Spooky Oregon: Tales of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, and Other Local Lore

by S.E. Schlosser

Spooky happenings throughout Oregon Pull up a chair or gather 'round the campfire and get ready for forty creepy tales of ghostly hauntings, eerie happenings, and other strange occurrences from times past! Oregon folklore traditions are kept alive in these expert retellings by master storyteller S. E. Schlosser and through artist Paul Hoffman's evocative illustrations. You'll meet ghosts and witches, hear things that go bump in the night, and feel an icy wind on the back of your neck on a warm summer evening. Now with brand new stories, this entertaining and compelling collection will have you looking over your shoulder again and again.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Nonfiction, History, Ebooks, Folklore, Ghost Stories

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Author S.E. Schlosser has been telling stories since she was a child, when games of "let's pretend" quickly built themselves into full-length stories. A graduate of the Institute of Children's Literature and Rutgers University, she also created and maintains the website AmericanFolklore.net, where she shares a wealth of stories from all 50 states, some dating back to the origins of America.

(source: Amazon)

Reviews

[Lee L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beautiful state of Oregon boasts a unique and striking topography, with sights such as the stunning Painted Hills, lava beds stretching back thousands of years, and the John Day Fossil Beds, which contain fossils of plants and animals dating back as many as forty-four million years. The rich heritage of Oregon also includes many interesting folktales passed down from generation to generation.

In "Spooky Oregon," author S.E. Schlosser ventures to this Pacific Northwestern state to investigate the lore of the land, bringing us tales of Native Americans, Bigfoot, and hardy pioneers heading west on the Oregon Trail. The legends of Oregon come to life under the talented pen of Ms. Schlosser, whose unusual way of relating the "tall tales" of the region is distinctive in the realm of story-telling. She crafts each tale into an appealing short story that brings us right into the experience of the subject as he or she encounters something very out of the ordinary.

I was originally disappointed in the first few stories, but many others save this collection from mediocrity, and several will probably be reread more than once. The first of my favorites, "Rivals," takes place in Sisters. Here we watch as two siblings, who have competed against each other their entire lives, eventually discover that they do indeed share a bond that is so strong it even supersedes death. I wiped a tear or two while reading that one.

In "Tresspassing," Bigfoot goes on a murderous rampage in the Cascade Mountains, while, in "Close Encounter," he sets a fallen hiker back on his feet in Willamette Forest. At Crater Lake, we follow "Destiny," a young Native American woman who watches as the sky lord and the king of the underworld do battle for her hand in marriage, and at Fort Clatsop, a "Time Slip" allows a modern-day visitor to take part in one of the Lewis and Clark expeditions. We also read tales of the gold rush miners of the 1860s and the hardy folk who trekked west in wagon trains to start new lives in the newly settled west.

Ms. Schlosser often writes in the first person, sometimes in the third, in order to bring us into her version of how the legends took place. She creates characters who recount the legends as they happened, rather than reverting to the "it is often said" formula and telling the stories from afar. No, this is not a collection of "true" ghost stories. It is a collection of folklore gathered by Ms. Schlosser during her visit to Oregon. Most of the stories are well-crafted and unique, and will appeal to those interested in seeing a different side of Oregon.

(Review copy provided by publisher.)

[Yakking Yogini · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 2nd book I've read in her "Spooky" series and it was even better than "Spooky Washington". I love folklore and short stories in general and Sandy Schlosser is a great storyteller! Her sidekick illustrator, Paul Hoffman, with his mysterious looking etchings are the perfect complement to this collection. My father is a professional artist and I remember he used to buy us kids linoleum blocks and we would use metal tools to carve our drawings. We would use his hand-press and create Christmas cards to send out! Do I appreciate all the hard work and talent that went into those etchings? I should say so, since I have tried etchings myself! Hmmm! What should I read next? "Spooky Montana" or perhaps go east and try "Spooky South Carolina?" Whatever choice I make, I know it will be good!

[Tiffany Baehr · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love local ghost stories. I think the first person point of view kind of took me out of the stories. On the one hand it's short stories based on local ghost stories. On the other I was looking for more history of the stories. Still it was entertaining.

[Charlie Easterson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very basic campfire tale style writing. Rarely has much to do with the location and could honestly be about anywhere. These aren't really the 'local legends everyone knows' as promised and are more like 'general spooky stories that could be hypothetically located in this place'.

[Melissa Markham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed these tales. It is the second one of the spooky books that I have read and I find the stories interesting, engaging, and some of them definitely have a different flair than a lot of ghost stories. I don't feel like I am reading the same ole, same ole ...

[McKenna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh my gosh, this was so painful. The storytelling and word phrasing was so rough that it distracted from the story being told. I'm so disappointed

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

While some of the stories in this book did indeed give me a good shiver, the title and description is a bit of false advertising. I thought this would be a collection of regional ghost stories, but that turns out to be only 50% true. It's clear that some of the stories do indeed contain a germ of local mythology...but it's much clearer that most of the stories the author just plain made up. Some of them aren't even ghost stories, but weird fantasy-lite stories that are almost like Harry Potter fan fiction with the names changed. Still, it wasn't a bad YA read.

[Tara Leverett · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book of spooky stories was not very spooky at all.

Most of the stories were based of the same old urban legends told around every campfire in every state. The only difference here is that the author placed the name of some local Oregon City.

Quick read since all of the short stories are broken into their own chapters.

[Amanda Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spooky Oregon is a wonderful collection of eerie and interesting tales. I appreciate the way Schlosser started with stories that are about exploration and learning about the lore and then transitioned more heavily to lived experience and worst fears coming to life. The well crafted story telling creates an effectively spooky journey through Oregon.

[Katrina Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was fun and I read the whole thing on a snowy day, I enjoyed reading some out loud to my family. I can’t give it five stars because a couple of the stories just seemed silly and I did notice a decent amount of typos.

It was fun to learn about local lore, though as well. Never thought I would be spooked by a big foot story!

Good stuff.

[Eddie Andujar · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lazily written. Felt like I was reading stories generated by AI. Camped in the Wallowa’s and decided to read a couple stories around the campfire and we were disappointed with “The Lights”. We tried to read “Underground” but gave up because of how racist it was

[Danni · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you are looking for folklore about Oregon, I would suggest looking elsewhere. This book contains rather mediocre selections, most of which are retold poorly.

[Ash · Rating 2 out of 5]

This isn't really what I expected. A lot of them were really generic stories that didn't seem to have anything to do with Oregon. I liked the one about Amhuluk though.

[Augl · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly and recklessly written. For example, the Santa Fe Trail did not go through Nebraska. I regret spending money on this book.

[Beth Wheeler Schmitz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty yawn. Not even my 10 year old thought these were spooky.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t like how it was in first person - made it cheesy

[Adrianne Rosal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I totally loved this one!!! Spooky stories all from the Oregon area.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up at the famous Powell's Books while visiting my brother in Portland, OR. I was excited to finally visit, as I'd never been to Portland and had only visited the Pacific Northwest once, over ten years ago. This book seemed like a an offbeat way to learn about the region's history, and read some spooky stories. Aside from a few tales, most of the stories work best from a historical point of view because, they're only a PG level of spooky. Still, this book was fun to read, and I am excited to send it back to Portland for my brother and his friends. S.E. Schlosser has a number of other Spooky books, which I am looking forward to reading. Next up: Spooky New Jersey.

[Haley Whitehall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I checked out Spooky Oregon from the library expecting information on actual ghost hauntings in Oregon. However, this is a book of stories more fit to be told around a campfire. The storytelling was very engaging, and I really enjoyed most of these stories. There is very little background information given on the characters or setting. I'm not sure how much research went into this, or if the author just compiled a set of Oregon legends. If you are looking for an entertaining ghost read this might be the book for you.

[DeAnne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am always looking for books like this, especially when they concern Oregon. I thoroughly enjoyed this book; however, it felt more like fiction short stories (which yes, when you are talking folklore...they are this way) than the retelling of history. Each story has named characters with no bearing on who they really were, so I think that's why it felt a little more fiction-ish to me. Still, I really enjoyed it and will definitely add it to my ghost story book collection.

[Jessica Jesinghaus · Rating 2 out of 5]

As an Oregonian I was immediately intrigued with the concept of ghost stories from my own backyard but I was disappointed with the rather tame tales. Barely spooky. If you're going to put spooky in the title, I expect you to deliver. The writing was well executed, but the ghost stories could have been much more spine tingling.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars just cuz it took place in Oregon :)
Most of the stories were pretty weak (or at least meant as very light ghost stories for kiddos) but I enjoyed the bandaged man of cannon beach! kinda scary and even more unsettling knowing I've spent countless nights there...

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was average. I've read other books along the same line that I thought were better! I like these books because of the history they tell.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to read this because of the tale The Golden Hand which I remember telling at camp in middle school. It is cute and a nice touch to get to know Oregon better.

[Cindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were a few good stories.

[Samantha Maise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a good, spooky time book set in my state! I loved this book, and I definitely want to read more books like this.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far it's iffy... I do however enjoy the illustrations. The first few chapters were pretty good.