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Reported phenomena — as catalogued
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1892 Seven-Railroad Union Station in Duluth, Where a Child in White Has Been Photographed in a Sealed Room
506 W Michigan St, Duluth, MN 55802
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
General admission to the Lake Superior Railroad Museum and Duluth Art Institute; haunted history tour tickets $18. Museum admission varies by season.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Large historic train station; main floor accessible, upper floors and attic require stairs
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1892 · National Register of Historic Places · Duluth Architectural Heritage · Seven-Railroad Union Depot
The Duluth Union Depot was constructed in 1892 to a design by Peabody & Stearns of Boston, who produced a French Chateauesque building with a distinctive roofline visible across the harbor. At its peak, seven major railroads — including the Northern Pacific, Great Northern, and Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range — ran through the station. The choice of a union depot had been contentious; competing rail companies eventually agreed to share the facility rather than build separate downtown stations.
Passenger traffic peaked in the first decades of the 20th century and declined steadily after World War II as automobile travel displaced rail. The last passenger train departed the Depot in 1969. Preservation efforts in the early 1970s converted the building to cultural use; it now houses the Lake Superior Railroad Museum in the restored train shed, the Duluth Art Institute in the former waiting rooms, and offices and exhibit space for the St. Louis County Historical Society.
The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (Reference No. 71001028). The original hardwood floors, ornate ironwork, and upper-floor rooms remain largely intact, and the attic has not been fully opened for public use since the 1970s.
Sources
The best-documented sighting at the Duluth Depot came from Milissa Brooks-Ojibway, who worked as curator for the St. Louis County Historical Society and was sorting through artifacts in the building's attic when she was hit by a sudden cold blast. She looked down to find a girl in white 1890s dress — bonnet included — standing beside her, staring at a wicker baby buggy stored on the upper shelves. The girl was gone before Brooks-Ojibway could process what she had seen. The account has been confirmed by the Lake Superior Railroad Museum's executive director, Ken Buehler, in a series of videos produced by the museum.
The second piece of photographic documentation came from a wedding reception held at the Depot. Three time-stamped photographs taken seconds apart by the same camera showed the couple's first dance; in the second image, a small figure in white 1890s clothing appeared crouched in the background. The figure was absent from the first and third frames. No children attended the event.
A handprint in a barred-off room sealed since the 1970s has been documented by visitors and staff. Paranormal investigators working in the 1916 Northland passenger car, now part of the railroad museum's rolling stock, reported capturing an orb-like apparition on camera. The October Haunted History Tours have sold out for multiple consecutive years.
Media Appearances
One of the largest railroad museums in the country, housed in the Depot's restored train shed. Features locomotives, passenger cars, and rolling stock including the 1916 Northland coach where paranormal investigators have documented an orb-like apparition.
After-hours tours running October evenings that combine the building's 130-year history with ghost stories and documented paranormal accounts, including the curator's ghost-girl sighting and the sealed-room handprint. Tours depart at 6 PM and run approximately 90 minutes.
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This Duluth tour includes St. Louis County Depot (Duluth Union Depot) on its route.
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