Offbeat Oregon History podcast

Offbeat Oregon History podcast

Author: www.offbeatoregon.com (finn @ offbeatoregon.com) Language: English Episodes: 184
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The Offbeat Oregon History Podcast is a daily service from the Offbeat Oregon History newspaper column. Each weekday morning, a strange-but-true story from Oregon's history from the archives of the column is uploaded. An exploding whale, a few shockingly scary cults, a 19th-century serial killer, several very naughty ladies, a handful of solid-brass con artists and some of the dumbest bad guys in the history of the universe. Source citations are included with the text version on the Web site at https://offbeatoregon.com.
Episodes
“Bear Grylls of the 1910s” had something to prove [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 13:25
Joe Knowles' wilderness-survival demonstration had been a huge success, and made him famous. But he'd been dogged by rumors that he cheated. Now, a continent away, he was going to redeem his reputation with a second try…
Even as a boy, Erector Set inventor larger than life [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 9:13
A.C. Gilbert was a practicing magician good enough to astonish Hermann the Great at age 7, a world-record-holding athlete at age 17, and a born salesman — in the best “win-win” sense of the word. (Salem, Marion County; 1…
How Oregon’s own ‘anti-Grinch’ saved Christmas [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 9:29
When Salem native Alfred Carlton Gilbert, inventor of the Erector Set, learned that government officials were going to cancel Christmas with their “Buy Bonds, Not Toys” campaign, he went to Washington to change their min…
Cali Gold Rush started by failed Oregon farmer [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 7:49
Had James Marshall stayed in Oregon for one more month, he likely never would have left; instead, he headed south and found gold. And the discovery led more or less straight to his ruin. (American River, Calif.; 1840s) (…
Lighthouse built 18 days too late for ship’s sailors [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 8:54
The construction crew had knocked off work for the night, and outside the building the blustery January weather raged. Then, over the roar of wind and surf, the crew heard a terrified voice from below shouting, “Hard apo…
The legendary lost Spanish gold of Neahkahnie Mountain [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 13:15
OREGON IS A state with more than its share of buried-treasure legends. But the one that gets the most attention, and until fairly recently attracted by far the most treasure hunters, is the lost Spanish gold of Neahkahni…
Oregon was scene of first recorded Soapy Smith con [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 11:33
The most famous con artist of the Old West started in Portland, then traveled throughout the state working the “marks” with his signature swindle. Fifteen years later, an Oregonian shot him in a gun fight in Skagway. (Po…
Oregon gold-country legend: The solid-gold snuff can [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 5:27
Is there anything to the story of the Native American man who came out of the woods every few years with a snuff can full of gold dust? Maybe. (McKenzie River valley; 1920s, 1930s) (For text and pictures, see https://off…
Bungled robbery-murder was solved ‘CSI’-style [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 8:52
College professor's forensic investigation fingered the DeAutremont Brothers in the brutal robbery; after a years-long manhunt, and more than 2 million “wanted” posters, they were caught. But we still don't know the full…
‘Last great train robbery’ was brutal, clumsy fiasco (part 1 of 2) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 10:20
After several other attempts to get into the crime business didn't work out for them, the DeAutremont brothers came up with a plan to rob a train at the summit of the Siskiyous. It did not go well — for anyone involved.…

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