Walk the streets of Portland's Old Town today, and you're treading above one of America's most notorious underground networks. The Shanghai Tunnels - a maze of passages connecting basements, underground spaces, and the Willamette River waterfront - served as the infrastructure for a criminal enterprise that terrorized Portland for decades. Men disappeared from saloons, boardinghouses, and even the streets themselves, dragged through the darkness below to wake up aboard ships bound for Asia. The practice became so common that a new word entered the American lexicon: to be 'shanghaied' meant to be kidnapped and forced into maritime servitude. And nowhere in America was shanghaiing more prevalent than in Portland, Oregon.
Fast Facts
- Network of underground passages beneath Old Town Portland
- Constructed primarily between 1850s-1880s
- Connected bars, hotels, and businesses to the waterfront
- Used for shanghaiing (forced maritime labor) from 1850s-1940s
- Estimated 1,500+ men shanghaied from Portland annually at the practice's peak
- Also served as opium dens, gambling halls, and brothels
- Most sections now sealed, but some accessible through tours
- Considered one of the most haunted locations in the Pacific Northwest
Building the Underground: Portland's Hidden Infrastructure
The Shanghai Tunnels weren't built for kidnapping - that came later. The network began as a practical solution to Portland's unique geography and rapid growth in the mid-19th century. Portland was built on land that flooded regularly from the Willamette River. To combat this, property owners raised the street level multiple times between the 1850s and 1870s, sometimes by as much as 12 feet.
This created a problem: businesses that had been at ground level now found themselves below street grade. Rather than rebuild, many business owners simply created new entrances at the raised street level and converted their former ground floors into basements. These subterranean spaces connected naturally through shared walls, creating an underground network.
Merchants expanded this network deliberately, creating passages to move goods from the waterfront to their businesses without having to navigate the muddy, often impassable streets above. Legitimate commerce flowed through these tunnels: whiskey barrels, furniture, dry goods, and supplies for the growing city. Chinese laborers, who faced violent racism above ground, used the tunnels to move safely between Chinatown and the waterfront.
The Master Builders: Portland's Criminal Architects
While many business owners expanded the tunnel network for legitimate purposes, certain individuals saw darker potential. Joseph 'Bunco' Kelly, perhaps the most infamous crimper (kidnapper) in Portland history, operated extensively through the tunnels. Kelly didn't build the tunnels, but he mastered their use, establishing trap doors, hidden rooms, and secret passages throughout Old Town.
Joseph 'Shanghai' Kelly (no relation to Bunco) controlled much of the waterfront crimping operation, working with ship captains who needed crews but couldn't find willing sailors. Shanghai Kelly knew every entrance, exit, and hiding spot in the underground network.
James Turk, who ran the Snug Harbor Saloon, expanded the tunnels beneath his establishment, creating a sophisticated operation with holding cells where drugged victims could be kept until ships were ready to depart. Turk's tunnels connected to at least six other businesses, creating a pipeline straight to the docks.
These men didn't work alone. They employed runners - young men who would identify potential victims, bartenders who would drug drinks, and guards who would watch over the imprisoned men in the underground holding cells. The tunnel network became their workplace, and they modified it to suit their dark purposes.
The Economics of Slavery at Sea
Shanghaiing was big business in Portland. Ship captains would pay crimpers $50-100 per man - equivalent to $1,500-$3,000 today. At the practice's peak in the 1870s-1890s, Portland crimpers were delivering 1,500-3,000 men per year to ships. That's between $75,000 and $300,000 annually in 1880s dollars - millions in today's money.
The practice thrived because of Portland's unique position as a major Pacific port during a time when maritime labor was scarce and dangerous. Ships heading to Asia needed full crews, but the work was brutal, the pay was poor, and many sailors jumped ship at the first opportunity. Captains found it easier to pay crimpers for unwilling crew members than to recruit willing sailors.
Victims came from all walks of life: loggers in town for a drink, farmers selling their crops, businessmen traveling through Portland, even local residents who stayed out too late. The crimpers weren't particular - any able-bodied man would do. They'd wake up days later in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, legally bound to work the ship for a voyage that could last years.
The Art of Shanghaiing: How It Worked
The process of shanghaiing was refined to a dark science in Portland. It began above ground, in the countless saloons and boardinghouses of Old Town. Runners for the crimpers would identify suitable victims - young, strong, and preferably alone or with few connections in town.
Once a target was selected, the operation moved quickly. The most common method involved drugged alcohol. Bartenders working with the crimpers would serve drinks laced with opiates or other sedatives. Within minutes, the victim would become disoriented and compliant.
Trap doors were installed in the floors of many establishments - saloons, hotels, and even some legitimate businesses whose owners had been paid to look the other way. Once drugged, victims would be led to these trap doors or simply dropped through them into the tunnels below. Some crimpers operated 'deadfalls' - sections of floor that would collapse when a victim stood on them, sending them plummeting into the basement.
The Tunnel Journey
Once in the tunnels, victims would be dragged or carried through the underground network to holding cells. These cells, carved out of the tunnel walls or built in basement rooms, held the shanghaied men until ships were ready to depart.
The conditions in these holding areas were horrific. Men were kept in complete darkness, often injured from their fall through the trap doors. They might be held for hours or days, depending on ship schedules. No food, little water, and brutal treatment from their captors. Some died in the tunnels, never making it to the ships.
When a ship was ready, the crimpers would transport their cargo through the tunnels to the waterfront. Secret exits led to isolated sections of the docks where victims could be loaded onto boats and rowed out to waiting ships without witnesses. By the time the shanghaied men regained full consciousness, Portland was far behind them, and they were legally bound to work the ship.
Famous Cases of Shanghaiing
The most infamous shanghaiing incident in Portland history involved Bunco Kelly and 22 dead men. In 1892, Kelly received a rush order for a full crew - the ship was leaving immediately. Unable to find enough living victims in time, Kelly discovered 22 bodies in a basement - men who had died drinking formaldehyde they thought was liquor.
Rather than admit failure, Kelly propped up the corpses, dressed them appropriately, and delivered them to the ship captain as 'sleeping' sailors. The captain, who inspected his new crew only briefly in the dark, paid Kelly and set sail. The deception wasn't discovered until the ship was well out to sea and sailors tried to wake their new crewmates. Kelly's payment was long spent by the time the furious captain returned to Portland.
Another notorious case involved a British sailor named Tommy Thompson, who was shanghaied from a Portland saloon despite being a wanted man. Thompson had jumped ship in Portland and was hiding from authorities when crimpers got him. He woke up aboard the very ship he'd deserted, facing punishment from the captain he'd escaped from. The irony wasn't lost on Portland's crimping community.
In 1893, a young lawyer named William Dunbar was shanghaied from a respectable hotel while visiting Portland on business. His case made national news because of his social standing. Dunbar's family hired detectives who traced him to a ship bound for Shanghai. The ship was intercepted, and Dunbar was rescued, but the incident revealed how indiscriminate the crimpers had become - even educated, wealthy men weren't safe.
The Women of the Tunnels
While men were shanghaied for ships, women faced a different horror in the tunnels. Young women, often immigrants or runaways, were trafficked through the underground network to brothels throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
Nina, a name that appears in multiple historical accounts, ran one of the most notorious operations. Operating from the tunnels beneath Old Town, she controlled a network of brothels and knew every underground passage. Women brought through her operation faced lives of forced prostitution with no escape.
The tunnels also housed opium dens, where both men and women were exploited. Some victims of shanghaiing were held in opium dens until ships departed, kept compliant through drug addiction. Women working in these establishments faced constant danger, and many died in the tunnels, their bodies disposed of in the Willamette River.
One tunnel beneath a former hotel contained small cells, barely large enough for a person to lie down. Historians believe these were used to hold women being trafficked. Scratches on the walls suggest desperate attempts to escape or simply marks counting the days in darkness.
The Decline of Shanghaiing
The practice of shanghaiing began to decline in the early 20th century for several reasons. Federal laws passed between 1906-1915 made it illegal to shanghai sailors and established protections for maritime workers. The Seamen's Act of 1915, championed by Senator Robert LaFollette, finally criminalized the practice at the federal level.
Portland's reform movements, which included city officials who weren't on the crimpers' payroll, began cracking down on the most blatant operations. Police raids targeted known crimping locations, though corruption remained endemic.
World War I changed shipping patterns and increased federal oversight of ports. The economic structure that had made shanghaiing profitable began to collapse. By the 1920s, the practice had declined significantly, though isolated incidents continued into the 1940s.
The tunnels themselves began to be sealed off as buildings were demolished or renovated. Some sections collapsed from neglect or flooding. Others were deliberately filled in by property owners who wanted to distance themselves from the tunnels' dark reputation. By the 1950s, most of the network had been closed off or forgotten.
Rediscovering the Underground
For decades, the Shanghai Tunnels existed more as urban legend than reality. Many people believed the stories were exaggerated or entirely fictional. That changed in the 1980s and 1990s when researchers and urban explorers began documenting and mapping the remaining tunnels.
Michael Jones, a Portland historian, spent years researching the tunnel system, interviewing elderly residents who remembered the tunnels' heyday and examining property records to trace the network. His work confirmed that the tunnels were real and that shanghaiing had occurred on the massive scale described in old accounts.
Businesses sitting above accessible tunnel sections began offering tours, allowing the public to see the underground network for the first time. These tours revealed trap doors still intact, holding cells with chains bolted to walls, and passages stretching beneath multiple city blocks.
The physical evidence matched the historical accounts: the Shanghai Tunnels were real, and the horrors that occurred within them were documented fact, not folklore.
Spirits in the Darkness: The Ghosts of the Shanghai Tunnels
With such a dark history, it's no surprise that the Shanghai Tunnels are considered among the most haunted locations in the Pacific Northwest. The spirits of those who suffered and died in the underground passages seem unable to find peace, and their presence is felt by almost everyone who ventures into the tunnels.
The Man in Chains
The most frequently reported ghost in the tunnels is a man in tattered clothing, his wrists bearing the marks of manacles. He's typically seen in the sections that served as holding cells, appearing briefly before vanishing into the darkness.
A tour guide named Sarah reported her most terrifying encounter with this spirit in 2019. She was leading a late-night tour through a section of tunnel beneath what was once the Merchant Hotel. As she turned a corner with her flashlight, she saw a man standing in an alcove that had served as a holding cell.
"He was looking right at me," Sarah recalls. "He had chains around his wrists, and his face - I'll never forget the desperation in his face. He reached toward me like he was begging for help, and then he just faded away. The entire group saw him. Three people left the tour immediately after that."
Other guides have reported similar encounters. The man appears disoriented, as if still drugged, and often seems to be trying to communicate. Some witnesses have reported hearing him speak, though the words are never clear - just desperate, pleading sounds.
The Crying Woman
In the sections of tunnel that connected to former brothels and opium dens, visitors frequently report hearing a woman crying. The sound echoes through the passages, seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.
Maria, who worked as a tour operator, experienced this phenomenon multiple times. "You'll be walking through the tunnel, and suddenly you hear it - this heartbroken sobbing. It's so sad, so full of grief, that people start crying just from hearing it. I've seen grown men break down in tears because the sound is so emotionally overwhelming."
Some witnesses report seeing a female figure in period clothing, usually in areas that housed the small cells believed to have held trafficked women. She appears briefly, her face a mask of despair, before disappearing.
One particularly disturbing account comes from a maintenance worker who was inspecting a sealed section of tunnel in 2015. He reported hearing not just crying, but also scratching sounds, as if someone was trying to claw their way out. When he investigated with his flashlight, he saw marks on the wall - scratches that appeared to be fresh, though the tunnel had been sealed for decades.
The Shadow People
Throughout the tunnel network, visitors and workers report seeing shadow figures - dark shapes that move through the passages, always just at the edge of vision. These entities seem aware of the living, sometimes following tour groups or individual explorers.
Jake, an urban explorer who snuck into a sealed section of tunnel in 2018, described an encounter that sent him running: "I was documenting the tunnel with my camera, taking pictures of the old architecture. Through my camera screen, I could see these shadows moving along the walls. They weren't connected to anything - just dark shapes sliding along the stone.
"I thought it was a trick of my flashlight, so I stood still and watched. The shadows kept moving, and they started to take shape - human shapes, but wrong somehow. Too tall, too thin. One of them turned toward me, and I swear I saw eyes in the darkness. I ran, and I could hear footsteps following me. I've explored abandoned buildings all over the Pacific Northwest, but I will never go back into those tunnels alone."
Phantom Voices and Sounds
The most commonly reported paranormal experience in the Shanghai Tunnels is auditory: voices, footsteps, and other sounds that have no physical source. Tour guides report that almost every tour experiences some form of unexplained noise.
Common sounds include:
- Men's voices speaking in urgent, hushed tones, as if planning something secretive
- Footsteps running through the tunnels, sometimes in pursuit, sometimes fleeing
- The sound of chains dragging along the floor
- Screams echoing from deep within sealed sections
- The creak of trap doors opening
- Groaning, as if from someone in pain
David, a paranormal investigator who has studied the tunnels for over a decade, captured audio recordings that have never been explained. "We set up recorders in an empty section of tunnel and left them overnight. When we played back the recordings, we heard conversations - multiple men talking about ships, cargo, and payment. The voices were clear, speaking in period slang. There was no one in the tunnels that night except us."
Physical Manifestations
Some visitors to the tunnels report being physically touched or pushed by unseen forces. These encounters range from the feeling of someone brushing past them in a narrow passage to being violently shoved.
A particularly aggressive spirit seems to inhabit one section of tunnel beneath what was once James Turk's saloon. Multiple visitors have reported being pushed from behind while walking through this area, hard enough to make them stumble. Some have fallen, sustaining minor injuries.
Linda, a tour participant, described her experience: "We were walking single file through a narrow section. I felt hands on my back - two hands, pushing hard. I fell forward into the person in front of me. When I turned around, there was no one behind me close enough to have touched me. The tour guide explained that this happens regularly in that specific spot."
Other physical manifestations include:
- Cold spots that appear suddenly, dropping the temperature by 20-30 degrees
- The sensation of being grabbed or held
- Objects being thrown or moved when no one is near them
- Doors slamming in sections with no air current
- Flashlights and electronic devices failing suddenly
Trespassers and Terror: Modern Encounters in the Sealed Tunnels
Despite most of the tunnel network being officially sealed and off-limits, urban explorers and curious thrill-seekers regularly find ways into the forbidden sections. Many of these illegal explorations end with terrified trespassers fleeing back to the surface, vowing never to return.
The College Students Who Didn't Make It Through
In 2016, four college students from Portland State University accessed a sealed section of tunnel through a basement in an abandoned building. They planned to explore and document the tunnels for a video project. They made it less than an hour before fleeing in terror.
According to their account (which circulated on social media before being deleted): They encountered shadow figures that seemed to follow them, heard voices calling their names, and eventually saw a full-bodied apparition of a man who they described as "looking right through us with eyes that held nothing but pain and anger."
The student operating the camera claimed the video showed things they hadn't seen with their eyes - faces appearing in the darkness, shapes moving behind them. When they reviewed the footage later, they were so disturbed they destroyed the video. All four students agreed they would never speak about what they experienced in detail, and all refused to go anywhere near Old Town at night.
The Maintenance Worker's Warning
Tom, a building maintenance worker who occasionally had to access sealed tunnel sections for repairs, shared his experiences on condition of anonymity. He's worked in the tunnels beneath Old Town for over 20 years, and his stories are chilling.
"The tunnels don't want people down there," he states flatly. "I don't care if that sounds crazy. There's something down there that resents intrusion. The deeper you go, the worse it gets.
"I've seen things move that shouldn't move. I've heard my name called by voices I recognized - coworkers who were at home sleeping. I've felt hands touch me in sections where I'm alone. Once, I saw a whole group of people in old-fashioned clothes walking through a sealed section. I called out to them, thinking somehow other workers had accessed the area. They turned to look at me, and every single one of them had the same expression - rage and despair mixed together. Then they were gone.
"I won't go into certain sections anymore. I don't care if I get fired. There are places down there where you can feel the weight of all the suffering that happened. It presses on you, makes it hard to breathe. And there are things that don't want you there."
The Paranormal Investigation That Went Wrong
In 2020, a group of paranormal investigators gained permission to study an accessible section of the tunnels overnight. They set up equipment throughout the tunnels: cameras, audio recorders, EMF meters, and other ghost-hunting technology. The investigation ended abruptly at 2:47 AM when the entire team evacuated.
The lead investigator, Rebecca, later described what happened: "We've investigated hundreds of locations. We're professionals, and we don't scare easily. But what happened in those tunnels was beyond anything we'd experienced.
"The activity started small - EVP responses to questions, fluctuations in EMF readings, temperature drops. Then things escalated. One team member reported being touched. Another saw shadow figures. Our cameras were capturing orbs and light anomalies.
"Then everything happened at once. Every piece of equipment we had started going crazy. The cameras were picking up faces in the darkness - dozens of faces, all looking at us. We heard screaming from deeper in the tunnels, multiple voices screaming at once. And then we all felt it - this overwhelming sense of rage and fear, like the tunnel itself wanted us out.
"One of our team members was pushed hard enough to knock him down. That's when we packed up and left. We still have the footage and audio. We've analyzed it extensively. There's no natural explanation for what we recorded. Those tunnels are absolutely, definitively haunted."
Recent Trespasser Accounts
Portland Police regularly receive reports of trespassers fleeing from sealed tunnel sections, often visibly distressed. While most refuse to explain what scared them, some accounts have emerged:
A homeless man who had been using a tunnel entrance as shelter in 2021 told police he would rather sleep outside in the rain than spend another night in the tunnels. He claimed that things in the darkness would pull at his blankets and whisper threats.
A group of teenagers who broke into the tunnels through a basement access in 2022 called 911 from inside the tunnels, begging to be rescued. They claimed they were being chased by "something that wasn't human." When police extracted them, all five were hysterical, and two required psychological counseling.
An urban exploration photographer who regularly shares images of abandoned Portland locations posted a series of photos from the tunnels in 2023. In several images, faces appear in the darkness behind him - faces he claims weren't there when he took the pictures. The photographer has since announced he will no longer enter any part of the tunnel system.
Exploring the Shanghai Tunnels Today
Most of the Shanghai Tunnel network remains sealed and inaccessible to the public. The tunnels that can be accessed safely are limited to specific sections that are maintained and regularly inspected. These accessible portions offer a glimpse into Portland's dark past while providing a level of safety that the original tunnels never had.
Legitimate tours of the accessible sections operate regularly, offering historical context alongside the ghost stories. These tours walk the same passages where thousands were dragged against their will, where untold numbers died in the darkness, and where spirits still linger.
Tour guides emphasize that the Shanghai Tunnels are not a theme park or entertainment venue - they're a historical site that witnessed real horrors and real suffering. Respect for the dead is essential when visiting.
Paranormal activity is reported on virtually every tour. Visitors should expect to experience something unexplained, whether it's a voice in the darkness, a cold spot, or the overwhelming feeling of being watched. Sensitive individuals often find the energy in the tunnels overwhelming.
Important warnings for those considering the tunnels:
- Never attempt to access sealed sections. It's illegal, dangerous, and disrespectful to the spirits who suffered there
- The tunnels are structurally unstable in many areas. Unauthorized access risks cave-ins and collapse
- The spirits in the tunnels can be aggressive. Multiple people have been physically touched or pushed
- Cell phones often don't work underground. If you encounter a problem, you may not be able to call for help
- Some people experience panic attacks or emotional distress in the tunnels due to the residual energy from past suffering
Join Ghost City Tours for our Portland ghost tour to learn about the Shanghai Tunnels and other haunted locations throughout Portland. Our expert guides share the verified history, documented accounts, and the ongoing paranormal activity that makes Portland one of America's most haunted cities.
The Shanghai Tunnels represent a dark chapter in American history - a time when kidnapping and human trafficking operated openly in the heart of a major city. The thousands who suffered in these underground passages left an indelible mark, and their presence continues to be felt by anyone who ventures into the darkness beneath Portland's streets. Their stories deserve to be told, their suffering acknowledged, and their restless spirits, perhaps, finally given the recognition they never received in life.
The infamous Shanghai Tunnels where thousands were kidnapped and countless spirits remain
