1893 Victorian Mansion with Forty Years of Radio-Era Hauntings
931 SW King Ave, Portland, OR 97205
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Private residence; exterior viewing from public street only
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved sidewalk on SW King Ave
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1893 · Victorian Architecture · Portland Radio History · Theodore B. Wilcox · Whidden & Lewis Architecture
Theodore Burney Wilcox built his Southwest Portland mansion in 1893 at the height of his commercial influence. As the primary stockholder of the Portland Flouring Mills Company and a figure in regional banking and shipping, he commissioned Whidden & Lewis — the architecture firm responsible for many of Portland's defining Victorian-era buildings — to design a residence commensurate with his standing. The result: a 12,882-square-foot Victorian on a third-acre parcel at SW King and Park Place, featuring red sandstone exterior work, mahogany paneling, seven fireplaces in onyx and marble, nine-foot ceilings, and an elaborate mahogany staircase.
Wilcox died in the early 20th century; his son occupied the mansion until approximately 1950. During World War II, the estate housed a Soviet purchasing mission, one of the stranger institutional uses any American private residence underwent during the war years. Following the war, an emigre concert pianist named Ariel Rubstein founded a school of music and dance in the building.
On October 31, 1957 — Halloween, the date either selected for effect or arrived at coincidentally — Portland radio operators Rod and Betty Johnson purchased the property and relocated their country music station KWJJ from downtown. The station broadcast from the mansion for forty years. DJs working overnight shifts in the grand ballroom-turned-broadcast-studio occupied what had been a family residence, with the house's full Victorian interior intact around them.
KWJJ moved to the old IBM building in 1997. The mansion has since changed hands, selling in March 2017 for $2,650,000, and operates today as a single-family private residence.
Sources
The paranormal record from the Wilcox Mansion comes primarily from KWJJ staff who worked the graveyard shift alone in the building between 1957 and 1997. Forty years of overnight broadcasts in an occupied Victorian mansion produced a consistent catalog of accounts, with multiple DJs independently reporting the same figures in the same locations.
The most frequently cited apparition is a woman in what staff described as a servant's uniform — black dress, white hat — observed walking in the upstairs hallway. Separately, a figure wearing a white suit and white hat was repeatedly seen near the grand piano on the third floor, walking around the instrument before vanishing when the observer moved to investigate. An elderly man with white hair was described by multiple staff members in both the attic and the main lobby.
Physical phenomena added to the accounts: the mansion's massive chandelier — described as the kind typically seen only in films — was observed shaking on multiple occasions when no person was near it and no apparent cause was present. Doors locked and unlocked without human contact. A framed photograph of John F. Kennedy was found turned upside down on multiple occasions.
The basement provided the most atmospheric accounts. Staff described heavy breathing sounds in the lower level and shadowy figures near an underground tunnel connecting the main house to the carriage house. At least one DJ reportedly locked himself in the broadcast booth during an overnight shift after an encounter there and refused to leave until day staff arrived.
None of these accounts were formally documented or investigated during the KWJJ tenure. They survive as oral history from former station employees.
Notable Entities
View the 12,882-square-foot Victorian mansion from SW King Avenue. The red sandstone exterior and ornate Whidden & Lewis architecture are visible from the street. The property is a private single-family residence — do not approach or enter the grounds.
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