Return of haunted ship calls for all hands on deck

Syndicated Archives - KCAW · Oct 30, 2026

Gabe Fortin dabs fake blood on the stern of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kukui. (KCAW/Salemo)

After a year off, spurred by the government shutdown, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kukui is once again a haunted ship. Here’s how the crew was preparing for the return of Sitka’s long-standing Halloween tradition:

At the stern of the Kukui, four Coast Guard crew pour fake blood onto a white sheet. Gabe Fortin’s hands are stained with the red goo he’s using to draw a ring around a big X, like a cult circle.

“We’ve been trying it for a long time, and so you can see there’s all kinds of dead…