Duluth Dark History Walking Tour Scares up the Darker Side of the City’s History

The history of Duluth is an epic tale of triumphs and tragedies, successes and failures. This summer, a new tour offered by The Duluth Experience focuses on the not-so-rosy stories of Duluth’s past and some of the reported hauntings that folks around town don’t necessarily like to talk about – things like gunfights, murders, riots, and even some of the local haunting legends!

Dark History Tour explores forgotten sites. Photo: The Duluth Experience

Related: Duluth’s Dark History Bus Tour

The local tour company launched their Dark History Bus Tour in October of 2015 and found that there was a huge interest in the lesser-known stories of Duluth’s sorted past. Encouraged by the response to the bus tour, their Team began preparations for a guided walking tour of similar content but focused on Canal Park and Downtown Duluth.

According to local historian and Zenith City Press publisher Tony Dierckins, “Exploring the darker side of a community’s past reveals a much more complex, fascinating, and often entertaining aspect of its history, and in today’s Zenith City nothing brings that perspective to light quite like The Duluth Experience’s Dark History Walking Tours.”

“Once we started digging into the darker side of Duluth’s history,” explains Duluth Experience CEO Dave Grandmaison, “we discovered a lot of creepy stories, legends, and tragic events that made for great storytelling.”

The Dark History Walking Tour weaves its way through Canal Park and Downtown Duluth where guests explore true stories of pirates on Park Point, lost ships of Lake Superior, and Duluth’s tenderloin district, along with tragic stories of lynchings, gunfights, and murders. The Duluth Experience guides also delve into local legends regarding lake monsters, strange disappearances, and ghostly apparitions in Duluth’s Historic Arts and Theater District.

“This isn’t a hokey, haunted-house tour with folks dressed up like goblins and ghouls trying to scare you” says Grandmaison. “Duluth’s dark history is creepy enough on its own.”

Join us for The Dark History Bus Tour and explore Duluth’s Dark History with fun, expert guides from The Duluth Experience this October.