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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

00:12:53

Central Oregon’s own “Angel of Death”?

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/02/12

“Professor” Ray V.B. Jackson just happened to be on hand, playing the role of helpful witness, at almost every high-profile murder scene in Lake and Harney counties. What were the odds? (Near Lakeview, Lake and Harney County; 1900s, 1910s, 1920s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1109b-ray-jackson-central-oregons-angel-of-death.html)

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00:09:49

Schoolteacher Ray Jackson may have been a serial killer

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/02/11

It's hard to believe, but in 1902 the school district put a convicted felon, fresh from serving hard time at the state pen, in charge of its grade-school kids. But the forgery and robbery he was convicted of may have been the least of his crimes. (Silver Lake, Lake County; 1900s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1109a-silver-lake-schoolteacher-possible-serial-killer.html)

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00:09:08

How Andy Warhol ‘punk’d’ two Oregon colleges

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/02/10

For the art students and pop-culture aficionados lined up, the once-in-a-lifetime chance to see and meet the “Peter Pan of Pop Art” turned out to be merely a chance to be the butt of one of his irreverent pranks. (Lane and Yamhill County; 1960s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1610c.andy-warhol-punks-oregon-413.html)

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00:12:01

Uncle Sam’s camels never quite caught on in Oregon

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/02/07

IN THE EARLY 1980s, on Stark Street in Southeast Portland, there was an aging Hudson Oil Co. gas station that never seemed to get much business. It had an appearance reminiscent of a Kmart store three years ago, like a neglected outpost of a once-huge nationwide business that was slowly fading away — which was in fact the case. Hudson Oil Co., at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, had about 300 gas stations in 36 states, plus an oil refinery. It was owned and managed by an oil tycoon named Mary

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00:06:47

Space-age whalers help grow fur coats, put a man on...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/02/06

Few people know a small whaling venture was launched in Astoria in 1961 — seeking whale oil for the space program and whale meat to feed to hungry minks. But breakthroughs in synthetic oil made whale oil unnecessary, and they stopped. (Hammond, Clatsop County; 1960s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1108a2-astoria-whaling-operation-was-helping-with-space-program.html)

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00:08:14

Oregon embraced Carnegie Libraries like no other state

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/02/05

Of the 32 towns in Oregon offered a grant to build a library, not one failed to raise its matching money; no other state was as successful. Today, the distinctive looking split-level edifices are architectural treasures in their communities. (Statewide; 1900s, 1910s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1109d-carnegie-libraries-in-oregon.html)

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00:09:38

Shevlin was Oregon’s own wandering timber town

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/02/04

The little logging-company town, owned by the Shevlin-Hixon Company of Bend, was fully portable. When the timber was all gone from an area, the company simply loaded the houses on railroad flatcars and moved on. (Shevlin, Deschutes and Lake county; 1920s, 1930s, 1940s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1308d-shevlin-oregons-wandering-timber-town.html)

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00:09:21

Gold Rush driver One-Eyed Charley had a secret

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/02/03

Only after the body was handed over to the undertaker did the truth come out: The roughest, toughest, most skillful “whip” on the West Coast was not what he appeared to be. (Siskiyou Pass, Jackson County; 1850s, 1860s, 1870s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1610b.legendary-one-eyed-charley-412.html)

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00:07:01

Watching bugs in a stump led to modern chainsaw

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/01/31

Logger, watching 'timber worms' chew through a log, wondered, 'How do they do that?' So he took some home, figured it out, and invented the modern chisel-toothed cutting chain. (Tillamook County; 1940s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1809b.joe-cox-invents-bug-inspired-chainsaw-512.html)

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00:09:09

First real portable chainsaw invented in Oregon

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/01/30

Joe Wolf invented it for loggers, but they wanted nothing to do with his electric saw. Luckily for Joe, the construction and shipbuilding industry loved it. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1920s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1809a.wolf-electric-chainsaw-511.html)

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00:08:00

Ship sailed across two miles of sandy beach, rescued...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/01/29

Stranded four-masted schooner North Bend, the last sailing ship ever built in Oregon, was stranded on Peacock Spit; it worked its way through and, a little over a year later, launched itself in Baker Bay on the other side. (Columbia River Bar, Clatsop County; 1920s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1108d-last-sailing-ship-crossed-a-beach-relaunched.html)

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00:10:37

Murderer shocked when ‘unwritten law’ plea fails

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/01/28

R. Thomas Dickerson, after gunning down the chief witness in his wife's upcoming suit for divorce, clearly expected the jury to buy his claim that the man was a “home-wrecker” and deserved what he got. He miscalculated. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1900s)(For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1510a.dickerson-UnLaw.html)

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00:18:13

The Barlow Family and their walnut trees; also, some...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/01/27

NOTE: This will be the last of these oral-history readings until at least summer. If you have been enjoying them, please reach out and let me know. — This one is writer Sara B. Wrenn's oral history interview with the great-granddaughter of old Sam Barlow — he of the Barlow Road. They discuss a famous avenue of black walnuts, which are probably the progenitor-trees of every black walnut in the state today; and some twin-sisters hijinks that took place on a riverboat, and changed the destiny of an

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00:14:43

Pendleton Underground was like a secret town below...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/01/24

SOMETIME IN 1922, a letter came in to the city of Pendleton. Enclosed with it was a bill for $45 — for a set of new Goodyear tires.It seemed the letter writer had come to Pendleton for the annual Pendleton Round-Up and had lost both front tires to the city’s downtown potholes. Pendleton’s potholes were famous, both for their size and for their intractability. They seemed hungry; one filled them up and a few weeks later they were empty again, as if some night-stalking gravel thief had scooped it

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00:10:19

Corvallis veterans heroes of two different Civil Wars

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/01/23

The farmer was a former Union general; the pastor, an ex-Rebel soldier who once faced his forces on a battlefield. But in Corvallis, they traded enmity for friendship, and blue-vs.-gray for Beavers-vs.-Ducks. (Corvallis, Benton County; 1890s, 1900s, 1910s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1510b.bell-thorp-civil-war-story.360.html)

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00:25:15

Klondike Kate and the Case of the Fake Kitty-Kate...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/01/22

There is a persistent myth that the 'real Klondike Kate' was a female Mountie named Kate Ryan, and that Kate Rockwell, the dancer, stole her name and reputation. It's a bogus charge, but the real story of Klondike Kate, the Belle of Dawson who later took up a land claim near Brothers and became known as Aunt Kate of Farewell Bend, is way more interesting than the myth. (Brothers, Deschutes County; 1910s, 1920s) (For text and pictures, see

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00:09:19

Unwritten Law cases were not always moral failures

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/01/21

A Linn County case with a strong element of self-defense, and a Malheur County child-abuse travesty that ended with a shotgun blast, were called Unwritten Law triumphs in the newspapers — but there were differences. (Linn and Malheur County; 1900s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1509d.powell-n-brown-UnLaw.html)

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00:19:14

Ghost stories, superstitions, and Methodist camp...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/01/20

Part 2 of 2: WPA writer William Haight's oral history interview with Gertrude Balch Ingalls, sister of legendary frontier Columbia Gorge writer Frederic Balch (author of The Bridge of the Gods, and probably the first really important author in Oregon history) recalling ghost stories, common superstitions of frontier folk, and some personal memories of attending weeks-long camp revival meetings. (For the transcript, as well as a good bit of additional content such as song lyrics and original poetry

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00:10:05

Gov. Martin’s 'gestapo' goons played dirty, but...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/01/17

One-term governor had a team of secret agents working for him, trying to subvert labor unions and ferret out communists; but most of their efforts seemed to end up scoring points for the “other team.” (Salem, Marion County; 1930s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1601a.charles-martin-part3.272.html)

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00:10:57

Gov. Martin, Oregon's own Dr. Doom, tried to run...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/01/16

The retired major general campaigned as a New Deal Democrat, but dropped the mask almost immediately; seeing every hint of opposition as an existential threat to democracy, he reacted to criticism like a junta dictator. (Salem, Marion County; 1930s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1512d.charles-martin-part2.html)

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565 results

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