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PODCAST

Offbeat Oregon History podcast

www.offbeatoregon.com (finn @ offbeatoregon.com)

A daily (5-day-a-week) podcast feed of true Oregon stories -- of heroes and rascals, of shipwrecks and lost gold. Stories of shanghaied sailors and Skid Road bordellos and pirates and robbers and unsolved mysteries. An exploding whale, a couple shockingly scary cults, a 19th-century serial killer, several very naughty ladies, a handful of solid-brass con artists and some of the dumbest bad guys in the history of the universe. From the archives of the Offbeat Oregon History syndicated newspaper

history places & travel

All Episodes

00:12:24

Oregon’s scenic bridges are Conde McCullough’s legacy...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/03/11

ANYONE WHO'S DONE much driving around Oregon — especially along the coast — knows the state’s bridges have a particular and distinctive style. That style is actually hard to put your finger on, isn’t it? The bridges themselves are very different from one another. Many of them aren’t even built with the same materials. The spectacular structure that soars over Coos Bay could not be much different in size, technique, and style from the elegant little archway that links Oregon City with West Linn; but

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00:12:02

Bridge patent trolls found match in McCullough (Part...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/03/10

CONDE MCCULLOUGH had a problem. Actually, let’s restate that. The Iowa highway department, which McCullough worked for at the time (in 1914), had a problem; what McCullough had was an opportunity. His solution to Iowa’s problem would, several years later, enable him to basically write his own ticket, and the name he would write on that ticket in the “destination” category would be “Oregon.” But at the time, that happy day was several years in the future and was far from certain. The problem the

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00:15:30

Gidget Goes Berzerk: The Seaside rock-and-roll riots

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/03/07

SEPT. 1, 1962, WAS an unusually sultry day for the north Oregon coast, and the little beachside resort town of Seaside was crammed with high-school and college kids.They had come from all over the state and beyond for a rowdy, high-spirited end-of-summer Labor Day beach-party weekend that had become almost like a tradition in the postwar years. Something was a little different this year, though. The crowd was larger than usual, for one thing. Actually, it was a lot larger. The first baby-boomers,

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00:10:09

Fierce debate over UFO sighting continues today

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/03/06

Was the flying saucer photographed over the Trent farm near McMinnville real, or a clever hoax? Either way makes for a great story. (McMinnville, Yamhill County; 1950s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1807c.mcminnville-ufo-sighting-504.html)

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00:08:01

Flying saucer stories got their start in Pendleton

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/03/05

While looking for a crashed plane, aviator Kenneth Arnold saw a squadron of strange shining metallic things flying by Mt. Rainier. His description of them led to the coining of the term 'Flying Saucer' by the local paper. (Pendleton, Umatilla County; 1940s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1807b.flying-saucer-UFO-stories-started-in-pendleton-503.html)

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00:09:23

Oregon called BS on Cali papers’ 1890s UFO stories

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/03/04

A handful of California newspapers started a UFO scare in 1896 with a series of stories of sightings. But were they making it all up? Oregon newspapers sure thought so. (TL;DR: Yes, they were.) (Statewide; 1890s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1807a.oregon-called-bs-on-california-ufo-stories-502.html)

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00:12:13

In west’s first newspaper, each copy was handmade

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/03/03

IT’S WIDELY KNOWN that the first newspaper west of the Mississippi River was the short-lived Oregon Spectator, which published its first issue on Feb. 5, 1846. But that’s only true if you define “newspaper” very narrowly. In truth, there was an earlier publication that met every definition of a newspaper but one ... specifically, it was “printed” by hand, every copy, with pen and ink — longhand. No printing press was involved. This early newspaper was called the Flumgudgeon Gazette and Bumble Bee

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00:09:11

The “nest of anarchists” at the White Eagle Saloon

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/02/28

At a time when anarchist terrorists had Americans good and scared, a rumor got started that a cell of Polish radicals based in the White Eagle Tavern was planning to assassinate President Roosevelt ... luckily, one of the local newspaper reporters spoke Polish. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1900s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1806b.white-eagle-anarchists-499.html)

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00:11:19

Monmouth was last dry town west of Mississippi

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/02/27

By the 1990s, support for keeping Monmouth's ban on booze wasn't about morality; it was about the cachet that came with being the only “dry” town west of the Mississippi. But that wasn't enough to overcome the economic issues. (Monmouth, Polk County; 1850s, 1970s, 2000s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1511c.thirsty-monmouth-last-prohibition-town.html)

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00:18:00

Aurora Colony showcased the ideal of commune life

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/02/26

IT HAS BEEN said of Karl Marx that he was a fine diagnostician, but a lousy prescriber. Obviously, Marx remains a super polarizing figure even today, a good 175 years after he set the world on fire with The Communist Manifesto. But, in light of what’s been done in his name over the years since then, it’s certainly fair to wonder if ideas like “from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs” and “the workers should own the means of production” can actually work in the real

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00:10:17

Murderers picked wrong landlady to steal from

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/02/23

PORTLAND, 1901 — The police wouldn't return her call, and she knew the thieves would be gone by morning. So Mrs. Whitlock picked up the phone and woke up the District Attorney. And it turned out theft wasn't the only crime Jack Wade and William Dalton were guilty of ... (Portland, Multnomah County; 1900s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1804c.dalton-wade-murderers-ratted-out-by-snoopy-landlady-491.html)

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00:10:03

Father of Oregon geology left his mark ... literally

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/02/23

Thomas Condon didn’t set out to become a geologist; he was a Congregationalist minister with a hobby of collecting fossils. And although over the years his hobby took over, he never lost touch with his ministerial kindliness. (Oregon Caves, Josephine County; 1880s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1610e.thomas-condon-oregon-caves-415.html)

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00:01:51

Weekend Update: Next week's first two episodes are...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/02/23

Just a quick Sunday morning update — I’m going to be in Los Angeles on Monday and Tuesday doing an interview for an upcoming episode of The UnXPlained with William Shatner. My on-the-road computer is so old the Apple folks have quit supporting it, so I’m not sure I’ll be able to post episodes from it; so just in case, I’m uploading the Monday and Tuesday episodes early!

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00:15:32

‘Drunk tweet’ led to fistfight with Dr. John McLoughlin

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/02/21

EARLIER THIS YEAR, as you may remember, country music singer Zach Bryan had a few too many alcoholic beverages before pulling out his phone and opening “X,” the app formerly known as Twitter.“Eagles > Chiefs,” he tweeted tipsily. “Kanye > Taylor. Who’s with me?” It’s not clear exactly what Bryan intended — most likely he was joke-trolling the Taylor Swift fan community, which, as he realized the next morning when he awakened with a penitent headache and looked at his phone, is about as good an

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00:11:54

Mysterious skeletons of Crater Lake National Park

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/02/20

Oregon's only national park is a surprisingly dangerous place, and a number of people have died there. Several of these left only bones behind to help us understand what caused their death. (Crater Lake, Klamath County; 1940s, 1970s, 1980s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1309e-skeletons-of-crater-lake.html)

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00:09:02

Astoria man set out to do something nice for his...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/02/19

The nearest TV station was in Seattle. But Ed Parsons figured out he could catch a very weak signal on top of a building in town. All he had to do was figure out how to boost the signal without boosting the noise as well, and ... the rest was history. (Astoria, Clatsop County; 1940s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1109c-astoria-man-invents-cable-tv-as-favor-for-wife.html)

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00:09:24

Murderers roamed valley desperate for an alibi

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/02/18

Claude Branton and Courtland Green had left Condon with a wealthy rancher and murdered him on the way. Only then did they realize how bad it would look to show up at their destination without him ... (McKenzie Valley, Deschutes and Lane County; 1890s) (For text and pictures, see URLOFWEBPAGEURLOFWEBPAGEURLOFWEBPAGE)

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00:10:14

Bootlegger’s liquor run left car drenched in blood

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/02/17

Russell Hecker borrowed a friend’s car to make a quick liquor run. He brought it back 12 hours late and dripping with blood — and there was no sign of the man he’d gone on the run with the previous night. (Multnomah, Clackamas, and Linn County; 1920s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1610d.murder-of-bootlegger-frank-bowker-414.html)

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00:11:04

“Traitorous” librarian’s crime: Not lending money to...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/02/14

All she wanted to do was not finance the killing that was going on in war-torn Europe. But in the war-crazed atmosphere of Portland during World War 1, pacifism was tantamount to high treason. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1918) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1805c.traitor-louise-hunt-wouldnt-buy-war-bonds-496.html)

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00:10:15

Rescue of 49 made tug crew the toast of the coast

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/02/13

Dead in the water and drifting toward Peacock Spit in a gale, passengers and crew of the steam schooner Washington thought they were goners. But then out of the mist and spray came Buck Bailey's tugboat ... (Columbia River Bar, Clatsop County; 1910s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1510c.tatoosh-rescues-steam-schooner.361.html)

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565 results

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