Beneath Old Town Chinatown — Portland’s original downtown — a network of interconnected basements, passages, and low-ceilinged tunnels once reached the Willamette River waterfront. Local legend says that in the 1890s, this underground was used to move more than just goods: men were supposedly drugged at waterfront bars like the famous Erickson’s Saloon (which boasted a 684-foot bar), dragged through the tunnels, and sold as slave labor to ship captains who needed crew. The practice was called “shanghaiing” or “crimping,” and the tunnels beneath Old Town are said to have facilitated it alongside opium smuggling, forced prostitution, and murder. The stories were first published in 1933 by writer Stewart Holbrook in the Sunday Oregonian, and were built into a full tour operation in the 1970s by historian Michael P. Jones, whose Cascade Geographic Society ran Shanghai Tunnels tours until Jones’s death in March 2020. Historians debate the truth aggressively — little physical evidence supports the kidnapping claims — but the tunnels themselves are real, the trapdoors are still there, and the atmosphere in the brick corridors underground is exactly what you’d expect.
The accessible portion of the Shanghai Tunnels today is beneath Old Town Pizza and Brewing, which occupies the former Merchant Hotel — built in 1880 and considered one of Portland’s most haunted buildings. The Haunted Shanghai Tunnel Tour is ninety minutes, adults-only, thirty-eight dollars per person, and includes beer samples and a pint at Old Town Brewing. The venue’s resident ghost, Nina, is said to roam the restaurant upstairs. The tour descends into brick passageways that stop abruptly, with cobwebbed corridors extending into darkness beyond the tour’s reach — and the trapdoors are real and still functional.
Tickets are at shanghaitunnels.com. The tour launches from Old Town Pizza and Brewing in the Old Town Chinatown neighborhood, one block from Lan Su Chinese Garden and near the Japanese American Historical Plaza on the Willamette River. This is Portland’s original neighborhood, a short walk from most of the city’s central attractions, and the tunnels are the most compelling starting point for exploring it. Go down, look at the trapdoors, consider the evidence, and decide for yourself what happened here.
Story Source: www.travelportland.com
Address: 226 NW Davis St, Portland, OR 97209
Accessibility Rating: Guided Tours Only — Access permitted only as part of an organized tour. Independent exploration not allowed.
Google Map
What Others Have Experienced
The moment I walked in, I sensed something there. Nina doesn’t feel threatening at all — more like a warm, gentle presence that simply has no intention of leaving.
— from hauntedplaces.org
I felt a distinct touch on my left shoulder while sitting and eating. When I turned to check, my back was more than a foot from the wall. I’m not saying it was paranormal, but there was nothing in that spot that could have made contact with me.
— from hauntedplaces.org
We went on a quiet Wednesday night and ended up with just ourselves and the guide. She was captivating — I hung on every word. If you like your history with a side of haunted, this is a must-do while in Portland.
— from TripAdvisor
