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For ex-spy Claire Phillips, fame was fleeting but her PTSD was not (Part 2 of 2)

For ex-spy Claire Phillips, fame was fleeting but her PTSD was not (Part 2 of 2)

Author: www.offbeatoregon.com (finn @ offbeatoregon.com) July 14, 2026 Duration: 9:06
Offbeat Oregon History podcast
HistoryCulturePlacesSocietySociety & CultureTravel
AFTER THE WAR, Claire Phillips was hailed as a hero. Even before she was back in North America, her hometown newspaper was singing her praises. Soon afterward, Reader’s Digest picked up the story and spread it nationwide. She wrote a memoir of her war activities, Manila Espionage, and it was published in 1947. The following year, at Fort Lewis, Gen. Mark Clark presented her with the Medal of Freedom, America’s highest award for a civilian. The accolades kept coming... until suddenly, one day, they didn't. (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/23-09.high-pockets-the-spymaster-625.html)

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.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 50

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Atlantis in Oregon: The underwater lost cities [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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The rising waters of lakes and reservoirs have submerged many budding Oregon metropolises over the years, from tiny one-horse towns to an entire Native American homeland. (Klamath, Baker, Lane, Wasco County) (For text an…
Grisly slasher murder still baffling a century later (2 of 2) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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AS PORTLAND DISTRICT Attorney Walter Evans and his team ramped up their case against Louise Agee, the tone of the newspaper coverage got darker and darker. At one point The Oregonian quotes prosecutors and investigators…
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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 — who gave him a sliver of Oregon lava to leave on the moon's surface. A…
Beavercreek Bomber: Pay $1 million or out go the lights [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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Calling himself “J. Hawker,” David Heesh dynamited several high-voltage powerline towers, then threatened to keep it up unless ransom was delivered; the FBI busted him using a CB radio trick. (Beavercreek, Clackamas Coun…
Pilot boat’s entire crew mysteriously disappeared [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 8:31
Pilot boat sailed back and forth on the Columbia River Bar all day and all night before finally crashing onto the beach; when onlookers ran to rescue the sailors, they found the boat empty and deserted. (Columbia River B…
Oregon had its own 'Tiger King,' only ours was worse (Part 1 of 2) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 11:11
He also had changed the name of his operation to Siletz Game Ranch — most likely “Oregon Coast Safari” was too similar to the name of West Coast Game Park Safari, the walk-through petting zoo near Bandon. But then, in Se…
Iconic movies filmed in Oregon, Part 3: 1975-1989 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 10:12
As a filming location, Oregon really started to come into its own in the 1980s, and many locals can point to key cultural touchstones that played out right in their home towns. (Deschutes, Clackamas, Lane, Clatsop, and M…
Iconic movies filmed in Oregon, Part 2: 1965-1975 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 9:57
By the early 1960s, word started getting out in Hollywood about Oregon's virtues as a place to shoot on location. Productions made here during these eventful years follow changes in popular culture in an almost spooky wa…

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