Ghosts Of The Pacific Northwest

Another entry in my month-long series of posts on Oregon, all in support of my Kickstarter Campaign.

oregon ghost storiesDo you like ghost stories? Do you look forward to camping because of the bonfire tales? Is Halloween your favorite holiday?

Then Quitting The Grave is the book for you!

My novel is filled with all kinds of hints of the supernatural. But are there actual ghosts? I’m not telling. You’ll have to read it yourself to find out. I will say I relied heavily on Susan Smitten’s Ghost Stories of Oregon as I was doing the research. However, in the interest of avoiding spoilers, the excerpt I have for you today is about ghosts living in McCloud, California. Don’t worry though, there are plenty of Oregon ghosts in Quitting The Grave as well.

Excerpt:

McCloud, metropolis of 1,343, clings to survival as desperately as the moss clings to the rocky valley walls that slope from the edge of town all the way up the foot of Mt. Shasta. The mountain, a stern patriarch that perpetually reminds McCloud’s inhabitants of the price paid for striving beyond their place, can always be seen except for the foggiest days. Born as a wayside stop for prospecting miners, and having metamorphosed through adolescence on the abundant diet of timber income, the town hit hard times during the downturn of the industry in the sixties and seventies from which it has never recovered. Once a thriving community, it now is an intermixture of hard luck timber families trying their best to get by without resorting to cooking meth and successful professionals searching for a peaceful suburban existence in the countryside. Neither group contributes anything to the community but their property taxes.

Even in my youth, McCloud had a reputation as a haven for the disgruntled dead, as my brothers often reminded me. It seems the only thriving industry left in the county is for ghost hunters, a point reinforced to me as I open the morning newspaper. McCloud’s local paper is small and on the edge of extinction thanks to the economic destitution of its subscriber base. It seems neither transplants from San Francisco nor meth cookers buy local newspapers.

Stories like the one I find this morning speak to its approach to obsolescence. A front page report cataloguing ghost stories popular in the McCloud area. Visitors and residents have shared a slew of strange episodes in recent years. One account involved the ghost of a young man who was seen snooping through mailboxes in the early morning. Every witness claimed the man was wearing a denim jacket and looked almost identical to a teenager who had been killed several years earlier in a drinking and driving accident.

Various hikers have recalled tales of a headless man sitting on a stump and reading a newspaper on Black Fox Mountain. Based on his dress, the witnesses all supposed he was a former lumberjack.

The story of a phantom wearing a bloody doctor’s uniform has been retold for several decades and his appearances are always in the vicinity of Masonic Rock. He apparently is searching for a former patient of his, a young woman who died in his care.

Many years ago, a traveler through McCloud was killed near Shirttail Canyon. Numerous sightings of this man have been reported in the years since, all just before sunrise. The man is always carrying a knife.

One of the strangest tales involves reports of a Civil War veteran sighted at Dry Creek in the morning twilight, throwing large pieces of concrete into the water. Why the ghost of a Civil War veteran would manifest in McCloud is anyone’s guess, but it’s just one more of the many strange stories to be exchanged in the town’s pool taverns and bingo halls.

I toss aside the paper without turning to A6. The article creeps me out. I can’t shake the feeling it’s yet another coincidence after all the ghost stories I’ve consumed the past two weeks in conjunction with the Hilyard house and the grave robberies.

There you go. That’s just a teaser. If you want to read more, you can go to my Kickstarter page and buy the novel today.

Thanks for the support!

Quitting The Grave Cover ThumbCheck out Decater's new novel, available now at Amazon. Plus, don't forget his earlier books: Ahab's Adventures in Wonderland and Picasso Painted Dinosaurs.