Ghost Stories From Portland’s Pittock Mansion

A hilltop mansion with panoramic views should feel like a reward. Pittock Mansion often feels like a warning. We head to Portland, Oregon to unpack the real history behind this 46-room landmark, then follow the trail of reports that refuse to fade: heavy footsteps on empty stairs, doors that won’t stay locked, cold spots that hit like a wall, and photos that seem to catch someone standing where no one should be.

We start with Henry and Georgiana Pittock, their Oregon Trail roots, the newspaper empire that helped shape Portland, and the jaw-dropping “modern” features they built into the home for the early 1900s, including an elevator and intercoms. Then the mansion’s timeline turns, from family ownership to decline, storm damage, and a community effort that saved the property from demolition and turned it into a historic house museum. That museum setting matters, because it creates the perfect stage for patterns: repeated sounds, repeated sightings, and repeated stories from staff and tours year after year.

Then we get into the hauntings. The headline is the prankster boy: a playful presence blamed for rearranged objects, moved books, unexplained giggles, and taps or tugs that feel like someone demanding attention. We also talk about the spirits many believe are Henry and Georgiana, including an elderly woman seen near the master bedroom and the scent of roses in rooms with no flowers, plus an elderly man in the study paired with the smell of pipe tobacco. Along the way, we wrestle with the big paranormal questions: residual energy versus intelligent interaction, and whether “child spirits” are really children at all.

Listen, then tell us where you land on it, and if you’ve ever toured Pittock Mansion, share what you experienced. Subscribe, share this with a fellow paranormal fan, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show.

Thank you for listening to the Paranormal Peeps Podcast.  Check us out on Facebook Paranormal Peeps Podcast or Coldspot Paranormal Research and on Instagram coldspot_paranormal_research

Transcript

Opening Atmosphere And Premise

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Between the realm of the dead and the journeys of the living, join Josh, Jamie, and Elisa as they delve into the vast world of the paranormal and breathe life back into the history of the departed.

Welcome And Portland Destination

SPEAKER_04 0:11

Hey everybody, welcome to the Paranormal Peeps Podcast. I'm Josh.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

I'm Elisa.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

And I'm Jamie. And today I'm taking everybody to Oregon.

SPEAKER_04 0:23

Hey. Are we going to the Goonies house?

SPEAKER_00 0:26

No, we've already done that.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Are we going on the trail?

SPEAKER_00 0:30

No.

SPEAKER_04 0:32

Are we going to the shore?

SPEAKER_00 0:34

No.

SPEAKER_04 0:35

The volcanoes.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

There's volcanoes?

SPEAKER_04 0:39

There's lava fields.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Yeah. Oh.

SPEAKER_04 0:40

In central Oregon.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

None of that.

SPEAKER_04 0:42

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

We're actually gonna go to Portland, Oregon.

SPEAKER_04 0:46

Oh, we're getting Shanghai.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

No, not quite. Okay. I think we've already done that subject. High above the city of Portland, where the Douglas firs claw at the Great Oregon skies, sits a monument to a gilded past. To the casual tourists, the Pittock Mansion is a masterpiece of French Renaissance architecture. A 46-room dream built by a newspaper tycoon and his pioneer wife.

SPEAKER_04 1:14

Only 46.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Only 46 rooms, guys.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

Jeez, how many? How many rooms I have in my house?

SPEAKER_00 1:21

I count on Lynn. But when the sun dips behind the West Hills and the fog rolls in from the Willamette, the dream takes on a different hue. Since the great Columbus Day Storm of 1962 nearly tore the house apart, visitors and staff alike have whispered about things that don't belong in a museum. Heavy boots echoing on the grand staircase when no one is there, the smell of fresh roses blooming in the dead of winter, and the silver frame portrait of a woman whose eyes seem to follow you long after you've left the room. Tonight we step past the velvet ropes and into the shadows of the estate. Is it just the settling of an old house? Or are Henry and Georgiana Pittock still overseeing their legacy from the other side?

Henry And Georgiana’s Rise In Portland

SPEAKER_00 2:11

Okay, so let's go over some of the history of the Pittock Mansion. So it's spelled P-I-T-T-O-C-K.

SPEAKER_04 2:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

I hate when I say words and I'm like, or I look at a word, I'm like, that doesn't look right. Is that really how you spell the word? Right? You're right? That doesn't look right, but it's totally the exact same that I've seen for 40 years.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

I think that's the sign that we're getting older, is when we start questioning how to spell, like, you know, simple words. That doesn't look right.

SPEAKER_04 2:41

Yeah, like where, where, and where.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

Right? Where, where, and where. Okay, so Henry Pittock was born in 1834 in London, England, but he ended up moving to Pittsford, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1853, and he was about 19 years old. So then he decided that he was going to head west on the Oregon Trail, so it does have the Oregon Trail in it, um, in order to seek his fortune. So Georgiana Burton, which is Henry's future wife, she actually left Missouri a year later with her family, and they also headed west. So when they arrived in Portland, Portland was just like a frontier town at the time, way back when, right?

SPEAKER_04 3:28

It's hard to imagine that place being small.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

Yeah. Well, it is now, but back then it was just a frontier town, and it was actually referred to as a stump town. A stump town? Yeah, and I'm not sure what that means. I wonder if that's just like a pit stop town. Maybe. I mean that would make sense, right? But I don't know for sure. Right. So okay, so sorry. Portland was a frontier town or a stump town, and it was actually competing with um Oregon to become the major industrial and trade center for that region.

SPEAKER_04 4:04

Makes sense. I mean, they were on the Columbia River, so anything on the Columbia would have had an opportunity to be a m a massive center.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

Exactly. Exactly. So Henry and Ipped securing work as a typesetter at the Ogonian paper, which at the time was a kind of risky because it was very competitive and sorry, it was really competitive because at the time there were actually more than 30 newspapers being started.

SPEAKER_05 4:31

Oh, whoa.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

So it wasn't just the Oregonian, it was 30 others in competition with one another.

SPEAKER_04 4:38

It's which is interesting when you consider, like, here's this tiny little frontier town. What do you have? 30 newspapers.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

Yeah, all being started in this region.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

What are you gonna talk about?

SPEAKER_00 4:50

Right?

SPEAKER_01 4:51

It's just other newspapers or the 29 other newspaper companies that are trying to start up why they suck, why we should be number one.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

But the Orgonian is still in print to this very day.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

So that's the true winner.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

That's the true winner, right there. So Henry and Georgiana married on June 20th, 1860, and just five short months later, Henry was given complete ownership of the Orgonian exchange for his back wages. Can you imagine that? So they owe you back wages, and instead of giving you money, they sign over the entire newspaper to you.

SPEAKER_04 5:27

And they were probably going, We we're working out of bands.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

We're out. Yep. No kidding, right?

SPEAKER_04 5:33

We're gonna give you this lemon.

SPEAKER_00 5:35

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

We got 29 other companies trying to beat you right now.

SPEAKER_00 5:39

That's right. So he also built his financial empire by investing in silver mining, railroads, steamboats, and real estate among others.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Like he's sounds like he's a good investor.

SPEAKER_00 5:51

Oh, yeah. Yeah, I think he made some really good investments. I'm sure he had a share of flops, but for the most part, it sounds like he did very well in this area. Um, Henry was also an avid outdoorsman. He enjoyed like bicycling, and he was actually among the first group of people to scale Mount Hood. Wow. Isn't that amazing?

SPEAKER_04 6:14

That is amazing. I mean, for those of you who don't know, Mount Hood is only about an hour and a half or so east of Portland.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

Yes. Um, so Henry's wife, Georgiana, became the founder of different charities and cultural organizations like the Women's Union, uh, Ladies' Relief Society, just to name a couple. So she had her social calendar was full. So she really advocated for women back in the day.

Building A Mansion Built To Impress

SPEAKER_00 6:45

So Henry started planning his mansion in the early 1900s, and the land the mansion would sit on was 46 acres, and the house itself would sit on a hill with panoramic panoramic views not only of Portland but also of the distant Cascade Mountains.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

Oh my gosh, I thought that was so beautiful. And then the and the prime real estate right there.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

And the Willamette River, too. So can you imagine the panoramic views?

SPEAKER_01 7:10

Like anywhere in the mansion you look at when you see having wraparound decks, right?

SPEAKER_04 7:15

Right.

SPEAKER_00 7:16

I couldn't even imagine.

SPEAKER_04 7:17

So they get to see the Willamette. They've I'm sure they've got to see the Columbia. If they can see the Cascades, they've got to be able to see the Columbia too.

SPEAKER_00 7:24

Yeah. I bet it was beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

And I bet everybody could see their house. Yeah. I mean, it's like what 46 rooms?

SPEAKER_00 7:33

Yeah. Yeah. Well, and the mansion also would sit a thousand a thousand feet above sea level. So it was kind of up on a hill. Yeah. As well. So yeah, the views would be great. They're up on a hill.

SPEAKER_03 7:44

Everyone was looking up at you. I know those guys.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

And having 46 rooms, this mansion was also advanced for its time. It actually sported a central vacuum system. What? Intercoms, an elevator, specialty lighting, and a restaurant quality refrigerator. What? Like it was way advanced for the time.

SPEAKER_04 8:06

It's amazing what money can give you out in the middle of nothing.

SPEAKER_00 8:11

Right? Let me see, where am I now? Okay. Construction officially began in 1912, and in 1914, Henry and his wife, along with eight other family members, would move into the mansion. Unfortunately, Henry and his wife only lived in the mansion for about four years, and they both passed away. Okay, what is this? I feel like this is a theme.

SPEAKER_05 8:33

Hmm.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

That a lot of these houses that we've talked about, these haunted houses, the people that build them don't live very long after they're done.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

You gotta remember though, when they started construction on this house, they were in their 70s.

SPEAKER_04 8:50

So they're advanced age already.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

That's true. But I mean, in a lot of the places that we have talked about, this happens a lot. It does.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

Seems to be a common theme with back in the day, or doesn't it?

SPEAKER_04 9:03

Well well, yeah, and I mean, let's face it, like life expectancies were varied anyway back then. But I mean you work your entire I mean it's no wonder why they're haunted in a sense, too, right? You like you working your entire life to to amass a fortune of this size to build your dream home, so to speak, to only live in it a year or you know, a couple, essentially, very short brief time, and then you pass away and it's like I I'm not leaving this thing.

SPEAKER_00 9:33

I made the I worked my entire life for this. I I would probably do the same thing. Yeah. I mean, really, it would be it would be tough to you know enjoy it for only four years and get it, you know, and then away, so to speak. So to speak, right? So uh Georgiana died on June twelfth of nineteen eighteen, and her husband Henry passed the following year on January twenty eighth, of nineteen nineteen.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

That's how I want to go.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

Close together. Yeah. Yeah.

Storm Damage And Saving The Estate

SPEAKER_00 10:00

So other family members continue to actually live in the mansion um until the 1950s, and the last of the Pittock family moved out in 1958, and they ended up putting the mansion for sale.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

And in those cases, I wonder if it's because they can't do the upkeep. Yeah, it it needed extensive upkeep. Cause that would be hard if if the family money's not there anymore, or if it's run out. Yeah. And you're left with this huge house, but it needs hundreds of renovations.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

Yeah, and a crew of people to undertake it. Yeah. So the mansion actually ended up sitting empty for like four years, and then on October 12th, 1962, Hurricane Force winds caused damage to the windows and damaged the roof tiles, allowing water to get into the mansion, causing even further damages.

SPEAKER_04 10:57

That's usually a death sentence for a woodhouse. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

Yeah, once it gets in there. Yeah. Right? And it just sat there. I mean, think about it. The upkeep and the responsibility of a place like that, nobody wanted to take it on. It's a lot of work.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

If windows are breaking and the rain is coming in, and it's Oregon. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:18

It's the Oregon we can.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

And nature's gonna start taking over.

SPEAKER_02 11:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

So by 1964, the mansion fell into very poor conditions, and there was talk of actually tearing it down and uh uh turning it into a subdivision. But the citizens of Portland all rallied together and they ended up helping the city raise the funds to purchase the property for $225,000, and $67,500 of that was raised by the citizens.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

Wow, that's pretty impressive.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

That's amazing. Yeah. The work that was needed would restore the mansion from a private residence into a public space, and that would end up taking about 15 months. I was surprised it took that little.

SPEAKER_04 12:02

Right?

SPEAKER_00 12:03

Well, it depends on how like gung-ho everybody is, though. Well, and how many people you have working on it, right? In 1965, the Pittock Mansion opened its doors to the public, but now as a historic house museum. And finally, in 1968, the nonprofit Pittock Mansion Society was established to take on the responsibility of taking care of the collection and furnishing the mansion while also providing educational activities. And in 2007, the set society would take over the day-to-day operations from Portland Parks and Recreation and continues to manage the mansion to this day.

SPEAKER_02 12:44

So it's been a museum for almost 60 years.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

We were right by Portland. I so would have gone to this place, but I had never heard of it.

SPEAKER_04 12:57

Actually, we drove through Portland.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

I wonder if we saw it and didn't even realize it.

SPEAKER_00 13:03

I don't think we do, but yeah, I you know, it's hard to say.

SPEAKER_04 13:07

I was trying to make sure we didn't die on the interstate five, so that's true. I was I couldn't look around a whole lot, but I mean Portland Portland today is a sprawling city. So you'd have to know exactly which part of the the city to look for to even find it on the hill.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

Yeah, I've seen pictures of this place. It's it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

It sounds beautiful. I wonder if it still has all that acreage. It says it does. Oh, cool.

SPEAKER_00 13:41

Yeah, they says there's like hiking trails and everything through there. There's gardens. I mean, you name it.

SPEAKER_04 13:48

To Portland!

SPEAKER_00 13:51

Not this year. So to understand the ghost or the hauntings of this mansion, you first need to understand who lived and who worked

Staff Life And Residual Servant Sounds

SPEAKER_00 14:01

there. So Henry and his wife, they were both in their 70s when they moved into the mansion, and they were both very active in their day-to-day lives. Henry continued to work at the paper almost until his dying day, and then his wife maintained her social calendar and her work. So they had six children who all survived to adulthood. Now, this is important because back in those days a lot of kids didn't survive in adulthood.

SPEAKER_04 14:29

So yeah, late 1800s. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

You'd at least have a couple that didn't make it. Yep. So of their six children, all that survived was Catherine, Lucy, Henry Jr., Caroline, Georgiana, and Frederick. But they were all grown and had actually established their own lives and households by the time that the mansion was actually completed. So they never lived in the house.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

I mean, at that time they were probably in their 40s and 50s.

SPEAKER_02 14:59

So I build a 46 room mansion.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

His empire.

SPEAKER_01 15:05

Why not? Because I mean, when you're at that point in your life and you've worked so freaking hard, you're like, let's just go all out. We have all this money. Our kids are fine. Let's just go all out and build the dream house that we've always wanted. Why not? Why not?

SPEAKER_00 15:23

I would.

SPEAKER_04 15:26

I mean, I guess in the sense it's like, okay, let's build this dream. We're in our 70s, so let's build this massive mansion and hire the staff to clean it because we know we ain't doing it.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Right. And we're all gonna live on the main floor.

SPEAKER_04 15:39

In four rooms.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

Right. We'll just shut down the rest of the mansion in the off seasons. Open it up for special occasions. Right. So um the kids, their their adult kids would, of course, visit the mansion, but they never actually lived there as children or even adults. And after their parents' deaths, they inherited the mansion, of course. Um, but none of them wanted to maintain it.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

It's a lot to maintain. It's a lot. That's expensive.

SPEAKER_04 16:07

It's a massive house.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

Well, and figure, they had no emotional ties to it.

SPEAKER_04 16:12

Right. It's not like they grew up in the house, it's not their family home.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

They they didn't make memories there growing up or anything else. Yep.

unknown 16:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

So no emotional detachment or no emotional attachment. And that's why there seems to be no hauntings of any of their children reported at the mansion.

SPEAKER_04 16:32

Makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 16:33

You know, there's well, if you don't have any emotional ties and memories there.

SPEAKER_04 16:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

You know. What's gonna What's gonna tie you to the house? And then you inherit it and you're like, I don't want it. I don't want to maintain it. Yes, I'm gonna do it. I want nothing to do with it. So why would you haunt something you never

The Mystery Boy And His Pranks

SPEAKER_00 16:50

wanted? Yep. Exactly. So there are reports of possibly the grandchildren of Henry and Georgiana who had visited the mansion when they were young and especially around the holidays. So there's one such haunting that's been retort reported time after time. Um, it's that of a little boy believed to be one of the grandchildren. But another theory out there is that the boy might be the child of one of those servants who found a way to explore the mansion, would which would explain his mischievous uh nature and playfulness. Well, think about this. So the servants weren't allowed to have their children there, but it doesn't mean that they, you know, like today, you know, some parents get when kids have like break, spring break, they get put in a position of, what do I do with my kid? They're too young to be here by themselves and I have to work. So, you know, sometimes the kid goes to work with the parent.

SPEAKER_04 17:51

And let's face it, with the pittocks being in advanced age, did they really even know? And were they even there half the time?

SPEAKER_00 18:01

I don't know. They were so busy in their day-to-day lives that are.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

Or if it's taken into a room that nobody ever goes on that side of the house.

SPEAKER_00 18:08

Well, the thing is, is I mean, you know, it probably hung out in the servants' quarters. That's the kid. You know, if it if it was a servant's kid, it's probably gonna be back in those areas.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

So did servants live in that house?

SPEAKER_00 18:20

Uh, it doesn't say that they lived there. I didn't have anything that said that they actually lived there.

SPEAKER_04 18:27

So we'd have to go visit and find out.

SPEAKER_00 18:29

But the Pit Pittock mansion required a substantial staff to actually keep it running from day to day. Uh they employed maids, a chauffeur, cooks, gardeners, and many other servants. The staff knew the mansion very intimately and knew every room, every hallway, every secret space of that mansion. So I could see former servants. Depending on how they were treated. Totally.

SPEAKER_02 18:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

Yeah. So some of the fandom sounds that are reported are footsteps on the servant stairs, uh, clanging of pots and pans in the old kitchen, as well as the opening and closing of the doors. So, and these are believed to be the residual, be residual in nature. It sounds like it. Yeah. Um, just basically servants going about their usual daily routines. Which would make sense.

SPEAKER_03 19:24

Yes, it would.

SPEAKER_00 19:25

Yeah. So one spirit that stands out is that of another little boy spirit that enjoys playing pranks on the living. So they call him the prankster boy. He is probably the mansion's most known spirit, and no one seems to know who the boy is because no child ever died in the mansion during its construction or during the Pittock family's time there. There were no tragic accidents or illnesses within the mansion walls involving a child, but there are encounter after encounter that all describe the same spirit of a young boy thought to be around eight to twelve years old.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

So I wonder if it could be like a neighboring, like something happened somewhere in the neighborhood.

SPEAKER_00 20:11

Well, the neighborhood would be 46 miles or 46 acres away.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

Well, it doesn't mean that the house was 46 acres from the front.

SPEAKER_04 20:19

Right.

SPEAKER_01 20:19

Right. Which I doubt it was. No, probably not.

SPEAKER_04 20:22

Maybe a couple of acres, but couldn't it also be residual though? Unless we're talking about intelligent interactions.

SPEAKER_00 20:29

I this one sounds more intelligent from what I'm looking at here. So um so he's described as wearing early 20th century clothing like a cap and a jacket with like knee britches. Okay, if you can picture that.

SPEAKER_04 20:45

I crazy enough I can't.

SPEAKER_00 20:47

Yep, he's also described as very energetic and very curious about the mansion's visitors. I mean, being a museum, you get a lot of people in and out there during operating hours.

SPEAKER_01 20:56

So okay, so I wonder, with it being a museum, are there objects in the museum that could be connected to this boy?

SPEAKER_04 21:05

Could be very possible because like we've been to other um mansions that are set up as museums, and a lot of times the majority of majority of items in the mansion aren't actually the family's items, they're just from the time period, right? Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 21:28

And we see that a lot.

SPEAKER_04 21:30

We do.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

So the spirit also seems to be simply having fun and playing pranks on us unsuspecting visitors, and he enjoys the attention as well as the reactions he provokes in people. I mean, he's just having a good old time. Right?

SPEAKER_04 21:46

Grand old time.

SPEAKER_00 21:48

Um, objects seem to be uh his favorite target. So he likes to move them from where the staff will place them and He likes to put them in different rooms, or he likes to turn them so that they are actually facing backwards. That's cute. It's a lot of fun. So tour guides have actually reported setting up a room for like the day, you know, for like a display, and only to find all the items have been rearranged. So one tour guy actually tour guide actually reported placing a book on the table in a library, and she was positioning it for a photo. So then she stepped out of the room for less than a minute to go grab her camera, and when she returned, uh the book had actually been moved to entirely a different table in the library across the room. That's cool.

SPEAKER_02 22:44

That is cool.

SPEAKER_00 22:45

So I mean, for a while you'd be like, did I place it there? Or did I you know what I mean? Wait a second.

SPEAKER_04 22:52

You know what'd be interesting too though, because like it a lot of these museums have cameras. Do they did they catch any of this stuff on a camera? Like on a video camera. Because that would imagine seeing the book sitting there and then it either moving or like absolutely disappearing and reappearing on a different table.

SPEAKER_00 23:16

Either one of those would be amazing, right? Well, in all my research though, I didn't find anything that had to do with any videos. Bummer. But pictures are a different story.

SPEAKER_01 23:27

See, it's places like this where I'm like, just do a live camera. Live feed. That everybody can watch at any time. Do you just have to log in? That would be amazing if they do that. Some places do. Some places do. Like there are libraries that do this. So I'm like, I think that they've that would be cool to be able to see objects like that if they can capture them.

SPEAKER_00 23:49

That'd be really cool. So doors are another common source of pranks. So a lot of staff members, they'll they will tell you, yeah, I've shut and locked the door, and then when they return, uh they will found find the doors have been unlocked and open moments later. So there was one volunteer that reported closing and locking the door only to hear it open up behind her moments later. When she turned around, she saw the door standing wide open with no no visible sign of anybody anywhere. That's so cool. So the boy spirit seems to be very active in the service quarters and the backstairs. See now this makes me wonder if this prankster spirit that they're talking about is the same as the boy spirit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:36

Right.

SPEAKER_00 24:36

It sounds like servants' quarters. Yeah, I don't know. They don't describe what the other boy like age or what he's wearing or nothing. So I have no idea. I I get the feeling it's one and the same.

SPEAKER_04 24:50

Right. So and they can go wherever they want, so it would make sense that they it could be the one and the same.

SPEAKER_00 24:59

Yeah. So he's very active in the servants' quarters, and these areas would have been the perfect area for a young child to explore and not really be seen during the mansion's years of being occupied. So many people have reported the sounds of someone running up and down the stairs, much like that of a child playing, only to find no one there when they investigate. So, you know, kids ran up downstairs playing. Yeah. Another frequent report phenomenon that is believed to be connected to the Boy Spirit is the sound of a child laughing that echoes through empty rooms. Staff members, tour guides, as well as the visitors to the mansion, often describe the sound of a young child giggling where there are no no children present. The laughter is reported to be as that of a happy child who is enjoying himself.

SPEAKER_04 25:54

I'm sorry. That's still that would creep me out.

SPEAKER_00 25:59

Well, I think I think a lot of why we find it creepy is due to like shows and movies that we've watched where they have like a child's laughter.

SPEAKER_04 26:08

Oh, sure. I mean, yes, for sure.

Are Child Spirits Real Or Something Else

SPEAKER_00 26:10

So honestly, when you hear child's laughter or someone describe it, you're thinking, ooh, creepy.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

Here's the thing for me though. I actually do not believe in children's spirits.

SPEAKER_00 26:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:21

I don't. So for me that adds a level of creepiness to it.

SPEAKER_00 26:27

But what if it was somebody that just chooses to come back as a child? Portray themselves as a child, but they're not really a child. And I'm not talking like a like a demon or something bad. I'm just saying they were happy in their younger years, so they choose to represent themselves in the spirit world as younger when they come through to, you know, the living.

SPEAKER_04 26:51

Right. Well, and that's what makes and that there's always that possibility, right? But that's what makes these things hard to understand is like, are we dealing with someone who's doing that? Are we dealing with something that's not but wants to represent itself as you know, and so like which way you're going? We don't know. In the same token though, too, they these these two things could definitely be residual, where you're just getting residual giggles and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

Well, because other family members lived there.

SPEAKER_04 27:22

Right.

SPEAKER_01 27:23

Mm-hmm. Until the 50s, right? So I mean they've all those years to raise children and have children and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_04 27:35

It's hard to say though. Right.

SPEAKER_00 27:36

It doesn't say that children like the grandchildren visited the home on holidays and on other occasions, but no children physically lived in that home or were raised in that home.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

Well, they said that no kids were killed or died. Right, but their six children were never were already grown by the time they moved in, and they don't I mean, the servants other family members still lived there though until the 50s.

SPEAKER_00 28:06

Right, but they don't say who.

SPEAKER_05 28:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:08

But I would assume if people are going to live in a house like that. And so another thing that I thought of was so if say I die, I'm an adult. Say I die and I loved being a child. So I'm gonna go back as being a child. Right. I don't know if I if you can really act like a child, even though you're in the form of a child, because I already have, I'm not naive anymore. You know what I mean? And it's not like you lose all that when you die, you don't. So it would be hard for me to act like a child. As an adult with an adult mind.

SPEAKER_00 28:53

Right, but like amongst living people, there are adults out there who act like children every day. It's a fetish for them, and they physically act like children. That's true. And they're good at it, which is really scary.

SPEAKER_04 29:09

That is very scary.

SPEAKER_00 29:10

Yeah. I mean, there's there's adults that act like babies and wear diapers and like Ugress. Exactly. And then there's people that act like you know, yeah, other things, and yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:23

And and some are really good at it, and that's I know, but to have enough spirits that are children, it's hard for me to wrap my brain around that there's enough of those people that would want to be children in the afterlife to act like that. Right. I don't think there's enough of them out there for as many spirits that we like I do believe that there are children's spirits, yes. But I don't believe that there's like babies or little five-year-old children roaming the earth with no one to take care of them.

SPEAKER_00 29:55

Well, unless it's residual.

SPEAKER_01 29:57

Residual is a totally different spirit. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 29:59

Well, that's what I mean.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

That's not really like a spirit.

SPEAKER_00 30:01

No, it's like an imprint.

SPEAKER_01 30:02

Yeah. Yeah. So that's what's hard for me to wrap my brain around. So it's like if I didn't have the beliefs that I do, it would make sense. Sure. Children's spirits would make total sense.

SPEAKER_00 30:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:17

But because I believe what I believe, it's like, hmm. It's hard around. How do you wrap your brain around this?

SPEAKER_00 30:21

Exactly. Well, in some cases, the laughter seems to be in direct response to something the living have done or said that the boy finds amusing.

SPEAKER_04 30:30

Okay, so that definitely sounds like a lot of things.

SPEAKER_00 30:31

It's intelligent, but it still the question is, is it really a kid?

SPEAKER_04 30:35

Right. But still, I mean, can imagine like being in a group of, you know, in a tour group, and the tour guide says a joke, and it's like one of those jokes that just drops. Right? Like nobody's laughing at it. Nobody's laughing. And then like a little kid's voice on scene unseen starts giggling at the joke, and you're like, Where's that coming from?

SPEAKER_00 31:02

That would be weird and cool. Right.

SPEAKER_04 31:05

And half the people would probably run out of their room.

SPEAKER_00 31:09

So one tour guide recalls of telling a group of guests about the mansion's young and playful ghost boy, only to have the distinct sound of a child's laughter ring out at that exact moment from the floor just above. And there was no other tour up there.

SPEAKER_01 31:26

Called it.

SPEAKER_00 31:27

And no children were present either. So um it's as if he was kind of saying, Yeah, I'm here and I hear you talking about me, you know, like he's letting them know. So some visitors to the mansion have reported physical contact that they feel is the boy spirit. Then your actions are never aggressive or painful, but rather they are described as a child seeking attention. People describe feeling a gentle tug on their clothing, and others report feeling a tap on their shoulder or back, but when they turn around to respond, they find that no one is there. Others have reported the feeling of a small childlike hand that briefly touches their arm or hand.

SPEAKER_04 32:09

That'd be kind of trippy.

SPEAKER_00 32:10

Trying to get your attention.

SPEAKER_01 32:12

And I think we've all experienced that at some point.

SPEAKER_04 32:15

Yeah. Yeah. Clothing tugs, touching on the hands. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:19

So there was one woman that was visiting the mansion with her young daughter, and she reported that her child kept turning around during the tour and saying that the boy was following them. The mother saw no one, but yet her daughter described the boy as wearing old-fashioned clothes, and he kept trying to show her things and was disappointed that the tour group wouldn't look where he wanted them to. As a mother and daughter were leaving the mansion that day, the daughter turned and waved goodbye to someone only she could see and said, Bye. I hope you find someone to play with you.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 32:53

So, like, I mean, as a parent, I don't know what I would think if my little kid said something like that.

SPEAKER_04 33:01

Well, when we had something like that happen, though.

SPEAKER_00 33:04

Well, at home.

SPEAKER_04 33:05

Yeah. I mean, our our son was like, I can't sleep. The boy keeps laughing at me.

SPEAKER_00 33:10

And I asked where the boy was, and he said outside his bedroom window.

SPEAKER_01 33:13

Freaky.

SPEAKER_00 33:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:16

Be like, hey, you're sleeping in my room.

SPEAKER_00 33:18

Well, yeah, I think we did bring him upstairs.

Georgiana At The Window And Rose Scent

SPEAKER_04 33:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:21

For sure. So the boy isn't the only spirit to haunt the mansion, so many witnesses have reported encountering the spirit of both Henry and his wife. The most reported apparition is that of Henry's wife, and she's always seen in the master bedroom or near the master bedroom. So they describe seeing an elderly woman in period dress who is often standing at the window or sitting in a chair. One volunteer had reported arriving early to open the mansion and seeing a woman in a long dress standing in the master bedroom and gazing out the window at the view. The volunteer had thought that a visitor might have somehow gotten in before opening hours, and the volunteer hurried up the stairs only to find that the room was empty and still locked.

SPEAKER_04 34:08

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 34:09

Wait, so she saw someone see the room? No, no, she saw them from outside. So she arrived early to open up the mansion for the day for tours and everything. And she looked up and she saw an old elderly woman looking out the window. And so she thought someone got in, right? So she hurries upstairs only to find the room is locked, and then there's no one in there.

SPEAKER_01 34:34

God, that's so cool.

SPEAKER_00 34:34

And that was in the master bedroom.

SPEAKER_01 34:36

I do too. These are like gold mines.

SPEAKER_04 34:39

Yeah, like I mean, how many times have I looked been we've been to old buildings or been by old mansions and stuff like that? And I always look in the windows, take pictures of the windows. Like hoping to see something.

SPEAKER_01 34:52

Zoom in and all the windows.

SPEAKER_00 34:54

Make sure multiple pictures, everything.

SPEAKER_04 34:58

And no.

SPEAKER_00 35:00

Yet to this day, so for me, in 2017, when we showed up at Waverly, and we were dividing up into groups, and it was dark out, and we were all in our groups, but we hadn't gone in yet. And I looked up, I saw what looked like a kid leaning over and looking down at all of us, and then he went back really fast. They were always so fast.

SPEAKER_01 35:27

Like in the blink of an eye fast.

SPEAKER_00 35:29

But then I was like, I couldn't wait to get in there. I was like, oh my gosh, let me in.

SPEAKER_04 35:32

I was like, I'm gonna poop my pants.

SPEAKER_00 35:34

And I'm like, let me in. I was like, hurry up and let me in, or I'm gonna climb up the outside wall, you know. So because all those spaces up there, they're open. Right. You know, with the big yeah. So yeah, it was pretty cool. Okay, so hold on. So other witnesses have actually smelt roses in the master bedroom where no flowers are present. So Georgiana was known for her love of gardening and maintained impressive rose gardens at the estate. When roses are smelled, they are often contributed that it's a sign that Georgiana is near. Some believe that her spirit remains in the mansion because in life she has so little time to actually enjoy it. Which would make sense. It would make sense. Like it was built, they were in their 70s already, and they move in and they get it for four years and then they pass away.

SPEAKER_04 36:27

Right.

SPEAKER_00 36:28

Like all that planning, all that waiting.

SPEAKER_04 36:31

All that yeah, all the anticipation, and then the joy of getting

Henry’s Study And The Ghostly Couple

SPEAKER_04 36:35

in there, and then it's just gone.

SPEAKER_00 36:38

Henry Pittock's uh spirit is often reporting what is his study. So his study overlooked the formal gardens and the city below. So witnesses report seeing an elderly man in sometimes sorry, witnesses report seeing an elderly man that is sometimes sitting at the desk and other times is reported standing at the window. One detailed account comes from a paranormal investigator who was actually documenting the mansion after normal operating hours. She was photographing the study from the doorway, and her camera captured what looks like a translucent man standing by the window. It wasn't visible to the naked eye, but instead only appeared in the photo. Staff members report that the study will oftentimes smell like pipe tobacco, even though smoking isn't allowed on or in the mansion's grounds. And Henry was actually known to enjoy a pipe, especially while he was reading his newspaper in his study.

SPEAKER_01 37:33

Oh, that's so cool.

SPEAKER_00 37:35

People believe that Henry's spirit, like his wife, remained at the mansion because he worked his entire life to build his estate and empire and got such little time to enjoy it before his death. So several witnesses have reported seeing two ghostly figures standing together at different windows in the mansion. They appear to be gazing out at the beautiful views. The figures appear to be elderly and appear to be standing close in a way that makes you believe that they have been in a long relationship and are close. So it's believed that it's Henry and his wife. I mean, why not? It's like a paranormal love story. Right? So a security guard doing his rounds late one night had reported seeing the couple standing at the window of the Turkish smoking room. He said he could see them very clearly from the outside of the mansion. Thinking that people had actually broken in, the security guard rushed in only to find all the doors and windows were locked and there was no one in the smoking room. These sightings are believed to be that of Henry and his wife enjoying the mansion they loved together. Beyond the pit docks and the young boy's spirit, there is a wide range of the paranormal phenomena

Footsteps Cold Spots Elevator And Photos

SPEAKER_00 38:45

that can't defy an easy explanation. The sound of heavy footsteps is one of the most common, as well as the sound of women's heels on the hardwood floors. Other sounds would include furniture being moved or rearranged, doors opening and shutting when no one is near them. There's also music playing from an unknown or seen force, voices that are engaged in a conversation that is too faint to make out what is being said. The clanging of pots and pans in the basement kitchen when no one is present is also heard.

SPEAKER_04 39:18

So they'll sound really residual.

SPEAKER_00 39:20

I think they are. I think it's just like the servants going about their daily tasks. You know, they're they had a very, you know, cut out routine that they followed day in and day out. So yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:30

Yeah, moving furniture, cleaning underneath it, pots and pans, people walking up and down the halls, all those things, right?

SPEAKER_00 39:40

So cold spots are frequent, are a frequent occurrence as well. So some rooms have the feeling of being heavy or oppressive as if the the air is very thick. So some guests have reported feeling like someone is putting pressure on their chest and find it difficult to breathe. So when they leave the room, that feeling goes away.

SPEAKER_04 40:02

I wonder if that's because they're in a space they're not supposed to be in. It's like because a lot of those mansions and stuff had these are the woman spaces, these are the man's spaces. And so if you're entering one of those spaces and you're not and you shouldn't be there. You shouldn't be there. They're trying to like say they're disapproving. Yeah, you're not supposed to be in this room. You need to get out.

SPEAKER_00 40:21

Yeah. So the mansion has a small elevator that was actually designed for a like accessibility purposes. So a lot of the times the elevator will operate when no one is inside. So staff have reported hearing it go up and down when no living person is using it and the mansion is actually closed.

SPEAKER_01 40:40

Oh, that's cool. So I wonder what kind of elevator it is. Just really tiny tiny elevators.

SPEAKER_00 40:49

Yeah, it is. The gate closes and from what they describe it is. That's so cool.

SPEAKER_04 40:55

So gotta pull the old fence back.

SPEAKER_00 40:58

Right? That's so cool. So a lot of visitors to the mansion have captured strange things in their photographs. While some can actually be explained as dust or lens flare, others are harder to just dismiss. One such visitor had taken a photo of the formal living room and captured what looks like a translucent woman sitting in one of the chairs. Yet no one was sitting in that room when they took the picture. In fact, no one was in the room. But them, so.

SPEAKER_03 41:27

That's so cool.

SPEAKER_00 41:29

So the figure appears to be in periodress, and another visitor captured an image of a face that is peeping out from the second story window. The photo was taken from the outside of the mansion. When he went into the mansion to investigate, all the rooms on that floor were roped off to the visitors and all empty. So several other photographs show what looks like shadows of people in rooms and hallways when there is no one present. These shadow figures seem to be aware of being seen and often appear in the periphery of the images.

SPEAKER_04 42:04

Interesting, then the out they're on the outside of the edges of the photos. Just like our eyes, right? Like we see stuff in the peripheral camera. I haven't heard of a camera doing that though.

SPEAKER_00 42:15

Well, that's what it looks like. It appears that they're like in the periphery of the photograph. Like they're knowing, like they know and are aware that you're taking a photo and they're trying to get out of the way. I'm trying to get out of the way.

SPEAKER_04 42:28

And little did they know that the aperture is really wide.

SPEAKER_00 42:30

Right. So, you know, and a lot of people, because okay, old mansion, dim lighting, right? You can chalk it up to a lot of things and dismiss, I think, a lot of things. Sure. Yeah. Sure.

SPEAKER_04 42:45

Dust, I mean, I mean orbs.

SPEAKER_00 42:48

But there are so many accounts, and a lot of them are the same accounts or very similar accounts, and there have been so many throughout the years that it's hard to say all of it is just old mansion and creaky floors and dim lighting.

SPEAKER_01 43:05

Well, I think for me, what if I were to go there and stay there, you better believe my number one thing to do there investigating wise would be taking pictures. Absolutely. So it seems like they have a pretty darn good amount.

SPEAKER_04 43:19

Well, yeah, and the I wonder too though, like with those pictures, the the woman, the man, the they get these images, have they been able to properly identify them? Because if they're if you can see a woman in period dress sitting in a chair, you probably can make out some features.

SPEAKER_00 43:40

Right.

SPEAKER_04 43:40

Like can you actually put it towards the owners of the the house?

SPEAKER_00 43:46

You know, nobody's ever said that's had these encounters and or these photographs. Uh I haven't I haven't seen the photographs either. But sometimes I think when you're unsuspecting that you're going to encounter anything like that. I think sometimes you're just a little shocked and like, did I really see that? That you're not really focused in on really their face. You know what I mean? I know I wouldn't be. I think I'd be more there'd be more of a shock factor to it.

SPEAKER_01 44:14

But also well, I have noticed in pictures when there are um full body apparitions. Sometimes their face just doesn't show up in detail.

SPEAKER_04 44:26

Right. Well, and that's true.

SPEAKER_01 44:28

And a lot of it is like the silhouette of what they look like where, you know, the images are so faint. Yeah they're it's not really prevalent enough to s definitively say who it is.

SPEAKER_04 44:43

Right. Well, and some sometimes you need to look at the clothes.

SPEAKER_01 44:46

Like, oh, this is that's how you can tell tell like the period of clothing. Right.

SPEAKER_04 44:50

It's like, oh, this is really her dress. Like you can see the dress, so there's a picture of her wearing that dress.

SPEAKER_00 44:56

Well, and they and they always describe it as elderly. Right. The man and the woman, whether they're together or separate, it's always they're elderly. And remember, they were well into their 70s when they moved into that mansion. So they were elderly. Yeah. Right. Um, so but I do have a lot of photos of the mansion of the pittocks, uh, you know, Henry and Georgiana and stuff, um, that we will post along with this episode.

SPEAKER_04 45:25

It definitely sounds like they're up, they're up to having investigators come in and do things and and and check out.

SPEAKER_00 45:32

Well, I haven't heard of any official investigations because during like my research, I never come across like, oh, we videoed this and there was this anomaly, or I never heard, oh, you know, there was this EVP. I, you know, the none of that. Just a I've heard a handful about photographs.

SPEAKER_01 45:49

It mostly sounds like it comes from tours.

SPEAKER_00 45:51

And personal experiences. Right. But there are definitely no shortage of reports um in this place, and it's a museum, so you can definitely go up there and wander around the museum and take a tour. I was gonna say they probably want you to take pictures and maybe have an experience if you're lucky.

SPEAKER_04 46:14

I think it'd be fun.

Visiting Tips Listener Stories And Sign Off

SPEAKER_04 46:15

I think it'd be fun to go and check out in itself. Because there's there's some places out there that I I'd like to go back and do some investigative work at. And it's all in that area. Portland, you know, um Salem's got stuff. Um go to the boondocks, go to the goondocks.

SPEAKER_00 46:40

Goondocks. You know.

SPEAKER_04 46:43

I mean, so there's like there is some fun stuff out there to go check out again.

SPEAKER_00 46:48

Actually, there's quite a bit. When we went, not only the Goonies house and some of the filming locations, and but we went in that old house, remember, and we gotta go and go through that.

SPEAKER_04 46:58

That was so neat.

SPEAKER_00 46:59

That it was beautiful, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:01

That that was the river captain's house. So his he was an expert pilot for river boats going up the Columbia.

SPEAKER_03 47:10

Yeah, wow.

SPEAKER_04 47:12

And so he would help ships get up the Columbia. That's how he made his fortune.

SPEAKER_05 47:16

And he was a beloved person.

SPEAKER_01 47:18

Their house is by the river. No, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_04 47:21

So you know, in the in the opening scene of the Goonies when they're coming down the hill, yes, and they go and his dad's working at the museum. Lowering the flag at the museum, lowering the flag. That's the house. That's the house.

SPEAKER_00 47:32

Really? Yeah. That's the house.

SPEAKER_04 47:37

So, and that was an interesting place. Um, they were super um wealthy, very much the uh helpers of everybody, though.

SPEAKER_00 47:46

Everybody loved them, everybody loved them. And but I think that going to the pitop mansion, if you go to Portland, and then you can go to Astoria and see the Goonie stuff as well. I mean, you could definitely make a trip of it. Oh, easy easily. Bring your camera, bring your digital recorder. Even if you just wander around with it on, yeah. Doesn't matter, you don't have to officially investigate, but you might you might get something.

SPEAKER_04 48:11

Yeah, exactly. If you've been to the Pittock Mansion, um, had any experiences, or just um done the tours, let us know. What did you think of it? Did you guys have any experiences at it? And as always, stay ghosty, my peeps.