The White Eagle Saloon: One of the Most Haunted Places in Portland, Oregon

The White Eagle Saloon, located at 836 N. Russell St., is one of the most haunted places in Portland, Oregon. It is also one of the many small venues here in Portland that have become world famous for presenting such musical icons as ZZ Top, Robert Cray, The Holy Modal Rounders, Big Walter Horton, The Isley Brothers and a veritable plethora of other greats over the years.

The White Eagle was built in Portland's Albina district in 1905. Opened by two Polish immigrants, Barney Soboleski and William Hryszko, to offer other Polish immigrants a place of after-work recreation: pool, cigars, poker, liquor, beer, etc., according to the lore, with the right connection and proper amount of money, patrons could also indulge in a brothel upstairs or an opium den downstairs.

The downstairs was also a notorious location because it connected the White Eagle to the tunnels of Portland's underground. This massive labyrinth is one of Portland's ugliest and little known secrets. The underground tunnels of Portland were the forced home and thoroughfares for Portland's large population of Chinese immigrants. It is rumored that many a drunken patron became shanghaied through these subterranean passageways and would ultimately find
himself to be an unwitting crewmember of an ocean going vessel already at sea upon sobering up.

Conductors on the trolley that used to stop at Russell street would announce, "Next stop, 'Bucket of Blood," a nickname the White Eagle had earned due to the numerous fierce and frequent brawls that erupted in and around it.

There are hundreds of stories about the supernatural happenings that make The White Eagle one of the most haunted places in Portland. Having grown up in Portland, I cut my teeth, so-to-speak as a musician, by sitting in with as many great blues players as I could any time they would let me. It was after the gigs when I heard the best tales of the apparition of a man that walked down to the basement every night after closing, or about the crying ghost of a former prostitute who had been killed in what used to be the brothel upstairs.

One night a friend and I were at the White Eagle and it was just before closing time. We had had enough tequila that we were convinced that it was a good idea to try to get the owner at that time to let us stay upstairs in the abandoned rooms of the old brothel. After everyone else had gone home, we offered him a cool $200.00 to let us take a video camera upstairs and stay for the night. He said, "No," and wouldn't budge.

He told us a story about how he and a partner had been upstairs one night after they had first bought the place. They were beginning to remodel the rooms. He said that weird things had been going on all that evening, but at one point, while he and his partner sat in the main hallway eating sandwiches, all of the eight doors that opened into the hallway opened at the very same exact moment. He said that the two of them were quite stunned and sat there for a moment - long enough to hear the plaintiff wail of a woman come from a room at the end of the hall. He said that they got the hell out of there and never went back. He and his partner had locked off the area.

My buddy and I laughed the entire matter off and tried to offer him another $100.00 to let us up there anyway, but he was adamant. It was at that point that we paid our tab and made ready to leave. We both paused for a moment before we got off of our stools and cocked our heads to better hear what sounded like a mournful sort of "Boo-hoo-hooing", or sobbing coming from the south side of the bar where the stage was. We walked over in the direction of the sound, and when we got to the stage, we both looked up. The sound was obviously coming from the floor above. As we stood there motionless looking upward, there came the distinct sounds of heeled shoes walking back and forth across a distance of about ten or twelve feet. We immediately accused our friend, the owner, of having sent someone upstairs, but he became more serious than ever and said, "That is why I won't let anyone up there. It has been locked off for a couple of years now, and I hear that crap all of the time."

Right then we heard a thud come from the stairway that goes down to the basement. We demanded to know who else was still in the bar. The owner's face was very pale as he slowly answered that we were the only ones still there. He said, " I have to use the basement. I don't have any choice. Usually, the only activity from down there is the apparition of old Barney. You can't go upstairs, but I would sure be grateful if the two of you would help me take a couple of chairs and an empty keg downstairs tonight."

There is nothing like the mournful sound of a dead hooker crying that can sober a couple of idiots up in a flash. We were already at the front door when our friend offered us $50.00 to give him a hand. We never asked him again and the bar changed hands shortly thereafter.

When it comes to the most haunted places in Portland, Oregon, The White Eagle Saloon should be at the top of any ghost hunter's list of must see places. The good news is, The White Eagle has recently been remodeled top to bottom and the upstairs is open as a themed hotel. Sweet dreams.
The White Eagle