HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
1916 John McLaren Park in Ashland, Oregon Shakespeare Country
Winburn Way, Ashland, OR 97520
Research updated July 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free public park. Parking available along Winburn Way.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved paths near the duck ponds and main entrance; unpaved trails in upper park areas
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1916 · National Register of Historic Places · John McLaren Landscape Design · Oregon Cultural Heritage
Lithia Park's origins trace to 1892, when the Southern Oregon Chautauqua Association established a performance venue above Ashland Creek on what would become the park's footprint. The site occupies land where a sawmill and flour mill had operated since the city's founding.
In 1908, at the urging of the Women's City Improvement Club, Ashland voters passed a measure incorporating park maintenance into the city charter. A park board was elected, the old flour mill was demolished, and additional acreage along Ashland Creek was acquired. The city then brought in John McLaren — the Scottish-born landscape architect who had designed and superintended Golden Gate Park in San Francisco — to develop a formal landscape plan.
McLaren's plan was executed over the following years, and the park was formally dedicated over the July 4-6, 1916 Independence Day weekend. The design followed McLaren's naturalistic philosophy: creek corridors preserved, native vegetation integrated with formal plantings, paths and ponds set to the terrain rather than imposed upon it.
At 93 acres, 42 of which were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, Lithia Park is one of the most significant designed landscapes in southern Oregon. The mineral springs that give the park its name — lithia water, high in lithium carbonate content — were briefly promoted as a health tonic in the early 20th century.
Ashland is best known as the home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which has operated since 1935 and draws visitors from throughout the Pacific Northwest. The park sits adjacent to the festival grounds, making it a natural extension of any Shakespeare-related visit to the city.
Sources
The murder story attached to the park places the event in the late 1800s, before the 1892 Chautauqua grounds and well before the 1916 dedication. No archival record has been found to support it. It circulates in ghost-lore compilations rather than in documented local history, and the municipal record is silent on any such crime.
The account retold most often describes a blue mist over the duck pond near the park entrance, hovering above the center of the water for around half a minute before going out all at once rather than fading. It traces to ghost-lore listings rather than to any contemporary report or documented investigation.
Two other figures turn up in the same listings with less detail: a young girl in period dress near the ponds, and a lumberjack said to appear alongside faint music. Neither has archival support, and neither is attached to a documented person or event.
A spring-fed pond in a mineralized drainage produces low-lying fog under the right combination of temperature and light, which is the ordinary explanation available for what visitors describe.
Notable Entities
A 93-acre National Register park designed by Golden Gate Park superintendent John McLaren, formally dedicated in 1916. The duck ponds near the park entrance are the focal point of the reported light anomaly accounts — visitors walking the paved loop at dusk or after dark have reported a glowing blue mist hovering over the water.
Some links on this page may earn HauntBound a small commission when you book, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial picks are independent. Full disclosure
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Free Guide
11 verified stops, rated for families, mapped in order. Free.
One email to confirm, then the guide link. Unsubscribe anytime.
Gatlinburg, TN
Great Smoky Mountains National Park preserves 522,427 acres of southern Appalachian terrain across Tennessee and North Carolina. The land was the heart of the Cherokee Nation before forced removal in 1838 along what became the Trail of Tears, and home to Appalachian Scots-Irish and English settler communities through the early twentieth century. Congress authorized the park in 1926; it was formally dedicated by Franklin D. Roosevelt on September 2, 1940.
Linville Falls, NC
The Linville Gorge Wilderness in Burke County, North Carolina is part of the Pisgah National Forest and contains the deepest river gorge in the eastern United States. The Brown Mountain Lights — unexplained luminous phenomena visible from Wiseman's View and other overlooks near the gorge — were first reported in published accounts around 1910. A 1922 investigation by USGS scientist George R. Mansfield attempted to explain them as reflected headlights and brush fires but could not account for all reported sightings.
Marion, NC
Linville Gorge, carved by the Linville River through the southern Blue Ridge Mountains of Burke and McDowell Counties, is the deepest river gorge in the eastern United States. Managed as wilderness within Pisgah National Forest, the gorge has been associated with the Brown Mountain Lights phenomenon since at least 1910, when documented reports began appearing in print. USGS scientist George R. Mansfield conducted the first formal government investigation in 1922.