-
  
            
__________
|
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)
2016 Archive
Here are some buttons which will take you to an archive copy of the last years of the "What's New" section I began in 2001.
Any information on ghosts in Clark County, Washington for a new book? Posted 19 September 2016
Oregon Ghost Conference Was Lots of Fun! Posted 19 September 2015
Dead Files Episode on Concrete, Washington, The Whispering Posted 9 September 2016
Recurring Paranormal Related Events posted 19 September 2016
Spirit Walks on Officer's Row Begin in October 2016, Posted 22 September 2016
Clark County History Museum Haunted Walking Tours of Vancouver, Washington posted 19 September 2016
Military History Haunted Fundraiser Posted 19 September 2016
Port Gamble Ghost Conference 28 - 30 October 2016 Posted 19 September 2016
Oregon Historical Society Talk, Oregon Ghost Stories, on 30 October 2016 Posted 19 September 2016
Orycon 37 Posted 19 September 2016
Personal Appearances Schedule for the rest of the year, Posted 19 September 2016
Any information on ghosts in Clark County, Washington for a new book? Posted 19 September 2016 It has been several years since I wrote a new book on the haunts of the Pacific Northwest. I am gathering information for a new book, which I plan to release next spring. I want to write an overview of the haunts of Clark County, Washington, including my home town of Vancouver. I will take some information from some of my earlier books, which includes the Vancouver Barracks. However, I want to include many new listings. If you have a haunted house or business that you would like to discuss with me or have appear in my book, please contact me.
Oregon Ghost Conference 2016 was fabulous Posted 19 September 2016
Meeting with my friend Jill Thompson
Friday Afternoon: Past Life Regression Through Hypnosis, is it a Valid Pursuit?
My friend Aaron Collins has a popular cable television show called, Paranormal crossings. In this show, he has interviewed many people about the nature of the paranormal, both through scientific investigation, as well as psychic approaches. I have been a guest on his show a few times, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. He is well versed in the sciences and humanities and is a kind host to work with. On Friday evening he invited me to appear on stage with him, and his hypnosis consultant as we discussed whether or not searching for the truth of reincarnation can be done through hypnosis, looking for evidence of past lives. The oldest documented case of this was from the 1950s, and is called the Bridey Murphy case. Aaron had been through several sessions himself and had a series of unique insights. For my part, because of my anthropological background, I discussed flaws in the application of this hypnotic technique. The flaws were not theoretical, rather, there are numerous examples where the hypnotherapist influenced the clients in their sessions. In some cases, the hypnotherapist or others spoke with the client in advance, and gave them an idea of what to expect. In many cases, people believe that souls travel together through time, and are reincarnated together, again and again. The comments made to the client pre-disposed them to expect this phenomena, and so they recognized living family and friends in their past lives. In a few documented cases, this created a mass delusion among large numbers of friends and family. Despite these possible problems with technique, I do not think that there is anything wrong with exploring the theory behind it, so long as the investigators take care, and the client/subject is aware of the situation.
Later in the evening the conference adjourned to an investigation to the Bridge Tender Restaurant in Seaside. Today the Bridge Tender is a quiet tavern, patronized by locals and tourists alike. In the past, the upper floor above the bar was a house of negotiable affection, with several small crib-type apartments for the working lasses. Today, only the bar is open, and the upper floor is hard to access, after a fire damaged the original stairs. There seem to be two ghosts at the Bridge Tender, at least. One is that of an older woman, possibly a madam, who did not like the clairvoyant next door, after she put up a sign advertising herself a "Madam ____ psychic readings. The other, well you will have to go in yourself and ask. One hint, do not ask to play any AbbA songs on the juke box.
Saturday I was invited to participate in a discussion on Haunted History. The panel was chaired by Jay Verberg, who starred in the television show, Ghost Mine. Jay was a fantastic moderator, making sure everyone had a chance to share their insights, without stepping all over anyone else or their opinions. Rocky Smith, Karen Frazier, Peter Orbea, David Habben, and Nicole Strickland were also panelists. It was a mark of how popular this conference has become, that some of the participants came from Southern California and the Midwest.
Saturday evening, both Rocky Smith and I gave a ghost walk around the Seaside Oceanfront. I must confess, Rocky did most of the research, and I rode on the coat tails of his interesting historic facts, when I conducted my walk. It was something of a trial when our groups had to pass each other along the route. Rocky started his walk counter-clockwise, and I went clockwise, and we met somewhere in between. As most people expect, there were many shipwrecks along the coast, some very near to Seaside. One consisted of bodies washing ashore on the promenade itself. There are also haunts in the Ebb Tide Motel, and residences to the north of the promenade. The home of the former mayor of Seaside is now a Bed and Breakfast, and it has its share of ghosts. All in all, learning the ghostly history of Seaside and leading a walk around it was very satisfying. I think that Rocky will hold the Oregon Ghost Conference in Seaside again next year. I encourage anyone who reads this article to attend next year! Here is a link to the 2017 conference.
Dead Files Episode on Concrete Washington, Posted 19 September 2016 It is hard to believe that the Dead Files is in its 8th season. I appeared in its 12th episode of the season, which was filmed in Concrete, WA, and named, The Whispering. This episode aired in June 2016. Here is a link to the episode on the Travel Channel. As in the previous episodes, they did not ask me to appear as a ghost hunter, rather they asked me to appear as a historian and archaeologist. While Steve and the rest of the crew do a great job of researching the history of each location, I think I brought just a bit more to the historic database they constructed. In the case of this episode, I my contributions were minimal compared to the readings Amy got, and the facts Steve got while interviewing the family and friends. It was all a surprise to me, since I have never met Amy, and Steve and I never discussed any portion of the case, except my research. I was riveted by the naked honesty and fear of the home owners, both wife and husband.
Click the image link to view an excerpt of The Whispering I was so riveted that I almost forgot to look for myself on screen. In past episodes, Steve's research was generally documented at the beginning of the episode. As I watched the episode, I eventually started watching the clock. Fortunately, they did show part of my interview Steve about half way through the episode. I was relieved, mostly because I had sent out emails to my friends to watch the show. There is nothing worse than telling people you are going to be on television, but you are not. Unless you are on television, and are having a bad hair/face/hangover day.
Recurring Paranormal Related Events posted 19 September 2016 In the last year, several different groups of paranormal investigators have begun meeting in open social and educational settings. In the past, many groups held their own meetings, and discouraged non-members from trying to attend. Other groups are and were open to public attendance, but for some reason do not get much crossover. With Facebook, and perhaps a larger mainstream community of paranormalists, that is slowing changing. With their larger populations, cities like Seattle and Tacoma have had these gatherings for some time. Last year, Portland, and now tiny (but older) Vancouver have some informal gatherings open to others.
Some time ago, the McMenamins Mission Theater in downtown Portland began their Paranormal Pub, with the local chapter of MUFON. Their meetings are generally the last Sunday afternoon of the month, beginning at 6:00 pm (doors open) followed by a two or so hour talk beginning at 7:00 pm. The Mission theater is located at 1624 N W Glisan, Portland, OR. Parkling can be a bit of a bear though, even for a Sunday.
Vancouver Informal Paranormal Pub Show of hands please, who hates driving in and around downtown Portland, even on a weekend? While I cannot see all the hands, I suspect that there are many of them in the air right now. While I love the Paranormal Pub, I wanted something a bit less formal, something I and others could get to without too much trouble. I also wanted something in my home town of Vancouver, Washington. I came upon the idea of an informal paranormal pub. One of the things that always seems to happen at paranormal conferences is meeting with people once a year, and talking in hallways, in between seminars and presentations. I miss sharing camaraderie, and light discussion. I put up a post suggesting a very lightly structured meeting group where I could get together with friends and eat, talk, and just share our own news. So far we are on our third meeting, which is the first Sunday of the month, around 5 pm, at the Tip Top Tavern in donwtown Vancouver. If you want to attend a meeting, send me an email, and I can put you in the Facebook meeting list.
Spirit Walks on Officer's Row, Posted 11 November 2015 On Halloween, Saturday the 31st of October, I gave two guided tours of the north and western portions of the Vancouver Barracks. These tours were done as a charity event, to raise money for the programs of the Fort Vancouver National Trust. They are doing a great job of protecting the west half of the Vancouver Barracks. This is the first time in many years since anyone has been allowed to mention the words, ghost and haunting in an official capacity at the Barracks in many years. I felt quite privileged. Here is a newspaper article written about the walk, after a practice tour given to a reporter from The Columbian.
Here is a flyer abut the walks
Clark County History Museum Haunted Walking Tours of Vancouver, Washington posted 19 September 2016
I personally recommend these tours. The primary guide,
Brad Richarson have a wonderful knowledge of Vancouver's spooky and non spooky
history. The Clark
County Historical Museum’s 5Centering on the strange
and peculiar, these haunted excursions blend local myths, oral histories and
research on Vancouver’s sometimes sordid past. Buildings contain secrets, and
the guides shine the light into their darkness. The museum itself plays a role
in several accounts of mysterious activities occurring in the research library.
Military History Haunted Fundraiser Posted 19 September 2016 On 22 October 2016, I will be hosting the Vancouver Barracks Military Association's annual fundraiser, in Hazel Dell, Washington. This event is the annual fundraiser, which helps the VBMA put on programs such as military history talks, and acquire documents and artifacts, to preserve the history and heritage of the Vancouver Barracks. This event will include dinner, a half hour talk on ghosts of Vancouver, Washington by myself, and a charity auction and raffles. Tickets are a requested donation of $15 for adults and $5 for children 9 years old and above.
Port Gamble Ghost Conference 28 - 30 October 2016 Posted 19 September 2016
Registration opened 1 May 2016 and here is a link to the event schedule.
Oregon Historical Society Talk, Oregon Ghost Stories, on 30 October 2016 Posted 19 September 2016
Free and open to the public
Orycon 38, 18 - 20 November Appearance Posted 19 September 2016
I will be at Orycon 38 this year. Orycon has revitalized itself over the last few years, and is getting better and better. Here is my schedule.
Personal Appearances Schedule for the rest of the year, Posted 19 September 2016 6 October 2016, I will be at the Astoria Public Library, at 6 pm, talking about ghosts. The library address is, 450 10th Street, Astoria, OR 97103 On 19 October 2016, I will be at the Oak Lodge Library, in Oak Grove Oregon, talking about ghosts. The address is 16201 SE McLoughlin Blvd., Oak Grove, OR 97267map, (503) 655-8543 On 22 October 2016, I will be emceeing a Halloween fundraiser for the Vancouver Barracks Military Association. On 30 October 2016, I will be at the Oregon Historical Society talking about Weird Oregon ghosts. 5 November 2016, I will be selling books at the Ladybug Bazaar at Battle Ground High School. 12 November 2016, I will be selling books at the Mountain View High School Christmas Bazaar. 18-20 November 2016, I will be at Orycon, the Oregon Science Fiction Convention in Portland, Oregon. Please look at the entry above for a list of panels and events. 26 November 2016, I will be selling books at the Prairie High School Christmas Bazaar. Sorry no web link, the event is from 9 am to 4 pm. The school is located at 11311 NE 119th St, Vancouver, WA.
Copyright © 1996-2002 by Jeff Davis | Maintained by J. Davis |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In
2016, the Oregon Ghost Conference was in it's fourth year, and had grown so
much it needed to find a new home. It's organizer, Rocky Smith had held
the conference in his home town of Oregon City for the first three
years. This year, he moved the conference to Seaside, Oregon,
where the city and it's civic convention center hosted the three day
event. The conference ran from 1 through 3 April of this year.
Despite the additional cost for vendors and attendees, the event was very well
attended by fans of the paranormal, as well as local tourists who wandered in
out of curiosity.
