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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

00:11:46

Deadly forgotten tornado was worst in state history

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/03/21

THE TOWN OF Long Creek developed in the late 1870s and early 1880s on the banks of Long Creek, one of the tributaries of the John Day River. It was, and is, a little north of the center of Grant County, a few dozen miles north-northwest of John Day and Canyon City. It was a prosperous little town, well positioned, and it grew relatively quickly to become one of the most promising settlements in Grant County, so much so that in 1891 the residents incorporated the town and started the process of

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00:10:02

Researchers solve mystery of “Beeswax Shipwreck”

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/03/20

For centuries, mysterious chunks of beeswax have been washing up on Oregon beaches. Scholars have finally learned, with about 99 percent certainty, that the ship it's coming from was the San Cristo de Burgos, a Spanish galleon that disappeared in 1693. (Nehalem Spit, Clatsop County; 1600s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1807d.beeswax-wreck-mystery-solved-505.html)

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00:10:24

Cockiness, incompetence, and labor strike sank ship

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/03/19

Passengers on the speeding liner said an incompetent crew and disappearing ship's officers contributed to a shocking death toll after the liner Alaska crashed onto the rocks in the fog; the captain blamed an “uncharted current.” (Portland, Multnomah County; 1920s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1512a.alaska-shipwreck-368.html)

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00:08:42

Getting shipwrecked was luckiest break of his life

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/03/18

Taken to Ocean Park after being nearly killed in the wreck of the Glenmorag, William Begg was nursed back to health by Maude Taylor - who turned out to be the love of his life. (Columbia River Bar, Clatsop County; 1890s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1804b.william-begg-lucky-shipwreck-glenmorag-490.html)

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00:13:37

The one and only Sammy Davis Jr. once called Portland...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/03/17

Back before World War II, when racism was still a mainstream attitude with little or no social stigma attached, Portland was not a very friendly town for Black people.It’s not that way any more, of course. There’s still racism; but the toxic race-hierarchalism that winked at lynchings and enabled the rise of the Ku Klux Klan — that, thankfully, is a distant and uncomfortable memory today. And one has to wonder how much of that transformation — not just in Portland, but around the nation — can be

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00:10:49

How a dead man led a wagon train to Oregon

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/03/14

THE YOUNG U.S. Cavalry captain was getting a little frustrated. He was explaining to the short, fireplug-shaped German man with the serious mouth and commanding eyes why he really, really should turn around. It was the spring of 1855, you see, and the Oregon Trail had been going full steam for about a decade. The Sioux tribes, along with other Plains Indian tribes, had been nonplussed at first by the torrent of travelers, but by now they were really alarmed, and they had started attacking wagon

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00:10:37

The all-night municipal gunfight in frontier Ione

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/03/13

Holed up on a nearby hillside clutching a stolen shotgun, local drunken rowdy Charlie Earhart held the whole town at bay until dawn, when he finally gave himself up; surprisingly, no one was killed. (Ione, Morrow County; 1900s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1511d.ione-all-night-gunfight-366.html)

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00:09:25

The REAL story of Charity Lamb, Oregon's most...

Offbeat Oregon History podcast ·

2025/03/12

Abusive husband Nathaniel Lamb probably didn't really plan to kill his wife, but when he aimed his rifle at her that morning, he clearly wanted her to think he did. That night, over supper, he learned the hard way how successful he'd been. (Oregon City, Clackamas County; 1850s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1511e.charity-lamb-murder-367.html)

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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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613 results

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