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More than a Few Ghost Stories Swirl About Crater Lake National Park
by haunted hiker on October 31st, 2009
A Ghost and Goblin Park
Ranger Jan Kirwan calls Crater Lake a “ghost and goblin park.” It didn’t take me long to see Ranger Kirwan’s point. From the Indian legends of long ago to the modern tales of today, there is an undeniable fairy tale atmosphere to Crater Lake, a surreal landscape of enchanting moments and bizarre dangers.
Ranger Kirwan says Crater Lake rangers often see campfires burning on Wizard Island, but when they boat out there, the rangers find no sign of campers, no whiff of smoke, and no scorch marks on the ground. One evening Ranger Kirwan was patrolling the roads below the rim when she spotted ten people standing around a roaring fire, camping illegally in the forest far from the designated campground. The ranger parked her car and entered the woods to contact the illegal campers, but when she reached the site, she could find no people and no campfire. Somewhat distressed by the campers’ furtive behavior, the ranger got behind a tree and called for backup. The two rangers searched all over, but they still couldn’t find any sign of the “roaring campfire” or the ten campers Ranger Kirwan had seen just moments before.
When Ranger Kirwan and her partner told the other rangers about their unnerving experience, they learned that the place where Ranger Kirwan had seen the phantom campers was the site of an old Park Service campground. Cold Spring they called it. And before Crater Lake was a national park, the Klamath Indians used it as a temporary hunting and berry-picking ground.
This story appeared on the TV Series – Mysteries in the National Parks – 2016
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