Bruce Haney
Eccentric Tales of Boring Oregon
The town of Boring has seen more than its fair share of interesting events since its founding in 1903. From secretly hiring an up-and-coming boxer to fight the town bully to the time firecrackers were blamed for burning down half the town, memorable moments abound. Discover the story of the wild man who lived in the woods and the attempts of Prohibition-era moonshiners to evade the law. Uncover the true identity of the Wild West Gang and the real story of a runaway train loaded with potatoes. Join author Bruce Haney as he explores the peculiar tales of an exciting town.
Oregon Moonshine: Bootleggers, Busts and Brawls
Moonshining is deep-rooted in the history of Oregon. In 1844, when it was still Oregon Territory, one of the first moonshiners, James Conner, challenged a lawman to a duel for busting his illegal operation. The McKenzie River Bandits had better luck hiding from the law and produced bootleg booze for nearly five years before their arrest. It wouldn’t be the last time they were caught. Over the years, outlaw moonshiners engaged in car chases, shootouts and even attempted an assassination to protect their hidden distilleries–and way of life. Join author Bruce Haney as he chronicles the intoxicating history of Oregon Moonshine.
North Portland Odd Fellows
Moonshining is deep-rooted in the history of Oregon. In 1844, when it was still Oregon Territory, one of the first moonshiners, James Conner, challenged a lawman to a duel for busting his illegal operation. The McKenzie River Bandits had better luck hiding from the law and produced bootleg booze for nearly five years before their arrest. It wouldn’t be the last time they were caught. Over the years, outlaw moonshiners engaged in car chases, shootouts and even attempted an assassination to protect their hidden distilleries–and way of life. Join author Bruce Haney as he chronicles the intoxicating history of Oregon Moonshine.
Dirt Babies
Kristin’s big Halloween plans with her friends and the boy she has been crushing on change when she accepts a lucrative babysitting gig on the same night.
As part of her babysitting duties, she is helping young Simon make dirt babies for his class show-and-tell. Typically, these are cute little plants with googly eyes and grass for hair. But when the enchanted dirt from the grave of a killer is used, you get walking, talking, deadly dirt babies.
Now Kristin, Simon, and her friends find themselves running for their lives while trying to find a way to stop the killer little dirtbags before the body count gets any higher.
Finn J.D. John
Heroes and Rascals of Old Oregon: Offbeat Oregon History Vol. 1
Heroes and Rascals … Shipwrecks and Lost Gold …
Since 2008 the Offbeat Oregon History syndicated newspaper column has entertained and informed Oregonians with the weirdest, quirkiest, funniest, and most outrageous true stories in the surprisingly long history of their young state.
Now, for the first time, those stories have been collected together, re-researched, augmented with freshly discovered information, and presented to readers in book form — starting with this volume, in which we’ve selected the most inspirational heroes, the most scurrilous rascals, and the most hilariously quirky mavericks of our state.
Love, Sex and Murder in Old Oregon: Offbeat Oregon History Vol. 2
Deadly lovers … outlaw couples … serial killers and deadly strangers …
This is Volume 2, in which you’ll find the Beaver State’s most seamy, salacious, and lethal stories: Love affairs turned unexpectedly deadly, vigilantes with drawn guns and ready ropes, mother-son murder teams, brothers avenging their sisters’ seduction, husbands gunning for suspected homewreckers, and cold cases whose perpetrators are lost in the mists of time.
You’ll find a total of 59 of them in this 384-page book, along with more than 100 vintage photographs, newspaper clippings, and other pieces of art.
Bad Ideas and Horrible People of Old Oregon: Offbeat Oregon History Vol. 3
Shanghaiers … weird cults … dumb criminals and clumsy power grabbers …
This is Volume 3, in which you’ll find a collection of the worst ideas ever tried.
You’ll also find some of the most certifiably horrible characters in any state, ranging from “lovably horrible” characters like Old Joe Huddlestun, the grumpy neighbor who blew up his local schoolhouse with dynamite because the kids were too loud at recess, to seriously awful characters like ex-Governor Charles Martin, who, as an Army general after World War I, supervised the deliberate and systematic breaking of the spirit of an entire divisional cohort of returning war heroes.
You’ll find a total of 62 of them in this 468-page book, along with more than 100 vintage photographs, newspaper clippings, and other pieces of art.
Wicked Portland: The Wild and Lusty Underworld of a Frontier Seaport Town
Tucked away in the northwestern frontier, Portland offered all the best vices: opium dreams, gambling, cheap prostitutes, and drunken brawling. In its early days, Portland was a combination rough-and-ready logging camp and gritty, hard-punching deep-water port town, and as a young city (established in the late 1840s) it developed an international reputation for lawlessness and violence. In the early 1900s, the British and French governments filed formal complaints about Portland to the US state department, and Congressional testimony from the time cites Portland as the worst place in the world for crimping. Today, tours of the alleged Shanghai Tunnels offer Portland visitors a taste of that seedy past.