As people load up on Halloween candy across the city to feed to little kids dressed up as witches and goblins, some restaurant owners and employees say they’re dealing with real ghouls. Here are five haunted Portland restaurants and bars with employees and owners who say they’ve had first-hand experiences with ghosts.
—Michelle DeVona
Old Town Pizza & Brewing
Old Town/Chinatown’s history as a former hotbed of prostitution, gambling, opium dens, and other such corruption is well-known, with many of the legends focusing on the famous Shanghai Tunnels, running beneath the neighborhood. Old Town Pizza and Brewing resides above this underground labyrinth, and employee Mike Watts says he’s certain there’s a residual energy lurking downstairs: He “feels a tap on the shoulder” from time to time, only to find nobody is behind him.
Nina is the most famous haunt at Old Town Pizza — and likely in all of Portland, too. More than 100 years ago, when the Merchant Hotel operated in the building, Nina was a lady of the night who was thrown down an elevator shaft and allegedly never left. She’s been seen in the dining room wearing a black dress.
As for other haunts, owner Adam Milne said an employee once saw a woman in a white dress go downstairs during closing time. When he went down to tell her they were closed, no one was there.
White Eagle Saloon & Hotel
Supposedly one of Portland’s most haunted buildings, McMenamins’ White Eagle Saloon & Hotel opened in 1905 in what was then the setting of a rough and tumble waterfront neighborhood. Nicknamed “Bucket of Blood,” the saloon was widely known for violent brawls. Perhaps some of those people still inhabit the saloon? According to employee Karen Vleeshouwer, a waitress once fell down the stairs by way of some unknown force, resulting in bruises.
But not all the spirits at the White Eagle are malicious. Vleeshouwer mentioned two more notable haunts, Rose and Sam, who supposedly reside upstairs in the hotel. Vleeshouwer says Sam was an orphan boy who was adopted by the hotel’s owner at the age of ten and eventually became the caretaker. He lived there his entire life until he died in room two. Guests who have stayed in the room have reported feeling watched or followed. And Rose — she was a prostitute murdered by her lover back when the hotel was a brothel. People have said they hear someone crying in room three.
Mama Mia Trattoria
An Old World vibe sets the tone at Mama Mia Trattoria, which too sits above the Shanghai Tunnels. The tunnels have been closed off from the basement, but according to owner Barry Brown, hauntings still linger, as the basement is believe to have once been the setting for an opium den, as well as a Shanghai trap.
For believers, the creep factor gets real when Brown reveals that he’s caught an “unexplainable white form floating back and forth” on a surveillance camera. The basement has no windows, so it could not have been from lights seeping in from outside.
My Father’s Place
My Father’s Place has become a sort of home for most of its employees and regular barflies, with owner Linda Moles describing it as “one big family.” She says some individuals never leave. Some occurrences reported by employees are paper towel dispensers rolling without aid and a man’s voice sometimes heard early in the morning.
And then there is the former bartender named Bud, who has since passed, but whose name can be seen on a sign by the bar as a sort of memorial. According to bartender Scott Oullette, that very sign fell to the ground when he and his coworkers played some of Bud’s favorite Beatles songs on the jukebox. Moles maintains that it’s a positive presence rather than a haunting and sees it as a friendly reminder that our loved ones are still with us — in spirit, of course.
Kell’s Irish Restaurant & Pub
The Kells Cigar Room is a basement space attached to the old Shanghai Tunnels, and according to manager John Ashworth, there’s more going on down there than people blowing smoke rings. He says Kells Cigar Room is haunted by David Campbell, a firefighter who was killed during duty. He has appeared to people in full firefighter garb, specifically to those who have some relation to firefighters.
Among other things, the piano downstairs has been known to play by itself, and customers sitting in the cigar room have heard someone breathing when there is nobody else around, in addition to reporting an uncanny feeling that someone just walked past them. Other employees mentioned chairs being rearranged, music and TVs turning on by themselves (at full volume), and shadow sightings, like a mysterious black cloud that drifted from one door through the other.
Ashworth has one particularly noteworthy argument that a legit haunting is taking place: He says he once saw a face in the mirror downstairs when he was all alone, which “made him a believer that the place is in fact haunted.”