Ghost-Like Trees on Central Oregon Coast Somehow Upright in Sand - and Geologic Tales

Published 02/13/26 at 6:55 a.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Newport, Oregon) – Up and down the coast, ghost forests of all kinds are actually fairly common. They're on the beaches to some degree, and definitely just inland in little inlets and saltwater marshes (the ghost forests on beaches are not from the 1700 quake and tsunami, as is often in media). (Photo Jaimie Bourbon)

Every once in awhile, a new ghost forest patch is discovered.

But then there are ghosts of forests: stands of dead trees that are still upright for some weird reason – like those silver, eerie figures in the wetlands immediately south of Lincoln City.

It turns out, there's been another set of these ghost-like trees lurking in a remote part of the central Oregon coast. They've died fairly recently – perhaps just within the last 15 years. And they are a spooky-looking bunch, and definitely a little unusual.

Most remarkable is that they're standing – in sand. Somehow. Exactly how is part of the mystery here. Experts are – if you'll excuse the pun – a little stumped.

Central coast photographer Jaimie Bourbon recently showed off some of these shots. You see a handful of scraggly trunks and branches with roots in the sand. Some have fallen over; many haven't.

Photo Jaimie Bourbon

Their background story paints a surprising tale of geology: for one thing they've been around for a long, long time. Newport's Charlie Plybon – with the Surfrider Foundation – said they've been there for as long as he could remember.

They could well go back as far as the '40s. Newport geologist Jonathan Allan (with Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries) said it's part of a landslide area that really fell apart before 1939. The area has receded an insane amount since then, with the largest chunk of some 150 feet disappearing since 1998.

Photo Jaimie Bourbon

Allan told Oregon Coast Beach Connection this is part of what's called the Schooner landslide complex, a landslide that's extremely active.

Photo Jonathan Allan - 2016

“The area in question likely failed decades ago (certainly before 1939) with the landslide debris having extended well out onto the beach today,” he said. “Over time, waves have been eroding into its toe removing the material.”

Lidar and other aerial photographs done over the decades show a lot of contour chanbes of the cliffs. Documentation goes back to the 1930s aerial shot.

Courtesy DOGAMI - the dotted line in the 2020 shot is the contour from 1998.

“Ground based laser scanning I have been doing just north of here (basically in line with the Schooner RV park) indicates the erosion is continuing,” Allan said.

Allan snapped his photos of the area ten years ago, in 2016. Those trees you see in Bourbon's current photographs are likely in there, but now they are five to ten feet away from the rubbly rock material they were in a decade ago.

It's also of note there were no trees back then that were standing in the sand as they are now, and all but a couple still had leaves / needles up top (or at least the dead remnants of needles).

Bourbon's trees transformed into this look within the last ten years.

But the biggest mystery here is: how these are still standing while only grounded in sand?

Photo Jonathan Allan - 2016

Erick Finnell is a forester with the Tillamook District of Oregon Department of Forestry. He knows trees. He hasn't been to the spot so all he could do was guess by the photographs of Bourbon's.

First, he noted, these are called snags. All dead trees are referred to as snags.

“All the trees in the photo look to be dead,” he told Oregon Coast Beach Connection.

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There's two scenarios possible, he said. These snags may just be rooted in sand and nothing else, or there's actually still some earth beneath them that hasn't gone away and is still keeping them upright.

Scenario 1:

“The movement of the ocean surf and tides could continue to move sand from around the snag’s roots,” Finnell said. “Once enough earth material (sand) has been moved from around the roots the snag no longer has anything to anchor itself to. At that point, the snag will probably fall over.”

Scenario 2:

“If the earth around the snag’s roots stays intact and is not washed away, the snag could stand for an undetermined length of time,” Finnell said. “Dead trees (snags) begin to decay (rot). Snags will probably stay standing like that until the roots decay enough to where wind and/or ocean surf might push three completely over.”

Some of Bourbon's photos show one tree that appears to be balancing right on the sand with exposed roots. Finnell said nope, there is some sort of root system below anchoring it.

These trees have quite a long tale to tell.

Oregon Coast Beach Connection is not disclosing the exact location.

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