Most locals have, at one time or another, encountered the Holcomb Creek Trestle. The name is unknown to most, but the massive 1,168-foot-long behemoth is not. Just north of US 26 in the heart of Helvetia, Oregon, the 1911 trestle carried many different trains- from steam to electric, they all crossed its massive spine.
Many ghost stories and urban legends relate to this fantastic piece of history. I have been around it for 60 years. I have my own stories and have heard legends of murders, hangings, and ghosts. We watched many “hippies” pick magic mushrooms at its base in the 1970s- apparently, the cows and the dampness and shade from the beast were the perfect combo. That is a well-known fact.
But is there any truth to the legends?
For that, we turn to the people of greater Hillsboro and Helvetia, our best historians, and the hive mind of 10,000 locals who hang out at We Remember Hillsboro on Facebook.
Ginny Mapes- long-time resident and noted Historian
Over the years, Cascade Sports Car Club has had some all-night rallies near Halloween time, “Ghoul’s Gamble” and “Post Ghost” where one of the check-points was right under the trestle. Items were hung from the trestle to look like a body and there was a coffin where cars had to stop and check-in. Keeping things very creepy . . . . It was one of the most popular events for the club. I think other car clubs have also used this site for activities.
Annie Long – WRH member
My hubby and his friends — all local country boys ( I call them the original Dukes of Hazard because his uncle Bud Barnes was the Sheriff of Washington County and Uncle Bud or his guys would often catch them up to mischief that today kids never would get away with) but that is a while slew of other stories…and not to name all the names but they were all locals and some still are —- one had an old 40’s truck and they’d all pile in and with no one steering ride it down the rails in the back for miles and evidently it went fast and stayed on the track…they called it tracking. Circa 60-70’s.
Then there is WRH Member and Hillsboro history nut Matt Andersen, who has written many stories for the Herald- he went on a quest to find the best stories from the people who lived them.
Haunted Hillsboro Halloween Series 2020
The Internet contains a treasure trove of reports. Some are lengthy, so I will present them as a series of posts interspersed throughout.So, first up today, a report that’s brief and to the point and we can respect that.“I saw the ghost of a student in Hillsboro High weight room in June 2015.”And now for our initial tale of the railroad trestle.“I am [personal details redacted by moderator] who lives in Hillsboro, Oregon. Anyone who lives around that area may have heard of Dick Road. It’s an old road to the north of Hillsboro that runs under a train trestle that is a little over 100 years old. The exact construction date is debatable. Anyhow, supposedly in the early 1900s a string of suicides happened at that bridge. People would hang themselves from the top. A little bit later in the 1960s, a man who owned a chunk of property out there killed his whole family then killed himself. The ghosts of those who died are rumored to haunt the area.One night in late January, I rounded up my friends and we were gonna go investigate to see if the rumors were true. There were four of us packed into my car. I slowly crept along the road with Depeche Mode playing over my car’s radio. We crept over the hill and immediately we saw the silhouette of the train trestle towering over the area. We parked my car about 80 feet from where the road travels under the tracks. I took my Maglite and clicked it on. The powerful beam cut through the darkness like a hot knife through butter. I quickly illuminated the tracks with my light and that’s when we saw a noose hanging from the trestle. We all joked around saying some kids had probably tied it up there as a joke. We piled into my car and drove up the road and explored a little bit before returning to the trestle. We had been gone maybe ten minutes. We got out again and walked around the area of the trestle and that’s when my friend said, “Hey [name redacted by moderator]! The noose is gone!” I quickly jerked my arm over and shined the light to where the noose was resting. It was gone. We all piled into my car and took off. We wouldn’t return for a while.About two weeks later we returned. This time we had two cars full of people. I had three people in my [vehicle] and my friend [name redacted by moderator] had four people (including him) in his [vehicle]. He was parked facing the bridge and I pulled up behind him. I needed to know what our plans for the evening were. I took my Maglite from my glovebox, got out of my car and started walking to his. That’s when I heard children laughing. It was about 12:30 am and I heard the laughter of children echoing from the forest to my right side. I immediately shined my Maglite toward the trees. I saw nothing but the laughing continued. I ran to my friend’s car and banged on his window and told him what I heard. Everyone piled out of the cars and shined lights toward where the laughter came from. We never heard it again. To this day, I have no clue what that sound was but I swear on my life that it was the laughter of little kids.”
Another story-“Me, my boyfriend, and our friend went to the bridge. As we walked to the top of the bridge, my boyfriend and our friend felt like they were being choked. We got a really weird feeling so decided to turn around and go back to the car. Once we started walking back, it got really cold. You could see our breath and everything (it had been 85-90 degrees the whole week). We got back to the road and stood under the bridge and heard breathing around us and we could see figures moving in the distance and under the bridge. We could hear things walking all around us but didn’t see anything. We even heard cars coming up the road but, when we would turn around, there were no cars there. Before we left, we heard something hit the bridge really hard. Our friend felt like he was being lifted off the ground when he was standing right under the noose that hangs from the bridge. We were [expletive redacted by moderator] freaked out so we left and, as we drove away, we realized there were weird looking hand prints all over the car, inside and outside.”3rd Story-
“I’m from that area as well. I heard so many stories about the train trestle when I was in high school but never went because of something nearby that my friends called the Time Tunnels. I guess near the trestle is a cave that people would go and get lost in. The stories always scared me because it sounded like a group hallucination.
Out in that area is an abandoned house that my friends and I found that had kids’ bikes strung up in the trees. I have no idea if the house or the tree is still there, but my experience there scared me really badly. There’s also a pioneer cemetery off of Helvetia Road (I’m pretty sure, bad with road names since I haven’t lived out there for 15 years) that I had a pretty significant experience at as well. Stay safe out there, Hillsboro has such a creepy vibe all over it. I have so many stories that I need to type up someday.”4th Story“After a long, hard Friday at around 11 o’clock, my mom drove me and my friend out to Dick Road. We decided to take a video of it. We go under the bridge and my mom announces that there is the noose on the video and we all go quiet. At this time, I, for some reason, close my eyes and on the video we hear coming from in front of my face a man’s low voice saying, “Shhhhhh,” and after that my mom asks if we hear anything. I videoed the whole time but, watching the video, it cut itself off right as we go under the bridge the second time when I know I filmed for at least 30 seconds longer. And I also got the clouds being orange on video and am sure I recorded it. In the video, it was black.”
Wow!
Who knew! My husband and I enjoy an evening drive.
We have driven under the train trussle many
times.
I enjoyed reading the history.
Thank you
Don’t know if the trestle is haunted or not but a good hamburger deal at Helvetia Tavern no longer stands a ghost of a chance.