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.”