Oregon isn’t just forests and craft beer. It’s also home to whispered rituals, mysterious architecture, and a few cults that slipped under the national radar.

This week on Same Crime, Different Time, we explore: A rumored Bigfoot-worshipping group at Cultus Lake The eerie Temple of Oculus Anubis An Oregon-linked Mother God cult La Luz del Mundo’s Oregon branch

Why here? Why these groups? And what turns belief into control? Grab your hiking boots and your boundary-setting skills. This one gets weird.

This week on Same Crime, Different Time, we’re doing something a little special. We’re stepping back into the pages of my own book, Murder & Mayhem in the Willamette Valley, to revisit one of the most chilling figures in Oregon’s early criminal history: Norman “Snake” Brooks.

Brooks earned his nickname not for stealth, but for the venom he left in his wake.

In the chapter we read today, we explore the crimes that rattled the Willamette Valley, and the complicated legacy Snake left behind. Whether you’ve read the book or this is your first introduction, Brooks’s story is a haunting reminder that the past isn’t as quiet as we like to think.

You can listen to the full episode and hear the chapter in my own voice, right here. Thank you, as always, for supporting Oregon history and the stories that shaped it… even the ones that make us shiver.

In the summer of 2000, 15-year-old Leah Freeman vanished from Coquille, Oregon. Her body was found weeks later. What followed was a decade-long investigation, a controversial conviction, and finally a historic exoneration—but the real killer remains unknown.

On this episode of Same Crime, Different Time, we unpack the cold case that shocked a small town, the forensic oversights, and the human cost of injustice.

Listen now and join the conversation about truth and the fight for justice.

Rain, a quiet street, a glass of wine left half full.On March 6, 2009, Nancy Kareen Moyer vanished from her Tenino, Washington home. For 16 years, the question has lingered: what happened to Nancy?

In this week’s episode of Same Crime, Different Time, I walk through the case, the evidence, and the heartbreak of a mystery that refuses to rest.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts.#TrueCrime #ColdCase #NancyMoyer #PacificNorthwestMystery #SameCrimeDifferentTime

Ever wondered what it’s like to stand in a place where the laws of physics seem to bend? The Oregon Vortex, nestled in Gold Hill, Oregon, offers just that experience. From brooms standing on end to the eerie sensation of shrinking or growing, this roadside attraction has baffled visitors since 1930.

But is it magic, science, or just a clever illusion? Join us as we delve into the history, science, and legends of the Oregon Vortex.

Sources & Citations

“Oregon Vortex (House of Mystery).” The Oregon Encyclopedia. Oregon Encyclopedia+1“Inside The Baffling Phenomena Surrounding The Oregon Vortex And House Of Mystery.” Kathryn Olvera, All That’s Interesting, August 8 2022. All That’s Interesting“The Oregon Vortex Phenomenon: What’s Really Going On?” IFLScience, December 21 2023. Science Times“The Oregon Vortex and House of Mystery — Roadside America.” Roadside America“Scientific Info — The Oregon Vortex and location of the House of Mystery.” The Oregon Vortex official site. Oregon Vortex“History | Gold Hill Oregon.” City of Gold Hill Community history page. cityofgoldhill.gov“The Origins of the Oregon Vortex.” PortlandGhosts.com.Portland Ghosts

There are places where the walls remember. At the Oregon State Hospital in Salem, history lingers, in the scent of disinfectant, the echo of closing doors, the quiet weight of all that was once forgotten.

Built in 1883, this was Oregon’s first asylum. It was a monument to both care and confinement. Here, generations lived and died under the label of “insane.” Many were buried without names, and thousands more left behind no trace at all. That was, until the 2004 discovery of a locked room filled with over 3,500 copper urns.

This week on Same Crime, Different Time, we explore:

* The hospital’s dark legacy and the lives it contained

* The “Room of Cremains” and the scandal it unearthed

* Ken Kesey’s time as a night orderly, and how One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest grew from the hospital’s haunted halls

* The enduring reports of footsteps, shadows, and whispers that refuse to fade

This isn’t just a ghost story — it’s an echo of the way we once treated the vulnerable, and a reminder that some spirits don’t rest until they’re seen.

Sources:

“The Oregon State Hospital, 1883–2008” (American Journal of Psychiatry) Psychiatry Online“Oregon State Hospital: Beyond One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (OregonDiscovery) Oregon Discovery“The Flight Home: The Museum of Mental Health Memorial” (Oregon Historical Society blog) Oregon Historical Society+1“Haunted Salem – Willamette Heritage Center” Willamette Heritage Center“Haunted Story of Oregon State Hospital — Salem” (Medium) Medium“TIL that there’s a room in the basement of Oregon State Hospital …” (Reddit thread) Reddit“Oregon Film Tour: ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’” (Travel Oregon) Travel OregonWikipedia: “Oregon State Hospital”Wikipedia+1

Note: I had planned an episode on the infamous killers Jeanace Freeman/Gertrude Jackson. I wrote the episode, recorded it, and realized it was just not what I wanted to amplify. I think deeply about the things I share, and the horror of that one got to me. In replacement, a seasonal ghostly episode for you instead.

In Portland’s Oaks Amusement Park, the laughter never really stops—even after closing time.

Since 1905, this riverside park has survived fires, floods, and a century of Oregon weather. It’s seen thousands of skaters glide across its century-old rink, and more than a few claim they weren’t alone. Visitors tell of various ghosts, the sound of unseen children playing on the midway, and rides that start on their own.

In this week’s episode of Same Crime, Different Time, we dig into the park’s history, its survival through the 1948 flood, and the legends that refuse to fade. We’ll also explore another couple of Oregon’s amusement parks, and why parks make perfect haunted landscapes. They’re where joy and terror share the same track.

Listen to Haunted Midways now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you haunt your favorite shows. Download your own Haunted Midways: Write Your Ghost-y Amusement Park Story here, as a free bonus!

In August 1985, the tiny town of Mineral, Washington, nestled in the shadow of Mount Rainier, was jolted awake by a murder that has never been solved.

First one member of the household was found dead. It would take months to find the other half of the couple, who were slain with no obvious motive. Just horror, silence, and a community left in fear.

The police searched. No clues bore fruit. Then another couple disappeared while camping. Their daughter was found, days later, forty miles away. Then another case was posssibly linked to the disappearances.

Forty years later, the Mineral murders remain one of Washington State’s darkest mysteries.

In this week’s episode of Same Crime, Different Time, I dive into what happened that winter night, explore the theories investigators considered, and why this case still haunts the foothills of the Cascades.

Whether it was a stranger passing through, some weird coincidences, or a seral killer, these people’s loved ones deserve answers. If you have any information about any of these cases, please contact the Lewis Clounty Washington’s Cold Case task force or email me so I can pass it on.

Oregon and Washington are among the top 10 most dangerous states in the U.S. That’s the headline. But the story behind it is even darker.

In this week’s Same Crime, Different Time, we look beyond the numbers to ask:

* Why did the Pacific Northwest see such a high concentration of serial killers in the ’70s and ’80s?

* Did pollution from smelters poison a generation, as Caroline Fraser argues in Murderland?

* How did California’s highways and hitchhiking culture create opportunities for predators like the Zodiac, the Golden State Killer, and the Hillside Stranglers?

* And what toxins—social, cultural, or chemical—are we still breathing in today?

🎧 Listen to the full episode above

#TrueCrime #PacificNorthwest #CaliforniaCrime #Podcast #Murderland

Sources

* “Pacific Northwest States Oregon and Washington Among Top 10 Most Dangerous in U.S.” — 610 KONA News, Aug. 2025.

* Caroline Fraser, Murderland: The Toxic Legacy of the Pacific Northwest’s Serial Killer Era (2025).

* Washington Post, “Review: Murderland by Caroline Fraser,” June 2025.

* Seattle Times, “Women Missing Along the Green River—Police Puzzled,” Aug. 1982.

* Oregon Journal, “Police Say Runaways Likely To Return Home Soon,” 1974.

* San Francisco Chronicle, multiple issues, 1969–1971 (coverage of Zodiac killings).

* Los Angeles Times, coverage of the Hillside Stranglers and William Bonin, 1970s–80s.

* Serial Killer Statistics by State, SerialKillersInfo.com.

* Case files and FBI archives on Gary Ridgway, Jerry Brudos, and Randall Woodfield.

In the shadows of the West Coast sea ports, men (and women) vanished from saloons and sidewalks…only to wake up halfway across the ocean.

This week on Same Crime, Different Time, we uncover the brutal trade of crimping—and the reign of Joseph “Bunco” Kelly, Maxwell Levy, and James Kelly, who all called themselves the King of the Crimpers. We’ll discuss:

* What it meant to be “shanghaied”

* How sailors were fooled

* How reforms finally ended the crimps’ grip

* And why echoes of this crime still exist today

Step into the fog, the boardinghouses, and the lawless wharves of the 1890s. History has teeth.

🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.

Sources

* The Oregonian (Portland, OR), multiple issues, 1890s–1910s. Archival coverage of waterfront crime, the Flying Prince scandal, and Portland’s crimping culture.

* Morning Oregonian, October 6, 1892. Coverage of Joseph Binco and the Flying Prince case.

* San Francisco Chronicle, April 2, 1875. Report on Shanghai Kelly’s “booze cruise” scheme and claims of crewing ships in a single night.

* Daily Alta California, August 15, 1873. Articles describing kidnappings and forced labor tied to San Francisco’s waterfront crimps.

* The San Francisco Call, 1880s. Accounts of Shanghai Kelly’s operations and public fears of shanghaiing.

* Larry Engelmann, Intemperance: The Lost War Against Liquor (1983). Context on saloons, drugs, and social reform tied to crimping culture.

* Barney Blalock, Portland’s Lost Waterfront: Tall Ships, Steam Mills and Sailors’ Boardinghouses (2012). Essential history of Portland crimps, the North End, and Levy’s contemporaries.

* Barney Blalock, The Oregon Shanghaiers: Columbia River Crimping from the 1870s to the 1930s (2014). Focused study of shanghaiing in Portland and the Pacific Northwest.

* National Archives, Records of the U.S. Shipping Commissioner, Portland & San Francisco (1870s–1890s). Legal cases and testimony related to sailor kidnappings.