Offbeat Oregon History podcast

Offbeat Oregon History podcast


Latest Episodes

Mass murderer honored in courthouse monument
November 28, 2023

75 years ago, without realizing who he was, Wallowa County included Bruce Blue Evans leader of the gang that massacred dozens of innocent Chinese miners back in 1887 on a plaque...

Legendary ‘Chief Bigfoot’ was as elusive as, well, Bigfoot
November 27, 2023

1860s Bannock leader disappeared as mysteriously as he appeared, leaving behind nothing but frontier folklore and a trail of 17-inch-long moccasin prints...

Oregon Indian prince was Japan’s intro to the West
November 24, 2023

In his short 11-month stay on the island nation, he taught 14 Imperial diplomats to speak English, and impressed them with his gentility and respectfulness....

An unrecognized Indian prince’s quest to see Japan
November 23, 2023

Young Ranald MacDonald didn't know he was the grandson of Concomly, Chief of the Chinook Tribe. But before anyone could tell him, he'd run away to sea ...

Pilot boat’s entire crew mysteriously disappeared
November 22, 2023

Pilot boat sailed back and forth on the Columbia River Bar all day and all night before finally crashing onto the beach...

“Roaring 20s” murder solved by cop’s diligence
November 21, 2023

Caught by a railroad bull, the thief shot his way out and ran for it. But an accurate shot by the dying guard and some persistent police work brought the bad guy to justice...

Did L. Ron Hubbard battle Japanese subs off Astoria?
November 20, 2023

Pulp writer and religious figure L. Ron Hubbard figures prominently in the most spectacular story of action against Japanese submarines in Oregon waters. ...

Portland woman ran U.S. spy ring in World War II
November 17, 2023

SOMETIME IN 1943, during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, a group of more than 40 officers of the Imperial Japanese Navy strolled into Club Tsubaki, an exclusive gentlemens club in the hea

Fossil Lake: Oregon’s answer to the LaBrea Tar Pits
November 16, 2023

Discovered (sort of) by Oregon's first governor, the dry lakebed in south-central Oregon's Lake County is a gold mine of Ice Age fossils...

Astronaut left a piece of Oregon lava on the moon
November 15, 2023

When astronaut Jim Irwin came to Bend for lunar landing training in the lava rock of Oregon's 'moon country,' he made friends with a local resident...