Haunted Oregon: The Witch's Castle
This week’s Fun Fact is the tale of the Witch’s Castle, as reported in Tales from Haunted Oregon by Andy Weeks.
In 1850, a man named Danford Balch (Born in 1811 in Colrain, Massachusetts) filed a claim for land in Forest Park, which was just a forest at that time but is now a neighborhood in Portland. He built a little stone cabin on the property so that he, his wife Mary Jane, and his nine children could have shelter. Mr. Balch hired some help to construct his wee shack, and found a transient worker by the name of Mortimer Stump (brilliant name, by the way) to be well suited to the role. After the land was cleared and the cabin was built, Mr. Balch was kind enough to let Mr. Stump stuck around and live under his roof while he looked for more work.
Unfortunately, things soon turned sour as Mr. Stump, whose age is unknown, soon began a romance with Mr. Balch’s 15-year-old daughter, Anna. Eventually, the two decided to marry, as the feelings were allegedly mutual, but Mr. Balch understandably denied them his blessing, seeing as Mr. Stump was quite a bit older than Anna and had no financial prospects to boot. Mr. Balch went so far as to tell Mr. Stump that if he married his daughter behind his back, he would kill him. Mr. Stump did not take kindly to this refusal. Ignoring the warnings of Mr. Balch, the two ran away together to Northeast Portland, then prohibitively far away from Southwest. Mr. Balch became despondent for months and fell into heavy drinking.
Sometime later, in November of 1858, the newlyweds returned to downtown Portland for an unknown reason, and had an encounter with Mr. Balch and his wife. Running into each other on the Stark Street Ferry, Mr. Balch, after being goaded on by his wife, took his double-barreled shotgun and blasted Mortimer Stump in the face at point-blank range, killing him instantly. Mr. Balch was arrested at the scene of the crime, but managed to escape from the wooden jail cell while awaiting trial. Fleeing back to his land in the woods, he evaded authorities for a short while until he was caught by James Lappeus, the city marshal.
On October 17, 1859, Danford Balch was publicly hanged in the first legal instance of a hanging in Oregon. Before he died, however, he claimed his innocence on the grounds that his wife, Mary Jane, had placed a curse on him, which caused him to kill Mr. Stump. Not much is known about Mrs. Mary Jane, but she continued to live in their cabin in the woods for some time after Mr. Balch’s death, while the children continued to farm the land around. The cabin passed from owner to owner until it and the land was acquired by the city in 1897. In the 1950s, a ranger station with public restrooms was built near the ruins of the cabin, but was eventually abandoned. The location of the original cabin was lost, but the abandoned 1950s ranger station has appropriately spooky vibes, and is a tourist attraction to this day.
The site around the building, known as ‘The Witch’s Castle,’ has had many reports of supernatural occurrences, including, but not limited, to: floating lights; malpresences; suspicious shadows; and battles between ghosts of the Balch and Stump clans. The ghostly activities are said to be particularly present at midnight, although this is also the time when the local teenagers, hooligans, and vandals are also the most active, so be prepared.
Atlas Obscura recommends the following route to go to the Witch’s Castle, if the intrepid reader wishes to make the journey: “a half-mile hike from the Upper Macleay Parking lot near the Portland Audubon Society, or a slightly longer three-quarter mile jaunt starting from the Lower Macleay Parking lot at NW 30th and Upshur. One can take the Aspen trail to get there. A great way of accessing the trailhead is to walk up on Thurman Street.” It’s also on Google Maps, which shows a one-hour bus ride or a 25-minute drive from Reed and a short walk can take you there.