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I recently heard there used to be a mall at Jantzen Beach with an old-fashioned carousel. According to the story, long ago there was an accident and some of the kids riding the carousel got killed. After that, the place was supposedly haunted, with ghostly kids in old-timey clothing occasionally spotted nearby. Is there anything to this? —Crumb Lord
Depends on your definition of “anything,” Lord. Is it true that a story like the one you describe has been circulating for many years? Sure. Is it true that the actual ghosts of mangled Jazz Age tots are, even to this day, flitting between Target and Home Depot to the haunting strains of the X-Files theme? Color me unconvinced.
First, some background: There really was a carousel at Jantzen Beach Center, which used to be an actual enclosed, ‘80s-teen-movie mall, not a giant parking lot surrounded by big-box stores that some people still call a mall even though it obviously isn’t. The real mall was built in 1972. Most of it was torn down in 1996, but a stub that included the food court and the carousel remained standing until 2012.
The carousel itself was a holdover from the previous Jantzen Beach Amusement Park, at one time the largest amusement park on the West Coast. When the park opened in 1928, the carousel, a stunning four-abreast C.W. Parker “Superior Park” model, was one of its main attractions.
As ghost story origins go, “prewar amusement park” has a lot more pizazz than “1980s mall food court,” so it’s no surprise the ghost children in question—supposedly a boy and a girl between 5 and 10—are invariably described as wearing 1920s garb rather than, say, parachute pants and leg warmers.
Unfortunately for ghost hunters, however, there’s no record of any fatal accidents involving the carousel. One person did perish on the park’s roller coaster, but that victim was fully 16 years old and the accident happened in 1959. (No sightings of a crew-cut teenage specter in a varsity jacket have been reported.)
After 2012, the carousel was dismantled and placed in storage. For several years, it was thought to be lost, but it has since resurfaced in the custody of the National Neon Sign Museum in The Dalles. They’re hoping to have the carousel open to the public by 2028, just in time for its 100th Oregon anniversary. Dust off those Ouija boards!
Questions? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com.