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About Cannon Beach gazette. (Cannon Beach, Or.) 1977-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 27, 2016)
OCTOBER 27, 2016 // 11 RIDE THE HAUNTED ASTORIA TROLLEY THIS HALLOWEEN I By REBECCA SEDLAK If you’re in the mood for some spine-tingling stories this Hal- loween that have a local twist, the Astoria Riverfront Trolley’s ninth annual Halloween Night Run is the event for you. Taking place at 6 p.m. Mon- day, Oct. 31, costumed children, teenagers, parents and adults are invited to climb aboard at the Co- lumbia River Maritime Museum for a one-hour ride up and down the Astoria Riverwalk. “They decorate it really nicely with lots of spooky cobwebs and skeletons and monsters,” says North Coast author and storyteller Melissa Eskue Ousley. She’ll be there too, for the sec- ond year in a row, entertaining the trolley riders with ghost stories. “I kind of gathered the local legends to talk about as well as some classic ghost stories — the ones you read as a kid that kind of make you jump a little,” Eskue Ousley says. “We have such a rich history, and there’s a lot of really old buildings that are rumored to be haunted,” she says, citing Fort Stevens State Park and Astoria’s Flavel House Museum and Liber- ty Theater. Local legends on the docket may be familiar to some: Colossal Claude, the Columbia River’s own river monster; Cannon Beach’s Bandage Man, a phantom who ap- pears in the back of people’s cars; and Basket Woman, an ogress who kidnaps and eats people. Astoria’s own dark history plays into the inspiration for Eskue Ousley’s stories. Once upon a time, the rainy little town’s red-light district — with its broth- els and rumors of sailors getting shanghaied — dealt in black mar- ket, sordid stuff. The huge fi res that decimated the downtown, like the fi re of 1922, also left ghostly remnants behind. “I remember going out to Shively Park and seeing the columns there from the Wein- hard-Astoria, which is the hotel that used to be where the Libery Theater is now, and it’s just really a surreal feeling when you go there,” Eskue Ousley says. HALLOWEEN “There’s these two columns. NIGHT RUN There’s no sign, nothing to 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 31 Columbia River Mari- explain them; they’re just time Museum there. I think 1792 Marine Drive, Astoria has Astoria a lot of those Weather dependent little pockets.” The Astoria 847-921-7535 Underground, All ages too, has a dark Free magnetism. While doing research for her new young adult novel “Sunset Empire,” which will be released in December and features a ghost, Eskue Ousely got the chance to go down into the Astoria Under- ground’s maze of tunnels beneath the downtown. “That was a very cool experi- ence, very spooky,” she says. “It’s PHOTO BY JOSHUA BESSEX really kind of dangerous down there; there’s a reason why people Costumed riders of all ages fi lled the spooky-fi ed Astoria Riverfront Trolley during last year’s Halloween Night Run. don’t go down there.” “It’s cool to think about all or you can fi nd humor in those those tunnels and all the layers of dark places.” Astoria, being built and rebuilt Beyond the night’s ghost more than once,” she continues. “I stories and the candy for the kids think it’s one of those towns where (yes, the trolley conductors will it’s got all these beautiful houses have candy) is the opportunity and buildings, but there’s this to ride the Astoria Trolley in the really interesting, dark history too.” dark. Eskue Ousley inherited her “Most people don’t really to ghost story itch from her grand- get to ride the trolley at night,” mother, who loved to be scared. says Paul Winiarz, who has “She would tell me ghost stories, volunteered as a trolley conductor and we would watch these really and motorman for four years and awful B movies together — get- helps organize the event. ting buried alive, mummy’s hands During the summer, the trolley PHOTO BY JOSHUA BESSEX walking around by themselves,” runs from noon to 6 p.m. daily. Local author Melissa Eskue Ousley will tell spooky stories about the North Eskue Ousley recalls. Night runs, such as operating She started reading Stephen during the Pacifi c Northwest Brew Coast as well as classic ghost stories during the Astoria Trolley’s ninth annual Halloween Night Run on Monday, Oct. 31. King in sixth grade. “It’s a lot of Cup in late September, are rare. fun to read a suspenseful story “At night, the river and the city and to kind of be scared out take on a whole new look. It’s real- way for the Astoria Riverfront the Astoria Riverfront Trolley of your wits,” she says. “I like ly pretty cool if you get the chance Trolley to say thank you to its runs off volunteers, its low fare of stories with an edge to it. I like to ride the trolley at night,” he says. local fans. $1, and donations, which will be being scared. And horror itself, Eskue Ousley agrees. “At “It’s our way, from the trolley accepted during the Night Run. there’s a lot of humor to it. Even night, it’s a different experience,” standpoint, to give back to the Built in 1913, the trolley is an though horror is kind of gory and she says. “They have the lights on community,” says Winiarz. “We antique, and for Eskue Ousley, it’s psychologically scary, it also says in the trolley, but you can’t totally appreciate all the residents and also a great object of imagination. something about humanity. It kind see outside You can see the ships business who are just so pro-trol- “It’s such a cool feature that of makes light of death, which, I out on the water, but because it’s ley. Whenever they have visitors we have in Astoria,” she says. think, we all kind of have to come so dark, it kind of gives every- come to town, they say ‘You have “It’s this piece from the past that to terms with our fates. Some- thing a spooky vibe.” to ride the trolley.’” transports you — down the tracks times things can be really campy, The event, which is free, is a A self-sustaining nonprofi t, but also emotionally.”