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Living Arts Oct. 26, 2012
Photo by Jeff Hannig/ The Advocate
Photos by Kylie Rogers/The Advocate
A new kind of Hallow
Beyond Bizzare Tour guide Melanie tells the story of the tail-less ghost cat that haunts a Portland hotel during a walking tour of oldtown, downtown Portland and parts of the Underground tunnels.
Beyond Bizarre Walking Tour: Portland Jeff Hannig
covered in a layer of soot and the room was noticeably colder than the last. I carefully bowed to avoid the ceiling pipes and followed the bobbing flashlights that soon sent shadows of chair legs dancing around a small brick lined room. The chairs were ortland Walking Tour’s Beyond Bizarre tour started outside Old Town Pizza. I old, wiry wood with braided backings and arranged in a circle. We all sat down and Melanie began telling us about Nina. showed up with a camera and was given a sticker by the group’s guide, Melanie. Nina was sold into slavery back when there were 14 men to every one woman in Port“If you forget my name, just think of how your hands get when you eat waterland. melon,” was the first thing she said to the group. “She worked and died in this room,” said Melanie. I looked at the walls and the lights “Melanie,” she said after a confused silence and started handing out what I thought were exploring the corners and ceilings and saw flashes of history. There was history trapped garage door openers but turned out to be electromagnetic field detectors (EMFs). in this unused space. This room hadn’t been conThe EMFs were light, plasverted into a place to store empty kegs or an artic coffins, which fit in your cade – it’s still Nina’s room – and that’s when I hand. For anyone who has started to feel vulnerable. I wasn’t scared yet, not seen a ghost hunter but there was no longer a cushion of protection. show, EMFs help detect All of a sudden I no longer felt like I was in the spirits. basement of a pizza shop. I felt like something All nine of us equipped could happen. with our EMF’s barged Throughout the tour I had this feeling. Bethrough the Old Town Pizyond the historical facts and opportunity to za dining room and down a check out Portland’s historical architecture, stairwell to begin our tour. there were parts of this tour where I was leThe basement had a low gitimately scared. Parts where I was short of ceiling and was lined with breath and hesitant to look around corners. At even lower hanging pipes. one point a group member and I were trying There were stones chipped to communicate with Nina. I didn’t feel silly or and rounded at the corners, like I was pretending – I was hoping to talk to stacked in wide pillars supNina – and I think that is the most important porting the building. Melathing I have to say about this tour. The Portland nie explained a tunnel that Walking Tour’s Beyond Bizarre Tour will take had been blocked off in the you to incredibly, almost museum-like, well1970s for two reasons: vapreserved areas around Portland, accompanied grants were making them by convincing stories that will set you up for their homes and the tunThe Beyond Bizarre tour starts and ends at the Old Town Pizza. With tours starting at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. having a good time if you are up for it. If you nels connected competing are a skeptic, this tour might not be for you. For businesses. Before then, the tunnels served as escape routes for gamblers and partiers in the Prohibi- me, I suspended my belief and experienced moments where I felt like I was in the past and tion era. Some tunnels were used for water overflow, some as Shanghai tunnels; trap doors because of that, I had a few genuine moments of cold, unexplainable fear. were set up all over town where either drunks or women were sent down to be sold into To buy tickets for the beyond bizarre walking tour visit: slavery (needs fix-hb). www.portlandwalkingtours.com. The immediate room we were in, the one with the tunnel, looked a lot like the basement Tickets for the tours starting at 7 p.m. are $20 for Adults, $17 for seniors or storage facility for a pizza shop. I was beginning to become a little skeptical. The history (65+) and youth (11-17), children under 11 are $9. of the tunnels and the architecture that Melanie was giving was great, but I was expecting a haunted tour. Tours starting at 10 p.m. are for 18 and over only Beyond was a room that required flashlights. I did not get a flashlight – there were not and cost anywhere from $21.99-29.00 enough. The first thing I saw was an old easy chair. It was right in front of what looked like It is recommended that you buy your tickets ahead of time, because space a giant brick oven. I am guessing now that it was the building’s furnace. Everything was is limited and tours sell out fast. The Advocate
Photo by Jeff Hannig/ The Advocate
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