Dark Destinations - Jantzen Beach SuperCenter

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Jantzen Beach SuperCenter

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Availability:	Open to the Public
Filed Under:	Paranormal Hot Spots Theme Attractions > Dark Rides
Added By:	TheCabinet
Added On:	October 25, 2008 - 11:57 PM UTC
Last Modified:	October 26, 2008 - 06:34 PM UTC
Your Rating:	Sign in to add your rating
Average Rating:	5 (1 ratings)
Visited By:	1 Users

Address
1405 Jantzen Beach Center, Portland, OR 97217, USA (Portland, Oregon)

Information
Jantzen Beach SuperCenter This mall is located on Hayden Island in Portland, Oregon and is home today to a popular Halloween haunted attraction, as well as a vintage 1921 carousel, which many believe is home to a pair of ghosts. The mall officially opened in 1972, but before that the land had been home to a popular amusement park. Coney Island of the West In 1927, entrepreneurs William A. Logus and Leo F. Smith purchased 40-acres of Hayden Island property from the Portland Electric Power company for an estimated sum of $40,000. The duo had recently formed the Hayden Island Amusement Company with plans to develop a full-fledged amusement resort and tourist park. In order to proceed, their corporation had to erect a dike to protect the island from flooding from the nearby Columbia River and approached investors in order to shore up funds to make their dream a reality. The group approached Carl Jantzen, one of the three co-founders of the Jantzen Knitting Mills and inventor of the immensely popular Jantzen swimming suit, to invest in their project. It is said that Jantzen saw the opportunity to create a lasting promotion for his company and agreed to donate the funds. With the funds to complete the project, the group opened the Jantzen Beach Amusement Park on May 26, 1928. It is reported that the park attracted 15,000 visitors on the first day, only to be topped by 25,000 the very next day. The amusement park officially was up and running. The Jantzen Beach Amusement Park continued to expand over the years, ultimately covering over 123 acres on the northern-side of the island. The park quickly gained notoriety for its attraction dubbed The Big Dipper; a wooden roller coaster that was designed by Carl Phare and was world-renowned as the biggest and the best roller coaster in the west. In addition to The Big Dipper, the park featured a smaller-steel roller coaster, funhouse, carousel (see below), four Olympic-sized swimming pools, Ferris wheel, Venetian Canal ride, and much, much more. The park quickly grew the reputation of being the most up-to-date amusement park on the West Coast and even earned the moniker of the "Coney Island of the West." However, the popularity of the park would ultimately peak in the 1940s and suffer a series of blows that would ultimately shut it down for good. The Vanport Flood As the city of Vanport was erected nearby in 1943, the park immediately saw a surge of business from the residents that lived in close proximity. Vanport was hastily assembled to provide housing for workers from nearby wartime shipyards and the population quickly surged as high as 40,000, making it the second largest city in Oregon at the time. However, as World War II came to a close, many of the workers left the area and the population dropped to around 18,500. On May 13, 1948, a 200-foot section of the dike built to protect Vanport from the Columbia River suddenly burst after a steep rise in water levels. Water rushed into the new city as its residents scrambled to higher ground. By nightfall, the city was underwater and 15 lives had been lost. The city was completely destroyed. The flood spared the Jantzen Beach Amusement Park, but its attendance took a major hit from the loss of the city's former residents who had moved to other parts of Portland. As it turned out, the attendance numbers would never again reach pre-flood levels as the park suffered a series of other setbacks. The End By the 1950s, traffic had become fairly congested on the I-5 Interstate Bridge next to Hayden Island that connected Oregon with Washington. As result, the Highway Division decided to construct a matching span that would separate the northbound from the southbound traffic. In order for them to pay for the construction, they were forced to collect tolls from the traffic that crossed the bridge. The new span was completed in 1960 and tolls would be collected until 1966. However, the toll costs and emergence of tollbooth traffic jams took its own toll on the Jantzen Beach Amusement Park. Residents across the Columbia in Vancouver, Washington now had an added deterrent in visiting the park and the long northbound traffic lines made it harder for Oregon residents to get to the park. On March 29, 1960, a major fire wiped out the Old Dutch Mill and the Fun House on the West Promenade of the park. Combined with the typically wet weather of the Portland area, a fatality on the Big Dipper, the popularity of television and movies, and emerging competition throughout the city, the park's numbers continued to decline. Perhaps ironically, as the revenue of the park decreased, the commercial value of the property increased - making it an attractive location for a shopping mall. The end came on Labor Day of 1970 when the Jantzen Beach Amusement Park closed its doors for good. With the exception of the carousel (see below), the rides were quickly sold off and the buildings were demolished. Interestingly enough, the water pumps that were used for the four swimming pools were converted to public-use and today pump drinking water to the residents of Hayden Island. However, the rest was removed and construction began on a brand-new shopping mall. The 1921 C.W. Parker Carousel The lone surviving ride from the days of the amusement park is the 1921 carousel designed by renowned carousel designer and innovator, Charles W. Parker. His so-called "Jumping Horse Carry-Us-All" revolutionized the industry and is widely recognized today as one of the most popular riding devices in the country. Contrary to popular rumor, this particular carousel was not designed for the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. It was built in 1921 in Leavenworth, Kansas and legend states that inmates at nearby United States Penitentiary even carved some of the horses. It was purchased by the J. A. Ellis Amusement Company to operate on the Venice Amusement Pier in California. It would operate there until 1924. There are two accounts of why it left the park. One account has the carousel nearly dodging destruction in a fire that wiped out several nearby rides on January 6, 1924, which did in fact burn a Dentzel carousel. The other account has the C.W. Parker Company repossessing the carousel in 1924 after Ellis failed to make payments. Either way, it was forced into storage in Long Beach for four years before it was shipped to the Jantzen Beach Amusement Park in 1928. The C.W. Parker Carousel (or Jantzen Beach Carousel as it is often known) consists of 72 different "jumper" horses (with more horses in storage) at four rows across. It is lit by an amazing 1,350 lights and consists of 286 mirrors. The base is a large 67-foot diameter that can travel up to ten miles an hour on the outside steeds, making it the largest and fastest ride still in operation. Interestingly enough, the hand-carved horses are worth more if they were removed and sold individually than if the carousel were sold as a whole. When the Jantzen Beach Amusement Park closed down in 1970, the developers decided to include the carousel in the new mall. In order to move the 20-ton machine before the demolition crews moved in, workers were forced to work day and night to disassemble and move it within 14 days. Through their efforts and over $300,000 of renovations, the carousel was ready to make its reappearance on September 28, 1972 when the Jantzen Beach SuperCenter finally opened its doors. The carousel would gain worldwide notoriety in 1976 when 14-year-old Dana Dover would participate in a charity marathon and ride the machine for 311 hours and 17 minutes. The nearly 13-day ride would place her and the machine in the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest merry-go-round ride at the time. In 1987, the C.W. Parker Carousel would receive the honor of being placed on the National Register of Historic Places. After the mall changed hands in 1995, the carousel was moved to a new food court and underwent another $500,000 worth of renovations. At this time, part of its history was rediscovered. On the horse dubbed "Hector," the restoration efforts uncovered a symbol on the horse's saddle that had been removed at some point. At the time of its construction in 1921, the symbol has been used throughout the world as a positive reinforcement of power, prosperity, strength, and good luck. That would change in the 20th Century when the German Nazi Party formerly adopted the symbol and the swastika would forever have a negative connotation. It had been removed from the horse and forgotten after World War II, but it was decided to restore the symbol since it had been originally based on Native American art. The restoration was met by negative public reaction however, so the management ultimately decided to pull "Hector" from the carousel permanently and moved it to a display case that explains its history. The Haunting of the Carousel While well known and loved throughout the Portland-area, the C.W. Parker Carousel is also starting to gain yet another reputation. Various people who have visited and/or rode the carousel have reported the strange account of seeing two small children playing in the center of the machine. The strange thing is that the boy and girl are seen wearing clothing that dates back to the 1920s and were only ever noticed when the door shielding off the machinery was open. Even stranger, the two children were typically seen playing inside the machinery room or simply staring out at the passing riders. Reportedly on occasion, the children even spoke to other children on the ride, sometimes asking them to come play with them and/or telling them that they had been hurt and could now never leave the carousel. Yet another visitor reported seeing the children stop playing at times and look in a particular area as if trying to find someone. It is worth noting that the various staff members over the years have never been able to confirm the stories or note a sighting themselves. Interestingly, the sightings seem to be mostly reported by children, though an occasional adult has also detailed their encounter. Historians have investigated the history of the carousel, but no one has been able to turn up an account of any fatalities or even any serious injuries. Regardless, the stories have continued to grow to the point where the carousel has even been incorporated into the annual Halloween haunted attraction, Scream at the Beach, at the Jantzen Beach SuperCenter. The Future of the Carousel Despite its history and sole-connection to the Jantzen Beach Amusement Park of old, the future of the C.W. Parker Carousel is currently unknown. In September of 2007, it was announced that the carousel would be moved within two years to the Portland's Children Museum. The Jantzen Beach SuperCenter is slated for partial demolition and extensive remodeling to modernize the mall. The plan was to minimize the mall to keep down maintenance costs, which would leave the carousel exposed to the elements. As such, the mall officials decided to donate the historic carousel to the museum for free. Since the museum has no existing structure that can house the large machine, they announced they would need to raise $2 million in order to build a new structure to house it. However, since this report was filed, there have been no further updates issued. The Location Today As of right now, the carousel is still housed at the Jantzen Beach SuperCenter and is a regular part of the site's Halloween haunted attraction, Scream at the Beach. For a minimal price, visitors can take the four-minute ride on the carousel and look into the ghost stories for themselves during regular business hours. For more information, please visit the site below.

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Related Sites
C.W. Parker Carousel History History of the Jantzen Beach Amusement Park and SuperCenter, including information on the reputedly haunted 1921 carousel inside the mall.
The Ghosts of North Portland A site dedicated to the ghost stories of northern area of the city of Portland, Oregon - including the stories of the reputedly haunted carousel found at the Jantzen Beach SuperCenter.
Scream at the Beach The official Web site for the Halloween haunted attraction located in Portland, Oregon.

Similar Destinations
The A.L. Luetgert Sausage & Packing Company
Tennessee State Capitol
Walt Disney World - Haunted Mansion

See Also on TheCabinet.com
Blog: Scream at the Beach and a Haunted Carousel (10/27/08)
Blog: The Ghost Children of the Jantzen Beach Carousel (03/29/09)

Available from Amazon.com
Ghosts Among Us: True Stories of Spirit Encounters
Secret Portland (Oregon): The Unique Guidebook to Portland's Hidden Sites, Sounds, & Tastes (Secret Guide series)

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Images

A Halloween sign outside the reportedly haunted Jantzen Beach Carousel - October 2008.
From: TheCabinet

Rearing Horse on the C.W. Parker Carousel

One of the 72 horses found on the reputedly haunted carousel - October 2008.
From: TheCabinet

The Haunted Carousel During Scream at the Beach

The reportedly haunted carousel decked out for Halloween and Scream at the Beach - October 2008.
From: TheCabinet

One of the many designs that line the top of the reputedly haunted carousel - October 2008.
From: TheCabinet

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The above content is for informational purposes only. Before making any travel arrangements, it is highly recommended that you contact those in charge of the property to check for updated availability and hours of operation. While we do our best to keep this information updated, we cannot guarantee that it is completely valid and up to date. Any destination marked "Closed to the Public" is marked that for a reason and we discourage any visits or attempts to gain access to that facility. Similarly, take note of any "Travel Advisory" that may be associated with a destination. Finally, treat any location and its local residents with respect. Any vandalism and/or unruly behavior is completely despicable and only ruins the experience for future visitors.

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