I figured it’d be fun to check out some of the Haunt Jaunts along the Hood to Coast route since this is the big Hood to Coast Race weekend. (My husband flew to Portland yesterday to participate. He’s running on one of Lance Armstrong’s LiveStrong teams. One of his teammates sent me a picture of Wayne on the bus headed to the race start this morning. I figured this was a great place to share it!)

THE HOOD TO COAST RACE ROUTE

There are 36 legs along the 197 mile route. From start to finish, these are the cities and towns along or near the race route:

1. Timberline Lodge, Mt. Hood (race start)
2. Sandy
3. Portland
4. Scappoose
5. St. Helens
6. Mist
7. Clatskanie
8. Jewel
9. Olney
10. Astoria
11. Seaside (race finish)

HOOD TO COAST HAUNT JAUNTS BY CITY

I decided to list Jaunts alphabetically by city, rather than in the order they appear on the race route. I used The Shadowlands Haunted Places Index, StrangeUSA.com, and FindGhostTours.com to research the Jaunts.

ASTORIA

While the race doesn’t directly go through Astoria, it does get pretty close to it. Here’s the haunted places you can find there:

1. Flavel House Museum – a Victorian era house that’s now a museum
2. The Liberty Theater – 1920s vaudeville theater which is being restored and refurbished as a state-of-the-art performing arts center
3. The Goonies filming sites (Not a true Haunt Jaunt, but a kind of fun thing to do if you’re ever in the area. Plus, come 2010, the movie will celebrate its 25th anniversary. Sure to be a spot of some celebration and hoopla I’d imagine.)

CLATSKANIE

1. Scaponia Park (a Columbia County park)

Also, StrangeUSA.com reported some UFO accounts here.

MT. HOOD

1. Little Crater Lake in Mount Hood National Forest

PORTLAND

Holy crumb! I knew about Portland’s Shanghai Tunnels, but I had no idea it had so many Apparition Attractions, Eerie Eateries & Pubs, Spooky Stays, and Poltergeist Parks!

1. Cathedral Park
2. Burger King Downtown (707 W. Burnside St.)
3. ComedySportz
4. Glowing Green Miniature Golf
5. The Heathman Hotel
6. Hollywood Theatre
7. Kenilworth Park
8. Lotus Cardroom & Cafe
9. Oaks Park
10. Old Town Pizza
11. Pittock Mansion
12. Shanghai Tunnels
13. Tryon Creek State Park
14. White Eagle Saloon
15. Willamette River

Ghost tours include the Beyond Bizarre Paranormal Walking Tour and the Shanghai Tunnels Ghost Tours.

SANDY, SCAPPOOSE, SEASIDE AND ST. HELENS

I didn’t find mention of any Haunt Jaunts in these places, but StrangeUSA.com noted there had been some UFO reports in these areas. I called and warned Wayne he should keep an eye on the skies when he gets to these cities.

He won’t have time to check out any of the Haunt Jaunts in the other areas, but I’ll let you know if he happens to end up having any close encounters of the alien kind along the way.