The Haunted Ship is back in Sitka. After a several-year hiatus, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Maple is inviting everyone to weave through its dark, narrow hallways Thursday and Friday evening.
The crew has taken this week off of their normal schedule to deck out the ship in spooky Halloween decorations. There will be six, scary zones, each with its own eerie theme and designed by a different group.
Ensign Andrea Byrd is the morale officer, and was in charge of organizing the event. She says they only recently got word they’d be in port this week. When they found out, they buckled down and started doing some serious planning.
Byrd says transforming the ship was easy because the space is so familiar.
The Cutter Maple’s health services technician, who everyone calls ‘doc,’ uses these severed (artificial) limbs for the crew’s first aid training. They also happen to double as some of the haunted ship’s gory props.
“It’s our job to know this boat inside and out,” she said, “so it’s really easy for us to take something real simple on the boat and turn it into something scary, because we know where all the best hiding spots are…we know everything about this ship.”
Every group of visitors will get a guide to walk them through the ship. The crew recommends that younger kids — 12 and under — come from 6 to 7pm because from 7:30 to 10:30pm, the haunted ship will amp up its freak factor.
Haunted ship-goers are encouraged to bring one canned good or dry good for admission, which the crew will donate to the Salvation Army and Catholic Church for its yearly Christmas dinner.
And if you bring cash, you can buy a baked good along the creepy course, sold by the Coast Guard Spouses’ Association. Proceeds from the bake sale will go to providing scholarships for kids with parents in the Coast Guard.
The Cutter Maple will be hosting the haunted ship Thursday and Friday, Nov. 1 and 2, from 6 to 7pm for younger kids, and from 7:30 to 10:30pm for those looking for an ultra eerie time.
