Editor’s note: This article was published in Grand Traverse Scene magazine’s Fall 2024 issue. Pick up a free copy at area hotels, visitor’s centers, chambers of commerce or at the Record-Eagle building on Front Street. Click here to read GT Scene in its entirety online.
A ship that will send chills from your feet to your forehead lies in harbor on Manistee Lake.
Affectionately called “The Ghost Ship” at Halloween time, the S.S. City of Milwaukee will be open for spine-tingling tours Friday and Saturday nights through the month of October in celebration of Halloween.
Robby Laurain, who began volunteer work with the Ghost Ship in 2016, now serves as its executive director of the Society for the preservation of the 354-foot retired car ferry that now serves as a seasonal floating museum.
His favorite time of the year on the ship, he said, is when it is eerily and immaculately decorated from bow to stern with ghouls, goblins, monsters, webs and a five-deck maze of other Halloween-related characters — including, of course, ghosts.
To be sure, the Ghost Ship is not for the faint of heart as the ship’s website tells would-be visitors — a warning, really — that they will “… experience loud audio, bright lighting, extremely low visibility, steep stairs, inclines and declines, high steps, low headways, obstacles, flashing lights, special effects, and sudden actions by actors.”
“There’s a lot of surprises, every year,” Laurain said. “We get visitors from all over, all summer long, but they really come out for The Ghost Ship.”
In fact, Laurain and his staff warn visitors to “enter at your own risk.”
The non-profit museum is open all Friday and Saturday nights in October, 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., plus the final Sunday night from 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Laurain said it takes about 25 to 45 minutes to walk through the ship. There is an entry charge and though there is no age restriction, children under the age of seven are not recommended to tour the ship.
A second ship-turned-museum, the United States Coast Guard Cutter Acacia, is moored alongside the The Ghost Ship. Both are permanently located on the northwestern shores of the 930-acre Manistee Lake, which is connected to Lake Michigan by a mile and a half river channel.
“A lot of volunteers have a lot of fun (putting on The Ghost Ship)”, said Laurain. “Yes, it does take a lot of work, but it is a lot of fun – fun for the whole family.”
For more information go to www.carferry.com/ghostship.
There are, of course, a number of other scare houses, corn mazes, pumpkin patches and other Halloween-related sites located throughout western and northern Michigan and one of the best websites to visit to learn about those sites is michiganhauntedhouse.com, which lists such items as Drive-Throughs; Haunted Hayrides; Haunted Houses; Haunted Mazes and Cornfields; Home Haunts; Paranormal Events; Theaters and Plays; Zombie Hunts and Shoots; Halloween Festivals and Parades; Kids Parties; and more.
The website also breaks down events and sites according to the counties they are located in, including the Dead Ends On Spruce annual Halloween display in Traverse City at 315 S. Spruce St., which this year will open on Oct. 1.
Nate Taylor, who created the colorful, family-friendly display, said it takes him about six weeks to get everything into place.
“I put over 400 feet of pipe in my ground just so I could have smoke rising from the ground,” said Taylor. “And that’s just one of the special effects.
“I also customized light and sound systems that gives us lightning and thunder. So when lightning flashes, or thunder crashes, it’s really quite a theatrical event. This is a family event type of thing. One thing I’m not big on is ‘jump scares,’ where people just jump out to scare you. We had almost 1,700 people sign our guest book on Halloween, alone, last year. That sounds like a lot, but it was all controlled, but it was never too super crowded.”
According to michiganhauntedhouse.com, Taylor’s “… yard walkthrough is designed to enlighten all your senses as the production and meticulous detail to an audio/visual experience is professionally created. From HD rain and thunder to the ground you walk on generating smoke from underneath, you will immediately feel like you’ve entered a dark dimension or have stepped onto a Hollywood movie set. You will not be let down and will want to return with friends and family for another experience at The Dead Ends.”
For more information search for Dead Ends on Spruce on Facebook.
“It’s really cool,” Taylor said of his Halloween display that’s been seven years in the making. “Our biggest thing is getting families out with their kids, to enjoy something as a family. It’s a real theatrical experience — it’s fun.
“Our official unveiling this year will be on Oct. 1 and we’ll be open every day after that throughout the whole month of October, from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. or so. It’s pretty amazing. People came back last year, and they came back again and again. This is just a lot of fun.”
His goal is ignite the “wow” factor in visitors.
“With all the fog, animatronics, and the visual, there’s so much to see. Ghosts, goblins and witches aside, it’s about helping people create memories — that’s what it’s all about. And that’s the principle driving factor of just bringing joy to the community, giving back whatever I can,” he said.
Another popular Halloween event that will be held in the area will be the Downtown Traverse City Halloween Walk will be held Saturday, Oct. 26, along Front Street from 10 to 11:30 a.m. For more information call (231) 922-2050.