Celebrating 30 Years of Scares: Reflecting on Three Decades of The Haunted Ship

This article was originally published in the October print edition of The Bark, distributed at the University of Minnesota Duluth campus.

Haunted Ship attendees wait in line on opening night. Photo by Caleb Olson

Oct. 3 marked the 30th Anniversary and yearly opening day of Duluth's Haunted Ship attraction aboard the William A Irvin Museum, which rests in the center of Canal Park. The warm fall evening brought the city to life, while hundreds of Duluthians waited in line eagerly waiting to see clowns, blood covered sailors, screaming zombies and more!

While standing outside the 610 foot long lake freighter, screaming and laughter can be heard bellowing out of the ship. 

Mary Glad, program manager of the Haunted Ship, welcomes crowds from the outdoor concession stand. 

“We started more than 30 years ago but with covid and getting the ship out of the slip when we had to do repairs, we missed 2 years of the haunt. Now we’re at our 30th anniversary,” Glad said.

The William A. Irvin freighter docked in the harbor. Photo by Caleb Olson

When the attraction was in the beginning stages, it was put on by students from the UMD theater department. Since then, various groups have taken ownership of the event and now it is run by the DECC.

“We use a core team of actors who have done it year by year and then we recruit as many volunteers as we can to help make it successful,” Glad said.

Duluthians and UMD students look forward to the haunted ship every year. This year, the ship is reworking rooms inside the attraction, as well as adding new scares and merchandise to the haunt.

“We’re really excited to showcase some of our new merch. We have our 30th anniversary t-shirts that showcase some of the past year’s designs that people might recognize,” Glad said. “We’ve changed some things around and we’ve hidden the clowns deep within the maze instead of right at the entrance. We’ve switched up some of the rooms, so it just feels a lot fresher and new.”

These changes and upgrades provide new surprises for the thrill-seekers of Duluth, according to Glad. “We’re excited to see what the 30th year brings”