Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 13, 2017)
4A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL SEPTEMBER 13, 2017 O PINION Offbeat Oregon History: The Yaquina Bay ghost N ext time you’re in Newport, on the cen- For The Sentinel tral Oregon coast, if you ha- ven’t yet, take a few minutes to check out the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse. It’s the only lighthouse I know of, in Oregon or else- where, that was saved from the wrecking ball by a nonexistent ghost. This ghost’s name is Muriel Trevenard, and she was born on a dark and stormy night in the late 1890s, when Eugene resident Lischen M. Mill- er — the sister-in-law of poet Joaquin Miller — created her as a character in a story called “The Haunted Light at Newport by the Sea." In this charming and magnifi cently shudder- some little 2,400-word story, Miller wove a grip- ping story of a mysterious young woman left at a Newport boarding-house by her seafaring father, who plans to pick her up in two weeks. She takes up with a group of tourists from the valley, who are camping nearby. One day the group of them decides to explore the old Yaquina Bay Lighthouse — a small struc- ture built in an unfortunate spot in 1871 and shut down for good just three years later, to be replaced by the Yaquina Head lighthouse a few miles north. The story takes place just a year or two after that closure — so, probably 1875. (By the way, "Ya- quina" is pronounced "yuh-kwin-uh" — it's a Na- tive American name, not a Spanish one.) Inside the abandoned lighthouse, the adventur- ers fi nd a secret door leading to a shaft that ap- parently runs all the way down through the sandy bluff to a sea-cave. A chill fog moves in and the explorers decide to go, leaving the secret door open behind them. As she is about to leave, the girl, Muriel, re- alizes she has left her handkerchief in the light- house and goes back to get it. Shortly thereafter, screams are heard; the party races back to the house and fi nds the secret door closed and locked, By Finn JD John and no sign of Muriel save for “a pool of warm, red blood.” The door is securely and unmovably locked, the wainscoting is back in place — and they never are able to budge it again, nor do they ever hear anything more of Muriel or her father. And as time goes by, everyone forgets all about the incident — with one or two exceptions. “But to this day it is said the blood-stains are dark upon the fl oor in that upper chamber,” the story fi nishes. “And one there was who carried the little handkerchief next to his heart till the hour of his own tragic death.” Moreover, the lighthouse itself is, the story tells us, haunted by Muriel’s ghost, which screams for help in the night when “the fog comes drifting in from the sea and completely envelopes the light- house, and then stops in its course as if its object had been attained.” The story itself is very nearly perfect, with deft touches of dread here and there, answering a few questions and leaving many hanging cryptically unanswered — what was at the bottom of that well? Who was Muriel’s tall, dark, aristocratic fa- ther? How did Harold’s hinted-at “tragic death” come about? Such realistic touches, in a fi ctional story, are an invitation to the reader to wonder: is this really fi ction I’m reading? Could this story actually be truth masquerading as fi ction? Was there, truly, a Muriel Trevenard? In writing this spooky story of events long past, did Lischen Miller make it all up, or was she writing down for posterity an actual ghost story, whispered to her by one of the tourists from the Valley? Questions like these were in the air almost from the start, when Miller’s magnifi cent little gem was published in the August 1899 issue of Pacifi c Monthly Magazine. And they’ve gained strength and credibility with every passing year since. Vis- itors to the lighthouse still ask to see the blood- stains and the mysterious linen closet upstairs. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR The League of Oregon Cities would like to publically thank Senator Floyd Prozanski for his efforts during the 2017 legis- lative session to protect parks and open spaces for the public’s enjoyment and health. An adverse Oregon Supreme Court rul- ing in March of 2016 exposed cities, as well as other public and private land owners who allow free access to their land for recreational purposes, to added liability that threatened the closure of some of Oregon’s beloved parks and park features. Thanks to Senator Prozanski’s leadership, an agreement was reached on SB 327 to restore the civil liability protection that allows the continued use and development of skate-parks, trails, BMX tracks and innovative playgrounds was restored. The League is grateful for the Senator’s thoughtful efforts. Sincerely, Mike McCauley Executive Director League of Oregon Cities Something on your mind? Write in to cmay@cgsentinel.com and we may print your letter. C And, although most people famil- iar with the legend don’t actually believe it, there are those who do. Among those who believe the story, the stories of Muriel’s ghost don’t end with screams in the night and mysterious lights guid- ing ships at sea. Author Susan Smitten, in her book about ghost- ly hauntings, cites a 1975 article in The Eugene Register-Guard in which Lincoln County Histor- PHOTO COURTESY FINN JD JOHN ical Museum curator Pat Stone This image of turn-of-the-century beachgoers on the dry sands of the recounts the story of a young beach at Newport around 1905 shows the lighthouse above. hitchhiker who came through, But Muriel Trevenard needed no help from looking for work. Having nowhere to stay and no Evan MacClure for her greatest achievement: the money to rent a room, he unrolled a sleeping bag preservation of the lighthouse. By the time the at the lighthouse. That night, he said, a ghostly 1940s had rolled around, the place was in awful young woman appeared fl oating outside one of shape, and wrecking crews had it on the sched- the windows. She told him not to worry, and that ule. In response, the citizens of Lincoln County he would fi nd work the next day. And so he did. formed the Lincoln County Historical Society Probably the most intriguing derivative ghost specifi cally to prevent it from being demolished story, though, is the legend of Captain Evan Mac- and to restore it — which, with the help of Ohio Clure, skipper of the whaling ship Moncton. And, industrialist and Oregon native son L.E. Warford, in fact, it may be that the Muriel Trevenard story is they would eventually do. derivative of it, rather than the other way around. Meanwhile, to buy the additional time they The crew of this whaling ship, according to the would need to complete their plans, a group of story, mutinied and put him overboard in a small the citizens actually had to form a human chain rowboat just off the Oregon Coast in the early around the building to stop the demolition from 1870s. He was never seen again, but supposedly proceeding. there were a number of hauntings of houses and Would all this have happened without the fame taverns along the coast after that, by a red-beard- and narrative excitement generated by Muriel ed skeleton-faced character prowling in search of Trevenard and her story? Possibly. It seems un- someone to “join me in death.” likely, though. In the 1940s, old buildings were The theory is that Lischen Miller wrote her sto- generally regarded very unromantically — even ry with an eye toward supplying a dénouement to old lighthouses. the Evan MacClure story — involving old Evan Today, restored to its former glory, it’s a state fi nally fi nding someone to take him up on his park. It’s also the oldest structure in Newport and spooky offer. But, of course, it’s impossible to the only wooden lighthouse in Oregon. document which ghost story came fi rst, so we’ll likely never know. Dr. Fuhrman: Carotenoids and you arotenoids are yellow, or- ange, and red pigments present in fruits and vegetables. There are more than 600 ca- rotenoids; the most commonly consumed and well-studied ca- rotenoids include beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, beta-cryptoxan- thin, lycopene, lutein, and zea- xanthin. Some carotenoids are con- verted to vitamin A in the body. These carotenoids are important for proper immune function. Ca- rotenoids give the skin a healthy glow and defend the body’s tis- sues against oxidative damage, helping to prevent chronic diseas- es and premature aging. The richer your diet in carot- enoids, the greater the likelihood of longer telomeres (DNA se- quences at the end of chromo- somes). The length of telomeres is thought to be an indicator of biological aging—the longer the telomere length, the slower the aging of cells. Data from 3660 U.S. adults were analyzed for serum carot- enoids and leukocyte telomere length. When they compared the groups with the lowest and high- est levels of each carotenoid, they saw 5-8 % longer telomeres for the groups with the highest alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, and beta-cryptoxanthin levels. Researchers think that higher carotenoid levels may work by protecting telomeric DNA from oxidative damage. Lycopene, a carotenoid found in tomatoes, grapefruit, and papa- ya, is concentrated in the prostate, where it has potent anti-cancer effects. Lycopene-rich foods also protect the skin against ultravio- let radiation from the sun. In one study, after twelve weeks of to- mato supplementation by healthy women, reddening of the skin, mitochondrial DNA damage, and markers of skin aging due to UV exposure were reduced. Lutein and zeaxanthin, which are found in leafy greens like kale and collards, are the only known carotenoids located in the human retina. Light must pass through lutein and zeaxanthin before be- ing transmitted to the cells that send visual information to the brain. These carotenoids fi lter some of the blue light that enters the retina, and this function pro- tects the eye from damage and improves several aspects of visu- al performance. Get your carotenoids from colorful vegetables and fruits. In fact, supplemental carotenoids are likely to be harmful. For example, high serum beta-car- otene has been associated with decreased lung cancer risk, but beta-carotene supplements may actually increase the risk of lung cancer, especially in smokers. In addition to their own ben- efi cial effects, carotenoids like alpha-carotene, lycopene, and lutein in the blood are markers indicating the intake of thousands of additional phytochemicals that work synergistically to keep the body healthy. Keep in mind that carotenoid absorption during a meal requires the presence of fat — one of the reasons to use nut and seed-based dressings on sal- ads and raw vegetables. C ottage G rove S entinel (541) 942-3325 Administration James Rand, Regional Publisher Gary Manly, General Manager ................................................. Ext. 207 gmanly@cgsentinel.com Aaron Ames, Marketing Specialist ........................................... Ext. 216 aames@cgsentinel.com Tammy Sayre, Marketing Specialist ......................................... Ext. 213 tsayre@cgsentinel.com Editorial Caitlyn May, Editor. ................................................................. Ext. 212 cmay@cgsentinel.com Zach Silva, Sport Editor ............................................................ Ext. 204 zsilva@cgsentinel.com Customer Service Carla Williams, Offi ce Manager .............................................. Ext. 200 Legals, Classifi eds .......................................... Ext. 200 cwilliams@cgsentinel.com Production Ron Annis, Production Supervisor ............................................. Ext.215 graphics@cgsentinel.com (USP 133880) Subscription Mail Rates in Lane and Portions of Douglas Counties: Ten Weeks..............................................................................................$9.10 One year ............................................................................................. $36.15 e-Edition year ...................................................................................... $36.00 Rates in all other areas of United States: Ten Weeks $11.70; one year, $46.35, e-Edition $43.00. Letters to the Editor policy In foreign countries, postage extra. No subscription for less than Ten Weeks. Subscription rates are subject to change upon 30 days’ notice. All subscritptions must be paid prior to beginning the subscription and are non-refundable. Periodicals postage paid at Cottage Grove, Oregon. Postmaster: Send address changes to P.O. Box 35, Cottage Grove, OR 97424. Local Mail Service: If you don’t receive your Cottage Grove Sentinel on the Wednesday of publication, please let us know. Call 942-3325 between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Advertising Ownership: All advertising copy and illustrations prepared by the Cottage Grove Sentinel become the property of the Cottage Grove Sentinel and may not be reproduced for any other use without explicit written prior approval. Copyright Notice: Entire contents ©2017 Cottage Grove Sentinel. The Cottage Grove Sentinel receives many letters to the editor. In order to ensure that your letter will be printed, letters must be under 300 words and submitted by Friday at 5 p.m. Letters must be signed and must include an address, city and phone number or e-mail address for verifi cation purposes. No anonymous letters will be printed. Letters must be of interest to local readers. Personal attacks and name calling in response to letters are uncalled for and unnecessary. If you would like to submit an opinion piece, Another View must be no longer than 600 words. To avoid transcription errors, the Sentinel would prefer editorial and news content be sent electronically via email or electronic media. Hand written submissions will be accepted, but we may need to call to verify spelling, which could delay the publishing of the submission.
