MUSKEGON, Mich — On the Great Lakes, every ship has a story to tell.
"They found him dead in his bed when they went to wake him in the morning," said Operations Manager for the SS Milwaukee Clipper Brock Johnson. "Don't know what happened to him."
There are more than a few of those stories aboard the SS Milwaukee Clipper, and in October the national landmarks and – if you are brave enough – you too can learn about the spookier aspects of the ship’s 120-year history on one of their Friday and Saturday night Haunted Tours, with all the proceeds going back into keeping this ship here in its homeport of Muskegon and out of the graveyard.
Getting here has been a very long journey.
"When we got the ship back in 1997 it was not in the shape it is today," Johnson told us. "It was in terrible shape, peeling paint, broken window, stolen everything, really, and we were able to piece things back together. We were able to restore these decks and restore the rooms, and there's still so much more to do, but the ship has good bones."
Good bones and a good legacy that was worth raising from the dead.
"It's lived through 120 years," added Johnson. "It’s lived through so many things. World War One, and World War Two, lived through so many presidents, so many changes, so many changes around the world. And I think that that is the soul of the ship existing through all that time."
Sometimes though... that soul might get a little talkative.
"I have heard of experiences with former volunteers who have seen things and who have been told to get off like they've heard voices, whether they are exaggerating or telling the truth. I don't know"
But what Brock and the tour guides on the SS Milwaukee Clipper do know is a lot about this ship's history - both natural and supernatural.
"It's a historical tour as well as it's a fun house tour. You know, we're gonna take you through the ship, and we're gonna have some frights. We're gonna have some people out there to scare you," Brock said. "We're gonna have some flashing lights, but we're also gonna play into the ship's history."
Looking for something a little less spooky?
"If you don't feel like you can handle the lights or the jump scares or the noises, we do have a kids-friendly tour that we're doing right before our monster mash dance on the 26th it'll be from five to seven, and it's gonna be a discounted rate people can do to go through the ship and check out the spaces without all the props in action," says Brock.
The haunted ship tours are every Friday and Saturday night; 8-11 pm, all through October.
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