Wolf Creek Inn, Wolf Creek Oregon

Wolf Creek Inn has an excellent history that is ripe for investigation - leave aside all the nonsense you find online about the "vampire creature". Most of the haunted history is best known by the staff. Our investigation there in 2007 pulled up some interesting evidence in room number 5 - the haunted room, which will be featured in Jefferson Davis' upcoming book - "Weird Oregon".

very cool I have never heard anything about it ..whats the story behind it?

In 2003, a guest left hastily in the middle of the night on the first night of a two-night reservation, after he said a female apparition moved the blankets and massaged his feet. When we investigated that room (#5) in the middle of the night, we caught a great deal of audio on our video camera that ran in that room throughout the night. We caught loud bangs that sounded like someone banging on the walls, leather soled footsteps crossing the room numerous times (sounded like womens boots from the victorian period), the faucet turning on a running for a while then turned itself off. We even got the sound of a man in heavy boots climbing the staircase outside the room. It sounded like hard soles on wood steps (the steps are carpeted). It was a very interesting experience. We located the hanging tree from the legend of Wolf Creek Inn and captured hundreds of orbs only around the tree itself - nowhere else in the vicinity.

The men’s bathroom on the second floor has had reports of cigar smoke – even though the inn has been smoke free for years. I even smelled it during the course of the investigation. There is a story of woman in yellow named Elizabeth, possibly a daughter of one of the chambermaids, being seen on the stairs. She supposedly plays pranks on people.

An old stereo in one of two guest rooms adjoining a sitting room that used to be rented to well-to-do guests used to turn its own volume up and down. Employees observed this. Taping the knob in place stopped the phenomenon. The tape remains to this day.

An employee had a load of laundry tossed behind her in the basement on the base of the stairs blocking her way out. When another current employee first started working there 15 years ago, the basement door would slam shut on her when she stepped on the third stair. I personally saw the ghost of a dog (Scottish terrier) in that basement.

Over all it was a fascinating investigation - one I would recommend In Search of the Paranormal do. We would love to join them on it!

The original hotel was called Six Bit House, and it stood about a mile northeast of the community center. Recent research has shown that the building now known as Wolf Creek Tavern was built around 1883 for Henry Smith, a local merchant-entrepreneur. Wolf Creek Tavern was exceptionally well crafted by local sawyers and skilled workers in the building trades. It served local traffic to area mines and stage travelers connecting between Roseburg and Redding prior to the completion of the Oregon and California railroad through the Siskiyou Mountains in 1887.

Wolf Creek Inn is the oldest continuously operated hotel in the Pacific Northwest. It is here that Jack London completed his novel "Valley Of The Moon." As an important stop on the sixteen days' journey from San Francisco to Portland, by stage coach, the Wolf Creek Inn has housed practically every important personage found in the Northwest during the early history of Oregon.

Back in the early days of movies the Inn became a refuge for beleaguered actors seeking an escape from the demanding Hollywood studios. Mary Pickford found the Inn warm and comforting, especially when Douglas Fairbanks accompanied her on the visit. Clark Gable was a good friend of the innkeeper in the 1930's and stopped by several times while fishing the Rogue River just a few miles west of the Inn. Other visitors that have signed the guest register include Carol Lombard and Orson Wells. Between 1975 and 1979, the Inn was acquired by the State of Oregon and restored. Wolf Creek Tavern is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It is among the best preserved and oldest active travelers inns in Oregon.
The Hanging Tree At Six Bit House
Wolf Creek is located on a creek of that name, just west of the Old Pacific Highway, and five miles north of Sunny Valley. The post office was established June 29, 1882, with Henry Smith serving as first postmaster. The style was changed to Wolfcreek on July 13, 1895, and back to Wolf Creek on April 1, 1951.
There were plenty of wolves in Oregon during the frontier era, and a number of streams are known as Wolf Creek.
The community was the locality of the famous Six Bit House, frequently mentioned in pioneer history. In 1936, James T. Chinook of Grants Pass wrote about this establishment, transmitting information from James Tuffs and George W. Riddle, both familiar with the history of Southern Oregon.
The original Six Bit House was built during the Rogue River wars, probably about 1853, within the sharp hairpin curve of the Southern Pacific Railroad about a mile east of town. It was at the mouth of a gulch on the old road location north of I-5 and the Old Pacific Highway. The building has long since disappeared, but Tuffs recalled seeing the remains during his youth. (Oregon Geographic Names 1992, pp. 922, 923; Oregon Post Offices 1847-1982, p. 111)
Douglas County pioneer George W. Riddle tells the story of a Cow Creek youth who went south with a pack train, and leaving the train, was on his way home when he was stopped by non-indians that were at a trading post on Wolf Creek. It is probable that the men were drinking, as there was always plenty of whiskey at these houses along the road. At any rate there was a chance to have some "fun" by hanging an Indian boy, so the youth was placed upon a horse, a rope was put around his neck and attached to a limb of a tree. At this point in the proceedings the proprietor of the house rushed out crying: "Hold on, that Indian owes me six bits." The hanging was delayed until the melancholy brave produced the money and paid his debt, and finding he had a dollar left asked that it be sent to his friend, William Riddle. When these business matters were concluded the horse was driven from under the young man and the hanging was completed. When the facts of this ghastly event became known, that trading post was given the name of the Six Bit House by which it was known afterwards. (Early Days In Oregon 1851-1861, South Umpqua Historical Society 1993, pp. 79-81)