Winter Getaways
BONE-
CHILLING
SKI
ESCAPES
Explore the ghoulish side
of four Oregon winter playgrounds
SNOW ENGULFS
OREGON’S FAMED
TIMBERLINE LODGE
BY ALEX N OT MAN
PHOTO COURTESY TIMBERLINE LODGE
N
oises in the night. Beds shaking. Lights flick-
ering. Rooms flooding. Strange Victorian
women. This is not your average relax-by-
the-fire-with-a-cup-of-cocoa-after-a-day-on-
the-slopes kind of ski getaway. You’re going
to need to bring more than your best long
johns, hand warmers and whiskey to keep the chills away.
You’ll need a flashlight and nerves of steel because this is
a different type of trip — a trip down the mountain and
into the unknown. Here are four Oregon ski spots where
you can whoosh through powder by day and seek out the
paranormal by night.
MT. BACHELOR
Snow bunnies have been flocking to Mt. Bachelor Ski
Resort and its 9,068-foot-high stratovolcano for more
than six decades. A quick jaunt from Bend, Bachelor
boasts dry snow, 12-plus trails and more than 3,500 acres
of ski-able terrain. Rest your weary bones in town at
McMenamin’s Old St. Francis School (mcmenamins.
com) and you might hear some bone-rattlin’. “I’m not
saying it’s haunted,” property manager Jared Prince says,
“but it’s odd.” Prince describes lights turning on and off
by themselves, books dropping off shelves and even one
couple who checked out of the Nunnery Cottage in the
middle of the night. “All they said was the place is
haunted, and they left,” he says. And then there’s the
theater building, formerly a gymnasium, where “odd
things happen,” like a puzzling flood, inexplicable noises
and fire alarms going off. “It’s been an Irish-Catholic
school since 1936,” he says, laughing. “I’m sure if these
walls could speak there would be some interesting
stories.” Looking for more haunts in Bend? Rumor has it
that the blue orbs hover in Pilot Butte Cemetery and
ghosts frequent the Old Mill District.
12
October 18, 2012 • eugeneweekly.com
MT. ASHLAND
With 23 runs and a vertical drop of 1,150 feet, the non-
profit Mt. Ashland Ski Area is one of the best skiing spots
in southern Oregon. After a “twilight” skiing session under
the stars, head over to the Black Swan Inn
(ashlandsblackswaninn.com found through HauntedBnB.
com — Airbnb.com’s macabre cousin) and warm up next
to the fire. Local Black Swan Inn keeper Tracy Eagen had
heard the tales before she bought the property in 2003. The
ghost of Helen Silsby, wife of Civil War Col. William
Silsby and original owner of the house in 1896, has never
really moved on. “I’ve had people come to the door over
the years and say they had been shaken out of their beds,”
Eagen says. “There are people who come in who say there
is a Victorian woman in the front parlor.” Guests also often
describe having intense spiritual dreams. Though Eagen is
not entirely convinced about the inn’s spook status, she
does try to appease the Silsbys just in case. “I try to
redecorate very, very carefully,” she says. “I bought her
husband’s Civil War letters that he wrote from the
battlefield and I do visit their gravesite and put flowers
down.”
ANTHONY LAKES
With the likes of Mt. Bachelor, Mt. Hood, Hoodoo and
Willamette Pass, the Eastern Oregon ski resort of Anthony
Lakes often gets overlooked. However, it’s worth the
seven-hour drive. With a 7,800-foot base elevation in the
Blue Mountains, the snow falls in a dry powder and the lift
lines are miniscule compared to its western competitors.
There are two more reasons to make the trek: La Grande’s
Hot Lake Springs Hotel (hotlakesprings.com) and Baker
City’s Geiser Grand Hotel (geisergrand.com). Hot Lake
Springs, once known as Hot Lake Hotel, was featured in
Fox’s “Scariest Places on Earth,” was the set for Portland
musician Laura Gibson’s spooky “La Grande” music
video and has drawn a cult internet following. Perhaps it’s
the eerie swirling steam from the hot springs or perhaps
it’s the hotel’s former life as a sanitarium, but the hotel’s
staff is skeptical. “If I did experience something I’d be the
first one running out of here,” says one Hot Lake Springs
employee. In neighboring Baker City, owner Barbara
Sidway is proud of the Geiser Grand Hotel’s haunted
history. “It’s the only hotel in the country that facilitates
paranormal investigation with our guests,” Sidway says.
And there are a number of things to investigate: the Lady
in Blue who haunts the bar, the “party” ghosts that can be
heard cavorting in the dining room in the middle of the
night and the otherworldly “guests” that frequent the third
floor. “None of them are scary or axe-wielding murderers
— which disappoints a lot of people,” Sidway says. “They
are people who are having so much fun they don’t want to
go to the afterworld so they stay here.”
MT. HOOD
A story about Oregon’s scary ski escapes is not
complete without a mention of Mt. Hood’s Timberline
Lodge (timberlinelodge.com) à la The Shining, but fans
and ghost seekers might be disappointed. “Timberline is
not haunted,” lodge spokesperson John Tullis says.
Timberline, Tullis points out, was only used in four
exterior shots in the film. “[Director Stanley Kubrick] built
a sound stage outside of London that was a full-scale
façade of Timberline,” he says. Even so, the lodge did
have the foresight to request that the film use room
numbers that Timberline does not have, like the infamous
Room 237. So, future guests, enjoy the après-ski scene and
don’t expect to find any ghost ladies in your bathtub. At
Mt. Hood, you will have to get your chills the old-
fashioned way — on the slopes. ■