Offbeat Oregon History podcast

Caught by a railroad “bull,” the thief shot his way out and ran for it. But an accurate shot by the dying guard and some persistent police work brought the bad guy to justice in a pistol-waving scene in a seedy Albina hotel room. (Albina, Multnomah County; 1920s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1205a-roaring-20s-railroad-murder-mystery-solved.html)

Pulp writer and religious figure L. Ron Hubbard figures prominently in the most spectacular story of action against “Japanese submarines” in Oregon waters. It's called, with tongue firmly in cheek, the “Battle of Cape Lookout.” (Off Cannon Beach, Clatsop County; 1940s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1407a.sunken-submarine-rumors.html)

SOMETIME IN 1943, during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, a group of more than 40 officers of the Imperial Japanese Navy strolled into Club Tsubaki, an exclusive gentlemen’s club in the heart of downtown Manila. They were there for one last evening of fun while they were still in port. That very evening, they were scheduled to climb back into their submarines and set out on an extended cruise. The private party had been arranged by one of the subs’ commanders, who had struck up a friendship with the owner of Club Tsubaki, a gorgeous Italian-Filipina dancer named Dorothy Fuentes, a.k.a. Madame Tsubaki. For hours, as Madame Tsubaki and her sultry staff danced and sang for the officers, the men had the time of their lives. The floor show was magnificent, the women were alluring, and the alcohol was flowing freely. And, after a few more drinks, so were the details: The flotilla of subs was on its way to the Solomon Islands and would be leaving the next morning. At about the same time, across the bay, a young man named Pacio was hurrying up into the hills, making for a rendezvous with a small band of American and Filipino Army guerillas. The guerillas, under the command of a firm-faced American corporal named John Boone, had a radio set. The race was on to get the word out to Gen. Douglas MacArthur in time to arrange an ambush for the flotilla of submarines as they motored out of the harbor... (Portland, Multnomah County; 1940s, 1950s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/23-09.high-pockets-the-spymaster-625.html)

Discovered (sort of) by Oregon's first governor, the dry lakebed in south-central Oregon's Lake County is a gold mine of Ice Age fossils, from tiny rodents to wooly mammoths, saber-tooth cats and dire wolves. (Christmas Valley, Lake County; Pleistocene Age) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1010c-fossil-lake-oregons-answer-to-labrea-tar-pits.html)

When astronaut Jim Irwin came to Bend for lunar landing training in the lava rock of Oregon's 'moon country,' he made friends with a local resident — who gave him a sliver of Oregon lava to leave on the moon's surface. And so he did. (Bend, Deschutes County; 1960s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1208c-astronaut-left-oregon-lava-on-moon.html)

The Melanope's maritime career started with a witch's curse. But her most dramatic story was the torrid, doomed love affair its skipper carried on with the heiress who bought the ship so she could be with him as he sailed it. (Columbia River Bar, Clatsop County; 1900s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1506b.cursed-ships-melanope-343.html)

Fishermen working in heavy 24-foot boats at the mouth of the Columbia kept getting sucked out onto the bar and drowning in its massive breakers. Their odds of not surviving a season were as high as 1 in 15. (Astoria, Clatsop County; 1880s, 1890s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1206d-most-dangerous-catch-salmon-on-columbia-river-bar.html)

Is there any truth to the stories of shanghaiings of the cigar-store Indian and of the dozens of dead guys found in the basement of the funeral parlor next door to the “Snug Harbor Saloon”? Well ... maybe. But then again ... yeah, no. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1890s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1407c.bunco-kelley-part2-the-myths.html)

He was Portland's most notorious bad guy, with his fingers in everything from shanghaiing sailors to smuggling opium. But ironically, when he was finally sent to prison, it was for a murder he clearly didn't commit. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1890s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1407b.bunco-kelley-part1-the-facts.html)

After a beachfront landowner discovered a loophole in the law and fenced off “his” beach, other oceanfront property owners were eager to follow suit. Governor Tom McCall was determined to stop them, and this is how he did it. (Cannon Beach, Clatsop County; 1960s) (For text and pictures, see URLOFWEBPAGEURLOFWEBPAGEURLOFWEBPAGE)

Neighbors wondered if the eight-foot-tall corpse found by developer at what today is YWCA Camp Westwind was evidence that an old Native American legend of a pirate ship is true; if so, there might actually be booty buried there, some say. (Cascade Head, Lincoln County; 1930s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1204e-giant-skeleton-evidence-of-pirate-treasure-legend.html)

Historic steam schooner vanished on a calm night in 1930, leaving lifeboats and debris floating in the water — but no bodies, alive or dead. Was it a violent micro-storm? A “seaquake”? A boiler explosion? We'll never really know. (Gold Beach, Curry County; 1930s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1206b-mysterious-disappearance-of-steamer-south-coast.html.html)

Ninety-eight years ago, in a logging camp deep in the forests of British Columbia, a logger in a funny hat walked up to a big stump, an ax in his hand. Taking off the hat — it was a battered bowler, an old-fashioned dandy’s hat even in 1923 — he laid it on the stump, set a nail in it, and drove it in. Then he turned and walked away. Probably he walked straight to the logging locomotive for his last ride into town. Nailing the hat to the stump was a symbolic act — Stewart H. Holbrook was quitting the logging business forever. (Oregon timber country; 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/21-07.stewart-holbrook-599.html)

Oregon was once known as a place full of “great liars” — tellers of tales so tall they'd cause every pair of pants in the room to spontaneously burst into flame. Central Oregon storyteller Reub Long could hold his own with the best of them. (Fort Rock, Lake County; 1930s, 1940s, 1950s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1209a-reub-long-great-oregon-storyteller.html)

Jerry and Lu Parks envisioned a “fairy-tale history of Oregon” in the form of an amusement park. What they created was a rich cultural artifact, and a treasured childhood memory for a generation of Oregonians. (Otis and Lincoln City, Lincoln County; 1960s, 1970s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1709c.pixieland-old-oregon-cultural-artifact-461.html)