Deep in the surrounding forest, a historic, six-story 1930s hotel overlooks a steep ravine. Wildlife skitter across a twisting road that winds up towards the Oregon Caves Hotel. Peaked wooden roofs, stained dark by rain and weather, jut up out of the trees like the witch’s house from Hansel and Gretel. Some say that the creaks and groans are just the results of an old building. Others insist that a jilted bride haunts the isolated spot. If you’re up for some wilderness scenery and deep, dark caves with a paranormal bed and breakfast experience, then book your next visit to the Oregon Caves Hotel.
The History
Built in 1934, the Chateau hotel is an old wooden building built like a dam across a steep creek bed. In fact, when you approach the hotel, it looks like a shorter structure, while in the back, the building rises six stories out of the ravine. With giant log beams, big rock fireplaces, and tree bark exterior walls, much of the building work was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The project, headed by Thomas Chalmers, Vint, wanted to create a sense of continuity between the hotel and the landscape surrounding it. Up until recently, you could explore the hotel’s namesake cave in the forested mountains near the River Styx. Hundreds of feet below ground level, the pale stalactites, trickle of an underground stream, and pure, stygian blackness when daylight fades and the forester turns off his flashlight are not for faint-hearted visitors.
The Haunting
The Oregon Caves Chateau is one of those paranormal hotspots that’s well off the beaten track. According to many visitors, it’s well worth the visit if you’re looking for supernatural spooks.
A young, blonde ghost dressed in blue haunts Room 310 in the hotel. While on her honeymoon at the rustic Chateau in the 1930s, Elizabeth caught her husband cheating with the chambermaid. Some say that she jumped out of her window on the third floor to her death in the ravine below. Others say that she confronted her husband. During an argument, he pushed her out the window.
Since then, night clerks and chambermaids have seen Elizabeth wander downstairs. According to them, she pulls the covers off the beds, scatters towels across the floors in locked rooms, and is heard crying in the downstairs linen closet. Elizabeth seems to target staff members and people who don’t believe that she exists. Some visitors report creaking noises that happen just as they fall asleep. Others have heard someone enter the room and start opening and closing drawers. One guest who stayed on the upper floor near the haunted room heard heavy, restless feet pacing back and forth overhead. A child is heard crying outside the window during the night. Would you dare to spend a night in the Chateau’s haunted Room 310?
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