Twisted Tour Guide to Portland and Salem

Avoid The Tourist Herds.

What could be more uninspiring than seeing the identical attractions that everyone else has for decades?

This Twisted Tour Guide escorts you to the places locals don’t want to talk about anymore…the same places people once couldn’t stop talking about. Long after the screaming headlines and sensationalism has subsided, these bizarre, infamous and obscure historical sites remain hidden awaiting rediscovery.

Each visitation site in this guide is accompanied by a story. Many of the narratives defy believability, yet they are true. The profiled cast of characters feature saints and sinners (with emphasis towards the latter). Notorious crimes, murders, accidental deaths, suicides, kidnappings, vice and scandal are captivating human interest tales.

The photography from each profile showcases the precise location where each event occurred. The scenes can seem ordinary, weird and/or sometimes very revealing towards clarifying the background behind events.

If you’re seeking an alternative to conventional tourism, this Twisted Tour Guide is ideal. Each directory accommodates the restless traveler and even resident looking for something unique and different.

Historic Buildings with Paranormal Haunting:
Witches Castle, Merchant’s Hotel, Kelly’s Olympian, White Eagle Saloon, Kell’s Irish Restaurant, Hollywood Theatre

Portland Scandals:
The Open Door and the Great Vice Crusade of 1896, Unsuccessful Sexual Set-Up of Mayor Harry Lane, Richard’s Restaurant, Vice Clique Gay Scandal of 1912, Ku Klux Klan’s infiltration, Mayoral Election of 1917, Radio’s Robert Gordon Duncan, Schneiderman’s Music Hall, Michael Grave’s Flawed Portland Building

Elicit Commerce:
Opium Trade, Court of Death, Shanghai Tunnels, Gambling Dens, Prohibition, Read Hotel, Frank Kodat Crime Networt, Historic Prostitution Outlets, The Desert Room, Yam Yam’s BBQ

Historic Events:
Great Fires of 1872-1973, Emma Goldman’s 1915 Lecture, Hoovervilles at Sullivan’s Gulch, Multnomah Aerial Showcase, Catastrophe at Vanport, Brittany Maynard’s Assisted Suicide

Institutions with Storied Pasts:
Huber’s Café, The Boneyard, Society Hotel, Lone Fir Cemetery, Dan and Louis Oyster Bar, Erickson’s Saloon, Washington Hotel, Lownsdale Square Public Bathroom, Crystal Ballroom, Golden West Hotel, Vista Bridge, Crystal Hotel, Dude Ranch, Harbor Club, Tel and Tel Tavern, Club Continental Baths, Mary’s Club

Legendary Personalities:
Danford Balch, Liverpool Lil, Boneyard Mary, Carrie Bradley, Anne Jeanne Tingry Le-Coz, Alice Oberle, Joseph Bunko Kelley, Kate Ann Williams, Theodore Berthus Kruses, Gus Erickson, Fred Fritz Jr., Mysterious Billy Smith, Dr. Marie Equi, Henry Lewis Pittock, Mayor George Baker, Henry Albers, Journalists John Reed and Louis Bryant, Nate Zusman, Al Winter, Mayor Dorothy McCullough, Big Jim Elkins, Roma Ollison, Hotelier Gordon Sondland

Notorious Murders
Reynolds’s Homewrecker Shooting, Dark Strangler Serial Killer, Contract Killing of Frank Akin, 1946 Willamette Floating Torso, Bowden Bombing, Killing Under St. John’s Bridge, Career Criminal Frank Oliver Payne, Diane Hank Abduction, Forest Park Slayings, Weeks Family Massacre, Veronica Dolan’s Christmas Eve slaying, Michele Dee Gate’s Saga of Death, Lloyolla Miller’s savage axing, Beating Death of Mulugeta Seraw, Tim Moreau and the Counterfeit Ticketing Ring, Serial Killer Scott William Cox, Homer Lee Jackson’s Prostitution Murders, The Zone’s Shooting Rampage, Federal Public Defender Nancy Bergeson’s Murder, Abduction of Kyron Horman, Escort Ashley Benson

Salem
Pioneer Murder of Daniel Delaney, Salem Hanging Grounds, Political Fixer Jonathan Bourne and 40 days of legislative debauchery, Fairview Training Center, Elsinore Theatre, Mass Poisoning at the Oregon State Hospital, Serial Killer Richard Marquette, Fetish Killer Jerry Brudos, Oregon State Police Chief Holly Holcomb Murder, Serial Killer William Scott Smith, Oregon Prison Director Michael Francke’s Bizarre Killing