Cathedral Park
A space-age looking circle near the sewage treatment plant. The center stone has two footprints etched in the top. For what mysterious purpose?
The shield on the side of the North Base. What does it guard against?
The door on the North Side of the North Base. The cult leader emerged with his acolytes from this door. Where does it lead?
The circle at the top of the hill, just under the base of the bridge, looking south down towards the North Base. The door pictured above faces uphill towards the steps that lead to this circle. This is where the cult is gathered.
The rafters above, just in case.
A view from the dock looking north. The stone promontory is the perfect place from which to summon sea creatures, or is it?
The South Tower on the other side of the river.
The North Tower.
Looking back towards downtown, the remains of an old Wharf. What could have demolished it?
A closer look at the promontory.
A Ghost Story
Thelma Taylor was a happy 15 year old high school student. It was early summer in 1949 and she was waiting for a berry bus to pick her up on North Fessenden Street. She would be spending the day picking berries in the country and making a little extra money for herself. She never made it to the berry fields that day and she was never seen by her friends nor family again. Thelma had been abducted.
Back in those days the area under the St. Johns Bridge was undeveloped and overgrown with brush. The abductor took her to this area. She was bound, raped and held for almost a week before she finally died. The perpetrator of the crime was apprehended, found guilty and put to death, but the torment that Thelma went through lives on.
The Portland Police find it routine to receive calls in the summer; reports of screams coming from the park. They dutifully dispatch units to check the area but it is always the same - there is nothing there.
The screams can be heard to this day.... screams of a girl caught and bound, with no hope of escape.
This is Thelma in her graduation picture from James John Elementary School, St. Johns, in 1948. She sits on the bottom, at the end; apart from the rest of the children. Classmates say she had a body odor and called her 'stinky'. She was shunned and teased but as this picture shows, the ugly duckling would soon be a swan.
She had everything to look forward to. All the dreams she held dear were just years from fruition..... but all the hopes and dreams were taken away. The teasing and rejection culminated in her abduction and death. None of it was kind; none of it was fair. If there are screams of torment that emanate from the park it is for good reason.
Note: Her classmates well remember her death. Some put the time of abduction at two days... others for a week. Some say they remember an accomplice while others state that a deranged felon worked alone. The abductor took Thelma to The Portland Woolen Mill, located under the bridge.
Yes, that is her signature at the top of the page; scanned from the back of the class picture.
The entirety of this article was taken from first hand account; from the memories of those who knew her. Call it folklore if you will but many claim the screams to be real.
Also see http://www.parks.ci.portland.or.us/Parks/Cathedral.htm