Screams and Scares at Fort Lincoln's Haunted Fort
Fort Lincoln State Park has been full of history, stories, and scares. This year, Fort Lincoln is opening its Haunted Fort once again.
The Haunted Fort’s story first started when the Custer House was being reconstructed in 1989. The reconstruction pushed forth spirits of the ones who once lived and died there. Many encounters of this haunted spirit involved a mysterious woman in a black dress to weeping voices along the boardwalk. These encounters sparked the idea for the Haunted Fort. The first Haunted Fort started in 2002 and has been evolving ever since. Bigger and better scare houses, more scare actors, more costumes, and more screams.
This year the Haunted Fort will have four different houses. These houses include House of Krampus, Dr. Slaughters Gulch, Carnival Nightmares, and the Jack Attack. The houses each specialize in their own scares which can include clowns, pumpkin-slatchers, deadly outlaws, and so much more.
Mina Klein who has been a Customer Service Associate at the park for a year explained the history and some information about the Haunted Fort.
“It was established in 1907 by Teddy Roosevelt,” Klein said. “One of its purposes was to protect lands and preserve history.”
Klein then talked about the supernatural rumors of the park.
“Whether or not it’s actually haunted is debated among staff and visitors alike,” Klein said.
She said you will not find any plaques that tell you about the rumored hauntings.
Klein then explained the history of the Custer House saying, “The ghost of Libby Custer, the widow of General Custer, still haunts the grounds waiting for his return.”
Klein says she has heard stories of people seeing her shadow in the window, hearing voices, or hearing the boot steps of soldiers in the house. With even a report of
someone seeing a woman in a long dress walking along the road late at night towards the park.
The park has grown over the years in addition to the haunted houses there is a merch store, a food truck, dirty sodas, laser tag and even
paintball. The area is open every Friday and Saturday but the best nights to come is Halloween weekend.
“On Halloween weekend they have Darkness Unleashed where all the lights are turned off,” Klein said.
Students can buy tickets online to attend. If you want to participate in the scares, you can volunteer to be a scare actor on the Haunted Fort’s website. Even if you have attended before do not get too comfortable because there are more scares and screams every year. Are you brave enough to make it through?
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