Inside the Gold Hill Historical Society’s “Goonies”-themed haunted house, visitors can expect to encounter favorite characters from the Oregon-filmed movie: Chester Copperpot, the Fratelli family and One-Eyed Willie.
But a few lucky guests might encounter a different Willie – one who’s said to have haunted the house long before the Halloween attraction began.
Gold Hill is in southern Oregon’s Rogue Valley, between Grants Pass and Medford, along Interstate 5. If you’re familiar with the tiny town, it might be because it’s home to the Oregon Vortex and House of Mystery, a long-standing roadside attraction where objects seem to roll uphill and people’s heights appear to change.
While the Oregon Vortex phenomena can be explained as optical illusions, several other spooky stories have originated in Gold Hill, earning it the title of one of Oregon’s most haunted towns.
At Gold Hill’s Rock Point Pioneer Cemetery, people have reported seeing a hooded figure and a mysterious green fog. Del Rio Vineyard’s tasting room, inside a former stagecoach hotel from 1863, is also said to be haunted.
Does the town seem to draw an unusual number of ghost stories?
“Oh, my heavens, yes,” said Maureen Smith, treasurer for the Gold Hill Historical Society. “It’s just completely full of stories of happenings here and what people have seen and what they’ve felt.”
That reputation could be why, for the past two decades, people have traveled far and wide to experience the Gold Hill Historical Society’s haunted house. It’s the nonprofit’s biggest annual fundraiser, bringing in more than $8,000 last year.
For the past two years, the haunt – inside the historic Beeman-Martin House – has had a “Goonies” theme. Visitors will pass the Fratellis’ restaurant, the wishing well and the “bone organ” before winding up inside One-Eyed Willie’s pirate ship.
“You’re walking through almost every scene in the movie just to get out of here,” said Heath Smith, Maureen’s son and the head designer of the haunt.
The haunted house has a “no blood, no gore” rule. Visitors can also opt to carry a lantern that signals they don’t want any jump scares.
“Everybody’s expecting a chainsaw, they’re expecting somebody to jump out with a butcher knife. If you can’t do that, then you have to rely on … the sounds and the ambiance,” Heath Smith said. “Pulling that off in an old creepy, creaky house? That’s half of it.”
The house itself was built in 1901 by Josiah and Hattie Beeman and later occupied by their daughter and son-in-law, the Martins. The historical society was gifted the house in 1993 as a base for its operations.
From the beginning, historical society members believed the house was haunted by the ghost of James Willis (“Willie”) Hay, Hattie Beeman’s father.
Willie’s last name was spelled at various times as Hay, Hays or Hayes. He came to the Oregon Territory as a boy with his parents in 1854.
Willie was a blacksmith and a miner. As an old man, he moved in with his daughter and her husband. When the Beemans gave the home to their daughter and son-in-law, Willie stayed on to live with his granddaughter’s family.
He died in 1926 while sitting in his favorite easy chair, according to an obituary in the Gold Hill News. He was 83.
After the historical society moved in, volunteers reported hearing strange sounds. One man swears he saw a figure in the attic. Another woman claims to have seen Willie’s reflection in the window of a microwave.
“I used to work here late at night doing the books, and the room would just get cold, really cold,” Maureen Smith said. “Then I’d talk to (Willie), and it’d warm up again.”
Will Willie make an appearance in the haunted house? You’ll have to visit to see for yourself.
IF YOU GO: The Gold Hill Haunted House and Graveyard, 504 1st Ave. in Gold Hill, is open from 6:30-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights in October. Admission is free for children ages 2 and younger, $2 for ages 2-5, $4 for ages 6-12, and $6 for visitors 13 and older. A tarot card reader will be on site for an additional fee. The haunted house is closed Halloween night, but trick-or-treaters can come by for candy. For updates and giveaways, visit the Gold Hill Haunted House Facebook page.
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