5 Spooky Duluth Destinations

Get your Halloween thrills at Enger Hill and other Duluthian haunts
Enger Tower sits atop Enger Hill overlooking Duluth and Lake Superior

Photo by ShaLynn Wren/Flickr

Duluth is home to plenty of Halloween haunts. The Public Library was recently the site of an in-depth search for spirits by the Duluth Paranormal Society’s Investigative Team, and Duluth Depot has its share of spooky stories. Here are five more spots around the city with mysterious and/or grisly pasts.

Glensheen Mansion

The 112-year-old Congdon estate is a haunted historians’ holy grail. While tour guides aren’t allowed to discuss the infamous double murder that occurred here in the summer of ’77, the estate does host 21+ flashlight tours around Halloween, plus trick-or-treating and crafts for the kids. Check the official site for COVID-19 updates.

Enger Tower

Perched menacingly atop Enger Hill, this five-story watchtower dates to the 1930s. Rumor has it a man leapt from the summit in 1948, but his body was never identified. Some eagle-eyed netizens have reported seeing a figure circling the windows late at night. (Sometimes, it gets lit up like a pumpkin.)

William A. Irvin

After spending 2019 in dry dock, undergoing significant repair work, Duluth’s most beloved museum ship has finally returned to port. Haunted tours return in 2021. Keep your eyes peeled for Maggie, a playful specter estimated to be 7 years old.

Nopeming

Long abandoned and prone to vandalism, the 108-year-old sanatorium once housed tuberculosis patients; now it is privately owned by Orison Inc. The nonprofit briefly opened its grounds to paranormal groups, but has remained shuttered due to fire code violations.

Greenwood Cemetery

Save for a small plaque tucked into a grove of trees, you’d never know the field behind the Chris Jensen nursing home and Arrowhead prison was the final resting place of 4,705 people—many of whom were poverty-stricken miners, sailors, farmers, and lumberjacks who couldn’t otherwise afford proper burials.