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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

00:01:51

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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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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613 results

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