If you go
WHAT LIES
BENEATH
Astoria Underground Tours
1125 Marine Drive, Astoria
415-713-4141
$20 for adults, $10 for children,
$15 for military
Book a tour at oldastoria.com/
underground.php
Astoria Underground hosts
Halloween attraction
By NIKKI DAVIDSON
COAST WEEKEND
One of the creepiest places in Asto-
ria is once again open for guided tours and
plans to give guests some extra shivers this
Halloween.
Astoria Underground Tours allows visi-
tors the chance to explore the city from a dif-
ferent perspective, underneath the streets.
Owner Jeff Daly restored a portion of the
city’s tunnel system that was used to trans-
port goods several years ago. Daly is quick
to tell visitors that according to legend, peo-
ple were sometimes kidnapped in the tunnels
and forced to work aboard sailing ships.
Daly and tour guide Chad Gallup gave
tours to an estimated 1,000 people each
year the tunnels were open before the pan-
demic . They rebooted the business to adjust
to the new normal with self-guided tours, but
are now regularly able to take small groups
through live tours once again.
As Halloween approaches, they’ve got a
few extra tricks and treats up their sleeve.
“We’ve gone through this COVID period
where lives have changed,” said Daly. “We
need to bring back Halloween again because
we all miss the events, the spooks and the
kids miss the candy.”
Halloween-themed tours will run through
the weekend and feature dramatic props,
lighting and a few pulse-pounding surprises.
Daly says the attraction is not intended to be
a full haunted house but will put an emphasis
on the darker tales and times in the city.
“The stories are scary in their own way.
We have some pieces of history that go on
into the past and make people cringe,” said
Daly. “Hanging, deaths, there are all kinds
of stories that are perfect for a Halloween
presentation.”
“Astoria did burn down twice, in very
mysterious ways,” added Gallup. “The fi rst
time it was burned they just bulldozed it, it
burned down again and they bulldozed on
top of that. So who knows what could be
underground?”
According to Daly, the tunnels are popu-
lar with paranormal groups. They frequently
allow the teams to conduct investigations in
the restored space.
“Eleventh Street seems to be a hotspot,
this is where it seems all of their detectors go
off ,” Gallup said.
“They fi nd things down here, they fi nd
movement,” Daly said. “I kind of poo-poo it
at times, but two years ago I was down here
setting up a Halloween event, and I left the
place in the middle of the night. There were
sounds, there were mood changes and there
were atmosphere changes. It scared the heck
out of me. I left.”
Masks are required to visit the Astoria
Underground, and group sizes are limited
due to the pandemic.
Photos by Nikki Davidson
TOP LEFT: Chad Gallup gives a tour to a
group in the Astoria Underground tunnels.
ABOVE LEFT: The Astoria Underground team
is putting together a few extra tricks and
treats for the week of Halloween. ABOVE:
A tour group inspects artifacts inside the
tunnels.
MORE THAN YOU IMAGINED
3D Theater • Museum Store • Model Boat Pond
OPEN DAILY 9:30 TO 5:00 • 1792 Marine Drive, Astoria, OR
503.325.2323 • www.crmm.org
8 // COASTWEEKEND.COM