Destination Fun Oct 25, 2007 at 4:00 am

Exploring Portland's Ghostliest Haunts

Comments

1
We went on this tour and were very disappointed. The first 45 minutes was spent riding the Max and going to Vodoo Donuts, where the guide bought a "cock and balls" donut. It had nothing to do with the tour as advertised. We ended up walking away 1 hour and 20 minutes in because it was so drawn out and not as represented. I asked for a refund and they refused- huge waste of $120.
2
Destination Lame.

I am so bummed. I usually agree with the Merc's recommendations, but I have to say: avoid this one, guys.

I checked it out the other day thinking it would be a fun Halloween-time adventure.

Instead, it was *painfully* boring.

Our guide wore a fanny-pack loudspeaker and talked through his headset to the dozen or so "dour thirtysomethings" in our group with all of the authority of a six year-old telling you about his imaginary friends.

We had the pleasure of standing across the street from Kell's, staring at the exterior as we were told about a ghost in the women's bathroom. Sweet. The exterior of Kell's. Rich and compelling.

We were then led into the Old Town Pizza basement and given EMF meters as mentioned in Furnis' story above.

What a surprise: the dials started moving indicating there was a magnetic field! In a basement! Of a building with electricity! Surounded by people with cellphones and digital cameras!

Suddenly, I was haunted, but by the memory of my high school science teacher talking about scientific controls.

Our guide "Dave" (the same as in the story above?) asked if anyone wanted to speak to the supposed ghost, Nina. When a woman volunteered, he appointed her as the
"sensitive" one and added that Nina only responded to women anyway. What would he have said if a man had volunteered? In Furnis' account she writes that Dave was the one to speak to Nina. Does Furnis need fact checking? Is Dave actually woman?

As the EMF meters lit up, our guide excitedly told us to snap photos. After about ten minutes of flash photography in a cramped basement full of people with flashlights, we were supposed to marvel at the eery images that resulted. But our guide confidently dashed our hopes, dismissing the photos as ghost-free. (So why did we just do that?)

The tour continued on, but I did not. My eyes were sore from rolling them so frequently and I was pretty sure I was better off watching my hard drive defrag.

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