Ghosts of Newport: Freaky Ancient Forest Stumps Lying Below This Part of Oregon Coast

Published 07/13/25 at 8:35 p.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Newport, Oregon) – Every town has its ghost tales, and just about every town also has its geologic curiosities – or at least something underneath that's distinctive to that place. Yet not every town on the Oregon coast has a combination of both: a geologic “ghost” of sorts. Newport has just that. (Above: Moolack ghost forest in 1998)

Ghost forests on the Oregon coastline are now some of its more famous (even infamous) attractions – although largely the Neskowin stand is the only set that's widely acknowledged. Part of that is the fact it's really the only large group of ghost stumps visible just about year-round. Plus, Neskowin's ghost forest looks rather eerie and striking. But there are so many more, including the handful down at Coos Bay's Sunset Beach that are about 1200 years old and visible much of the time. Coos Bay Area Discoveries: New South Oregon Coast History, Scientific Finds 

Newport, however, has some of the most spectacular ones on the whole shoreline: but they only rarely appear. Sand levels have to be really low during one of those winter scouring events for these to pop out. The ghost forests at Moolack Beach are a curious octopus-like shape, including massive root systems that look like something Lovecraftian in origin is trying to climb out of the deep.

Same root system in 2006: note how more exposed it is (Oregon Coast Beach Connection)

The Moolack roots really end up looking older, too. Indeed, they are. While Neskowin's craggy stumps clock in at about 1.9 thousand years old, those in and around Newport are nearly 4,000 years old.

Photos here, all taken by Oregon Coast Beach Connection from 1998 through 2007, show a variety of shapes and sizes. There's also the telltale sign of gravel beds appearing, which shows that sand levels have been emptied out quite a bit.

That's also a signal for great agate hunting.

The big rub: when and if they show up it's only for a couple of days at a time, or maybe a week or so. That happens only in winter – somewhere between December and February – right after big storms have ripped up the area.

A caveat: safety is also a bit of a problem when this happens. If sands get scoured out a lot, this already short beach has even less to it, and you're more at risk of getting smacked by a wave. Only venture down to them at lower tides and calm conditions.

Which beach access to find them? It's the second Moolack Beach access, slightly closer to Newport, near MP 134. This access is really slippery and steep, so be extremely careful.

So how did the Newport ghost forest happen? It's the same story as the Neskowin series of stumps, but no, it's not the quake / subsidence explanation you keep seeing. Sorry, none of Oregon's beach ghost forests happened that way (and there's 33 different spots where you can find them). In Search of More Oregon Coast Ghost Forests - Where to Find Ghost Forests

This was proven back in 2006 when geologists Roger Hart of OSU and Dr. Curt Peterson of PSU came out with their paper on it, after radiocarbondating them all. Sand and water simply covered the forests over time – probably decades – and that sand preserved them after drowning them.

The ages of those at Neskowin and Newport do not match up to big tsunami quakes in the past. They're off by hundreds of years sometimes.

“The wide range of forest burial ages argues against a single incursion of sand,” said Hart and Peterson in their paper. See Explanations of Neskowin Ghost Forest Wrong, Say Oregon Coast Geologists

Either way, explanations aside, Newport's ghost forests are a kick to check out, especially knowing that they rarely appear. However, they are slowly disappearing as sea levels rise and winter events dig them out. In the late 2000s, about a third of the Neskowin ghost forest stumps got uprooted and taken out to sea. Newport's ancient stumps may be gone some day.

There are two ghost forest stumps just north of here visible year-round, at Otter Rock and Beverly Beach State Park.

Hotels in Newport - Where to eat - Newport Maps and Virtual Tours

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