1859 Sept | Oct 2012_opt

Haunted oregon
pirits of the past are present everywhere.
They dwell in our lands, haunt our historic buildings and cemeteries,
and inhabit our songs, literature, films and holy texts. From ancient
Egypt to today’s pop culture, stories of ghosts, apparitions and spir-
its—whatever you call them—are found in nearly every society and
every religion.
“Ghosts are a desire to believe in the afterlife,” says Sharon Sher-
man, a folklorist and professor at University of Oregon. “None of us
can conceptualize nothingness after death. We want to think that our
spirit or life force will continue or go on in one form or another.”
About one-fourth of Americans believe they’ve had contact with the
dead, whether seeing an apparition or sensing the deceased through
anomalous phenomena such as a clock stopping or an object falling,
says Daniel Wojcik, professor and director of U of O’s Folklore Program.
“These sorts of experiences reinforce widely held folk beliefs
about ghosts, souls and life after death,” he explains.
“Everyone’s a skeptic until it happens to them,” says Jeff Davis, ghost
hunter, archeologist, author of several books on ghosts of the Pacific
Northwest and co-author of Weird Oregon: Your Travel Guide to Oregon’s
Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets. Although paranormal activities
have been reported throughout the state, in wild landscapes,
small towns and even state parks, he advises recreational ghost hunters
to visit Oregon’s larger cities, where spirits are easily unearthed.
OREGON’S GHOSTLY SPIRITS PREDATE THE ARRIVAL of Europeans
by thousands of years. Native inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest had
a spiritual connection with nature and all life around them, including the
belief that plants and animals talk to people. The Creator gave the knowledge
of life’s ways to each tribe, and those gifts were passed along through
language, song and sacred rites.
“A very important part of our belief system is that the spirit leaves the
body at death,” says Wilson Wewa, an elder of the Confederated Tribes of
Warm Springs, a Northern Paiute on his father’s side and a Palouse-Nez
Perce on his mother’s. “We are honoring the life of the deceased and helping
ourselves to mourn with our funerary ceremonies.
“We believe that both good and bad spirits continue to roam the lands,”
says Wewa. “These spirits are a part of everyday life and sometimes are
found in favorite places, such as fishing holes, caves, buttes and mountains,
where they make themselves known to people.
“Long ago, Indian children were taught not to be afraid of nature, or fear
the dark or unknown voices; or songs they may hear in the dark or in a lonely
or sacred place,” he says. When a bad spirit leads someone astray or makes
the person sick, they seek help from healers. Through sometimes complex
ceremonies, healers put malevolent spirits to rest, allowing peace and health
to be restored.
Burial customs varied from tribe to tribe, ranging from cremation and
ground interment to tree or forest “burial” in a canoe. A fascinating story
comes from the Chinook Indians of the lower Columbia River Basin near
0 1859 oregon's mAgAzine SEPT OCT 2012