Thompson Roadhouse

About The Thompson Roadhouse

The Thompson Brewpub and Public House is another establishment in the vast McMenamins empire of old historic buildings in Oregon. the building was built in 1905 by former cival war soldier Franklin Thomspon. The building operated as numerous businesses including a German restaurant, a real estate office, and a day care before it was purchased by the McMenamins and refurbished.

Ghost Stories

The building is said to be haunted by the ghost of Franklin Thompson. We interviewed the employees that were working at the time, but they had no personal stories. John the bartender, who had worked there for years at the time of our visit, has been told that strange things happen in the room at the top of the stairs, but he had no specific examples of what those strange things were.

Our Review

By this point on our trip we were getting a little tired of eating at McMenamins pubs. Not that their food is not very good, but that it gets bit tiring. The food was good, and the staff was very friendly. It was mostly empty when we visited with only two people working the front including the bartender. There were two people at the bar and when we came in we were the only people sitting at a table.

Hotel Oregon

About The Hotel Oregon

The Hotel Oregon, currently operated by McMenamins, was originally opened in 1905 as the Hotel Elberton. Once bustling, the building went into a steady decline until the building was renovated in 1998 and the fourth and top floor was finally finished. The building’s rich history is documented in artwork on the walls. The hotel hosts an annual UFO convention each may due to the 1950 UFO sightings and photographs in the town by a local farmer. The hotel has 42 European style rooms, two bars, and a restaurant. The walls are decorated with art celebrating not only the buildings history and former occupants, but the town of McMinville’s famous UFO sighting in 1950.

Ghost Stories

The ghost of the Hotel Oregon is known as John and is said to probably be a long term resident of the hotel that died. Cold spots have been felt on the first two floors and in the cellar bar.

None of the employees with whom we talked had any personal experiences. One did mention that the doors to “Matties” room (a conference room) would lock and unlock themselves, and that the cellar was creepy. We investigated the conference room, but we were unable to explore the cellar.

While we were investigating the fourth floor before dinner, my wife distinctly detected the smell of lavender, but I did not.

Our Review

The Hotel Oregon, like many McMenamins hotels, does not have bathrooms in most guest rooms, has multiple places to imbibe libations, has numerous murals and canvas paintings adorning the walls. The rooftop pub afforded wonderful views of the area, and was a nice place to get a drink at the end of the day. It was a little cold up there, even in July, but well worth the visit. We enjoyed our steak and salmon dinners in the main restaurant. We went up to the Rooftop bar for drinks and deserts afterwards, which was very nice. We were unable to visit the Cellar Bar because it was not open on the days that we were there (it was only open for the weekends.)

White Eagle Tavern

About The White Eagle Tavern

The white eagle tavern is a small bar and hotel in an industrial neighborhood in North Portland. It was opened in 1905 by polish imigrants and catered to the eastern Europeans who worked in the local docks and factories. The second floor of the building was once used as a brothel along with the basement. Starting in the 1970s the tavern began its live music tradition, earning it the nickname Rock n’ Roll Hotel. The modern White Eagle Tavern continues this tradition. The Hotel is convinient to the Arena and the Convention Center.

Ghost Stories

There are reports from various sources of two different ghosts that haunt the building. Rose, a prostitute who was killed by a jelous customer/lover, and Sam, a resident who died in room 2, “Midnight in Paris.”. None of the employees who worked there when we visited had any interesting ghostly experiences. We stayed in “Midnight in Paris” during our trip, but did not encounter anything otherworldly ourselves.

Our Review

With only eleven rooms and no night staff, I would hardly consider this to be a “hotel,” which is not to say I did not enjoy the stay or that I would not stay there again. It, like most McMennamins, does not have private bathrooms or showers, so if that is something that you value in accomadations, this hotel is not for you. The stay was pleasant, and the food was typical McMennamins. I really enjoyed the White Eagle Burger which is signature to this McMennamins, although some of the others do have it under a different name. The menu is filled mostly with “Pub Food,” but it is very good quality for that. The staff was very friendly, and it did have a nice feel. The music the night that we stayed there was two DJs mixing Reggae, not exactly what I would call a continuation of the venues reputation for “live” nighly music, and despite the music being played in the tavern below us, I was able to sleep soundly. Parking is a bit of an issue, the lot immediately next door is not a parking lot for the hotel, and the one that it does have seems to fill up very quickly. We found a metered spot on the street that was not enforced due to the Independence Day holiday.

Moss Beach Distillery

About Moss Beach Distillery

Originally established as a speakeasy during prohibition, The Moss Beach Distillery is a restaurant in Moss Beach, California overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The restaurant offers exquisite views of the Pacific Ocean and high quality food. The restaurant has a very tongue in cheek way of celebrating its resident ghost (see Our Review at the bottom of the page for more information). The ceiling art of a bull and bullfighter in the bar is original from the buildings days as a speakeasy.

Ghost Stories

The “Blue Lady” is the most famous guest of the Moss Beach Distillery. She is called the Blue Lady in reference to the blue dresses she is often seen wearing. Her haunting has been featured on several television shows including Unsolved Mysteries. Her identity is a mystery as is her cause of death, but there are a few theories. Loyd Aurebach, a prominent parapyschologist, has investigated the hauntings at the Distillery many times with different psychics and come up with several names. Some have picked up on the name Elizabeth, while others Cayte. There is also a story of a Mary Ellen who was in love with a piano player who worked there. She was already married and had a child while she was having her affair. She died tragically in an automobile accident. Another story connected to the piano player involves a woman who threw herself off the cliffs near the Distillery when she discovered that the piano player had other lovers.

In our interviews with the staff we were told that none of them knew of anyone who had seen her apparition in recent years, although they mentioned several unusual occurrences involving strange sounds and bottles behind the bar moving from one place to another when no one was looking. Doors have also spontaneously locked themselves.

Matt, our waiter, mentioned that a bartender’s sister went downstairs only to come back up into the main part of the building to see a mist shape in the bar room.

The bartender told us that when he was new and still just a busboy that he folded up all of the patio blankets and arranged the benches as he was supposed to do. When he came back inside the manager told him to go fold the patio blankets. When he went back outside one set of the chairs had moved against the shed and all the blankets were unfolded. He locked them in the shed.

The Manager reported that he was cleaning up behind the bar moving bottles around, he went downstairs to the storage room only to return and find all the bottles moved back to their original positions.

Our Review

He Says:

The food was excellent, with prices ranging from $30.00 to $60.00 for most dishes. The decor is nice, and the view is excellent. The bar is set up with numerous simulated paranormal activities in a kind of tongue in cheek way. If you take a seat at the bar, do not be surprised if your stool suddenly seems to be shrinking, or if the lights above the bar begin to sway. These are all mechanical effects not the supernatural. In the woman’s bathroom the image of a blue woman will appear in the mirror as well. They used to have a video loop that appeared to be old black and white film footage that would interrupt the television, but guests started to complain when this would happen in the middle of sporting events so that effect was removed. They also used to have tables that would vibrate, but things would fall off of the tables so they go rid of that trick. I did find it odd that a restaurant with such a high class menu and a rich paranormal history would have such a tongue in cheek way of celebrating it. I guess it is almost a Chuck E. Cheese’s and a 4 star restaurant rolled into one.

She Says:

AWESOME SCALLOPS!!! It is odd the way that the food is First Class, but the fx are played up about their ghost… The Bathroom mirror is just cheesy. The lamps and stools are kind of neat though!

Oh, if only this place were closer to home!!!