Offbeat Oregon History podcast

Offbeat Oregon History podcast


Latest Episodes

What really happened to D.B. Cooper? Pick a theory
February 24, 2023

For more than 40 years, amateurs and pros alike have put forward dozens of theories, many quite plausible and backed with some evidence. But ...

The hunt for D.B. Cooper: Searching for the drop zone
February 23, 2023

The hunt for the man who called himself Dan Cooper started just hours after he disappeared into the night sky with a bag of $20 bills tied to his waist....

D.B. Cooper deplanes: Getting away with the loot
February 22, 2023

After demanding four parachutes and a knapsack of $20 bills, the legendary anonymous skyjacker disappeared into the night sky over southwest Washington with $200,000...

D.B. Cooper skyjacking legend started at PDX
February 21, 2023

History's only unsolved hijacking drama started at Portland International Airport...

Oregon's first newspaper, the “Flumgudgeon Gazette,” was written out long
February 20, 2023

Most people think the first paper was the Oregon Spectator, but

Blum-Dunbar gang smuggled opium into Portland by the shipload
February 17, 2023

NEARLY 50 YEARS ago, the Good Friday Earthquake changed Alaska forever. It killed nine people and slammed the West Coast with tsunamis that killed 122 more, including four in Oregon. It did something

Did Oregon miss a chance to catch the Zodiac Killer?
February 16, 2023

At the scene of a notorious double-murder of young lovers Larry Peyton and Beverly Allan, police paid little attention to Edward W. Edwards and soon eliminated him as a suspect. But

Columbia River was a wild, frothy, dangerous place once
February 15, 2023

It was known for spectacular scenery, enormous waterfalls and whitewater stretches, and phenomenal fishing...

The original floating bordello of 1880s Portland
February 14, 2023

Riverboat-brothel operator Nancy Boggs took customers from both sides of the river, paid no liquor taxes to City Hall...

Ka-Ton-Ka was Oregon’s own patent remedy...sort of
February 13, 2023

In the mid-1870s, a fast-talking East Coast hustler teamed up with a famous half-Native Indian scout to cash in on his fame with a line of dodgy faux-Indian patent remedies...