remains a recommended place to visit for those hoping to experience the paranormal.

1. March 12,
2020
Murderous Wildmen, Colossal Water Serpents and Ghosts
of Oregon
theweeklyrambler.com/murderous-wildmen-colossal-water-serpents-and-ghosts-of-oregon/
Oregon is the state below Washington, the last and first state we did in this series.
Oregon is bordered with Washington, Idaho, California and Nevada and has a coast on
the Pacific Ocean. It is known for being the most geographically diverse state within the
US with volcanoes, rivers, lakes, the Oregon High Desert, dense forests and semi-arid
shrublands. Crater Lake, located in the states only National Park of the same name is the
deepest lake in the US. Oregon is also the nation’s largest timber producer and although
it has no Silicon Valley, it does have the Silicon Forest, keeping it competitive in the
Technology sector.
Portland, Oregon was where one of mine and my sister’s favourite TV series was based,
Grimm, a TV Show about a detective who was able to see Wesen, creatures visible to the
“Grimms”. If you are into creatures of mythology and those from fairy tales then it is a
must-watch, it is a shame that it was cancelled in the end as I feel it had so much more
potential left but don’t let that detract you, it is good.
1/11

2. Oregon’s capital city is Salem and no, it isn’t the same Salem connected with the Witch
trials, that one is located in Massachusetts across the other side of the US and is now
called Danvers. Yeah, I guess you’re disappointed a bit from that because it would have
made a nice slide into the paranormal part of Oregon, but sometimes things aren’t that
simple and besides… Oregon still has a lot of paranormal to offer!
And that’s how you slide into it, folks. Once again, we have to bring up the ape, the myth,
the legend, ole’ Bigfoot or as it is directly called, the Sasquatch. Just like in Washington,
Oregon has many sightings of the tall, hairy hominid known as the Sasquatch again with
all those trees and forests it is no wonder there are so many sightings of the cryptid
roaming around out in the state’s vast wilderness. The encounters are dated back as far
as 1904 and reports particularly came from miners and prospects working out in the
wilderness, with one of the focal points being Myrtle Point.
There was an encounter with a bigfoot-like creature in Oregon that is perhaps not as
popular as the one from Ape Canyon in Washington which I went over in my extensive
Sasquatch blogpost, which was one of my first ever genuine posts. But Oregon also has a
similar though not as well-known tale of a siege of sorts with the creature or one similar
to it at least.
Image by slightly_different from Pixabay
The encounter we are going to talk about also happened to prospectors like the Ape
Canyon one and also involves a cabin they were staying in. The incident happened at a
place called Thompson’s Flat where the ape-like creature or wildman is also known as
the Thompson’s Flat monster. The story goes that the prospectors William Ward and a
young man called Burlison were keeping warm at a fire in their cabin when they were
disturbed by some large figure walking around outside, looking like some kind of
humanoid, such as a man, but surely far too large to be a human. The creature would
2/11

3. eventually grab a corner of the cabin and shake violently and also made a strange hair-
raising whistling noise, whistling being a common sound encountered and reported of
the apparent apemen in the area by frightened miners who had come across them.
After the shaking stopped Ward got the courage to look outside and witness the creature
begin to walk away, of which he decided to fire his rifle at it, missing it. The creature left.
But this would not be Ward’s last encounter with the creature, as he would be in a similar
situation within a different cabin in the area staying with the Harrison brothers. At about
5am in the early hours there would be a wild shaking at the cabin door, startling them
awake and causing the Harrison boys and Ward to grab their rifles and confront the
apparent intruder.
Again, Ward took a shot at the hairy creature but this time the beast would reply in kind
by hurling a 4lb rock at his head, which to Ward’s relief missed. The creature then
scampered off into the brush.
Image by David Mark from Pixabay
Another tale of a wildman from Oregon is that of the Chetco Monster and it is involved
with a story that has a terrifying ending. Said to have taken place somewhere along the
Chetco River, happening to a group of a dozen loggers working out in the wilderness and
living with their families in tents that were set up in the area.
The trouble started small at first after a few weeks, with garbage cans being overturned
in the night, which the loggers presumed were bears looking for food. Due to worries of
safety and the bears potentially being aggressive the loggers would get someone armed
3/11

4. to guard the camp and their families while they were away. Children had a close eye kept
on them and were also forbid from playing games such as hide-and-seek in the forest.
On one particular morning large footprints would be discovered along the riverbank. At
first the loggers thought it may be one of their own, someone who perhaps had very
large feet, but after they all measured their foot up against the large prints, nobodies’
feet came close to match. The loggers also questioned if they could be bear tracks and if
not, then what made these tracks?
One of the group suggested it could be a wildman who lived further up the river. An
irritable man who threatened to shoot anyone who got close to his cabin, a man said to
not wear any hats or boots, no matter how adverse the weather may be, he was simply
bareheaded and barefoot. Believing the case to be solved the occupiers of the camp and
the loggers forgot about it. In several nights time though there would be room for fear
again, as ominous whistles and seemingly angry shrieks in the distance woke the camp.
The men grabbed their guns, jumping to the defense of the camp and their families,
many assumed it could be a wounded bear nearby.
The Chetco Monster incident is believed to have happened somewhere along the Chetco River.
The camp was kept in darkness and scared children were hushed from crying, due to
fear of attracting whatever the creature was. The sounds went on for a long while, at
times seeming closer but other times further away. Eventually the terrifying noises
ceased and an eerie silence descended on the dark camp. The next day the men debated
on the incident, some arguing it to be a bear and others arguing it to be a mountain lion.
In an attempt to quell fear and put minds at rest the men grouped together and
searched around for signs and evidence of bears or mountain lions, but no such
4/11

5. evidence could be discovered. But scarily they did discover more large footprints in the
ground and the men discussed with each other if it could be the crazy wildman they had
talked of.
The men came to an agreement that it would be best to capture this old crazy man who
lived up the river, before he ended up killing someone at the camp. So, the men quietly
followed the large tracks back from where they came. The tracks led them to a road
several hundred yards up from the camp, up the road and then into the logging site, the
men discovered the part of the forest where the wildman had emerged from and where
he had stalked around the logging site. But then they noticed something shocking,
massive tree limbs had somehow been moved from out of their piles, all far too heavy
for a man to move, they had been thrown about as if they were little toys and they had
even been used to beat up the logging site machinery.
The men then followed the tracks back towards the camp and then also noticed
something they had missed on the trip up, shrubs that had been torn to shreds and
saplings that had been torn up and destroyed, which explained some of the sounds they
had heard in the night. The large footprints circled round the camp, down a path to the
river and turned back to the road and went down for about half-mile into the forest. The
men kept following until they discovered the tracks lead down into a steep ravine which
they stopped at, looking down into its darkness, they surmised that it would provide too
many places for a possibly demented killer to hide. And it was left at that.
Image by lbrownstone from Pixabay
At some point one of the loggers recounted a story about the Chetco Indians who
believed there were these man-animals that lived in the woods. The Indians had claimed
for generations that they had shared their hunting grounds with fierce hairy creatures
5/11

6. that were bipedal like men but that they were not men nor animal and were neither
friendly or hostile. They were simply just there, just like any other creature and so the
Indians left them alone.
Late on the third night the people of the camp were once again startled awake by the
terrifying distant noises, emanating from the woods. The whistling and screaming
gradually drew closer and closer. The men got dressed and armed themselves. When the
creature or whatever it was seemed about 50ft away, one of the men in desperation
crafted a torch, lit it and ran out into the forest armed with a rifle.
The wife, unable to stop her husband from taking such action, yelled for help, causing
the other men to run to her from the camp, upon learning of what happened the men
armed themselves and travelled after into the forest. A little way in and the sounds
stopped. The men listened into the distance and suddenly a loud bestial noise was heard
followed by human screams. Believing their friend was now being attacked, the men
fought through the undergrowth. Eventually the man they were after came back towards
them and collapsed into their arms. The men fired their guns to drive off the creature
while the man was too terrified to speak, eventually he said that he followed the tracks
before bumping into a huge hairy beast.
The other men wondered if it were a bear but the victim said it was a monstrous ape at
least seven or eight feet in height with 50 inch wide shoulders, beady yellow eyes and
bared teeth. The man said that his torch must have blinded it as it stood still using its
hand to cover its eyes but it eventually let out a tremendous roar. In response the man
threw his torch at it and instead of then shooting it, he instead ran back towards camp.
The men, although not doubting him, wanted more information and clarification of it
being an ape. The man assured them it was and that it had fangs and hands like a man
only that they were twice as large and covered with hair all the way down to the
fingernails.
6/11

7. Image by chanwit whanset from Pixabay
The men returned to camp and agreed to take turns standing guard over the camp until
the ape was either captured or shot dead. Two men patrolled the camp on two-hour
intervals and women who knew how to handle guns also assisted during the daylight
hours. The older children gathered firewood to keep fires burning throughout the night.
During the day and early night hours nothing strange had yet occurred. At 2am the men
patrolling were asked to relieve and stand by as some of the men wanted to really search
for the ape in the woods. The patrol reluctantly agreed and their relief party set out to
hunt for the ape, taking a small light to follow the tracks and kept it low to the ground,
they had loaded rifles.
The party found where the encounter had taken place between the man and the ape
and followed tracks deeper into the forest. This would lead to a dark encounter where
shots were exchanged. The patrol back at camp begun to celebrate on hearing the shots,
believing the ape to have been killed but they were soon horrified to hear the terrified
screams of the men, drowned out by beastly shrieks and roaring, continuing for a while
and then fading away. The guards found the silence even more terrifying.
The patrol shouted for help attracting men and their wives from the camp. The patrol
explained to them what happened and the men went into the woods to look for the
missing men, leaving the wives behind to defend the children at camp. The men moving
into the forest yelled, fired their guns and swung lanterns to try and let the missing men
know they were on the way. Upon failing to get any response from the missing men the
searching men came about a terrible sight.
All of the men who had went searching for the ape had been brutally killed. Bodies had
been seemingly slammed up against trees, blood spatters everywhere and the bodies
had been torn to pieces. Bloodied trails from the beast led back into the forest, which no
7/11

8. man chose to follow. Some gathered up the remains of their friends while others went
back to camp to tell of the bad news. Within 24 hours the campsite was deserted and the
logging operation would be moved to another location.
The above gut-wrenching story is from the book “On the Track of Bigfoot” by Marian T.
Place and the events supposedly took place in 1890. What do you think? Do you think
the story of the Chetco Monster is real or is it simply a tale to scare people?
Next up is a water cryptid found in Oregon and reported since the 1930s. Known as
Colossal Claude within the Columbia River and nearby ocean the sea serpent is
described as fifteen to forty feet in length, long slender neck, round body, serpentine tail
and evil-looking snake-like head. The beast has been reported by many people around
the river and nearby sea.
One of the first documented sightings of the creature was made in 1934 by the crew of
the Columbia River night ship, claiming to spot a creature in the water at least forty feet
long, with a snake or horse-like head, round body, long neck and they observed using
binoculars for quite a while.
Another interesting incident happened in either 1963 or 1966 when the Shell Oil
Company while doing an oil search either off the coast of Oregon or California (disputed)
some kind of Serpent with barnacles encrusted on it, about 15-feet long swimming in the
ocean. It appears this creature was dubbed Marvin the Monster while others claim it was
actually Colossal Claude – whatever it may be, there appears to have been something out
there that caused a bit of a stir, could it even have also been the Cadborosaurus also
known to stalk the same waters along the coast? The descriptions appear similar in
detail. Although the video doesn’t appear to be out there on the internet, there are two
stills allegedly from the footage shown below.
8/11

9. To round this off we will talk about ghosts! For this we will head to the city of Portland to
the Benson hotel that is said to be haunted by several ghosts including Bensen himself.
Found in downtown Portland on 309 SW Broadway Street. Simon Benson, who the hotel
is named after was a businessman and philanthropist who had the building designed
from 1905 and the hotel opened up in 1913 after it was completed, 287 bedrooms and
seventh largest hotel in Portland would go on to be world-class and a historic landmark.
The hotel has had many famous visits including Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer Mitch
Mitchell who died in his hotel room on 12th November 2008, apparently from natural
causes. The hotel remains open and in operation to this day for people to use.
9/11

10. Benson Hotel (1920s)
Said to be one of the most haunted hotels that include ghosts such as Benson, who is
said to haunt 7th, 9th and 12th floors of the hotel in particular and so they are the floors
you should aim to stay on in a room if you are looking for a ghostly experience with the
man himself who founded the hotel. Full body apparitions of the man have been
reported inside the hotel, on stairs and in the common area and at the hotel bar, where
he may be strict at times and disturb guests by knocking their drinks, apparently Bensen
despised drinking during his life. Bensen has also been seen simply observing staff
activities such as conference meetings, merely just watching silently. Glasses going
missing in the bar and bottles being disturbed as well as people being touched on the
shoulder have been attributed to Bensen.
Another ghost is that of a young boy, some say to be one of Bensen’s sons, often hanging
about on the 9th floor. Hiding behind objects such as the tables at the bedside and
jumping out to scare the guests of the hotel. The boy is described as one of the most
mischievous ghosts at the establishment.
10/11

11. Simon Benson, founder
of Benson Hotel and
apparent popular ghost
of the premises.
There are also many other ghosts such as ladies dressed in white or blue and the ghost
of a helpful porter but none of the ghosts are described as threatening or malevolent
and so guests are assured safety. So, if you are looking for a ghostly experience when
visiting Oregon, the Benson hotel is one of the suggested places to stay for a while.
There you have it! Oregon paranormal from cryptids to ghosts. Next up will be California
– which I know has a wealth of paranormal stuff to share, certainly too much to fit into
one blogpost, but I’ll pick out some interesting ones.
Thank you for reading this post, if you have any queries please Email me, you can find
my Email in the Contacts & Community section. Please also follow The Weekly Rambler
on Twitter and Facebook which you can access through the buttons at the bottom of this
website. You can also use the social media buttons under each blogpost to share with
your family, friends and associates. You can also subscribe to Email notifications at the
right-side of this website to know whenever a new post goes up (you can easily
unsubscribe from this at any time through a button in each Email notification), or
alternatively you can use an RSS Feed Reader. Please also join my FB Group The Weekly
Ramblers Readers Group where readers can more easily talk with each other and also
with me whenever I am on, you can also find it in Community.
11/11