Have you seen the children?  It is a boy and a girl.  They play in the center of the merry-go-round.... inside, behind the door.  They seem happy and full of spirit but every so often they turn and gaze, as if looking for their mother.  Have you seen them?  Following is a missive from someone who has:

"Hello, I was so lucky to stumble onto your website!  I grew up in North Portland and have had quite a few experiences of my own.  The reason I'm writing you is because I was wondering if you've ever heard of any sightings at the Carousel up at Jantzen Beach.  I've been searching for days for information on if any "accidents" have ever occurred there.  I can't find much info on the history of it."

"When I was a small child, I saw two children, a boy and a girl, playing in the center of it through an open door.  I only saw them when the door was open.  They were playing and I remember their dress being from the 20s or so.  They always would look at me and I got the distinct feeling that they wanted me to play with them.  I told my mother many times and she told me I was "pipe dreaming" but was visibly shaken.  I would always choose a horse on the outside because it really creeped me out but I still saw them every time the door was open."

"When I moved back to North Portland my husband and I took my oldest boy on the carousel a few times he was about 1 1/2.  He liked it when the doors were closed and screamed if they were open, so we stopped taking him there.  I didn't tell my husband a thing until last week when I took my son, alone, on a ride.  He just turned three now so he talks a LOT.  While we were waiting for the ride to begin, I noticed that we were directly in front of the open door, I got a shiver and my son looked up at me and said "there's kids under mama."  I said I knew and he said very seriously with some fear in his eyes, "I don't want to go under there."  I told him he didn't have to and the ride started, by then my husband was standing by the windows and I kept telling him to look at his dad and brother but every time we past the open door, my son looked inside.  After we got home that night, he told me again that the kids wanted him to play so I questioned him more, I asked how many kids there were and he said two.  I said "two boys?" and he said no a boy and a girl.  he said "They wanted me to play with them"  I asked if they said anything to him and he said yes.  he said the girl said "Don't throw him"  then he looked sad and said "they got hurt and now they can't leave, they're stuck in there and I don't want to go under.""

"That's when my husband came in from the other room and I told him the whole thing.  I know something happened there and I'm really curious to find out what it was.  I also want to know if anyone else has had similar experiences.  So have you heard anything?"

Feeling a shopping excursion coming on?  Stop by the carousel for a relaxing ride.  The outside column of horses will whisk you around at a 10 MPH clip, or go to the inner steeds and look for the children.  Remember, it's not polite to stare!