Odd on the Oregon Coast: Weird Science, Kooky History to Paranormal Rumors

(Oregon Coast) - Sometimes, if you know more about what you see on your trip to the Oregon coast, it’s a lot more fun and interesting. (Above: Cape Meares).

The area - like any place in the world, really - hosts a myriad of fascinating secrets and strange tales. The wonders of science are stranger than fiction here, at times. There are the striking ironies about the dead zone off the coast that seem to have a couple of beneficial side effects in the local tourism industry. Lighthouses on this coast carry some unbelievable bits of history. Then there’s ghosts, ghost forests, crazed sea foam, and legends of an intense spirit spot on the north coast where wishes seem to come true.

The fun never ends, and the truth is out there: out on the coast, that is.

World Records, Sundry Oddities

Broken Records - Sea Lion Caves, just north of Florence, is the largest sea cave in the world? The Guinness Book of World Records confirmed that in the 90's, noting the cave clocked in at 310 feet long, 164 feet wide and about 50 feet high.

The D River in Lincoln City shares the distinction of being the shortest river in the world with one in Montana. It actually had that honor in the Guinness Book of World Records until a bunch of 5th graders in Montana disputed it, causing Guinness officials to eventually hand that honor to both in the 90's.

And what’s the shortest lighthouse on the west coast? That's Cape Meares, near Tillamook, clocking in at a stumpy 38 feet high. Size doesn't matter here, however, as it stands on a 217-foot-high cliff.

More Lighthouses Tales and Sundries

Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, lying offshore between Seaside and Cannon Beach, hosts a rather gruesome history. Construction was started in the 1880's and that proved deadly for many years.

After the top was blasted, construction crews had to endure insane conditions, living under soggy tents and enormous waves that constantly knocked at them. The crews lived in rotating shifts on the rock, and there were so many casualties in these conditions that men waiting onshore to work there were actually sequestered away from the public and from talk of what went on there.

The barons in charge of the project went to incredible lengths to keep construction workers away from the truth. They were housed in various places along the southern Washington coast, away from Seaside, and for a while even on a ship anchored just offshore.

Yaquina Head Lighthouse - one of two lighthouses in Newport, and the tallest on the coast - had an interesting and complex run of fame. A Hollywood crew from the old “Hardy Boys” TV show came to the lighthouse in the 70’s to film a Halloween episode, complete with lots of cobwebs and other spooky accoutrements scattered around the lighthouse. The group in charge of the lighthouse at the time had to sue the Hollywood crew to come and clean things up, as they left it in a shambles with all the new decorations.

For some fascinating haunted stories of Heceta Head Lighthouse near Florence, see below.

There's even more coastal lighthouses to be found on a special DVD of the documentary Oregon Lights, available here.

Pat Boone’s Leisure Suit

Singer Pat Boone used to have an interest in a hotel in Waldport. The relationship to the hotel is unclear, but in the early 70's it was called the Pat Boone Inn, located in the Bayshore district. The marquee even featured a picture of Boone wearing a pink leisure suit. A local man, Jim King, remembers attending an opening ceremony at the hotel in the late 60's, with Boone in attendance.

In the late 70's it became the Bayshore Inn, and the Heaven's Gate cult held a gathering there (the UFO cult that became infamous in the 90's for committing mass suicide in California). Currently it is a Howard Johnson's.

Newport's Yaquina Bay, where crabbing was insane in 2006, apparently due to the dead zone chasing them there

The Strange Science – And Side Effects – of the Dead Zone

For the last few years, the warmer months of the year have meant a mysterious “dead zone” off parts of the central Oregon coast, where vast areas of the sea floor are devoid of marine life because of a lack of oxygen in the area.

The culprit behind it: upwellings from the deep bring up tons of nutrients and thus decaying debris. This decay robs the area of oxygen, killing off fish. It then becomes a bit of a vicious cycle. There were some excessive upwellings in recent years, causing a lot of this oxygen-robbing dynamic.

After organisms like fish, invertebrates and phytoplankton die because of the low oxygen, their decaying bodies suck more air out of the environment and add toxic gases as well.

The irony is that the dead zone may have had a couple positive side effects for tourism on the coast, between the glowing sand and crabbing in the region. There have been reports this summer of massive crab catches in the bays of Newport and Waldport, and many scientists in Oregon agree that it’s likely the dead zone chased populations of crab into areas more convenient for humans to grab them.

Still, in other instances, these marine creatures appeared to be fleeing from the changing patches of hypoxic areas, creating good fishing and crabbing one day in a certain spots and not so good there the next day.

These upwellings made the last two years banner ones for phytoplankton blooms. This could explain the reported abundance of sightings of “glowing sand” during the summer months – a phenomenon rare in Oregon that’s caused by a kind of phytoplankton that is bioluminescent. Beachgoers could see small, bluish, green sparks in the sand at night, caused by washes of bioluminescent diatoms called dinoflagellates.

Weird Wonders of Coastal Science

Ocean Burps - The technical term is detritus, and it means the ocean is casting some interesting objects from the depths onto the shores – things you don’t normally find on the beaches. It appeared a bit in recent months, really getting noticed around the Seaside area, happening under just the right conditions, when the right mix of storms occur along with the right kind of ocean currents.

Beachcombers will spot a brownish mass of wood and grassy matter from afar, but up close is a small treasure chest of natural oddities like cockleshells, hermit crabs, squid eggs, casings from other eggs, moon snail shells and somewhat rare rock finds.

“If you see a patch of dark brown on the beach, go look through it because you’ll find some cool stuff,” said Seaside Aquarium’s Keith Chandler.

Ghost Forests - On the central coast, this year’s enormous storms have scoured the beaches and created some strange sights. Lower sand levels mean the ancient, “ghost forest” stumps are visible again on beaches just north of Newport, with some really weird ones that appeared at Hug Point, near Cannon Beach. “You could see them at Beverly Beach, at Moolack and south at Beaver Creek,” said Guy DiTorrice, regional beach expert. Perhaps 4,000 years old or more, these are either the remnants of a devastating earthquake on the Oregon coast that dropped an entire section of forest into the surf, or some geologic change suddenly caused the sea water to come in over a few years. The end result is they were abruptly or somewhat abruptly emmersed in ocean water, where they did not decay normally because of the salt content.

In Newport, they look like octopus-like root systems trailing out from them, because the actual stumps have been cut off by early white settlers. In Neskowin, they are more perfectly preserved, looking rather ghostly and eerie - truly like the wretched remains of a forest.

Strange Sea Foam Sights - Awe-inspiring oddities can happen a little more often at this time of year as well, thanks to phytoplankton known as diatoms – the little creatures that create sea foam. Bill Hanshumaker, public information officer for the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, said these tend to bloom in greater numbers in the spring, and seasonal storms can result in incredible sights such as foam so frothy it moves like flurries of snow across the beaches and highways. Storms are mostly gone on the coast this time of year, but they do happen sometimes.

Ghosts on the Coast

Ghosts in the aquarium? You may be able to find out yourself if you win a tour of the old apartments - drawing on May 17 (photo: Tiffany Boothe, Seaside Aquarium

Scary Side to Seaside - The Seaside Aquarium may have a closet containing something - or rather, an upstairs that could be haunted. When the building was a natatorium back about 80 years ago, there were apartments at the top floor. That area isn't used much at all now, but some at the aquarium say they've heard whispers over the years the top floor is haunted. Various stories have been handed down through the generations about noises coming from there.

A tour of that area, rarely seen by anyone but aquarium staff, is one of the prizes offered by the Seaside Aquarium during their upcoming 70-year anniversary celebration on May 17. 503-738-6211.

(Note: this paragraph is from 2007 when Girtle's still existed - but it remains here for historical curiosity). Talk to staff at Girtle’s, and you’ll hear tales of flying coffee pots, shadows of someone walking in what are empty rooms and apparitions appearing periodically. The rumor is that the old Seaside Hotel collected a long list of lingering souls in its 100-year-long history. When it was torn down in the 80’s, many of the spirits followed staff there when they went to work for Girtle’s.

Nehalem Bay’s Spirits – Old Wheeler Hotel has plenty of haunted tales, enough that a few ghost hunters have sauntered through there over the years. Owner Winston Laszlo has had some experiences he can’t explain, and he and his wife tell strange tales of how the building seemed “fight” them as it was being remodeled. (www.oldwheelerhotel.com. 877-653-4683.) Also in the bay area, they talk of the “good spirits of Wheeler” and the “Wheeler Moment” – where odd, serendipitous moments can happen with startling regularity.

Lincoln City Haunts - The North Lincoln Fire Station is said to have an apparition lounging in the recreation area. The Wildflower Grill has tales of a butt-pinching ghost named Matilda. The Siletz Bay has some crazy stories about a ghost ship appearing and disappearing.

Lighthouses and Otherworldly Guests - The Heceta Head Lighthouse, north of Florence, is the subject of some truly chilling tales. This yarn has shades of the old "Ghost and Mrs. Muir" TV series, with families who've run the B&B at the keeper's quarters saying the lady phantom is like a member of the family. This coastal ghostly tale is the one with the most witnesses, also backed up by famed nature photographers Steve Terrill and Steve Gaddis.

The Yaquina Head Lighthouse and the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse in Newport both have ghost tales surrounding them, but they’ve been proven to be rumor and their sources traced.

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