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CARLTON COUNTY — The Duluth Paranormal Society plans on launching an investigation into paranormal activity surrounding the 1918 fires, a massive wildfire that killed 453 people and remains Minnesota’s worst natural disaster.
Sparked by a passing train on Oct. 10, 1918, during a record dry season, the wildfire turned into an inferno as winds started gusting up to 76 mph, according to the National Weather Service. When the fire finally ceased, 38 communities were destroyed, and 250,000 acres were burned.
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“It happened really quickly, so a lot of people were scrambling to get away from it. So just the trauma of that event, we think could be significant,” said Sarah Powers, society co-director.
The society’s primary objective, according to Powers, is to dispel any hauntings by remaining as scientific-minded as possible. To do so, they set up a makeshift security system at sites of interest using audio and visual equipment, as well as devices that measure electromagnetic activity, to detect paranormal activity and monitor it for up to six hours.
“When we go into an investigation, we are looking to debunk everything first, and when we can’t, then that’s something that we would consider actual evidence,” Powers said.
When something presents itself that can’t be scientifically rationalized, that is when the investigation becomes otherworldly. In her over a decade of investigating hauntings, Powers said most activity presents itself as voices or orbs of light dancing around the room. It can also include temperature changes, fluctuations in the electromagnetic field, or things moving on their own.
The history of a location also tends to be an indicator of whether it is haunted, especially if it is tied to a traumatizing event, Powers said.
“Locations we go to are very old buildings. A lot has happened there over the years,” Powers said. “We tend to look for places that have kind of a macabre history.”
This is especially true for locations around Carlton County that survived the 1918 fires.
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“As far as the 1918 fires go, there, there are very few things as traumatic as what those people experienced,” Powers said.
One area of interest is the Nopeming Sanatorium in Midway Township, which treated tuberculosis patients, and the site of a massive rescue where people drove their cars through the fires to save the patients.
Other areas of interest surround Jay Cooke State Park and several buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Cloquet, Powers said.
Duluth Paranormal Society members plan to work with the Carlton County Historical Society to research the fires and open their investigation in early 2026. Powers said they plan to accompany the investigation with a series on YouTube.
The group previously investigated two locations in Carlton County: the old Moose Lake high school — a “fairly active” paranormal site, according to Powers — and a century-old farm near Esko.
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