Newberg Graphic Online

Ghostly goings-on at local winery

Halloween — Argyle Winery tasting room haunted by former resident, workers say

• By: David Sale  
• Published: 11/4/2009 12:17:56 PM

   Throwing a party in a haunted house may sound like the beginning of a scary movie, but it’s an annual rite for staff at Argyle Winery.
   The ghost of a troubled Dundee woman is said to inhabit the winery’s tasting room and offices at Sixth Street and Highway 99W, the scene of an annual Halloween-themed wine tasting.
   “It really does go on,” said winemaker Rollin Soles, recounting a psychic’s encounter with the troubled spirit. “She came to visit and didn’t know the story, but she said she saw the ghost standing behind someone.”
   Argyle is headquartered in a turn-of-last-century bungalow that served as Dundee’s city hall building from the late ’70s until 1989.
   Prior to that, it was the home of Lena Elsie Imus, who killed herself there in 1908 by drinking carbolic acid (used then as a household cleaner and disinfectant).
   The legend that Imus’ ghost still roamed her former house started with two former city employees: Molly Davis, then-city recorder, and Chris Culver, former city clerk, whose accounts were later seconded by Tod Miller, then-assistant public works superintendent for the city.
   According to a Newberg Graphic report in 2000, the trio witnessed strange occurrences in the building: flickering lights, the sound of footsteps and a mysterious flowery smell, resembling women’s perfume — apparitions that continue to this day.
   “I’ve never seen the ghost, but at times I’ve smelled her perfume — and felt a chill in the air,” Soles said, adding that his employees had reported the sound of footsteps on the second floor, only to find the rooms deserted.
   According to Dundee’s oldest residents, the 25-year-old Lena had become pregnant and been abandoned by the father of the baby. Her obituary in the Dec. 24, 1908 edition of the Graphic said Imus died Dec. 18 after nearly three days in the hospital, feeling “despondent and (that) she had nothing to live for.” It does not mention anything about the alleged pregnancy.
   While the spirit of Lena Imus has not proved too troublesome to winery employees, it doesn’t lack the power to scare. According to Soles, a visiting copy machine repairman had his toolbox dumped out by the ghost.
   “I came in the room to help him pick up his things, and his face was white as a sheet,” Soles said. “He’s never come back — the company has to send their other guy for maintenance.”
   Rather than summoning an exorcist, Soles decided to humor the unquiet spirit in his own way — by creating a wine label, “Spirithouse” in her honor.
   “We’d re-planted some vines in the Knudsen vineyard, and the flavor didn’t quite fit in for our reserve vintage,” Soles said. “We’d already come up with the ’Nut House’ label, since our warehouse is an old hazelnut drying plant, so there was a theme going.”
   “I think it adds a great depth of fun and story to Dundee to have a ghost like that involved around here,” he added. “It’s a nice heritage piece.”
   The grave of Lena Imus can be found in Dundee’s Pioneer Cemetery, near that of her parents and two brothers. Its tombstone reads: “Not Dead, But Gone Before.”

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