Offbeat Oregon History podcast www.offbeatoregon.com (finn @ offbeatoregon.com)
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- History
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The Offbeat Oregon History Podcast is a daily service from the Offbeat Oregon History newspaper column. Each weekday morning, a strange-but-true story from Oregon's history from the archives of the column is uploaded. An exploding whale, a few 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. Source citations are included with the text version on the Web site at https://offbeatoregon.com.
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Scholarly Albany flyer was the real father of Oregon aviation
In a race with Portland neophile Henry Wemme to be the first owner of an airplane in Oregon, Cornell-educated John Burkhart was two weeks too late; but unlike Wemme, he designed, built and flew his own machine. (Albany, Linn County; 1910s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1410d.310.burkhart-aviation-pioneer.html)
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Was Bridge of the Gods real? Almost certainly yes
The geographical evidence isn't there; but every nearby Indian community has legends about the river tunneling underground for miles, and roughly similar accounts of the tunnel's collapse. What are the odds? (Near The Dalles, Wasco County; circa 1450 A.D.) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1907c.bridge-of-the-gods-legend-and-truth.html)
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The maddest man in old Portland (WPA oral-history interview)
Young Charley Imus was the son of the local undertaker, and he and a school friend were tasked with watching over a corpse while an Irish wake was going on, as the wind howled in the shingles on a stormy, spooky night. Imagine the boys' consternation when the 'corpse' ... woke up. Apparently the wake worked! (Interview conducted on Feb. 24, 1939. For the source documents, see https://www.loc.gov/item/wpalh001939/)
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Cressman was Oregon’s real-life Indiana Jones
The most popular speculation — Vanity Fair magazine goes so far as to opine that he is “almost certainly” the basis for Jones — is Roy Chapman Andrews, a globe-trotting paleontologist and former director of the American Museum of Natural History.
Well, the fact is that Jones probably wasn’t based on any real person. Indy is the brainchild of George Lucas, the Star Wars guy. Lucas was a serious fan of pre-war pulp-magazine fiction, and the adventure pulps back in the day were full of characters like Indiana Jones.
But then again maybe he WAS based on a real person, because in the era Jones was set in, the real world was full of those characters too.
Oregon, too, has a couple candidates it could field as potential proto-Indiana Joneses.... (Fort Rock, Lake County; 1930s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/24-02.luther-cressman-oregons-indiana-jones-630.html) -
A long-gone gold town’s short but colorful past
This was the town where the Eastern Oregon Gold Rush of '61 got started, and it was a wild and lawless place; town ordinances did prohibit stabbing or shooting people “in public places,” but otherwise the town was mostly wide open. (Auburn, Baker County; 1860s, 1880s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1210a-auburn-wildest-mining-town-vanished.html)
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Ship owner’s offer of bonus led directly to shipwreck
On the bright side, though, the owner of the Desdemona did get to go down in history — or, rather, geography — after the deadly sandbar that took his ship was dubbed Desdemona Sands. (Columbia River Bar, Clatsop County; 1850s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1410c.309.desdemona-shipwreck.html)
Customer Reviews
Native Oregonian learning a bit more about “Gods Country.”
I came upon this podcast accidentally and love what I’ve heard so far… easy listen chock-full of informative Oregon history. Thank you from an appreciative Portlander now in Texas.
Informative, funny and adorable!
I just love this podcast. I binged every episode and look forward to the new ones. Finn is an amazing orator and storyteller who makes history fascinating. I came to this podcast during a very dark time in my life and it brought me a sense of joy and connection with my local history. It also inspires me artistically, for some reason. I get great inspiration from the tales of the past, and it connects me with the humanity that we all have no matter what century we reside in the great state of Oregon. Never stop, love it! In fact, I’d love to see a live show sometime!
Excellent mostly unknown stories of Oregon
Excellent, mostly unknown stories of Oregon