Thelma Taylor was a happy 15 year old high school student. It was early summer in 1949 and she was waiting for a berry bus to pick her up on North Fessenden Street. She would be spending the day picking berries in the country and making a little extra money for herself. She never made it to the berry fields that day and she was never seen by her friends nor family again. Thelma had been abducted.
Back in those days the area under the St. Johns Bridge was undeveloped and overgrown with brush. The abductor took her to this area. She was bound, raped and held for almost a week before she finally died. The perpetrator of the crime was apprehended, found guilty and put to death, but the torment that Thelma went through lives on.
The Portland Police find it routine to receive calls in the summer; reports of screams coming from the park. They dutifully dispatch units to check the area but it is always the same - there is nothing there.
The screams can be heard to this day.... screams of a girl caught and bound, with no hope of escape.