The Stone House, also known as the Macleay Park Shelter and the Witch's Castle or Witches Castle, is a two-story structure in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

Forest Park A forest park is a park whose main theme is its forest of trees. Forest parks are found both in the mountains and in the urban environment. Examples Chile * Forest Park, Santiago China *Gongqing Forest Park, Shanghai * Mufushan National Fores ...

, in the United States.

Description and history

The Bureau of Parks commissioned architect Ernest F. Tucker to design the

public toilet A public toilet, restroom, public bathroom or washroom is a room or small building with toilets (or urinals) and sinks for use by the general public. The facilities are available to customers, travelers, employees of a business, school pupils ...

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

, and storage room in 1929. The

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

structure was completed during 1935–1936. The water line to the restroom was destroyed during the

Columbus Day Storm of 1962 The Columbus Day Storm of 1962 (also known as the Big Blow, and originally, and in Canada as Typhoon Freda) was a Pacific Northwest windstorm that struck the West Coast of Canada and the Pacific Northwest coast of the United States on October 12, ...

. City officials opted not to fund repairs. The structure has been a target for

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

. In 2015, Erik Henriksen of the ''

Portland Mercury ''Portland Mercury'' is an alternative bi-weekly newspaper and media company founded in 2000 in Portland, Oregon. It has a sibling publication in Seattle, Washington, called '' The Stranger''. Contributors and staff Editor-in-chief: Wm. Steven ...

'' said the Stone House "looks like

Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...

-esque ruins, if

Middle-earth Middle-earth is the fictional setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the ''Miðgarðr'' of Norse mythology and ''Middangeard'' in Old English works, including ''Beowulf''. Middle-earth is t ...

had taggers", and

Thrillist Thrillist is an online media website covering food, drink, travel and entertainment. The company was founded in 2004 and is based in New York City, United States. In October 2016, Thrillist merged with internet brands '' The Dodo'', NowThis News ...

's Mattie John Bamman described the abandoned structure as "filled with Satanic graffiti". Graffiti was removed in 2016. Alie Kilts of ''

Willamette Week ''Willamette Week'' (''WW'') is an alternative weekly newspaper and a website published in Portland, Oregon, United States, since 1974. It features reports on local news, politics, sports, business, and culture. History Early history ''Willame ...

'' wrote in 2017, "just try not to get spooked when you stumble upon the ominous stone house". In 2017, a local news reporter described a tradition among some Lincoln High School students to celebrate the last day of school by throwing parties with alcohol and drugs at the Stone House, which students refer to as "Witches". Kale Williams included the Stone House in ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 185 ...

'' 2017 list of the sixteen "coolest and creepiest abandoned places" in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

. Williams described the structure as a popular resting spot for hikers and wrote, "For better or worse, the so-called Witches Castle is periodically covered in graffiti, but it's still a sight to behold." In 2018, ''The Oregonian'' Jamie Hale described the structure as an often photographed "ruined stone building now covered with graffiti". Kathleen Marie of the ''Portland Mercury'' wrote, "Forest Park is in its prime each summer, and it's a disservice to yourself, your friends, and your family if all that you ever show them in the park is that broken-ass stone house that's actually just a vandalized 1930s public restroom." ''

Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...

'' Scott Steinberg described the Stone House as a "gnome home-esque structure... covered in bright green moss" in 2017. "Its lichen-coated walls make a killer fort for an afternoon", wrote ''

Portland Monthly ''Portland Monthly'' (also referred to as ''Portland Monthly Magazine'') is a monthly news and general interest magazine which covers food, politics, business, design, events and culture in Portland, Oregon. The magazine was co-founded in 2003 b ...

'' Brian Barker in 2020. In 2022, author and religious scholar Jahan Brian Ihsan published
Portland Witch House
''','' including photographs and stories of the Stone House alongside a twelve-year photographic study of 'countercultural' personae who engaged in outsider religion and ritual.

References

{{Reflist 1930s architecture in the United States 1930s establishments in Oregon Buildings and structures completed in the 1930s Buildings and structures in Portland, Oregon Northwest Portland, Oregon Stone buildings in the United States Works Progress Administration in Oregon