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feature | haunted wineries

SOUTH STAGE CELLARS

Photos courtesy of South Stage Cellars | Taken by Jim Craven Photography

acksonville’s existence started with golden nuggets discov- the room, then tried again. Their security system service, a reliable
ered in 1851. As in all gold rush towns, the lure of riches company, called and reported seeing someone in what had been Robby
Jsometimes led to desperate measures—claim jumping, violence, Collins’s family room, now the tasting room. Collins, the last resident
even murder. For a mere 50-cents you could have someone killed of the building, enjoyed the good life and hanging out with celebrities
and fed to the pigs. A perfect atmosphere for ghosts! such as Ginger Rogers. He was instrumental in 1966 in registering
Jacksonville on the Historic Register. “He was a jovial, amazing per-
South Stage Cellars Tasting Room is one of a few sites in Jacksonville that son,” says Porscha. She attributes these incidents to Collins, figuring he
make such a claim. Their building was an assay office around 1857, and would still love to be where the action takes place.
later a hotel. Porscha Schiller, Tasting Room Manager and Marketing &
Events Manager, doesn’t believe in ghosts. Still… One night she tried A former server experienced lights going on and off. “Robby, stop
to set the alarm, but it kept going off. She asked her coworker to leave doing that,” the man implored, and the lights came back on. He also

96 www.southernoregonmagazine.com | fall 2017