March 31, 2017 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 7A
Calling all ghost hunters
Seaside’s Ghost
Conference
doubles number
of events
Pittock from Page 1A
By Eve Marx
For Seaside Signal
Calling all ghost hunters,
busters and those fascinated
in all things paranormal to the
sixth-annual Oregon Ghost
Conference, the largest para-
normal convention held in the
Pacific Northwest.
Psychic readings, magic
and ghost stories, along with
Seaside’s haunted history is
on display Friday through
Sunday at the Seaside Civic
and Convention Center.
Conference
Director
Rocky Smith is a historian
and paranormal investigator
who has been featured on lo-
cal radio and television. In
2006, Smith founded North-
west Ghost Tours offering
paranormal tours in Portland
and Oregon City.
Smith said what makes this
year’s event special is “double
the amount” of classes and
events.
New speaker topics and
entertainment includes Mys-
tiques Roadshow, psychom-
etry readings by Ankhasha
Amenti, and the Historical
Conjurer Magic Show. Seth
Michael and Sharon Lewis
will debut at the gallery read-
ing, “one of our most popular
events,” he said.
Last year the Oregon
Ghost Conference offered a
haunted Seaside tour. Will
that be repeated?
“I asked around and no-
body had any specific para-
normal experiences on the
tour last year,” Smith said.
“But people did have para-
normal experiences inside the
Seaside Civic and Convention
Center itself, and in specific
locations like the Bridge Ten-
der and the shop right next
door.” Smith said that during
a psychic readings by Tiffa-
ny event last year, most of
the people in the group had a
paranormal experience.
“One of the investigations
was led by Aaron Collins
from Paranormal Crossings,”
Smith said. “He has some sto-
ries to tell,”
Couple brings
Victorians to life
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Conference participants on the Seaside ghost walk at the 2016 event.
R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
R.J. MARX
Vendors at the ghost confer-
ence.
R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Inner Voice jewelry was among
booths at last year’s conference.
Panelists at the 2016 Oregon
Ghost Conference.
The Bridge Tender has
special T-shirts for sale this
year heralding their connec-
tion to the Ghost Conference.
As legend goes, the Bridge
Tender has a few resident spir-
its, including the “Madame”
and a little boy and girl. The
T-shirts, which feature the
Madame, glow in the dark,
Smith said. And on the bottom
of the shirt it says ‘Watch who
you pick up.’”
Smith said ghost tours of
Seaside will be offered this
year on both Friday and Sat-
urday nights. “We’ve added
tours and will be offering
two tours each night, one
of downtown and Broad-
way and the other the Prom-
enade
and
oceanfront.”
The conference, which has its
roots in Oregon City, attracts
visitors from all over the Pa-
cific Northwest and beyond.
The Oregon Ghost Confer-
ence connects its attendees
with some of the top para-
normal experts in the area. $5
general admission gets you in
the door for the entire week-
end.
Kathleen Dudley, a Sea-
side resident and presenter
at the conference, has been a
practicing numerologist for
20 years.
“Numerology is a meta-
physical divination, a branch
of philosophy that deals with
abstract concepts, such as
being, knowing, substance,
cause, identity and time and
space,” Dudley said. “It’s a
systematic method to orga-
nize random facets of exis-
tence and provide insight into
a problem at hand.”
Sacred numbers, she said,
provide a measure of our tal-
ents and our potential.
“It is believed that by un-
derstanding why and how our
lives and those around us,
our earth, and all involved,
evolved to become today who
and what they are, we can be
more fulfilled, happier, con-
tent,” she added.
For more information
about the conference and to
book your reservation for
tours and classes, log on to
visit www.oregonghostcon-
ference.com
“We’re anticipating 800
visitors and attendees to the
conference this year,” Smith
said. “We had 600 last year.”
This is a show that just keeps
getting bigger and better.”
How many unseen visitors
will be in attendance is any-
body’s guess.
P LACE Y OUR
When Mary’s contract
ended with the Rose Festival
after four years, she became
independent and, together
with her husband, they have
continued to share the Pit-
tock story to schoolchildren,
residents at assisted living
facilities, libraries, civic
centers and philanthropic
organizations — always in
full period costume.
The Pittocks played a
major role in the history of
Portland and to the growth
of Oregon’s largest city.
The Pittock Mansion was
built on Portland’s original
“lover’s lane” above Burn-
side. Built in the style of a
French Renaissance chateau
in 1914, it was a progressive
masterpiece for its time.
Amassed on 16 acres
with 44 rooms, it included
all the latest technology. A
central vacuum system, a
telephone and intercom sys-
tem with intercoms in every
room, refrigeration, indoor
plumbing and electricity.
There was a dumbwaiter and
a passenger elevator was in-
stalled for Georgiana after
her stroke. (The elevator is
still operable today.) Henry
Pittock used Oregon artisans
and craftsmen and insisted
that all materials used in-
cluding marble, tenino stone
and wood came from the
Northwest.
The Pittocks were deeply
connected in their commu-
nity and spent much of their
time improving the lives of
local residents. Family and
community were central to
them and they shared their
home with some of their
children and grandchildren.
Generations of Pittocks
lived in the mansion up to
1958 when it became too
much to endure.
Now a museum, the man-
sion has become a popular
destination for visitors, bird
watchers, event planners and
gardeners. Though it seems
lavish, it is a testament of
who the Pittocks were as
REBECCA HERREN/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Georgiana Pittock (Mary
Hutchens) and her chauf-
feur Herman Hawkanson
(Mike Hutchens) visited the
Seaside Library.
pillars of the community in
both business development
and philanthropy.
Pittock suffered a stroke
in 1913, just before the
mansion was completed.
Sometime afterwards, she
started to read The Orego-
nian for the first time. She
never cared for it before,
but started to feel her world
getting smaller. Because of
the Spanish-American War,
there were stories about Ger-
man atrocities, propaganda,
spies and submarines.
“I liked that stuff,” she
said. “I know I shouldn’t
have, but they opened my
mind.”
Seaside connection
The Hutchens divided
their program into two parts.
The first story covers the
years 1845 to 1907 and in-
cludes the wagon trains that
brought the Burton family to
Oregon; Georgiana’s mar-
riage to Henry Pittock, the
formation of the Portland
Rose Society; the Lewis and
Clark Exposition and the
Rose Festival.
The Hutchens’ portrayals
covered part two of the pro-
gram: the last years of Geor-
giana’s life, the building of
the Pittock Mansion, the
evolution of women’s voting
rights in Oregon, World War
I and her final years suffer-
ing from the debilitating ef-
fects of a stroke.
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