https://www.beachconnection.net/news/bandage_man102519.php

Published 10/25/2019 at 6:23 PM PDT

By Andre’ GW Hagestedt

Cannon Beach’s Bandage Man a Spooky, Goofy Oregon Coast Lore for Decades

(Cannon Beach, Oregon) – Perhaps the most famous and infamous of Oregon coast ghost tales is Bandage Man, who has made numerous appearances in books for decades now. Locals seem to point to most of the tales popping up in the ‘50s and ‘60s of a bandaged and bloodied figure haunting the roads near Cannon Beach and its forests, even its bars. He’s even become more famous than Muriel, the ghost of the girl that supposedly haunts a Newport lighthouse (a tale that’s been thoroughly debunked for awhile).

Ghost tales are an interesting way to learn about history, especially the Oregon coast. If you look into Bandage Man further, you find out there was an “old road” part of Highway 101 just outside of Cannon Beach and its northermost junction, where the road veered off to the east a bit before returning to 101. That was straightened out into its current formation sometime in the ‘60s or so.

Even more revealing: that old, dark road was called “Bandage Man” Road by the locals, and it was apparently a rite of passage for kids who just gotten their license to drive it at night.

I first learned of him in a book of regional spook stuff back in the mid ‘80s, and even at age 23 and 24 it scared the hell outta me. Not long after, I was hanging out on a dock at Netarts (a long way from Cannon Beach) late at night, and somehow got freaked out about the possibility Bandage Man was lurking in the forest behind. Crazy times.

Bandage Man’s legends seem to go back to the ‘50s, but other accounts take him back to the ‘30s. He’s really a low budget kind of version of the mummy: he lurks in Cannon Beach forests and roads, covered in bandages and smelling of rotting flesh. Apparently mostly showing up on nights with heavy lightning (go figure), one tale has him smashing a window at the old Bill’s Tavern and grabbing someone’s dog for lunch.

Cannon Beach Surf shop has this t-shirt available for purchase

His origin story: one (and the main) version has it he was a logger severely injured and rather “chopped up” as the Cannon Beach History Museum recently put it, then whisked away by ambulance all covered in bandages. The ambulance fell victim to a landslide, and supposedly when they came to rescue the vehicle – he was gone.

There are myriad versions of this, including lore that he was an electrician and from various other trades. Mostly though, he’s a logger. According to the museum, he first started popping up in the ‘50s, but I’ve read tales that speak of him farther back.

In any case, in true campy horror movie style, his modus operandi is mostly harassing teens parked in cars.

“On occasion he is said to target moving vehicles like opened top cars or pickup truck, he’ll jump into the back of the vehicle and then mysteriously vanishes before reaching town,” the museum recently wrote on Facebook. “Most of the time people do not become aware of his presence until his rotting stench reaches your nose.”

This is where the tale takes some surprising and hilarious turns. There’s a wild tale of a Bandage Man prank in the ‘60s on the north Oregon coast that’s become legend on its own. Or is it just part of the Bandage Man lore?

Funny how stories change, morph and even disappear.

At one point, around 2008 or so, I heard about a gnarly prank one group of north Oregon coast high schoolers played on a friend back in the ‘60s or so. There was a bunch of them in the back of a pickup truck, and at one point they hopped out and had a friend hop in dressed as Bandage Man. The driver went bonkers, doing cookies in the gravel to try and get the faux spook out of the truck.

Sadly, as I write this and doublecheck with old coastal friends on the prank, this one gets lost. Some don’t recall the Bandage Man legend at all, others claim this prank was a real Bandage Man visitation. Indeed, one Facebook page for locals in Clatsop County recounts a version of this over and over. A young couple from the local high school had pulled over at a famous makeout spot and were interrupted by booming knocks on the truck window, discovering a bloodied and bandaged face smooshed up against the glass and a bloody stump with a hook reaching for them.

This one and other similar encounters were told frequently in the ‘60s, according to a lot of locals.

About 2009, I was chatting with a local man at Cannon Beach’s The Bistro – whose name I cannot recall, and I can’t find him now. So this isn’t true reporting here. But he intimated he and his friends had had something to do with the genesis of the Bandage Man tales. He was vague about it, but seemed to want to tell me about this at some future point in time. It’s entirely possible he was pulling my leg, however.

I didn’t chase it. I’ll never know. And there’s so much hearsay in all this it’s uncomfortable to write about. But this is a ghost tale, after all. Ever seen the Washington Post do a breakthrough tell-all on a ghost?

What’evs. The tales have stood the test of time and seem to have found new uses. Cannon Beach Surf still has t-shirts that utilize the kooky north Oregon coast mummy to preach against illegal camping in cars around town. Hotels in Cannon Beach – Where to eat – Cannon Beach Maps and Virtual Tours

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https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/oregon/bandage-man-ghost-story-or/

Posted in Oregon June 12, 2018 by Catherine Armstrong

Tell This Oregon Ghost Story Around The Campfire And No One Will Sleep A Wink

Some people believe in ghosts; others don’t. But when you’re sitting around a campfire on a dark night, it’s a little easier to suspend your disbelief. Here’s a ghost story that might keep you up late at night, especially if you happen to be anywhere near Cannon Beach.

When you’re snuggled around a campfire, ghouls and ghosts might be the last thing on your mind… until someone gets the bright idea to tell creepy stories.

Henry…./flickr

The story of The Bandage Man is an urban legend that’s been around since the 1960s. It may have started as a way to deter young lovers from “parking” in overlooks along Highway 101.

The story goes that a young couple was parked in a truck somewhere near Cannon Beach.

Diana Anderson/flickr

Oblivious to their surroundings, they were making out when the truck shifted, as though someone had climbed up into the truck bed. They looked out the rear window to find a disfigured man, covered in bandages, rocking the truck back and forth.

He started pounding on the window and the top of the truck as the boy pulled the truck out of the overlook and started racing down the highway.

Alex Weimer/Flickr

The couple drove for a few miles with the bandaged man still beating on the truck, until he suddenly disappeared.

Stories of Bandage Man continue to plague Cannon Beach and the stretch of Highway 101 nearby.

sea turtle/flickr

Over the years, some drivers have reported a man covered in bandages jumping into their cars. Sweethearts in parking lots or overlooks report seeing The Bandage Man approaching their car. Others say that they’ve seen him on the beach and walking down the side of either Highway 101 or a short road known locally as “Bandage Man Road,” which connects Cannon Beach.

Some believe that Bandage Man is the ghost of a logger who died after horrific injuries sustained while working nearby.

phillipe leroyer/flickr

He’s said to smell horribly of rotting flesh, and sometimes leaves small pieces of bloody bandages in his wake.

Of course, no fully reliable sources exist to prove that this ghoul exists, but at the end of the night, when you crawl into your tent alone and hear the snapping of twigs or footsteps nearby… you might just wonder if Bandage Man is on the prowl.

Have you heard this story before? Are there other Oregon legends that never fail to make you shiver? Share your most terrifying tales in the comments below!

If you’re interested in more spine-tingling ghost stories, check out these 10 best places to spot a ghost in Oregon.

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Bandage Man

Bandage Man

Posted byJon March 11, 2005 5 Commentson Bandage Man

A bit of Oregon esoterica for everyone this Friday morning, and it’s a ghost story to boot: The Bandage Man of Cannon Beach.

The Bandage Man is a phantom of a man completely wrapped in bandages that haunts this small community. The bloody figure, who smells of rotting flesh, jumps into vehicles passing on a road outside of town, notably pickup trucks or open-topped cars, but also sedans, station wagons, and even sports cars. Sometimes the mummy breaks windows or leaves behind bits of bloody or foul-smelling bandages. One legend has it that he is the ghost of a dead logger cut to pieces in a sawmill accident.

The Bandage Man is sometimes said to eat dogs and may have murdered several people. He appears on the short approach road connecting US Highway 101 to Cannon Beach, between the town and where Highway 26 intersects with 101. The phantom always vanishes just before reaching town.

I first came across the story of Bandage Man in the book Ghosts, Critters & Sacred Places of Washington and Oregon, and it stood out because it’s not the typical “sounds and thumps in the night” type of ghost story that fills books like these.

Not surprisingly, there’s not much on the web about Bandage Man; digging around only reveals a handful of sites, with pretty much the same one or two paragraph description. However, I did find this post on the MysteryPlanet MSN Group that sheds light on the origin of the legend:

I was googling on the chance that I might find some mention somewhere of the Bandage Man. I have been aware of this story for over forty years. For I was a child in the community where it got it’s start. I knew some of the family of the kid that first encountered the Bandage Man. There is an old road, that for all the years I was growing up was known as “Bandage Man Road”. It was just an old section of Highway 101 that had been bypassed when a new section put in place, but it was still accessible and wasn’t very long-just a short loop off of the highway-the whole thing from end to end could be driven in maybe five minutes or so.

This loop of road was a popular place for local kids to go park and makeout.

That is where the story started. One night, two of the local kids were up there doing just what teenaged boys and girls do when they are parked on dark lonely roads. The boy had an old chevy pickup and his girl and he were sitting in the cab. All off a sudden they felt the truck sort of lean, like something was moving around in the bed of the truck. They turned to look out the rear window and there looking back was a bandaged face, with only some wierd looking eyes showing through eyeholes in the bandages. The bandaged figure started beating on the glass, and the top of the cab. The kid started his engine, got it gear and tore out of there-his girlfriend screaming in terror as the man in the back continued his pounding. Any of you who’ve been to Bandage Man road, or Cannon Beach, know how curvey the roads are and to drive them at highspeed is dangerous. On they went-after what seemed an eternity they made it to downtown Cannon Beach, where the boy’s family owned a service station that they lived next door to in green house. Once they got there, they looked in the back and the Bandaged figure was no where to be seen.

I first heard this story back in 1960-61. And it’s the original version. Some of the family of the kid still lives around here too, I know two of his brothers.

I have never heard of a repeat appearance by the Bandage Man.

I guess you’d better watch out if you’re driving around Cannon Beach, if you believe that sort of thing…

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https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/topic/81120-the-bandage-man-of-cannon-beach/

The Bandage Man of Cannon Beach

By Isis2200, October 25, 2006 in Ghosts, Hauntings & The Paranormal

32 posts in this topic

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Isis2200

Psychic Spy

Isis2200

Member

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1,531 posts

Gender:Female

Location:Oregon

#1

Posted October 25, 2006

user posted image

I just found the information I was looking for regarding the ghost that is seen in people’s cars up here in Oregon. It is called “The Bandage Man” and here is how the story goes, according to one researcher:

“A bit of Oregon esoterica for everyone, and it’s a ghost story to boot: The Bandage Man of Cannon Beach.”

“The Bandage Man is a phantom of a man completely wrapped in bandages that haunts this small community. The bloody figure, who smells of rotting flesh, jumps into vehicles passing on a road outside of town, notably pickup trucks or open-topped cars, but also sedans, station wagons, and even sports cars. Sometimes the mummy breaks windows or leaves behind bits of bloody or foul-smelling bandages. One legend has it that he is the ghost of a dead logger cut to pieces in a sawmill accident.”

“The Bandage Man is sometimes said to eat dogs and may have murdered several people. He appears on the short approach road connecting US Highway 101 to Cannon Beach, between the town and where Highway 26 intersects with 101. The phantom always vanishes just before reaching town.”

“I first came across the story of Bandage Man in the book Ghosts, Critters & Sacred Places of Washington and Oregon, and it stood out because it’s not the typical “sounds and thumps in the night” type of ghost story that fills books like these.”

“Not surprisingly, there’s not much on the web about Bandage Man; digging around only reveals a handful of sites, with pretty much the same one or two paragraph description. However, I did find this post on the MysteryPlanet MSN Group that sheds light on the origin of the legend:”

“I was googling on the chance that I might find some mention somewhere of the Bandage Man. I have been aware of this story for over forty years. For I was a child in the community where it got it’s start. I knew some of the family of the kid that first encountered the Bandage Man. There is an old road, that for all the years I was growing up was known as “Bandage Man Road”. It was just an old section of Highway 101 that had been bypassed when a new section put in place, but it was still accessible and wasn’t very long-just a short loop off of the highway-the whole thing from end to end could be driven in maybe five minutes or so.”

“This loop of road was a popular place for local kids to go park and makeout.”

“That is where the story started. One night, two of the local kids were up there doing just what teenaged boys and girls do when they are parked on dark lonely roads. The boy had an old chevy pickup and his girl and he were sitting in the cab. All off a sudden they felt the truck sort of lean, like something was moving around in the bed of the truck. They turned to look out the rear window and there looking back was a bandaged face, with only some wierd looking eyes showing through eyeholes in the bandages. The bandaged figure started beating on the glass, and the top of the cab. The kid started his engine, got it gear and tore out of there-his girlfriend screaming in terror as the man in the back continued his pounding. Any of you who’ve been to Bandage Man road, or Cannon Beach, know how curvey the roads are and to drive them at highspeed is dangerous. On they went, after what seemed an eternity they made it to downtown Cannon Beach, where the boy’s family owned a service station that they lived next door to in green house. Once they got there, they looked in the back and the Bandaged figure was no where to be seen.”

“I first heard this story back in 1960-61. And it’s the original version. Some of the family of the kid still lives around here too, I know two of his brothers.”

I guess you’d better watch out if you’re driving around Cannon Beach, if you believe that sort of thing…

http://ashiana.conforums.com/index.cgi

~ Isis

http://www.chuggnutt.com/2005/03/11/bandage_man.html