Laurelhurst Park is a beautiful, tranquil 31 acre park with an offleash area for dogs, basketball and tennis courts, and a beautiful pond. The park is rumored to be haunted by at least two spirits. A quick google will tell you there are two tragic, strange deaths of women linked to the pond there.
https://www.portlandoregon.gov/parks/finder/index.cfm?propertyid=224&action=ViewPark
Jeff Dwyer's "Ghost Hunter's Guide to Portland and the Oregon Coast" incorrectly lists Laurelhurst's pond as a lake, but he documents the reported hauntings there, beginning with the October 9, 1936 death of Alla Warineth, 45, of Spokane Washington.
10 year old Donald West was exploring the area near the pond when he discovered a woman's coat and shoe. He notified park watchman EJ Dahl who found a large sum of cash, travelers checks and identifying information for Ms. Warineth. Immediately after finding her belongings, he looked over at the pond and saw her body, face down and floating.
After an investigation, they determined that her death was a likely suicide. They never found an abandoned car in the area or even any information of why or how she ended up in Portland, Oregon.
Years later a jogger at the edge of the pond saw a woman at the edge, bowed in prayer with hands clasped. He passed her and heard a splash - when he backtracked he saw her floating face down in the pond. He jumped in to the disgusting algae water and tried to save her, but mysteriously as he neared her body it would somehow move farther away. After a final attempt at rescue as his muscles cramped, he saw her body "clearly vanished as if she were never there," specifically saying he saw her fade away and not slip under the surface of the water.
Once the jogger's story began circulating in the neighborhood, other neighbors admitted to seeing her near the lake, but no one has ever intelligently interacted with her and it seems to be a residual type of haunting.
I can't find any actual information about this person and if she existed. I have not reached out to Dwyer for his sources. Could this legend of Alla be more of a tulpa or egregore type-haunting? The park has been known to be haunted for decades. Did everyone's thought processes create an energy? I'm going to attempt to reach out to Alla or whatever is there around the pond.
Alla Warineth, if she was an actual person, wasn't the only woman drawn into the algae-choked waters. 72 years later, Laurelhurst's pond had another sad and mysterious death - 37 year old Heidi Anderson. She was last seen in the vicinity of 90th and Sandy Blvd after a"sudden onset of paranoia".
Text from A KOIN News story 2/25/08:
"Missing Woman's Body Found
PORTLAND - A discovery in Portland's Laurelhurst Park brought a tragic end to the 16-day search for a missing woman.
Officers had combed the park recently, looking for clues to the disappearance of 37-year-old Heidi Anderson.
She vanished February 8. Reportedly she had become upset, and jumped onto a Tri-Met bus. That was the last time anyone reported seeing Anderson alive. But three days later, several of her personal belongings were found in Laurelhurst Park. Police, family and friends combed the area, but found no further trace. However, the depths of the park's pond were another story; the Portland Parks Bureau had planned to drain it this week. Now that her body has been found, that drainage plan has been cancelled.
Late Sunday night, police confirmed that the body found in the pond was Anderson's, or even that the body is that of a female. An autopsy will be performed Monday, after which an identification is likely. Heidi Anderson's friends and family, who rushed to the park as the news spread Sunday, await the autopsy's outcome.
A couple found the body as they were walking through the park Sunday afternoon. Holly Thomas told KOIN News 6 that she walked around a corner and spotted it lying mostly submerged in the water. She was pretty sure it was that of a female human, wearing a brown shirt. So Thomas called police, and a dive team pulled it from the pond later Sunday afternoon.
At first, police would and could not confirm that the body was Anderson's, saying an autopsy would be performed Monday to determine the identification. However, late Sunday night, they did confirm that it was her. Although the discovery brings a tragic end to part of the mystery, other questions remain about how she got there, how she died, and who else might have been involved. Investigators hope the autopsy will yield some clues."
Eventually, Ms. Anderson's death was also ruled a probable suicide:
http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2008/02/medical_examiner_rules_out_fou.html
What a strange, strange neighborhood Laurelhurst is turning out to be. Two women, similar ages, similar circumstances. Did the energy of whatever Alla is draw in Heidi? She wasn't known to have mental issues or drug problems.
Time to go walk around the park this weekend.
