How to Take a Haunted Tour of Portland

Kell's Irish Pub looking haunted at night — *Disclosure: post contains affiliate links*

Why take an ordinary city tour when you can find out where all the bodies are buried? Literally. I live in Portland and went on my first haunted tour with Portland Ghosts. While the buildings and streets weren’t new to me, I learned a lot of local history and, shall we say, potential history in the form of rumors, urban legends, and ghost stories. The walking tours through downtown and Old Town Portland explore the city’s checkered past, one filled with corrupt lumber barons, crooked saloon owners on the take, and a whole bunch of unfortunates who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ghost hunters, history buffs, first-time visitors, and anyone looking for an offbeat tour of the city’s less-touristy attractions, here’s how to take a haunted tour of Portland.

Old Town Portland at dusk — *Ghost tours explore Old Town Portland*

Ghosts in Portland

Haunted tours of Portland transport you back to the city’s early days before skyscrapers and suspension bridges. It was, by all accounts, a grimy place with an even seedier underbelly. In the late 1800s, Portland’s unpaved roads were sloppy messes of mud and sewage. The shipping and lumber industries fueled the city’s growth, creating a bottomless demand for cheap labor. Saloons, gambling dens, and brothels prospered. Unsavory characters preyed on unsuspecting newcomers. All the ingredients, in other words, for some great ghost stories. The guides of Portland Ghosts combine history and local legend to tell chilling tales about well-known landmarks. As night falls, the dark past starts feeling a lot less distant.

Old Town Pizza and Brewing at night — *Old Town Pizza & Brewing has a reputation as a haunted brewpub*

The tours

Portland Ghosts has three tour options that explore the haunted history of downtown Portland. Two are walking tours that take you to places where people have reported hauntings and strange experiences. The third adds a pub crawl element at haunted bars and brewpubs.

The Portland Ghost Tour is a 1 to 2-hour walking tour that starts at 8 PM. All ages are welcome. You’ll be outside the whole time. Dress for the weather. Tours begin at the Harlow Hotel, located at 722 NW Glisan St, Portland, OR 97209. One of the lights in the meeting place was flickering when I arrived. A good sign.
The Dead of Night Tour is a 1 to 2-hour walking tour that starts at 10:30 PM. It’s a lot like the Ghost Tour, just starting later at night when it’s fully dark. All ages are welcome. These tours also begin at the Harlow Hotel.
The Haunted Pub Crawl is a 2-hour tour that includes stops at local bars that have reputations for being haunted. It starts at 5 PM. This tour is for ages 21+ only. Tours begin at the Benson Hotel, 309 SW Broadway, Portland, OR 97205.

Learn more

Harlow Hotel entrance — *Ghost Tours and Dead of Night Tours meet at the Harlow Hotel & Cafe*

Tips and info

Restrooms and water are available before the tours begin.
You’ll walk about a mile on the tour. Wear comfortable shoes. The route is on flat public sidewalks and you’ll have frequent stops.
Tours happen rain or shine. Unless you’re on the pub crawl, you’ll be outside the whole time. Bring layers and rain gear. Keep in mind that temperatures in Portland can drop a lot when the sun goes down.
Pets are welcome on the tours.
Street parking in downtown Portland is free after 7 PM, but it’s limited. You can also find paid lots. It’s easy to reach either of the tour meeting places using public transit. They’re a short walking distance from the MAX light rail station and several bus lines. If you’re staying downtown, you can walk there.
If you enjoy your tour, a tip for your guide is appreciated. You can tip in cash or with apps like Cash App, Apple Pay, or Venmo.

Foo dog statue at Lan Su Chinese Garden — *Ghost Tours take you past cultural attractions like the Lan Su Chinese Garden*

The experience

Haunted tours of Portland attract a wide spectrum of people. Whether you’re a dedicated believer, a skeptic hoping to be proven wrong, or just looking for a walking tour that takes you to some interesting hidden gems, the ghost tours are a fun night out that may or may not involve a brush with the paranormal. I went on the Portland Ghost Tour. In all, we stopped at about 8-10 places. If you book the extended tour, you’ll hit a few more spots after the main tour wraps up. My guides were very knowledgeable about local history and had a wild story for every stop, complete with bar fights, kidnappings, dastardly plots, and grisly murders.

*Shanghai Tunnel Bar & Venue sits on one of the tunnel entrances*

Some of Portland’s most infamous and controversial history involves its network of underground tunnels known as the Shanghai Tunnels. Officially, they were a way to transport goods efficiently by avoiding the filth and traffic on the streets. Unofficially, people got up to all sorts of mischief down there. Rumors abound about an organized crime network that would drug and kidnap vulnerable newcomers. Men were forced into hard and dangerous labor that kept the shipping industry running. Women were forced into prostitution. According to the darker stories, not everyone who entered the tunnels made it out alive. Decades later, rum runners used the tunnels for alcohol smuggling, which feels like a breath of fresh air in terms of misdeeds. In more recent years, people have reported odd experiences while in the tunnels from voices to taps on the shoulder. Tunnel entrances are all over downtown Portland and the ghost tour will take you past several of them. One is now a bar and concert venue.

Woman stands in front of boarded up doorway — *Me at one of the entrances to the Shanghai Tunnels*

Not all of the haunted history I heard about on the Portland Ghost Tour is old. One of the more recent stories happened at the Roseland Theater in 1990, when the venue’s then-owner strangled a young publicity agent, Tim Moreau, with a microphone cord. Since Moreau’s death, people have reported mysterious sights and sounds in the theater. Stranger still, reports of the paranormal decrease during shows, as if Moreau is enjoying the music along with the crowd.

But are there ghosts, though?

Short answer? It depends on who you ask. I’d describe my views on ghosts as undecided and open-minded. I think that semi-transparent phantoms probably aren’t floating in the shadows around us, but that’s not to say that the past doesn’t leave imprints in other ways. I didn’t see or feel any ghosts on the tour, but I also think I’m not the sort of person who would, by which I mean that I’m not very observant. Like where did I park my car? Not one single clue. Wasn’t paying attention. Within walking distance, presumably.

Others have had different experiences. My tour guide told me about a professional ghost hunter on a previous tour who picked up a hard-to-explain recording with specialized equipment. Another guide stopped entering a supposedly haunted parking lot after developing mysterious physical symptoms. They went away with time when he stopped going there. So, keep your eyes and ears open, but you probably won’t experience anything other than a walking tour with ghost stories. If you’re curious, you can rent an EMF meter for the tour, which measures electromagnetic signals. Some people believe they pick up paranormal activity. I can confirm that the sensor activity did seem to change when our group entered a supposedly haunted site. The meaning of the change, I couldn’t say.

Hand holding EMF meter — *I try out the EMF meter*

If you’re a dedicated ghost hunter, the haunted tours will give you suggestions on where to look and what (and who) to look for. If a story or location sparks your interest, you might want to do a deeper dive on your own. In my case, it was the Benson Hotel.

Woman in hotel bar holds cocktail — *My drink didn’t seem to irritate the ghosts of the Benson Hotel*

My tour guide told our group about several ghosts that people see from time to time in the hotel. One of the most frequent sightings is the former owner, Simon Benson, a teetotaler who disapproved of alcohol. He didn’t allow it in his hotel, which didn’t have a bar until after his death. Since the bar opened, people have reported strange experiences while drinking. Glasses falling without being pushed, that sort of thing. It all sounded pretty passive-aggressive for a ghost. So I went and ordered a cocktail. Nothing out of the ordinary happened to me, but I did hear more ghost stories from people in the hotel.

Haunted hotel stays

As Portland Ghost Tours will tell you, 3 AM is supposedly the most paranormal-friendly hour. A haunted hotel stay is a great way to continue your ghost hunt. These Portland hotels have reputations for spooky encounters.

The Benson Hotel is a beautiful building from 1913 on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s hosted dignitaries, celebrities, and other such notables. If the rumors are true, it might also be home to several ghosts. Room 427 is, I hear, a hotspot for weirdness.
The White Eagle Saloon is a music venue and hotel in a funky old building from 1905. It’s the setting of countless unverified ghostly tales from apparitions to eerie sounds and sensations.
The Heathman Hotel in downtown Portland opened its doors in 1927. Rumor has it that rooms ending in threes tend to have strange happenings.

Other haunted hot spots in Portland

Cemetery with old graves on gloomy fall day — *Lone Fir Cemetery*

Portland Ghost Tours will take you to the places downtown where people have reported hauntings. To continue your search to other parts of the city, a few more spots have reputations for strange phenomena.

Lone Fir Cemetery is Portland’s oldest cemetery. Many graves date back to the 1800s. It’s also the site of an unmarked mass grave. I find it a beautiful and peaceful place. Some people have reported having strange experiences there.
Cathedral Park on the banks of the Willamette River was the site of the tragic murder of a teenage girl in the 1940s. Local legend has it that you can sometimes hear screams mingling with the sound of wind there. Even if you don’t experience anything paranormal, it’s a lovely park with a bridge that looks like a cathedral buttress.

Enjoy your Portland ghost hunt!

With love,

Emma

More in Portland

Three elaborate witch puppets — Visit **Portland’s weirdest museums**.

Portland love sign in Cathedral Park — Check out my list of **creative date ideas in Portland**.