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Oregon Coast Winery is Haunted, say Ghost Researchers

(Nehalem, Oregon) - In the middle of bucolic fields near the north Oregon coast, beneath the gaze of a close by cluster of small mountains, one seller of wine has a quirky, offbeat sense of humor that defies the usual stuffiness often associated with vino and tasting rooms. But if you believe the tales and the research, there are more than one kind of spirits flowing at the Nehalem Bay Winery.

According to various employees and those who have stayed in its guest rooms - this old building is haunted. The stories of things going bump or moan in the night go back years. Then, in September, a group of ghost hunters from McMinnville pulled an all-nighter on the two floors of the building

The group is called C.A.S.P.E.R Investigations (Central Arizona Specialists in Paranormal Event Research) and based out of McMinnville, Oregon. Headed by founder Brian Robertson, it began two years ago in Arizona, but moved to Oregon with him a year ago.

In the middle of bucolic hills and fields sits the quirky Nehalem Bay Winery

Robertson and group are still mulling over the evidence taken at the winery, so they aren’t willing to make an official designation just yet. But Robertson comes just short of declaring the place officially haunted.

“There is most definitely something there, based upon our personal experiences,” Robertson said.

The difference is that they have only a scrap of evidence so far, an EVP recording (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) of a woman’s voice. They don’t proclaim anything on the record until they have some solid evidence on recording or visually.

Their own experiences include hearing voices, spotting shadowy figures, one member getting pushed and the fleeting movement of something outside.

Somewhere in the dark, behind that wall, is the pitch-black corridor where the crew saw the shadow figure

Among Robertson’s crew was investigator John Hanna, as well as winery employee Angi Wildt, who works at the sister business, Depoe Bay Winery, on the central coast. Three main areas yielded experiences for the group: one of the guest bedrooms, an open area on the second floor that is being remodeled, and a corridor behind the winery’s stage.

Hanna and Wildt were in the cramped corridor. It was nearly pitch black, said Wildt, with only a very faint light visible from outside.

“They saw a shadowy figure behind the stage,” said Robertson. “It formed into a figure of an actual person.”

In one of the bedrooms – where employees stay or live for short periods of time – Hanna, Robertson and others were checking out the electrical closet. Electrical circuits like that can give off electro-magnetic waves, said Robertson, and sometimes account for the feeling of uneasiness people get in rooms. But something appeared from out of that closet.

The stairway to the second floor, with two of the bedrooms along the way: much activity was witnessed here

“We were sitting on the bed, and we saw this shadow come out of the electrical closet and cover the wall,” Robertson said. It began slinking across the wall, and someone reported seeing it become a full formed apparition of a man.

“John pointed to the wall, and just then it came next to us,” Robertson said. “We felt a strong breeze pass between us.”

Upstairs, things got really weird. There is a large, spacious area between the bathroom and owner Ray Shackelford’s bedroom. That entire upper floor has been the product of various tales from employees or guests, including the purported voices of a man and a woman arguing.

But the ghost hunters were never told that.

“We have one solid EVP from there,” Robertson said. “We started hearing two distinct noises. First, a female groaning. Then it became clearer. And we have that voice saying ‘Kill me, kill me,’ over and over again. John (Hanna) is a sensitive, and he felt the presence of a female, and it seemed to be upset about something with a baby. He guessed – and it was only a guess – that she killed herself while pregnant with a baby.”

The tasting room at Nehalem Bay Winery

While there, Robertson felt something on his shoulder, as if someone was trying to get is attention. He turned to Hanna, thinking it was him, but he wasn’t even looking at Robertson. “I went back to that spot to see if it could happen again, and I felt someone touch my hair.”

At one point, as a flash camera was going off, Robertson could’ve sworn he saw an apparition of a woman near the doorway of Shackelford’s room. He asked them to continue the flash picture-taking some more, in hopes of catching sight of this again. It didn’t happen.

At one point, Robertson heard a slam in the dark. “John had been knocked into the wall,” he said. “He didn’t think it was an angry push. He felt it was just someone trying to get past him.”

The public is very welcome here - living or otherwise, apparently

Robertson and his crew aren’t looking to make any decisions to the public based on their own experiences. He is adamant about finding documented evidence. “So it can’t be disputed,” Robertson said. So far now all they’re talking about is their own encounters and that they have one EVP recording. “Nine times out of ten we find reasons for everything going on that aren’t paranormal.”

He does say he believes there is activity at the winery. “We believe there are at least two entities.”

Robertson and his crew will go back to collect more evidence.

Manager Melissa Stetzel is one of those who believes the place is haunted, although Shackelford does not. She recounted numerous tales from employees who lived there for a while or guests who stayed there, saying they’ve encountered stuff that creeped them out.

During the summer, the winery hosts large music festivals, like the Bluegrass 'n' BBQ every August

Her own experiences with the winery are quite varied, and include encounters in the tasting room where she could swear someone was walking behind her – and there was no one there – to hearing a man and a woman arguing upstairs, where the C.A.S.P.E.R. group had their biggest meetings.

Then there was the strange experience at the winery’s office door. She and another employee had a view of the back door while chatting with another co-worker. “It was summer, so there was no wind,” Stetzel said. “All of a sudden the door flew open, and Marty and I saw a flash of light fly out the door. We both looked at each other and couldn’t believe it.”

Wildt lived at the building for a while last year, and claimed numerous encounters, including creeking noises outside her bedroom door one night. “Later, I went back and tried to get that part of the floor to creek, and it wouldn’t,” Wildt said.

Shackelford is clearly amused by the stories, but he isn’t a believer. “I’ve had some weird experiences here,” Shackelford said. “But nothing I’d say was from a ghost. But a lot of people have been freaked out.”

See video of another haunting near the winery