Wednesday, March 27, 2019

All Saints Catholic Church in Portland, Oregon - Laurelhurst Neighborhood - Site of High Weirdness

In continuing to read Keel's "Our Haunted Planet", I came across a strange story about how "in recent years" (published 1971) how certain PA systems in Churches were receiving strange number sequences that couldn't be explained and were thought to be linked to UFOs/High Weirdness. There were two churches listed by name, one being the All Saints Catholic Church in Portland.



Of course I spent plenty of time in Laurelhurst, but don't remember a big church, so I do a google. It's literally right next to Coe Circle where my favorite statue in the whole city of Joan of Arc is. I spent hours reading under that statue. Why was I so attracted to that block, and what's up with this unassuming (as far as Catholic Churches go) Church getting messages? How did I never notice the damn church???

I dig deeper.

I have not yet read the History of All Saints Parish - pdf found here. Tonight's reading:

https://allsaintsportland.org/100th-anniversary

The church is on a random block in a residential neighborhood.

https://allsaintsportland.org/map

If you zoom in, the green circle in the middle is Coe Circle, where my beloved Joan is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_of_Arc_(Portland,_Oregon)

About Joan:

She had a religious experience (was she a contactee?) and led France into battle, captured, burned at the stake for being a witch at the age of 19, later made a Saint. This particular statue was commissioned in 1924, made from the cast of Emmanuel Fremiet's Jeanne d'Arc (1874) and was dedicated Memorial day in 1925 in honor of the Doughboys of World War I. She's 12 gorgeous feet of bronze on an 8 foot granite base.

Who commissioned her?

Well, that would be Dr. Henry Waldo Coe, who with his wife Dr. Viola Boley Coe founded a Sanitarium called Morningside Hospital, where the dying Mall 205 is on SE Stark and 96th. They specialized in nervous patients from Alaska and whom had been in the Oregon Insane asylum. He was a passionate Republican and had "EXTENSIVE MINING INTERESTS" (Wikipedia) - "Hellier" anyone?.

To make things even stranger Coe was a lifelong friend of Teddy Roosevelt, who had come to him for treatment as a young man, and they remained friends until Roosevelt's death. He visited the White House as guests of Roosevelt and Taft many times. The Coes traveled to Panama to report to Roosevelt on working conditions during the construction of the Panama Canal.

Coe additionally paid for statues of Presidents Lincoln and Washington in Portland, OR as well as two Roosevelt statues in North Dakota.

Coe's later relatives were accused of using hospital funds for personal expenses and using patient labor for home and hospital maintenance, and the facility was closed. However, no criminal charges were filed.

Research continues, as well as a planned trip to Laurelhurst to take a closer look at the neighborhood and church. Also going to  ask John EL Tenney about this, as he's a frigging encyclopedia about all things Keel in particular.

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