__________ 

By Jefferson Davis 

Visitors
 Since September 14, 1997
______________________

 

Tickets on sale starting 1 June 2023!

Tours June Through Halloween!

For updates, news and other fresh stories, 

including an more information on the virtual ghost walks, 

please check the What's New section of this web page

or follow the link buttons on the left hand side of the screen

 

Coming in 2023
Updated In E-Book

 

 

 What is a ghost?  I don't know for sure.  Most dictionaries define a ghost as something like this; a ghost is the soul of a deceased person, the soul, separate from the body.  Then you have to define what a soul is.  Theologians, philosophers and scientists still argue about the nature and composition of the soul.  What is a ghost story?  A ghost story is a tale about real people encountering and interacting with what they believe to be the last essence of dead people.  Ghost stories are a part of human culture, in a way they connect us the living with the dead and our own past.  That is how I tried to present the stories in my books and this website.

 I have taken a sampling of stories from several locations across Washington and Oregon and tried to place them in the context of past of the location and the people around them.  When people are sitting around a campfire telling ghost stories the part that rivets the listeners is the detail about the characters, setting and actions.  That is part of what I have tried to bring out.  If this sound like a travelogue, that was also part of my intent.  Many of the stories I have collected are in public place where the readers can go and visit.  I have tried to pick different types of stories.

Some of the spirits in this book are part of a rich tradition, passed down through generations of Native Americans.  There are several stories of military ghosts, residential ghosts, peaceful ghosts, and frightening ghosts.  This book was written to entertain readers with stories that blend the history of the Pacific Northwest and its supernatural heritage.  Although my work is not meant to be an in depth investigation of the paranormal I have included a section on parapsychology.  I tried to summarize some of the history of paranormal investigations, tools of the modern ghost hunter and some natural phenomena that might be confused for paranormal events.

Many of these stories in my books and this website come from first hand ghost-experiencers.  Some of the stories have come from newspapers or second hand as folklore. They may have also appeared in a different book somewhere else.  I have included them because I had new and updated information, or I investigated it myself before I came on the other written source.  

In recent weeks it has come to my attention that certain parties are using my ghost stories and those of my contributors as references for their own commercial enterprises.  If you or someone you know is writing a book on ghosts in the Pacific Northwest, PLEASE DO NOT!!! copy or use the following stories or any other materials within this website as references.  

Jefferson Davis (25 April 2003)