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Of Geology and of Ghosts: Scary Tales of the Oregon Coast

Various ghost tales inhabit the Nehalem Bay area

(Oregon Coast) – There are plenty of stories about things that go bump in the night around coastal beaches, lighthouses and even bars. The stories literally go on and on, with varying degrees of credibility.

There is something much scarier than those ghosties and beasties, however. The reality of how these beaches acquired many of their landmarks is a truly freaky tale.

Stories of spirits may or may not be true, but they’re certainly fun to indulge in.

Truth, however, is far, far stranger than fiction – especially when you’re talking about the geologic freakzone that formed Oregon and its coast many millions of years ago.

Scary Rivers of Lava on the Coast

Cannon Beach's landmark Haystack Rock was made from an underground re-eruption that came from another lava flow

Picture this: a massive river of lava erupts in Idaho, so big it covers miles at a time as it marches along at around 4 mph. It sears entire forests into ashes and fumes. It builds gigantic damns of molten rock that are perhaps miles long, sometime bulging up to 20 feet high. It marches its way through riverbeds and canyons, snaking its way around mountains, until it slithers its sinister, scorching heat into the ocean – having traveled some 300 miles, about seven days later. It’s hundreds of miles long, spewing out continuously and fiercely so that when it reaches the ocean it fills crevices and muddy areas thousands of feet deep.

This was the scene in Oregon some 15 million years ago, and it was the beginning of the birth of many of the incredible structures and tourist attractions you now see on the scenic Oregon coast. A colossal fissure in the Earth around where Lewiston, Idaho is now poured these horrendous flows into this area. It’s the same hot spot that now powers Yellowstone National Park, and has before created the mega-disastrous super volcanoes that have erupted a few times over the millennia.

Cape Fouweather, which towers over the sea, came from an eruption 100's of miles long

The coast at that time was about 15 miles farther inland than it is now. According to Seaside geologist Tom Horning, sometimes these lava flows poured into the ocean and then they spread out through the soft marine sediments for dozens of miles, burrowing into the layers. They then managed to come back up elsewhere, re-erupting through thousands of feet of muck, onto the sea floor, essentially making their own eruptions for a brief time (geologically speaking).

They then cooled to become solid basalt. Over millions of years, some of these massive invasions of lava were lifted with the sediments above sea level with the rising of the coast range. They in turn were eroded away, until they formed headlands and features we now know as Neahkahnie Mountain near Manzanita or Tillamook Head between Seaside and Cannon Beach.

Another kind of lava flow that formed the headlands we know and love is called intra-canyon flows. These kind of flows snaked their way to the coast through riverbeds and around other land features, arriving at the coast to build up and up out of deltas of rubbly submarine pillow basalt. These were also capped by sheets of dry-land lava flows.

Seaside's Tillamook Head is a distant relative of the super volcano that destroyed the atmosphere millions of years ago, and of the fissure that now powers Yellowstone's geysers

Meanwhile, the ocean levels rose and fell around the landmasses and basalt shapes a few times. They too were eroded by time and water into shapes we now know as Cape Foulweather, Cape Lookout, Yaquina Head and Cape Meares.

Numerous such lava flows (perhaps around 300) erupted from about 12 million years ago to 17 million years ago, according Horning. They happened approximately every 100,000 to 200,000 years, creating their own kind of havoc, but in turn laying the groundwork (pun intended) for the beauty we now see.

Meanwhile, millions of years earlier, Cascade Head was its own volcano, said Horning of the large, looming headland just north of Lincoln City. And what about those mini-eruptions that happened just offshore? Horning said they’re often responsible for many of the coast’s most famous landmarks.

“Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach was one of those,” Horning said. “Sea stacks are often from submarine feeders for the re-erupting lavas. They’re all part of plumbing systems.”

Much of Depoe Bay is bubble basalt - where a massive lava flow hit the ocean water and cooled quickly

Erosion also plays a major part in what you see with that famous structure (which is currently the third highest sea stack in the world), along with the oceans rising, falling and the land doing the same.

“The basalt that Haystack Rock is made of is about 15 million years old,” Horning said. “It was an enormous hill of rock until about 3000 years ago, when rising sea levels allowed the surf to wash away all but the strongest lava/basalt. Some 4000 to 5000 feet of the original submarine volcano is missing from it now, having been eroded for more than 12 millions years.”

Ghosts of the Oregon Coast

What lurks upstairs in the Seaside Aquarium - if anything? (photo: Tiffany Boothe, Seaside Aquarium)

There’s a scary side to Seaside.

Example one: the Seaside Aquarium may have a closet containing something - or rather, an upstairs that could be haunted. When the building was a natatorium back about 80 years ago, there were apartments at the top floor. They actually were in use until the early 70’s. That area isn't used much at all now, but some employees there say they’ve heard whispers over the years the top floor is haunted. Various stories have been handed down through the generations about noises coming from there.

Talk to staff at Girtle’s Restaurant and Lounge downtown and you’ll hear tales of flying coffee pots, shadows of someone walking in what are empty rooms and apparitions appearing periodically. The rumor is that the old Seaside Hotel collected a long list of lingering souls in its 100-year-long history. When it was torn down in the 80’s, many of the spirits followed staff there when they went to work for Girtle’s.

Down in Wheeler, the Old Wheeler Hotel has plenty of haunted tales, enough that a few ghost hunters have sauntered through there over the years. Owner Winston Laszlo has had some experiences he can’t explain, and he and his wife tell strange tales of how the building seemed “fight” them as it was being remodeled. (www.oldwheelerhotel.com. 877-653-4683.) Also in the bay area, locals talk about the lady who actually got a permit in the 90’s to burn down her own property. She was apparently a descendent of local tribes and claimed the home was haunted by spirits of native children killed in a fire in that spot centuries ago.

Heceta Head Lighthouse's ghostly tale has many witnesses

Nothing sits in that spot to this day.

Further south, in Lincoln City, the North Lincoln Fire Station is said to have an apparition lounging in the recreation area. The Wildflower Grill has tales of a butt-pinching ghost named Matilda. The Siletz Bay has some crazy stories about a ghost ship appearing and disappearing.

Lighthouses are often the subject of haunted tales, and the Oregon coast certainly isn’t left out of that category. All but one of them have been clearly debunked. The haunting at Heceta Head Lighthouse, near Florence, is widely regarded as a real one, with loads of witnesses. Even the family that runs the B&B there claims to have seen the ghost and considers her part of the family.

Beings from beyond are not nearly as frightening as lawsuits or folks from Hollywood – and that’s what the Yaquina Head Lighthouse had to deal with back in the 70’s. The film crew for “The Hardy Boys” TV series came out there to film on location for a special Halloween episode, and even gussied up the interior of the lighthouse with cobwebs and other spooky accoutrements.

The problem is they left the set décor there, essentially leaving the lighthouse a shambles. It took a lawsuit by local authorities to get the crew to come back and clean it up.

Inn at Cannon Beach. Beautifully wooded natural setting at quiet south end of Cannon Beach. Great during winter storms with a new book by the fireplace – or when the sun is out for family fun and beach strolling. Handsome beach cottage-style architecture. Lush flowering gardens and naturalized courtyard pond. Warm, inviting guest rooms. Continental buffet breakfast. Warm Cookies. Family and Pet Friendly. Welcome gifts. Smoke-free. Complimentary Wireless Connectivity. Wine and book signing events. 800-321-6304 or 503-436-9085. Hemlock At Surfcrest, Cannon Beach, Oregon. www.atcannonbeach.com.

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