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Saturday, November 6, 2010

The Witch's Castle - Portland, Oregon

Forest Park in Portland, Oregon most notably the area around Balch Creek has some interesting history behind it as well as playing host to one of the area's most famous haunted places.  In 1850, Danford Balch filed a land claim on this portion of land near what was then the fledgling settlement of Portland.  Danford's land was large enough that he needed help in order to clear it.  He hired a transient worker named Mortimer Stump who was from Vancouver.  Balch allowed him to stay with the he and his family which consisted of his wife Mary Jane and his 9 children.  


The stone remains of "The Witch's Castle" in Forest Park


Mortimer was with the family so long that one thing led to another and he fell in love with Danford's 15 year old daughter Anna.  Mortimer asked for permission to marry Anna but her parents refused.  The couple threatened to elope and Danford exclaimed that if they did he would kill Mortimer.  Well young lovers did not heed this warning and Mortimer ran off to Vancouver with Anna in November of 1858 where they were married.  This sparked a feud between the Balch and Stump families.

A few weeks later Mortimer, Anna, and some other members of the Stump family returned to Portland for some supplies and encountered Danford.  Having been nagged and tormented by Mary Jane to make good on his promise, Danford later claimed that his wife "bewitched" him into carrying out his threat to kill Mortimer and return their daughter to the family.  In a drunken stupor, Danford pulled a shotgun and shot Mortimer in the head.



Upper level of "The Witch's Castle"


Balch was promptly arrested, however the deteriorated condition of the wooden prison allowed him to later escape while awaiting his trial.  He hid out on his own property and was again found and arrested some 6 months later.  Danford Balch was put on trial and convicted for the murder of Mortimer and was hanged to death on October 17, 1859.  This was the first legal hanging that occured in the newly formed Oregon Territory.  Mary Jane continued to live at the Balch cabin, but at Danford's request divided up the land amoung her children.




Over the years, the land was passed to various owners but was of little use and was given to the City of Portland by Donald Macleay in 1897 to be used as a park.  In the 1950's a stone structure was built to house restrooms and a ranger station for the park near the site of the old Balch cabin. Over time this structure deteriorated from vandalism and was abandoned in the 1960's.  This has since became known as "The Witch's Castle".  It is rumored that this was once a 1600's trading post, however the existing structure was built almost 350 years later.  Whether a previous structure was there or not, it is unknown.





It is said that strange occurrences occur in this area.  Plasma orbs have been photographed in some cases.  Some say that when you visit this area around midnight, many apparitions can bee seen in the area and appear as if they are in some sort of battle or war against each other. It is believed that these may be the ghosts of Danford, Mortimer, Anna, and Mary Jane returning from the hereafter.  Perhaps these are indeed the spirits of the Balch and Stump families carrying out their ghostly feud through all of time.

Stairs leading to "The Witch's Castle"

25 comments:

  1. I got hammered here all the time with my buddies as do many high school kids its not haunted sorry

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  2. Dude I was there friday night. There were tons of spirits there if you know what I mean! Huge party spot

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  3. My friend & I were there today & I believe in Ghosts, but I didn't bring my camera to see the orbs...I did get an eerie feeling, like we weren't alone though...:)) It is a very interesting place to go...I will bring my camera next time

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  4. Yeah, if you get drunk there, nothing's gonna be obvious to you 'cos you're pissed.

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  5. The "Bremen ruins", according to Grimm! -mi

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  6. have actually caught a few EVPs at this spot and have been pushed and touched by an entity...also have had very interesting EMF responses from a place where there is no electricity in sight. This place does have something going on there but it seems to be very hot and cold...but yes this is a fun place to get people together to go get plastered and also were homeless people sleep sometimes

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  7. I have been to this site a few times, it is deffinitely haunted...I have seen and felt some pretty freakey things while there....gotta get back there with a camera =D

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  8. who the heck would build such an ELABORATE BATHROOM....is their proof that it actually was/is built as a restroom? seriously?

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    1. The trail head is just off of NW Thompson Road that goes through the park. I am not sure of the exact trail name or if it even has one.

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    2. It was also a ranger station.

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  9. Forest Park is pretty big, to someone who doesn't live in Ptl but is coming to see it, where exactly is it?

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  11. Just visited the Witches Castle and if you "BELEIVE" in spirit's there is times in different area's of Castle you can feel the presents of some kind of abnormal activity! I do BELEIVE that there is some kind of Paranormal Activity going on in the area in and around the Castle!

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  12. It's sad that this site is not preserved and enclosed to prevent vandalism.

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  13. I was there today, not really creepy or anything its just kinda cool looking. Castle makes it sound a lot bigger then it actually is, from the pictures it looks like a really cool cabin thing in real life, it looks like a bathroom. I think the vandalism looks kinda cool, obviously not on the brick walls of the structure its self but the little area below that is just covered. looks pretty sweet. I would totally get hammered there except that seems like a really stupid idea because the walk down is steep and gravel. I fell twice and i was completely sober. I feel bad for the homeless people who sleep there.

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  14. All my friends get turnt there every Friday night in the summer lol

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  15. It was built in 1929 by the Portland parks dept.as a restroom. NOT by the CCC or WPA, as niether existed then.
    It was damaged in 1962 during the Columbus Day storm.
    Due to the amount of damage and previous vandalism, the remaining roof and fixtures were removed.
    It was deemed to expensive to demolish the stone stucture.

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  16. I was there today, but in the afternoon and didn't feel any spirits or see anything haunted. but other people were there also.

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  17. This sounds weird, but I think i keep traveling here in my dreams. I finally looked it up and found this building. I have been to Portland but not to this place.

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  18. I was born in the neighborhood, went to Chapman and have been in the witches castle literally hundreds of times, there are absolutely powerful spiritual forces that are around mostly around dawn, and evening.

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  19. I was born in the neighborhood, went to Chapman and have been in the witches castle literally hundreds of times, there are absolutely powerful spiritual forces that are around mostly around dawn, and evening.

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  20. So my bestest gf grew up there, spent a few grade school days months and no more than 3 years there...right withing in walking in KINDERGARTEN TO 3RD GRADE there...visited it and MOST DEF CHERISHED it more than you above adolescents drun abusive accounts. Literally, she can still smell the spray aerosol can fumes, which were quite chilling, as she just recently had seen a post of an another (really, wow) ha, just proves to show us/yall that yes, true to Oneself opinion, Can Yes Indeed be a True Indeed Factual starement. Opps, statement. Obv, I do not turn my back/over extend my eyes, and who wants to even be reminded of auto corrections. Eh~it is. What it shall be. Period.

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  21. I was homeless when I first got to Portland, me and a friend needed to find a place to camp. We decided the forest was as good a place as any. We were walking down the trail in Forest Park and it seemed hours later that we found the ruins. The first night, we camped on the top floor, the bottom smelled like piss and beer, and it was just an eerie feeling all night. The next day, we hiked up the hill and pitched our tent with the ruins just in sight. We camped there for around a month, a daily trip heading to the library not too far to job search, then back to the tent after a few meals we could afford. We usually would head back after dark, and it always felt like we were being watched the whole walk. A few nights we would be up, reminiscing about our previous travels and would hear noises unlike any we had encountered before, what seemed like invisible figures walking effortlessly past our tent and downhill with ease.
    Fun thing, and I don't know if it's still there, but we found a place and left our tent up there. While it has been around 3 years ago now, there is a small chance the tent is still there, we were pretty off track up there. If chance finds you up that ways, there was also a pair of size 13 jungle boots I didn't want to bring with me. Good luck if you can find it.

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