Witches Castle Forest Park

This location is on my list of places to visit, and visit soon.
It is apparently just a short trek of .5 miles from the parking lot located across from the Audubon society of Portland. 

The story goes that In 1850, a man named Danford Balch filed a land claim on this portion of the property. His land was large enough that he hired help to clear it. He hired a transient worker named Mortimer Stump from Vancouver to help with the work. He allowed him to stay with them with his family which consisted of 9 children and a wife named Mary Jane. Mortimer stayed so long that eventually he fell in love with Danford's daughter Anna who was only 15. He asked permission to marry her but the parents refused the request. They threatened to elope and Danford threatened that if they did he would kill Mortimer. They ran off to Vancouver in 1858 and eloped anyways. This started a large feud between the Stump and the Balch families. Shortly after they eloped Anna and some other members of the Stump family returned to Portland for supplies and had a encounter with Danford.
He claimed his wife Mary Jane "bewitched" him to keep good on his threats against Mortimer's life, and wanted him to bring their daughter back home, that one night in a drunken state he pulled a shotgun out, and shot Mortimer in the head.

He was arrested, however due to the conditions of the wooden prison was able to escape while waiting trial. He returned to hide on his own property for six months until he was found and arrested again. He was put on trial for the murder and was convicted. He was hanged to death for the murder on Oct. 17th 1859. This was the first legal hanging that occurred in the new formed Oregon territory. His family continued to live on the property in the cabin, until the property was divided up among the children. 

The land was given to be used as part of the Portland Park in 1897. The failing stone building you see is not the original cabin, but actually a bathroom that was partially constructed in the 1950s for the park but never finished. it is said to be on the property where the cabin once stood. 

I have read stories that it became a common place for people to drink and party at night even with the parks closing at ten. People have claimed to have uneasy feelings on site, and to have seen orbs all through out these woods. Legend goes that the families are still feuding even in death.