The 2002 Ghost Hunting Trip
It started out as Eric's idea. Sometime in 2000, he told me about this abandoned 1930's sanitarium out in Eastern Oregon that'd be great fun to explore.
Then, while out in Baker City this spring, I bought a little book called Ghosts of Times Past: A Roadtrip of Eastern Oregon Ghost Towns. The book laid out a bunch of simple ghost town tours. One of them was within striking distance of Baker, and looked like fun. Plus, the sanitarium was handy--about thirty miles out of Baker. I mentioned this to Eric, and he was gung-ho. Later, we invited Jerry Oltion along. Near the end of July, these two and Victoria and I struck out down I-84, looking, I jokingly said, for ghosts.
And damned if we didn't find a couple.
One was Pug, the comedy actor and antique machinery museum operator, who was fondly remembered for us by his wife Mary. The other, which we found at Hot Lake, was a little more mysterious-- at least, until I looked at a print of the photo and saw that it was merely one of the strippers. Her features were obliterated by the one-hour-photo place's crappy scan.
There's lots of other non-ghostly pictures here, including some shots of an old mining town, some nice landscapes from way, way up, a huge old incinerator, and two Great War-era steam tractors. Or, if you'd like to experience the trip as we saw it, you can use the links below, which will lead you through the 2002 Ghost Tour in chronological order.
Day 1
More Shades of Brown Than Are Dreamt of In Your Philosophy
Day 2
Pug's Beautiful Old Steam and Horse
Day 3
