My uncles treated the family to an Alaskan cruise this summer. My mom had been on a couple of these family vacations before, but this would be my first.
I’ve always felt like the awkward black sheep of the family, and though I still tend to stand out in a crowd, my family definitely made me feel loved and accepted for my weirdness. The truth is, the Winkle family is actually pretty weird. Everyone is really into what they love, smart and funny in their own ways. My weirdness just happens to come dressed in black, wrapped in a spooky package and topped with blue hair.
So, how do you turn a family cruise to Alaska into a spooky getaway?
You start looking for the dark, strange and unexplained.
Into the Alaska Triangle
As a kid, I loved documentaries about the Bermuda Triangle. Give me strange disappearances, unexplained phenomena and mysteries that may never be completely solved, and I’m in.
I hadn’t heard about the Alaska Triangle until about six years ago, when I discovered the Travel Channel series The Alaska Triangle. The region has been connected to stories of missing aircraft and unexplained disappearances, UFO sightings, strange creatures and Alaska Native legends. Depending on who you ask, theories range from electromagnetic anomalies and energy vortexes to something much stranger.
Suddenly, this family cruise had another purpose.
I wasn’t just going to Alaska. I was going looking for the Alaska Triangle.
And it gave me the perfect excuse to talk with Mike Ricksecker, author of Alaska’s Mysterious Triangle.
Mike described the Alaska Triangle as a massive area roughly the size of California, filled with stories of missing people, vanished planes with no wreckage to be found, UFOs, USOs, cryptids and some good ghost stories. He shared stories about Sasquatch and the Kushtaka — strange shapeshifters from Tlingit lore, described as part man, part otter. Definitely unique to Alaska.
I had a hard time trying to envision this cryptid. Otter men — really?!
According to the stories, they can stand six to eight feet tall, have fingernails like talons and communicate with a distinctive three-part whistle used to lure people into the forest.
Oh, how I wanted to hear that whistle and cross paths with something supernatural. I have long been fascinated by Bigfoot, but now my vacation goal was all about finding an otter man — or at least finding someone to share their otter man story with me.
Something easier to find than a cryptid? Ghosts.
Mike told me the little Gold Rush towns were filled with ghost stories. Men left their homes and families hoping to strike it rich, while women were sometimes left to figure out how to survive on their own. Mike said prostitution commonly became part of life in some of these boomtowns, and that’s where many of the ghost stories began — jealousy, depravity and the not-so-shiny side of gold.
According to Mike, all I really needed to do was walk into a bar and start asking questions.
With his stories in the back of my mind, I was excited to see what I could find.
Juneau: Taking to the Air — and the Water
Our first stop in Alaska was Juneau, where instead of searching through an old hotel or cemetery, I got a completely different view of Alaska—from the air.
I didn’t have much fear about the little plane ride itself. The ladder we had to climb to get into the plane? That was another story. Between my fear of heights and my lack of upper-body strength, the climb was tricky and a little embarrassing. I started passing off my bag, jacket, phone and anything else I was carrying, knowing the dismount might be even worse.
The plane was small and loud, holding just our family and a couple of other passengers, but the flight itself was smooth. Soon we were enveloped in the white of the glaciers. I looked hard out the window for signs of life — hopefully in alien or cryptid form.
Mike hadn’t actually suggested I’d see either one there, but a spooky girl can hope.
What Mike did share were stories of flight equipment failures and theories surrounding Alaska’s magnetic anomalies. His book also recounts some of the aircraft that have vanished in the region, including the Douglas C-54 Skymaster that disappeared in 1950 and the Cessna 310C carrying House Majority Leader Hale Boggs that disappeared in 1972.
Considering how many Alaska Triangle stories involve aircraft disappearing into seemingly endless wilderness, climbing into a small plane might not sound like the obvious activity after talking with Mike Ricksecker.
But I wasn’t scared. I enjoyed the view.
It made me feel small, like I was in another world. The sun lit up the ice, and the headphones provided a bit of sensory deprivation. Among the masses of white, you would see pools of turquoise meltwater that looked inviting from the sky. The thought of climbing a glacier, on the other hand, was terrifying — and not in the spooky way I was seeking.
Knowing tours regularly came through here and I hadn’t heard the cryptid or UFO stories I wanted, I felt a bit deflated, but also curious. What was happening beyond our flight path? Alaska is immense and hard to traverse, maybe protecting the weird I was seeking.
Looking down at just how massive Alaska really is, the Triangle stories suddenly came to life.
Then it was time to trade the sky for the sea.
Real “Monsters” in the Water
We headed out on a whale-watching tour, where the mysterious creatures I was hoping to encounter were replaced by very real giants.
Humpback whales already have an almost prehistoric look to me. We strained to see them, moving around the boat as backs broke the
surface, tails disappeared beneath the water and massive heads briefly peeked out.
Then we were treated to something even more incredible: a rare bubble-net feeding.
The boat was alive with excitement, and I was squealing, grabbing photos and video — maybe too shaky to watch afterward, but still a memento to live forever on my phone. Not known for traveling in pods, we were told this bubble-net feeding was unique, and it felt special, like they were putting on a show just for us.
If only an otter man could swim by.
For a moment, I thought maybe one had, but binoculars revealed I’d found a couple of sea lions out for a swim.
A great day in nature, though no cryptids were found.
No sea monsters. No underwater UFOs. But honestly, whales aren’t a bad consolation prize.
Skagway: Ghosts of the Gold Rush
In Skagway, a luxury train car carried us through the mountains toward the Canadian border. I stared through the dense trees, hoping something strange might appear between them.
Bigfoot? A mysterious figure? Some unexplained creature watching our train pass?
Instead, I spotted a small Bigfoot statue somebody had placed along the route to give riders a laugh.
Close enough.
We also sped past the Gold Rush Cemetery, which may have made this the first vacation in a very long time where I saw a cemetery and didn’t actually go inside.
After the train ride, we headed into town, and this time I was determined to find some ghosts.
That’s how I ended up at the Red Onion Saloon.
The Ghosts of the Red Onion Saloon
The tourist hot spot was bustling, and finding a seat wasn’t easy, but I wasn’t there just for a drink. I spotted a sign advertising the Red Onion’s “Quickie” Brothel Tour.
I quickly, if a little uneasily, made my way upstairs, where we met our guide. Dressed in period clothing and armed with a big personality, she led us into the former brothel rooms. The cramped upstairs space immediately felt like stepping backward in time.
During the Red Onion’s brothel days, customers made their selections downstairs using dolls representing the women working upstairs. A doll on its back meant the woman was otherwise occupied; upright meant available. As far as systems for managing sex work go, it sounded both ingenious and incredibly creepy.
As we wandered through the small rooms, the unique antiques couldn’t completely hide the sadness behind some of the history.
Then came the ghosts.
We entered a room where old wallpaper, artwork and mirrors helped preserve the feeling of another era and heard about Lydia, the Red Onion’s best-known resident spirit.
According to the stories, Lydia was one of the women who worked there. Over the years, staff have reported the sound of high heels when no one else was upstairs and the unexpected scent of lilac. Some women have even claimed to feel a gentle caress on an arm or what feels like a kiss on the cheek.
Lydia apparently has a soft spot for the ladies and a dislike for cussing.
She’s not the only spirit associated with the building. Stories also tell of a considerably less charming male presence sometimes blamed for cold spots, unpleasant smells and even unexplained shoves.
The rooms were already tight. Apparently, there was barely enough room for the living and the dead.
I didn’t get to enjoy the scent of lilac. I didn’t receive a kiss, but I loved hearing that our docent had been comforted by Lydia following a rough tour. Knowing you’re not alone can be both unsettling and comforting, and Lydia came through with the latter for her.
I wish I had a similar experience during my visit — or so I think.
With more time, I would’ve asked more questions and gone on a longer tour, but cruise excursions went quickly and left me wanting more.
Ketchikan: Checking In With the Dead
By the time we reached Ketchikan, I had another haunted destination in mind: Annabelle’s Famous Keg and Chowder House, located inside the historic Gilmore Hotel.
And where there’s an old hotel, there’s usually a ghost story waiting for me.
Annabelle’s has accumulated several over the years, including stories of a mysterious man in a top hat reportedly seen around Room 208 and a silent female apparition spotted sitting in a chair. One of the more disturbing tales involves a Coast Guard officer who was allegedly shown an unoccupied room near his own where the bed was mysteriously soaked in blood.
Because apparently a ghost simply walking down a hallway wasn’t dramatic enough.
Other stories include moving objects, unexplained cold spots and chandeliers that swing on their own.
Looking to feed my craving for both ghost stories and crab, we headed to Annabelle’s and met the perfect person to serve up both — along with a killer Bloody Mary.
Bartender Camil, a Ketchikan local, told us she no longer worked night shifts because around 10 or 11 p.m., things would fly off the shelves behind the bar.
But ghosts weren’t new to her or her family.
She shared that her father had owned another building in town where the third floor was deliberately left vacant for the ghosts to roam.
The crab and the company were just what I needed, and the way she talked about her experiences and those of people she knew showed her excitement and apprehension when it came to dealing with the dead.
I left the bar only to take in the antique decor and take photos in hopes of capturing a spirit on my camera. My mom and I shared the most delicious crab legs and clam chowder. Filled with butter, crabmeat and the excitement of ghosts, we hurried back to the ship wanting more.
I didn’t encounter the man in the top hat, and thankfully I didn’t find any blood-soaked beds, but that’s part of the fun of chasing ghost stories. You don’t necessarily have to see a ghost to enjoy walking into a place knowing generations of stories are hanging around with you.
Still Looking for Something Strange
This may have been the first getaway I’ve taken in a long time that didn’t include an actual cemetery visit.
I did find a teddy bear in a pumpkin in the gift shop that came home with me, along with Deadman’s Reach coffee — because skeleton.
I’m happy that I can find happiness in the spooky.
It was also my first cruise and my first family vacation with my uncles, and somewhere between searching for ghosts, staring into the Alaska wilderness, watching whales and looking through the trees for Bigfoot, I realized the trip didn’t have to be completely spooky to feel like me. But finding eerie moments and hints of Halloween definitely helped.
I didn’t meet any Kushtaka. I didn’t hang out with Sasquatch. No UFO rose out of the water beside the ship, and none of my flights mysteriously disappeared into the Alaska Triangle — probably for the best.
But that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop looking.
There are always more cryptids to chase, haunted buildings to wander through and weird stories hiding in places most people visit for completely different reasons.
Sometimes finding your kind of vacation isn’t about where everyone else wants to go.
It’s about finding the weird wherever you land.