Halloween

PDD Quiz: Halloween Happenings 2025

Map out your spooky season festivities with this week’s quiz, which takes a look at local Halloween-y events!

A month-in-review quiz comes your way on Oct. 26. Please submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at alisonlinnaemoffat@gmail.com by Oct. 23. (more…)

The Slice: Behind the Haunt

The 30th season of the Haunted Shack ended on Saturday. This video goes behind the scenes to see what it takes to create the scares.

In its series The Slice, PBS North presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.

Josh the Rapper – “Halloween is Coming Up Soon”

From the graveyards of Duluth, Josh the Rapper throws down about the impending holiday.

Video: Steve Solkela in the Superior Spooktacular Parade

Superior Porchfest took part in the 10th annual Superior Spooktacular Parade on Saturday, represented by musician Steve Solkela. The video was made by Bret Holland.

Anthony Bennett – “Happy Halloween”

Perfect Duluth Day’s own Tony Bennett has a hot new single burning up the Halloween charts.

Hellwig Hollow: An Inner Monologue

The Way There

  • Canyon? Is that up north?
  • Oh, it’s past Twig, just south of Cotton, gotcha!
  • I didn’t know they had a haunted thingy out there.
  • How the hell do you get to it?
  • No, I have never heard of the Dawghouse Bar & Grill, but I assume it is near the hollow?
  • Okay — park at the Dawghouse and a bus will shuttle us to the actual attraction.
  • I’m not super sure how this is going to be set up … but I guess we are just gonna have to go and find out. (more…)

PDD Geoguessr #28: Haunted Duluth

When I developed the image, two specters became visible behind me (Photo by David James with Photoshop Generative Fill)

With Halloween approaching, this post takes a close look at the tales of hauntings around Duluth, presenting a classification system for the four different types of haunted Duluth locations. It concludes with a Geoguessr challenge made up of five spooky Duluth photospheres. (more…)

PDD Quiz: Halloween Happenings 2024

Map out your Halloween high jinks with this week’s quiz, which spotlights a few of the many spooky season events happening over the next few weeks. And don’t forget the PDD Calendar has a Halloween tag that filters in the creepiest stuff.

The next PDD quiz will review the month’s headlines; it will be published on Oct. 27. Please send question suggestions to at aklawite@d.umn.edu by Oct. 24. (more…)

Spookin’ at the Irvin: An Inside Look at the Duluth Haunted Ship

All photos by Erik Poffenberger

Most Duluthians can say they have taken the Duluth Haunted Ship tour, but how many have been on the other side? Every year this haunted attraction reaches out to invite volunteers to participate in the spooking instead of being spooked. I was able to get behind the scenes, uncover the creepiness and see how organizers of this historically haunted attraction keep things afloat (get it?) throughout the season. (more…)

PDD Quiz: Halloween Happenings 2023

This week’s quiz previews area Halloween hijinks. For even more spooky events, check out the Halloween category on the PDD event calendar.

A current events PDD quiz comes your way on Oct. 29. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by Oct. 26. (more…)

People are Strange

For your Halloween viewing pleasure, a video montage of retro creatures, compiled by Duluth’s Jean Kirwan and set to the Doors’ “People are Strange.”

Philip Blackburn’s Ghostly Psalms

I hadn’t heard of Philip Blackburn until I found this recording online. Blackburn “was born in Cambridge, England, and studied music there as a Choral Scholar at Clare College (BA, MA). He earned his Ph.D. in Composition from the University of Iowa.” At some point, he relocated to Minnesota. (more…)

PDD Quiz: Halloween Happenings 2022

Get your spooky on with this week’s quiz about upcoming Halloween events! For more seasonal hijinks, check out the Halloween filter on the PDD calendar.

The next PDD quiz will review this month’s headlines; it will be published on Oct. 30. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by Oct. 26. (more…)

Spooked in Duluth

Oopsy Annie tells spooky tales from her recent visit to Duluth — featuring ghostly tales from Fitger’s, Old Central and Glensheen. (more…)

Steve’s Overpopulated One-man Band – “Ranger Things”

Straight from the Iron Range comes this Halloween medley by Steve Solkela. The music was recorded at Kaleva Hall in Virginia. The medley includes: “Ranger Things Parody,” “Ghost of John,” “Play that Scary Music Bite Boy,” “Pass the Witch’s Broomstick” and “Zombie Taylor Swift.”

The Slice: Touring Spooky Halloween Homes

Pumpkins, witches, lights and ghouls adorn lawns and houses in the Duluth area decorated in the spirit of Halloween.

In its series The Slice, WDSE-TV presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.

Halloween spookiness awaits at the Icebox Radio Theater

Recently, a post appeared on my Facebook feed announcing the Halloween season of the Icebox Radio Theater in a creepy way. Jeff Adams, artistic director of the community theatre company that records in International Falls but is heard around the world, wrote:

We’re finally ready to tell this story. Years ago when my daughter was still at home, we worked together on a photography project taking pictures of our century-old Minnesota home. When we exported the photos to a computer for editing, this image was among them. (more…)

The Slice: Spooky Scenes at Two Harbors Lighthouse

The Lighthouse at Lighthouse Bed and Breakfast in Two Harbors gets a little eerie on stormy days near Halloween.

In its series The Slice, WDSE-TV presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.

Halloween Banners


Got some photos of awesome Halloween memories? Want to share them with the PDD ghouls and goblins? Send them our way, we will add them to the banner rotation — the long skinny photos at the top of the page when you view Perfect Duluth Day on a desktop computer. (There are no photo banners if you are on a smartphone.)


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Video Archive: WDIO-TV Halloween Weather Report

From the haunted film vault comes this 1970s clip featuring WDIO-TV weatherman Jack McKenna, two mice and Dracula. Also featured at the end are anchorman Dennis Anderson and sportscaster Bill Stefl.

Happy Halloween!

Zombie self defense at UMD

What better place to find big juicy brains to feast on than an institute of higher learning. UMD Chief Information Officer, Jason Davis, explains how to defend against a zombie attack using principles of Jujutsu.

The Slice: Haunted Ridge

The Haunted Shack has been bringing the scare to northern Minnesota for 26 years. The year’s spookenings are at Ru-Ridge Corn Maze in Carlton, about 10 miles southwestish of Duluth.

In its series The Slice, WDSE-TV presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.

Countdown to Halloween: Duluth Paranormal Society

The Duluth Paranormal Society has been featured in the Duluth News Tribune. Most interesting is its research into Sir Benedict’s Tavern on the Lake.

The DNT article includes links to other resources:

Minnesota Paranormal Study Group

Iron Range Paranormal Research

Happy Halloween. 🙂

Halloween Banners

ZombieBanner-Call

Got a great costume this year, or been to a good Halloween party already? We want to see your creepy, comical, kooky Halloween photos. And we’d love to add them to the banner rotation — the long skinny photos at the top of the page when you view Perfect Duluth Day on a desktop computer. (There are no photo banners if you are on a smartphone.)

Keep in mind, the proportions are extremely horizontal, so not every photo works when cropped. Click here for complete submission guidelines, but the basics are: 1135 pixels wide by 197 pixels high, e-mail them to banners@perfectduluthday.com.

If you’re not able to crop and size them, send the full image and we’ll do our best to crop it into a banner.

Countdown to Halloween: Nopeming

https://www.travelchannel.com/videos/nopeming-sanatorium-preview-0229492

Nopeming has a special place in the paranormal of Duluth. The Travel Channel sent a team in 2015, as featured in the link above. The Duluth News Tribune covered its history in a 2017 article.

The Nopeming facility was in use until Nov. 25, 2002. Friends of mine have laughed that rooms and spaces shown on ghost hunting shows holding tormented souls were, in fact, the places they worked as food service workers in high school.