Portland’s Haunted Old Town Pizza

For well over a century Portland, Oregon’s Old North End had a shady reputation at best.

Since the 1970s a restaurant, Old Town Pizza has been located in once was, the lobby of the Merchant Hotel. This popular restaurant inherited the hotel’s resident ghost.

The Merchant Hotel

The Merchant was built in 1880 by two successful lumber barons. It was built atop part of Portland’s infamous Shanghai Tunnels.

These tunnels were used to imprison unsuspecting men, from the 1870s until well into the 1900s. These men were either drunk or drugged and then forced to work on ships without pay.

I share the history and hauntings of these tunnels in my post entitled Portland’s Shanghai Tunnels.

Shanghai Tunnel under Old Town Pizza

Despite this nefarious beginning, the Merchant Hotel had a good reputation. But this hotel was also known to provide its elite clientele with “ladies of the night.”

One young lady, Nina (pronounced “Nigh-na”) was sold into prostitution by Portland’s thriving white slavery trade. She became a “working woman” at the Merchant.

Missionaries convinced Nina to share or “rat out” several of Portland’s powerful crime bosses in an attempt to clean up the neighborhood.

Nina agrees to give this information, in exchange for a chance to escape a life she had not chosen. But soon after she cooperated, she was found dead in the hotel.

She had been pushed down an elevator shaft to her death. Since her ghost has not left what was once the hotel.

One room in Old Town Pizza

Guests at Old Town Pizza report feeling someone is watching them, others mention smelling a floral scent without source, they are told, “Oh, that is just Nina.”

One secluded booth at the back of the restaurant sits next to a brick wall that once was the elevator shaft. Nina’s name often appears mysteriously, written on this wall.

Secluded booth at Old Town Pizza

She has been seen for over one hundred and fifty years at this location.

She is described as tall, wearing a long black dress, with a lovely smile. She is often seen walking down the stairs. She is also seen standing in the restaurant overlooking the diners as they eat.

Her apparition is sometimes spotted beneath this restaurant, in the basement, where one of the many Shanghai Tunnels is still located.

The following is a short video about this haunting. It includes a personal experience one Old Town Pizza employee had with Nina.

Blood Stained Crypt

St. Luke's and
Craigmile's crypt.

Behind St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland, Tennessee, sits the Craigmiles family mausoleum.

This crypt is known because mysterious red streaks appear on its white Italian marble surface.

These stains have often been cleaned, but they continue to appear. This has attracted quite a bit of attention over the years.

John Henderson Craigmiles made his fortune in the shipping business—he sold food and other materials to both sides during the Civil War.

In 1860, he married Adelia Thompson, the daughter of a local doctor. In August of 1864, the couple’s first daughter, Nina, was born.

Nina was a beloved child, spoiled by all. She was Dr. Thompson’s favorite grandchild. The two were often seen rapidly traveling around in the doctor’s buggy as he did his medical rounds.

The doctor even let the seven-year-old Nina sometimes take the reins—they both liked to whip the horse to go faster.

Tragically, on St. Luke’s Day-August 18, 1871-the doctor steered his buggy in front of an oncoming train. He was thrown clear, but little Nina was killed.

The family still grief-stricken by their loss-- 3 years later had St. Luke’s church built downtown to honor Nina’s memory—this building was completed on the anniversary of her death.

The family then had a beautiful white Italian marble mausoleum built behind this church.

This crypt has four feet thick walls and a spire that is topped by a cross that is thirty-seven feet off the ground. Nina’s remains were moved to a marble sarcophagus in the center. Six shelves were built along the walls to await other deceased family members.

Soon after Nina was placed in this crypt the bloodstains first appeared.

John and Adelia experienced another loss—their newborn infant son died. He was placed in the family crypt. The stain darkened in color.

Nina's sarcophagus.

Soon after, in 1899, John died of blood poisoning—a euphemism for a bad infection that enters the blood—after he fell on an icy street. The stain on the arch darkened once more.

In 1928, while crossing Cleveland Street Adelia was struck by a car and killed. Locals by now had washed off these stains on the mausoleum wall repeatedly, but they appeared again—even darker.

It has been determined that vandalism is not the cause for these stains. A more recent chemical analysis—defied the experts--it did not show what these stains are or why they appear—so they remain an intriguing mystery.

Bloodstains on the crypt.
Click to enlarge,

A legend states they appear because Nina is “crying tears of blood over the deaths of those she loves.”

The Craigmiles family also commissioned a sculpted bust of Nina out of white Italian marble. They intended to place this bust in an alcove in St. Luke’s called Nina’s Niche.

But the sculptor shipped this bust on the HMS Titanic so this alcove is traditionally filled with flowers instead.

This church also has a connection to Tennessee Williams. His grandfather was a rector at St. Luke’s, and the playwright spend his childhood summers there.

The town of Cleveland is located in southeastern Tennessee. It is just north of Chattanooga.