Pittock Mansion: Haunted By Nice Ghosts
Wikimedia CommonsThough the ghosts of Pittock Mansion make their presence known, they’re happy to have visitors.
Most haunted houses in the United States bear the spiritual scar of past horrors. But the Pittock Mansion in Portland, Oregon, is a different story. The ghosts there are said to be fairly friendly.
Pittock Mansion was first constructed in 1909 by Henry and Georgiana Pittock. Already elderly, the wealthy Pittocks wanted a home for their retirement. Architect Edward T. Foulke designed them a beauty — a 46-room French Renaissance mansion overlooking the city below.
But by the time Pittock Mansion was completed in 1914, the Pittocks didn’t have much time left to enjoy it. Georgiana died in 1918, and Henry died a year later.
In death, however, the Pittocks seemed determined to stay at their mansion. After all, they’d hardly been able to enjoy it in life.
Glen Bledsoe/FlickrThe inside of the Pittock mansion includes oak-paneled cabinets, marble floors, and this elegant central staircase.
Today, the mansion is a historic site and open to the public. Visitors and workers alike have reported odd experiences that suggest the Pittocks stuck around in the afterlife. Most of these encounters happen in the upper stories of the house, where their bedrooms were located.
There, many people claim to have smelled rose perfume — as if Georgiana is passing through the room. Visitors have also heard footsteps throughout the house and insist that portraits of Henry Pittock sometimes move.
One visitor says that she saw a woman in a long dress. And a staff member recalled that one night after she had turned off all the lights and locked the mansion, every light in the house suddenly flared back on.
Visitors have even reported hearing the sound of shoveling and heavy footsteps outside. Some speculate that this is the groundskeeper doing his rounds. Like Henry and Georgiana, he lived and died in Pittock Mansion.
All in all, though, Henry and Georgiana Pittock seem like friendly ghosts. Though they make their presence known, they seem perfectly content to share their beautiful mansion with the public.
