Friday, August 14, 2009

They Went Out, but They Didn't Come Back

The Maritime Memorial Park in Astoria, Oregon was consecrated on this date (August 14, 1993) to pay tribute to the local lives that spent their careers at sea - some of which, never came home. Located directly under the Astoria-Megler Bridge (featured in such films as The Goonies, Free Willy, Kindergarten Cop, and The Ring Two), the wall of remembrance is chalked full of stories of the dangerous and sometimes interesting life of sailors and crews that work the open water. Among those featured are the crew of the U.S.S. Astoria (lost in World War II), the coast guard and merchants that were lost where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean (see Mouth of the Columbia River), and a captain of a halibut fishing vessel who freely spoke of his encounters with a large sea monster (nicknamed Colossal Claude locally, but known worldwide as Cadborosaurus or Caddy). The memorial was a filming location for the upcoming horror film, Crimps, by local filmmaker Mick Alderman.

Read about their accounts at Dark Destinations.

-Casey H.

2 comments:

Chris 'Frog Queen' Davis said...

Cool, I have been there. Neat town full of all kinds of ghost stories. I believe one of the locals wrote I book. I have it, I will see if I can find it and post the name for you if you want to look up more haunted places in that location.

Thanks for sharing!

Cheers!

Dark Destinations said...

Hi Frog Queen,

Thanks for the note (and all of your notes to our blog)! Jefferson Davis wrote a great book on the ghosts and legends of Astoria. I actually picked up a copy after my stay at the reputedly haunted Officer's Inn B&B, which is always interesting to read about the ghosts after you have stayed there - The owners had given me a good tour for my article on Dark Destinations, but it was great to read what Davis had found as well. He's written a number of fantastic books about Oregon, Washington, and the Pacific Northwest and I highly recommend him!

Best,
-Casey H.