Finding Minnesota: Spooky thrills aboard decommissioned ship in Duluth's Canal Park
DULUTH, Minn. -- 'Tis the season for ghosts and goblins, and in Duluth a famous ship has become a destination for paranormal investigators. In this week's Finding Minnesota, John Lauritsen gets a haunted tour of the William A. Irvin.
"It's a beautiful ship. The flagship of the SS Steel," said Lucie Amundsen, Duluth Entertainment Convention Center.
For decades, all 610 feet of the William A. Irvin cruised across Lake Superior. When it was decommissioned in 1978, the ship found a permanent home in Canal Park and opened its hatches to history tours. But one month out of the year it turns into a nightmare of a tour.
"They know the right way to make you feel all the willies when you walk through," said Amundsen. "Our lead designers just live to make it scary."
Mariners have been replaced by monsters, with a legitimate scare around every corner. Chris Allen is on the tour for another reason. He believes a ship that carried iron ore in its former life, now carries ghosts.
"Part of it is there are a lot of things attached to it. First of all there was an accident in the boiler room," Allen said.
A sailor later died as a result of that accident and legend has it his spirit is still here. Using paranormal K2 Meters and Rem-Pods, he has spent nights alone in what he calls the ghost vessel. Allen believes the spirit of a girl named Maggie haunts a room near the front of the ship.
"She was right here looking at us and we both went, 'Oh,'" Allen said.
Ghosthunters also think the spirit of Capt. John McDonough, better known as Capt. Kidd, still spends time in his cabin quarters. They've used an Echo-Vox to try and talk to him.
"He usually says simple things like, 'Hello.' We did get a 'Get out" one time so we left," Allen said.
One of the most purportedly haunted places in the William A. Irvin is found in that room with the creepy dolls, in the middle of the Halloween tour.
"When I see a room like this, this is the ultimate creep to me. This is scarier than having a mummy chase me or any of the other scary monsters from Halloween," Allen said.
But in the end, it's actually a clock once used by sailors that gives him goosebumps.
"I was told there are spirits attached to it," Allen said.
Visitors have reported dozens of sailor ghosts sightings as well. Whether you believe in the supernatural or not, the William A. Irvin will try hard to convince you that you're not alone.
"I would say be skeptical but keep an open mind. Because there are things that are unexplained," Allen said.
About 20,000 people go through the haunted ship and paranormal tour each year.