The autumn equinox has passed. The harvest moon is waning. The chill that comes with the change of season is in the air.
If we need additional evidence that fall has arrived, the plethora of Halloween costumes, decoration and treats available in local stores eliminates all doubt. Here in Oregon, several unusual and freaky events have occurred that one suspects might have been influenced by the spooks and goblins that contribute to Halloween’s aura.
The Exploding Whale
Who among us can forget the strange events of November 1970 on the beaches near Florence? A 45-foot, eight-ton, male sperm whale carcass washed ashore on the central Oregon Coast. Not unexpectedly, a contingent comprised of media and curiosity seekers braved the cold winter air and nauseating stench to get a glimpse of the huge mammal. The Oregon Highway now known as the Oregon Department of Transportation, was given the task of disposing of the remains.
Because his bosses were on a deer-hunting trip, George Thornton was left in charge of whale disposal. Thornton and his underlings, after lengthy consultation and careful consideration, determined that dynamiting the whale would be the most efficient and effective method. Twenty cases (one ton) of dynamite were carefully placed on the leeward side of the deceased whale in hopes that the explosion would blow whale pieces into the sea.
Paul Linnman, a young reporter from Portland’s KATU-T, earned his 15 minutes of fame during this incident by being on scene with cameras rolling, giving viewers a play-by-play account of the once-in-a-lifetime event. Shortly after detonation, the crowd was forced to run for cover dodging chunks of odoriferous whale blubber raining from the skies.
A large piece of whale literally destroyed the brand new Oldsmobile Regency 98 belonging to Walter Umenhofer of Springfield when it flattened the roof in a parking lot more than a quarter of a mile distant. Umenhofer, in a newspaper interview, expressed doubt that his insurance company would believe the nature of his claim.
In a 30th anniversary follow-up story that appeared in 2000, The Register-Guard reported that highway division employee Thornton had once again refused their request for an interview. Thanks to the Internet, the story has not died. If you have any desire to relive that moment, just type “exploding whale” in your favorite search engine and numerous video feeds will become available.
The Waldport Motel Saga
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, crooner and former teen heartthrob Pat Boone owned an interest in a motel in the central coastal town of Waldport. The details of the relationship between Boone and the motel have been lost to history, but it must have been fairly significant because the establishment was known for a time as the Pat Boone Inn.
For several years, visitors to Waldport were greeted with a larger-than-life image of a smiling Pat Boone donned in a pink leisure suit from the marquee facing Highway 101. Subsequently, the establishment became known as the Bayshore Inn.
During the mid-1970s, a man named Marshall Applewhite paid a visit to the Bayshore Inn, which he and Bonnie Lu Trousdale Nettles used as a meeting place to recruit potential members to their group, Total Overcomers Anonymous.
They recruited about 20 followers, who traveled with them to eastern Colorado to await the visit of a flying saucer that was to carry them to the “Next Level.” After the spacecraft failed to appear, the group disappeared from public view for 20 years.
The group had changed their name by the time they made headlines in March 1997 as the Nike-clad Heaven’s Gate cult that committed mass suicide in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. as the means of joining a spacecraft they believed was concealed in the tail of the Hale-Bopp comet.
The Rise & Fall of Bayocean
In the mind and vision of Thomas Benton Potter, Bayocean was to be the “Atlantic City of the West.” In 1906, Potter’s son, Thomas Irving Potter, was vacationing at Tillamook Bay on the Oregon Coast when he shot a goose that fell dead on Tillamook Spit. When the younger Potter went to retrieve the bird, he was struck by the magnificent view.
Upon his return to Portland, he told his father about the location, and the two purchased the land and set out to create Bayocean. The town got its name from its physical surroundings; Tillamook Bay was to one side and the Pacific Ocean was to the other side. The spit was about a thousand feet long and half a mile across at its widest point.
By 1912, the town had developed sufficiently to open for business. A grand hotel, natatorium, dance pavilion, bowling alley, and cannery were among the early attractions, and almost 600 residential lots had been sold to private individuals. Several miles of concrete streets were constructed, while a diesel-powered generator furnished electricity to homes and businesses.
The town, originally accessed only by boat, became accessible by road in the 1920s, and the northwest coastal paradise appeared to have a prosperous future. However, by the late 1920s, the sand spit and the town started to slip into the ocean that began to wash away the sand upon which it had been built. During the 1930s and 1940s, many buildings had been washed away and those remaining were abandoned.
Winter storms during the early 1950s made the former town nearly inaccessible, and the post office closed in 1953. What little remained of the town was bulldozed in the 1970s after the remaining buildings had been declared a public hazard.
One of the few surviving structures is the Community Hall in Cape Meares which had served as Bayocean’s church and school building. Some oceanographic experts blame the town’s demise on construction of the north jetty in 1915-1917 and rebuilt during the 1930s. They claim that the jetty changed the ocean’s wave action so dramatically that it eroded the spit just to the south of town.
The spit has been rebuilding after the breakwater and south jetty were built in later years. No matter what the cause of Bayocean’s destruction, the once thriving town literally fell into the ocean, leaving nothing but a few memories.
Published 2007
It Happened in Oregon... 