Raise your spirits
Haunted Taft promises a spooky spring in Lincoln City
By Gretchen Ammerman
Oregon Coast TODAY
Walking on the beach at sundown on an unseasonably warm day in April, I was surprised to come upon an oddly dressed man digging in the sand for something that, judging on the fury with which his shovel flung sand, must have been very valuable. I stopped to chat and, when I asked what he was up to, I was treated to a strange tale…
“Why hello, ma'am,” he said, touching the brim of his hat. “You can call me Whiskey Jack; most do. I’m growing my diggin’ muscles because those walking tours are starting back up again where my kind are the starring subjects.”
What do you mean by your kind? I asked him.
“Those who have passed away, but not passed on,” he answered. “Why, the longer time goes on, the more people tell our tales, and I’ve been gone for quite a piece.”
He went on to tell me that he had come to this beach, in what is now called the Taft area, around the time of prohibition to take advantage of the whiskey runners that would come down the coast in boats, jump out and bury bottles of illegal alcohol, then take off before the law had caught wind of it. Their partners would later come and dig the bottles up, but sometimes they wouldn’t find them all. So, to this day Jack optimistically pokes around hoping to find a missed bottle or two.
I told him I thought it strange that he would want an audience for such a venture.
“Well, truth be told, a fella gets a bit bored after almost 100 years on the same beach and it’s nice to be remembered and hear the telling of my own story,” he said. “There are others of my kind around, and some of their tales are told on the tour too, but the only other spirits I care about are my lovely bottles of whiskey.”
This writer has heard tell of an old schooner that sank in the Siletz Bay centuries ago but still shows up on misty nights. Seems like Jack would want to jump on such a ship in hopes it might be going somewhere like Scotland, where he could find a better bottle of whiskey.
“I sometimes spy it floating above the water,” he said. “But I just keeps right on digging. This here is Canadian whiskey and it’s real good. I’ll be searching these beaches until the last bottle has been found.”
I looked out at the bay to see if I could luck out on a ship sighting myself, and when I turned back to finish my conversation with Jack, he had completely disappeared.
Before he had dematerialized, I had asked Jack where I might head next to meet another of his ilk. He suggested Snug Harbor, a historic tavern just up the street from where he digs, so there I headed. I hid in the bathroom until closing time, then snuck out into the main room and was rewarded with a visit from the barefoot bartender, another coastal resident who will never move, or move on.
Pretty exhausted by then, I only had one or two questions for the barely-there barmaid.
Like I had with Jack, I posed the question as to what kept her tethered to that particular spot.
“Well, I ain’t trained for much, just slinging sarsaparilla and pouring port,” she said. “This here place been serving libations for generations without trying some new venture, so here I stay.”
With only one question left in my brain, I asked if the stories were true about her messing with other bar staff when they were alone at night.
“Of course,” she said with a fetching giggle. “Wouldn’t you?”
I thanked the lovely, if slightly translucent, lass for her time then finally headed home to bed, where I dreamed of ghosts, pirate ships and, strangely enough, a large sasquatch shopping in the local Kenny’s IGA.
•••
If you’d like to learn what ghosts on the coast do the most, a safe and scary new season of Haunted Taft tours opens on Saturday, May 1, with outings every Saturday evening through June.
First launched in October of 2018, Haunted Taft has grown to become one of the premiere ghost tours in Oregon.
The wheelchair-accessible tour takes about an hour and a half, covering roughly a half-mile on flat, paved streets in Lincoln City’s historic bayfront area.
Guides are equipped with voice-amplification devices so that guests can hear stories from a safe distance.
“The outpouring of support from the Taft community allows us to add new surprises and stories to the tour every season,” said Shellie Stuart, tour director and Executive Director of the Bay Area Merchants Association. “Even if you’ve done a tour in the past, you’ll have plenty of new experiences.”
This year, you’ll hear a new story told by the glowing light of the Lincoln City Glass Studio’s glass furnaces. Many old favorites, like the Haunted Fire Truck and the Barefoot Bartender of Snug Harbor, will be back, but with some fun new twists and tales.
As in years past, the Sapphire Center is where guests check in and begin their tour. Owner Claire Hagen readily admits that her store in the historic Bailey Building is home to many spirits, but emphasizes that they are playful, not bad.
“There’s no shortage of unexplained happenings in Taft,” she said. “We’ll never run out of stories to tell.”
Go to HauntedTaft.com for the complete schedule and to purchase tickets.