With Halloween coming, it’s time for a road trip to find ghosts. If you google “haunted places in Minnesota”, you will find a wealth of information on locations that are purported to be haunted.

There are a few haunted places that are not that far from us in here in Brainerd, including one of the most famous in the state: The Palmer House Hotel in Sauk Center. This is one of the locations that has had one of the many ghost hunting shows on TV at the location. I checked their website, and they do a few historical tours this time of the year, including Halloween night at 7:00. I know someone who has stayed there around Halloween on a girlfriends weekend and she said it was fun, but didn’t hear or see anything that might have been a ghost.

Another hotel that supposedly has ghosts is Chase on the Lake in Walker. I know someone who has done a girlfriends weekend there as well and gone on a guided ghost tour of the facility. Again, this person said they didn’t see anything resembling a ghost. I checked their website and do not see tours scheduled for this year.

There are a number of haunted locations in Duluth. One location is the Nopeming Sanatorium. This former mental hospital is abandoned and not open to the public, but tours can be arranged. This is another location that has been visited by one of the ghost hunting shows on TV. One of the other destinations in Duluth is Glensheen Mansion. They offer flashlight tours on the weekend before Halloween that I’ve heard are fun.

Another location in central Minnesota that is supposed to be haunted is the Christie House in Long Prairie. It’s a historical site, but those that work there continue to experience things like footsteps and voices when no one is there.

Here in Brainerd, one of the places that has supposedly had some ghostly activity is the Last Turn Saloon. Back in 2010, a group of ghost hunters set up their equipment there, but I don’t know if they actually observed anything. A former employee of the Last Turn told me of some first-hand scary things they experienced after the patrons had gone home and they were trying to close up for the night, like footsteps, lights getting turned on or off, etc., that were very unsettling.

I also talked to a former employee at Sherwood Forest Lodge, located on the west side of Gull Lake. They also told me of some frightening experiences that have happened there, again after closing when the employees were trying to get the facility ready for the next day.

If you know of any haunted places in Central Minnesota, let us know about them on our Facebook page.  Happy Halloween!