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What's so scary about Estacada?
Tales of Bigfoot, UFOs and ghost sightings
By Evan Jensen - The Estacada News, Oct 28, 2009
Last year, the Estacada News issued an invitation for readers to share their tales of fact, fiction or folklore about local hauntings, UFO sightings, Sasquatch encounters and other unexplained mysteries, but no one responded.
Perhaps the poor souls who have witnessed such things were too scared to relive the experience and put it in writing, or too afraid that town hecklers would call them crazy and smear their name across the Internet like a loogie spat out the window of a fast moving car. Maybe those who harbor the memory of an unexplained phenomenon only pass on the experience through oral tradition, telling the tale around the campfire, or have subconsciously removed the memory from their mind after alien probing.
It’s possible that no ghostly encounters or strange things have ever happened in Estacada, but it’s unlikely for a town with such rich history dating back more than 100 years since it was established.
Maybe the former Hotel Estacada was haunted by a longtime patron whose ghostly apparition roamed the halls, sipped drinks at the bar and played a favorite tune on the piano.
Perhaps the location of Estacada’s former mining camps are haunted by a larger-than-life mountain man who regularly brawled at the bars and boasted his ability to outsaw, outclimb and outwit anyone who dared to challenge him. Maybe the sound of his saw blade moving methodically or his ax chopping away can be heard faintly in the forest on a windy day when the Douglas fir trees sway gently from side to side.
And then there’s Sasquatch, also known as Bigfoot. The hairy beast is a legend in Mount Hood territory and hundreds of sightings have been reported in the last 50 years, with Estacada considered a hotspot for the elusive creature. Longtime Estacada resident Millie Kiggins shared her 1969 encounter with Bigfoot with the Estacada News last year in the Oct. 1, 2008, story, “Bigfoot lore alive in Estacada,” and she still sticks to her story about close encounters with the beast.
“He was around here for a year,” Kiggins said. “We found footprints all over the farm. Once, they led to a five-foot fence and continued on the other side uninterrupted as if he stepped right over it. Sometimes we would smell him. Smelled like a bad nursing home. We heard loud screams and grunts all at once lasting 10 or 15 seconds. It could be heard miles away. The hair on the back of your neck would stand up. It spooked the cattle.”
And if you’re wondering if UFOs really exist, six reports of sightings in Estacada and Eagle Creek have been filed with the National UFO Reporting Center in the last 10 years. Estacada’s most recent sighting was witnessed on March 8, 2007. The witness said: “I was lying in my bed trying to go to sleep. … I was having trouble sleeping so I got out of bed to close the window because the coyotes were outside howling. As I closed the window I looked outside and saw a solid red orb-shaped object coming from the west. …”
The Estacada News never received any official submissions about spooky stories, ghost sightings or unexplained mysteries last year, but locals have anonymously posted their tales, which may or may not be true, on the Internet at www.ghostsofamerica.com. The site includes 19 ghost sightings reported in Estacada, Eagle Creek and Colton, some plausible if you’re remotely inclined to believe in the supernatural. Others were clearly written by someone having their own out-of-body experience. Maybe you’ve heard the tales or seen one of these ghosts yourself:
In Estacada, the spirit of a muscular lumberjack carrying a large axe has repeatedly been witnessed browsing through the freezer in the kitchen of an Estacada apartment after midnight.
Near Eagle Creek, a gentleman's body having the head of a bat has been seen near Barton Park before sunrise trying to grip something, and some believe it’s the ghost of a vacationer who was murdered in the area years ago.
In Colton, the ghost of a train driver has repeatedly been spotted mid-stream in Alder Creek downing orange juice and those who have seen the phantom believe it’s the ghost of a former resident.
Whether or not you’re a believer, there’s some evidence that people have witnessed strange encounters in the area or at least enjoy the thrill of a scary story.
This Saturday, costumed trick-or-treaters will roam the streets to celebrate Halloween and chances are there just might be a few other ghosts and goblins hiding in the shadows.
Happy Halloween, Estacada.
Tales of Bigfoot, UFOs and ghost sightings
By Evan Jensen - The Estacada News, Oct 28, 2009
Last year, the Estacada News issued an invitation for readers to share their tales of fact, fiction or folklore about local hauntings, UFO sightings, Sasquatch encounters and other unexplained mysteries, but no one responded.
Perhaps the poor souls who have witnessed such things were too scared to relive the experience and put it in writing, or too afraid that town hecklers would call them crazy and smear their name across the Internet like a loogie spat out the window of a fast moving car. Maybe those who harbor the memory of an unexplained phenomenon only pass on the experience through oral tradition, telling the tale around the campfire, or have subconsciously removed the memory from their mind after alien probing.
It’s possible that no ghostly encounters or strange things have ever happened in Estacada, but it’s unlikely for a town with such rich history dating back more than 100 years since it was established.
Maybe the former Hotel Estacada was haunted by a longtime patron whose ghostly apparition roamed the halls, sipped drinks at the bar and played a favorite tune on the piano.
Perhaps the location of Estacada’s former mining camps are haunted by a larger-than-life mountain man who regularly brawled at the bars and boasted his ability to outsaw, outclimb and outwit anyone who dared to challenge him. Maybe the sound of his saw blade moving methodically or his ax chopping away can be heard faintly in the forest on a windy day when the Douglas fir trees sway gently from side to side.
And then there’s Sasquatch, also known as Bigfoot. The hairy beast is a legend in Mount Hood territory and hundreds of sightings have been reported in the last 50 years, with Estacada considered a hotspot for the elusive creature. Longtime Estacada resident Millie Kiggins shared her 1969 encounter with Bigfoot with the Estacada News last year in the Oct. 1, 2008, story, “Bigfoot lore alive in Estacada,” and she still sticks to her story about close encounters with the beast.
“He was around here for a year,” Kiggins said. “We found footprints all over the farm. Once, they led to a five-foot fence and continued on the other side uninterrupted as if he stepped right over it. Sometimes we would smell him. Smelled like a bad nursing home. We heard loud screams and grunts all at once lasting 10 or 15 seconds. It could be heard miles away. The hair on the back of your neck would stand up. It spooked the cattle.”
And if you’re wondering if UFOs really exist, six reports of sightings in Estacada and Eagle Creek have been filed with the National UFO Reporting Center in the last 10 years. Estacada’s most recent sighting was witnessed on March 8, 2007. The witness said: “I was lying in my bed trying to go to sleep. … I was having trouble sleeping so I got out of bed to close the window because the coyotes were outside howling. As I closed the window I looked outside and saw a solid red orb-shaped object coming from the west. …”
The Estacada News never received any official submissions about spooky stories, ghost sightings or unexplained mysteries last year, but locals have anonymously posted their tales, which may or may not be true, on the Internet at www.ghostsofamerica.com. The site includes 19 ghost sightings reported in Estacada, Eagle Creek and Colton, some plausible if you’re remotely inclined to believe in the supernatural. Others were clearly written by someone having their own out-of-body experience. Maybe you’ve heard the tales or seen one of these ghosts yourself:
In Estacada, the spirit of a muscular lumberjack carrying a large axe has repeatedly been witnessed browsing through the freezer in the kitchen of an Estacada apartment after midnight.
Near Eagle Creek, a gentleman's body having the head of a bat has been seen near Barton Park before sunrise trying to grip something, and some believe it’s the ghost of a vacationer who was murdered in the area years ago.
In Colton, the ghost of a train driver has repeatedly been spotted mid-stream in Alder Creek downing orange juice and those who have seen the phantom believe it’s the ghost of a former resident.
Whether or not you’re a believer, there’s some evidence that people have witnessed strange encounters in the area or at least enjoy the thrill of a scary story.
This Saturday, costumed trick-or-treaters will roam the streets to celebrate Halloween and chances are there just might be a few other ghosts and goblins hiding in the shadows.
Happy Halloween, Estacada.
