Haunted Places in Kansas: 21 Places You Can Visit or See
A cemetery said to be a gateway to Hell, a house that Atchison will rent you for the night, and a frontier nurse who still walks her hill in a blue dress. Here is what is true about the ghosts of Kansas, and where you can actually go.
Kansas has more ghost stories than its quiet farm towns suggest: cattle-drive saloons, frontier forts, railroad hotels and one of the most famous urban legends in America. We have checked every place on our older list against current sources, kept the ones you can still visit or at least see from a public road, and added the forts, theatres and hotels with the best-recorded stories. For each one you get the history, the ghost story and an honest note on how solid that story is.
Some famous names come with warnings. Stull Cemetery is fenced, locked and patrolled, and you can only see it from the road. The Sallie House, by contrast, is owned by the City of Atchison and open for tours and overnight stays. Haunted Rooms runs its own ghost hunts at three Kansas venues: the McInteer Villa in Atchison, Old Cowtown in Wichita and the Brown Grand Theatre in Concordia.
Visit on a tourParanormal investigations allowedOvernight investigations
Address 508 N 2nd St, Atchison, KS 66002
Where to look The upstairs nursery, the stairs and the basement
Reported ghosts Sallie, a little girl said to have died on a doctor's table, and an angrier unseen presence
Visiting City-owned house, unoccupied, open by booking only
Tours One-hour self-guided daytime tours, $20 per person
Hours and season Day tours roughly 10 AM to 2 PM; overnight stays check in at 3 PM
Tickets Overnight stays from $125 per person, two-person minimum; a waiver is required
Ghost hunting Yes, overnight investigations booked through Visit Atchison
This plain white frame house on North 2nd Street became famous after Tony and Debra Pickman rented it in 1993. They reported a growling dog, lights and electronics failing, teddy bears that moved, small fires, and scratches on Tony’s arms and back. Fox TV’s Sightings filmed there in 1994, the couple moved out that October, and Debra later wrote a book about it. The house is now owned by the City of Atchison.
The story says Sallie, a six-year-old, died around 1905 when a doctor began removing her appendix before the anesthetic took hold. There is no record of any such girl. The house belonged to the Finney family, but historians find no evidence Dr. Charles Finney practiced there, and Ethel Anderson, who lived in it from 1958 to 1990, insisted it was not haunted. The name Sallie came from a tenant’s child’s imaginary friend.
What investigators report
Investigators have set a circle of stuffed animals in the nursery as trigger objects, and report an EMF spike at the top of the basement stairs plus cold spots and odd smells in the master bedroom.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book an overnight stay through Visit Atchison and bring spare batteries: draining phones and cameras is the most common complaint. You will sign an injury waiver first.
Visit on a tourGhost toursOvernight investigationsHaunted Rooms ghost hunts
Address 1301 Kansas Ave, Atchison, KS 66002
Where to look The lantern tower, the attic and the basement
Reported ghosts A figure seen in the tower window, footsteps and slamming doors
Visiting Privately owned mansion open for tours, events and overnight ghost hunts
Ghost hunting Yes, on Haunted Rooms ghost hunt sleepovers
John McInteer, an Irish immigrant and prominent Atchison businessman, built this red brick Queen Anne mansion on Kansas Avenue in 1889 and 1890. With its round corner tower, steep gables and carved trim it is one of the showpieces of a town full of Victorian houses, and it has been on the National Register since 1975. Later it served as a home and a rooming house.
The best-known story is a light, or a figure, seen in the tower window even though the tower has no electricity, which trolley guides point out from the street. Visitors also describe footsteps, doors that slam and figures that turn up only in photographs. Haunted Rooms runs ghost hunt sleepovers here, and the owners host tours and private events.
What investigators report
Overnight guests report a REM pod flashing for about 30 seconds and a K2 meter lighting up after spirits were asked to show themselves, with a second-floor door said to open on its own.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book one of our McInteer Villa ghost hunt sleepovers to investigate the tower, attic and basement after dark, then walk to the Sallie House, about a mile away, by daylight.
Address 395 Biddle Blvd, Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027 (cemetery)
Where to look The national cemetery, the oldest officers' houses and their attics, and the Rookery
Reported ghosts Catherine, a pioneer mother with a lantern, Father Fred the priest, and a Lady in Black
Visiting Active Army post: you need a visitor pass from the Visitor Control Center (online pre-registration or walk-in)
Hours and season Cemetery open daily dawn to dusk
Tickets Free; the Frontier Army Museum is also free
Ghost hunting No; it is an active military installation
Fort Leavenworth has been an Army post since 1827, when soldiers first set up Cantonment Leavenworth on the Missouri River bluffs. Its national cemetery began as a soldiers’ burying ground, was one of the first 14 national cemeteries named in 1862, and holds Gen. Henry Leavenworth, Thomas Custer and other Medal of Honor recipients. The post is home to the Frontier Army Museum, which runs a Haunted Fort Leavenworth walking tour in October.
The fort’s ghost stories go back decades. A 1985 Leavenworth Times article quoted a post historian on Father Fred, a priest said to haunt a house built from timbers of a rectory that burned in 1875, and a Lady in Black who tends children. In the cemetery people tell of Catherine, a mother who searched for her lost children with a lantern and died of pneumonia; versions call her Sutler, Sutter or the sutler’s wife.
Haunted Rooms tip: Pre-register for a visitor pass with the Visitor Control Center before you go, then visit the Frontier Army Museum and the cemetery by daylight.
Where to look Sentinel Hill and Elizabeth Polly's grave, the parade ground and the officers' quarters
Reported ghosts Elizabeth Polly, the Blue Light Lady, in a blue dress and white bonnet
Visiting State historic site with museum buildings and grounds; Polly’s grave is a short walk up Sentinel Hill southwest of the fort
Tickets Check with the Kansas Historical Society; Graveside Conversations tours have cost $3 for adults
Ghost hunting No ghost hunts; the October Graveside Conversations are history tours
The Army moved Fort Hays to this spot on Big Creek in June 1867, after a flood wrecked the first site and killed nine people. Custer, Sheridan, Wild Bill Hickok and Buffalo Bill Cody all passed through before the Army left in 1889. The 1867 stone blockhouse, the 1872 guardhouse and two officers’ quarters survive, run by the Kansas Historical Society as a state historic site.
Its ghost is Elizabeth Polly, a woman who nursed soldiers through the cholera epidemic of 1867, liked to walk on Sentinel Hill, and died of the disease. She was buried at the foot of the hill. The first recorded sighting dates to 1917, when farmer John Schmidt saw a woman in blue cross his land toward the hill. People since describe her in a long blue dress and white bonnet, glowing with a blue light.
Haunted Rooms tip: Go in late October, when volunteers lead lantern-lit Graveside Conversations at the fort cemetery, then drive out to Elizabeth Polly’s grave on Sentinel Hill; the last stretch is on foot.
Visit on a tourGhost toursHaunted Rooms ghost hunts
Address 310 W 6th St, Concordia, KS 66901
Where to look The stage and the dressing rooms
Reported ghosts Earl Brown, who built the theatre, and Katherine and Gertrude Brown
Visiting Working theatre; historic tours by appointment
Hours and season Office Monday to Friday 8 AM to 4 PM
Ghost hunting Yes, on Haunted Rooms ghost hunts; paranormal groups also rent the building
Colonel Napoleon Bonaparte Brown, a Civil War veteran who opened Concordia’s first bank, paid for this stone opera house, and his son Earl oversaw its construction. It opened on September 17, 1907 with The Vanderbilt Cup. Both men were dead by 1911. The theatre showed films from 1925 to 1974, was restored by 1980 and now hosts performances and community events. It has been on the National Register since 1973.
Local lore says Earl Brown never left. Director Melissa Swenson told KCLY radio he is known to be seen here and is thought to want the theatre used the way it was meant to be, and the staff also name Katherine and Gertrude Brown among its ghosts. Paranormal groups often rent the building, the theatre runs its own haunted tours, and Haunted Rooms has run ghost hunts here.
What investigators report
Ghost hunt guests report K2 meters and other equipment picking up the most activity around the stage, with readings spiking sharply in the west wing before dropping back.
Open to the publicGhost toursHaunted Rooms ghost hunts
Address 1865 W Museum Blvd, Wichita, KS 67203
Where to look The 1874 Murdock House and the empty buildings after closing
Reported ghosts A child of Wichita Eagle founder Marshall Murdock, footsteps and moving mannequins
Visiting Open-air museum village
Hours and season Wednesday to Saturday 10 AM to 5 PM, Sunday noon to 5 PM, closed Monday and Tuesday
Tickets Paid admission; Sundays from April to October are pay as you wish
Ghost hunting Yes, on Haunted Rooms ghost hunts
Old Cowtown opened in 1952 on 23 acres just outside downtown and now has 54 historic and re-created buildings, from the 1868 Munger House, moved here from North Waco, to a working period farm. Costumed interpreters show what Wichita was like when it was a cattle town at the end of the Chisholm Trail. The City of Wichita runs it with a nonprofit board.
Most of its ghost stories center on the 1874 Murdock House, home of Marshall Murdock, who founded the Wichita Eagle. Staff and visitors tell of a Murdock daughter seen and heard in the house, footsteps in empty buildings, lights switching on and off, and mannequins that move in ways that would take several people. Haunted Rooms runs ghost hunts here after dark.
What investigators report
Investigators report a motion-activated ball set on a table in the Empire House Theatre lighting up repeatedly with no one near it, and an EVP that seemed to say “Hello” while speaking directly to Wesley Hodge in the Hodge House.
Visiting a haunted place by day is one thing. Investigating one after dark is another. On a Haunted Rooms ghost hunt our team takes you through a historic building with professional ghost hunting equipment, runs EVP sessions and vigils, and gives you time to explore on your own. These are the nearest ones we run.
Where to look Room 506 and the fifth floor, the elevator
Reported ghosts Colonel Shalor Eldridge, the hotel's founder
Visiting A working hotel; book a room to stay
Ghost hunting No ghost hunts; stay the night instead
The Eldridge began in 1855 as the Free State Hotel, a base for the antislavery settlers who founded Lawrence. Pro-slavery men burned it in 1856, Quantrill’s raiders burned its replacement in 1863, and Colonel Shalor Eldridge rebuilt it each time. The present hotel on Massachusetts Street dates from 1925 and was restored in 2004 and 2005. Stull Cemetery is only about 15 minutes away.
The ghost story centers on Room 506, where one of the original cornerstones sits inside the wall. Staff believe the friendly spirit is Colonel Eldridge himself, still looking after his hotel. Guests report doors that slam, curtains that move, shaking luggage and footsteps, and TravelKS calls Room 506 the colonel’s favorite haunt. It is booked most Halloweens. Our hotel guide has the full story.
What investigators report
Ghost tour guides single out Room 506, where the original cornerstone sits and which they describe as a gateway for activity; guests there have reported their door opening during the night.
Open to the publicGhost toursParanormal investigations allowed
Address 3350 S George Washington Blvd, Wichita, KS 67210
Where to look The control tower, the third-floor north windows and the yellow crop duster
Reported ghosts A pilot who died in a crop duster, a man in a 1940s hat, a woman at a window
Visiting Museum in the 1935 airport terminal; follow the museum’s directions, as it sits beside McConnell AFB
Hours and season Open most days; closed Thursdays
Tickets Paid admission; paranormal events have cost $60
Ghost hunting Yes, on ticketed paranormal nights hosted by Paranormal Task Force X
This Art Deco building opened in 1935 as Wichita’s municipal airport terminal. Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart passed through, and in 1944 the tower handled a takeoff or landing about every 90 seconds. The Air Force took it over in 1954, and today it sits inside the grounds of McConnell Air Force Base as the Kansas Aviation Museum, with around 40 aircraft including a B-52.
Staff stories are the heart of it: doors that slam, happy chatter and old-fashioned music in empty halls, and a man in a 1940s hat who disappears. A crop duster on display is said to be haunted by the pilot who died after crashing it, and some people have seen a woman at the third-floor north windows. The museum hosts paranormal nights run by Paranormal Task Force X a few times a year.
Haunted Rooms tip: Watch for the museum’s paranormal events, which run late into the night, or visit by day and climb the old control tower.
Address N 1600 Rd at E 250 Rd, Stull, Douglas County, KS 66050
Where to look The empty foundation of the 1867 stone church and the old graves around it
Reported ghosts The Devil, said to appear on Halloween and the spring equinox; a hidden stairway to Hell
Visiting Small rural cemetery behind a locked chain-link fence with No Trespassing signs; view from the road
Hours and season Locked at night and patrolled, especially on Halloween
Tickets None
Ghost hunting No. Ghost hunting here means trespassing, and the sheriff patrols it
Stull is a tiny farming settlement about 7 miles west of Lawrence. German-speaking families built a stone church here in 1867, the Evangelical Emmanuel Church, and started a cemetery beside it. The congregation moved to a new wooden church across the road in 1922, and the old stone church slowly fell apart. After storms brought down its walls, the landowner had the ruin bulldozed in March 2002. Only its foundation and the graves remain.
The famous legend is young. A University Daily Kansan article in November 1974 claimed the Devil appears at Stull twice a year, on Halloween and the spring equinox, and later tellings added a hidden stairway to Hell and a Pope who rerouted his plane. Local historians trace it all to students; Snopes rates it an urban legend. Decades of Halloween trespassers vandalized graves, and the cemetery is now fenced, locked at night and patrolled.
Haunted Rooms tip: See it from the road in daylight and do not climb the fence. Trespassers caught after dark face fines of up to $1,000 and up to six months in jail, and families still bury their dead here.
Where to look The eighth floor, the Crystal Ballroom and guest-room phones
Reported ghosts Clarence, said to have died in 1929, a child and dancers in 1920s clothes
Visiting A working hotel; book a room to stay
Ghost hunting No ghost hunts; stay the night instead
The Broadview opened in 1922 as an eight-story brick hotel overlooking the Arkansas River in downtown Wichita, and local guides say it hosted Charles Lindbergh, Clyde Cessna and Al Capone and ran a speakeasy during Prohibition. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today it is the Drury Plaza Hotel Broadview, a full-service hotel, and the stories have followed it through every renovation.
Its ghost is Clarence. Wichita tour guides tell how in 1929 he found his wife with another man, shot her and fell from the eighth floor, and they admit the tale has grown in the telling. Guests report phones that ring over and over, flickering lights, things moved in bathrooms, whispers in the halls and dancers in 1920s dress in the ballroom. Our hotel guide has the details.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask for a high floor with a river view, and look in on the ballroom if it is open.
Where to look The third floor and the room linked to a lynched sheriff
Reported ghosts A little girl on the third floor, a sheriff said to have been lynched, victims of the 1902 fire
Visiting A working hotel; book a room to stay
Ghost hunting No ghost hunts; stay the night instead
This three-story limestone hotel opened in 1899 as the Hotel Power, serving Union Pacific travelers between Kansas City and Denver. A fire around 1902 gutted the interior and it was rebuilt as the Midland. It closed in 1988, was restored by a local foundation, reopened in 2003 and is listed on the National Register. It sits in the small town of Wilson, just off I-70.
Staff say a little girl runs the third-floor hallway, knocks on doors and leaves small footprints on beds, and that the master key will not always open the room where a sheriff was said to have been lynched. Older legends say guests died in the 1902 fire and that the third floor sometimes smells of smoke. The hotel’s own history mentions the fire but not any deaths.
What investigators report
A Wichita paranormal team believes it recorded the sounds of the little girl staff hear running down the third-floor hallway, the floor investigators focus on.
Where to look The Sunflower Dining Room and the underground tunnels
Reported ghosts Bernard Millit, who died in the dining room in 1927, a prankster and a darker presence below
Visiting Small working hotel; tunnel tours by reservation
Hours and season Tunnel tours by reservation; Era Bar Friday and Saturday 7 to 10 PM
Ghost hunting The hotel lists paranormal tours; ask when you book
Ellinwood grew up on the Santa Fe Trail after the railroad arrived in 1872, and its German settlers dug a network of tunnels under the downtown blocks. The town says they are the only surviving underground tunnels in Kansas, holding old storefronts, bathhouses and a Prohibition-style bar. The Historic Wolf Hotel on Main Street runs tunnel tours and rents a handful of rooms and suites.
The hotel’s best-known ghost is Bernard Millit, said to have died in the Sunflower Dining Room in 1927; the Saturday Evening Post reports a bullet still lodged in the ceiling above his table, which is always reserved. TravelKS adds a practical joker who leaves things under pillows and a frightening presence in the tunnels. The hotel lists paranormal tours, but its guides lean toward history over ghosts.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book a tunnel tour ahead, then have a drink in the underground Era Bar, open Friday and Saturday nights.
Where to look The dressing rooms, the projection booth and the old tunnels below
Reported ghosts A former projectionist, shadows of performers, whispers underground
Visiting Working theatre; open for shows and events
Tickets Per show
Ghost hunting Occasional ghost tours; no regular public investigations
The Orpheum opened on September 4, 1922 with five vaudeville acts and a silent film. John Eberson designed its auditorium to look like an open-air Spanish courtyard under a night sky, and the theatre calls it the oldest surviving example of his atmospheric style. It closed as a cinema in 1976, was saved by a volunteer nonprofit, and reopened in September 2026 after a full restoration.
Visit Wichita lists unexplained footsteps, shadows near the dressing rooms and a former projectionist said to still be at work. Wichita Mom adds whispers of women and clinking bottles in the tunnels under the building, where a speakeasy is said to have operated. The Wichita Paranormal Research Society has led ghost tours here, and the theatre has offered its own from time to time.
Haunted Rooms tip: Catch a show in the newly restored auditorium and look up: the ceiling is meant to read as a starry sky.
Where to look The upstairs suites, the top of the stairs and the guest rooms where clock radios go off
Reported ghosts Zeke, a cowboy said to have been shot over the owner's wife
Visiting A working hotel; book a room to stay
Ghost hunting No ghost hunts; stay the night instead
The Beaumont opened in 1879 as the Summit Hotel, a railroad and stagecoach stop in the Flint Hills when Beaumont was a busy cattle town. The town has shrunk to a few dozen people, but the hotel lives on as a fly-in inn: pilots land on its grass airstrip and taxi down Main Street to the front door. It was listed on the National Register in 2012.
Its resident ghost is Zeke, a cowboy who, legend says, was shot by the first owner after the owner’s wife grew too fond of him. Staff and guests describe chairs moved behind a suite door, clock radios that switch on in several rooms between 2 and 3 a.m., the jangle of spurs and a cowboy standing at the top of the stairs. Our hotel guide covers the rooms and the stories.
Haunted Rooms tip: Time your stay for a summer Saturday, when small planes fly in for breakfast and the restaurant is at its busiest.
Reported ghosts Ida Day Holzapfel, the strict librarian who moved the library here
Visiting Public library, free to walk in
Hours and season Monday to Thursday 10 AM to 8 PM, Friday and Saturday 10 AM to 6 PM, closed Sunday
Tickets Free
Ghost hunting No; it is a working public library
Ida Day was hired at Hutchinson’s library in 1916, cataloged every book, sent books to soldiers in the First World War and ran the library until 1926. She came back as Ida Day Holzapfel in 1946 and oversaw the move into this building at 901 North Main in 1951. She resigned to take a library job in Visalia, California, and the library says she was killed in a car accident on her first day there.
In October 1975 the Hutchinson News reported that library workers believed they had seen and heard her: footsteps in the basement and a stern woman standing near the stairs, later matched to Ida’s description. Staff still joke that Ida takes anything that goes missing. The library leans into it gently and has hosted an afternoon tea on her birthday, at 3 PM, her old tea time.
What investigators report
Visitors on library tours describe the basement as where the spirit known as Ida Day seems most active, and a staff member said a misbehaving payroll calculator stopped after she spoke to Ida directly.
Address 109th St N and N Meridian Ave, near Valley Center, KS
Where to look The concrete bridge over Jester Creek
Reported ghosts Theorosa, a mother searching for her baby, and a baby's cries
Visiting Public rural road; view from the roadside
Tickets Free
Ghost hunting No organized investigations; it is a public road
About 12 miles north of Wichita, a plain concrete bridge carries a country road over Jester Creek near Valley Center. An iron and wood bridge stood here for decades until it burned in 1974; its replacement burned in 1976, the road was closed for about 15 years, and the present concrete bridge opened in 1991. Locals also call it the 109th Street Bridge or the crybaby bridge.
The legends all involve a woman and a baby. In one, settlers’ baby Theorosa was carried off in a raid and her mother still calls for her. In another, a young woman drowned her own baby in the creek to hide her shame. People report a woman’s sobbing, a crying baby, cars that stall or shake and lights over the water. None of the versions has ever been tied to a record.
Haunted Rooms tip: It is a working rural road: pull fully off, keep your hazard lights on and do not stop on the bridge itself.
Reported ghosts George Wilner, the friendly former head of theatre
Visiting University theatre; go to a performance
Tickets Per show
Ghost hunting No public investigations
Built in 1938 with Public Works Administration money as the Auditorium and Commons Building, this brick theatre with its stone temple front seats about 550 people. It is named for George Wilner, who led the university’s speech and theatre programs for nearly four decades, retired in 1959 and died in 1976. The Living New Deal counts it among the 1930s public works buildings still in use, and the theatre program still performs here.
Campus lore says Wilner looks after his building, and almost every account calls him friendly. People report flickering lights, doors closing by themselves and voices. Campus police captain Kyle Garwood told The Sunflower he and a trainee saw a shadowy figure in the balcony light box of the locked building during a night check, and custodians describe red eyes in the dark of the stage.
Haunted Rooms tip: The easiest way in is to buy a ticket to a Wichita State theatre production.
Where to look The wooded hollow inside Jackson Park
Reported ghosts Molly, a young woman said to have died hanging from a tree; screams around midnight
Visiting Public city park
Hours and season Park hours; go in daylight
Tickets Free
Ghost hunting No organized investigations; it is a public park
Jackson Park is a hilly city park in Atchison, and the hollow inside it carries the name of a young woman called Molly. The story has at least two versions. In one she was found hanging from a tree after an argument with her date, who had driven off and left her, and nobody was ever charged. In the other she was a Black woman lynched by a white mob.
People say they hear a woman screaming in the hollow around midnight, and some claim to have seen a figure hanging in a tree. Neither version of the story has a name, date or record behind it that we could find, so treat Molly as Atchison folklore. Older guides, ours included, said the hollow had been filled in; we could not confirm that.
Haunted Rooms tip: Visit in daylight and pair it with the Sallie House and the McInteer Villa. Atchison’s seasonal haunted trolley tours cover the town’s stories.
Where to look The Alamo Saloon and the old cabin and church on the grounds
Reported ghosts Cowboys and townsfolk of the cattle-drive years, as visitors tell it
Visiting Outdoor Old West town with historic buildings and museums
Hours and season Weekends from Memorial Day to Labor Day; gunfight shows Saturday at 12, 1:30 and 3:30, Sunday at 1:30 and 3:30
Tickets Check the official site
Ghost hunting No paranormal investigations; October brings a staged haunted walk
Abilene began as Mud Creek in 1857 and became the first great cowtown in 1867, when Joseph McCoy made it the railhead for Texas longhorns coming up the Chisholm Trail. Marshal Tom Smith and then Wild Bill Hickok kept order. Old Abilene Town, run by the nonprofit Historic Abilene Inc., recreates that era with a replica Alamo Saloon, a general store, an early Dickinson County cabin and an old church that doubled as the first school.
The ghost stories here are thin. Older lists, ours included, called it one of the most haunted towns in Kansas, with cold spots, voices and apparitions of cowboys, but we found no named witness or local report behind those claims. The town’s own Halloween events are staged haunted walks, not ghost tours. Come for the gunfights and the history, and see our guide for the real haunted places nearby.
Haunted Rooms tip: Go on a summer weekend for the gunfight shows and can-can dancers at the Alamo Saloon, then ride the Abilene and Smoky Valley Railroad next door.
Where to look The upstairs guest rooms and hallways
Reported ghosts A former owner's wife and a heartbroken man
Visiting A working hotel; book a room to stay
Ghost hunting No ghost hunts; stay the night instead
William E. Weaver built this white, three-story hotel in 1905 and 1906 for his parents, and for decades it served rail passengers passing through Waterville. It closed in 1985, then the Waterville Preservation Society raised the money to restore it, and it reopened on Memorial Day 2009 with ten guest rooms. It has been on the National Register since 1975.
Local lore says two spirits stayed on: the wife of a former owner, said to have died in the building, and a man who took his own life after he was rejected in love. The stories are low key, which suits a small-town hotel with some of the lowest rates of any historic stay in Kansas. Our hotel guide has more on the rooms and the town.
Haunted Rooms tip: Call ahead to confirm rooms, then walk the Waterville historic district; rooms are few and book up for local weddings.
Where to look The old storefronts along West Douglas Avenue
Reported ghosts Saloon keeper Red Beard, a woman in Victorian clothes, a redheaded gunslinger
Visiting Public streets lined with shops, bars and restaurants
Tickets Free
Ghost hunting No; the buildings are private businesses
Delano, across the Arkansas River from downtown, began as Elgin and took its name in 1871 as the rough side of a cattle town at the end of the Chisholm Trail, where trail hands found saloons, gambling halls and brothels. Today it is one of Wichita’s oldest neighborhoods and a busy strip of shops, galleries and restaurants, with a brick clock tower on Douglas Avenue.
The ghost most often named is Edward T. Red Beard, a saloon owner killed in a feud with rival saloon keeper Rowdy Joe Lowe. Visit Wichita says workers report a woman in Victorian clothing, a redheaded gunslinger and objects moving on their own, including in a Douglas Avenue salon building with ties to the Travel Air aircraft company. Local Delano ghost walks have run seasonally.
What investigators report
A local ghost hunt group reported EVPs, including a ghost box recording, at Central Plains Novelty on West Douglas, where staff hear footsteps in the empty upstairs hallway.
These places appear in older lists of haunted spots. We keep them here so you know the facts before you go, but you cannot (or should not) visit them.
Hotel Josephine, Holton
Holton’s 1889 hotel on the square billed itself as the most haunted in Kansas and hosted public ghost hunts until it closed to guests in 2023. After a closing sale that July it was sold to a developer with plans for housing. It is no longer open; stay at the Eldridge in Lawrence instead.
Wilbur's Grocery, Towanda
Older lists, ours included, placed this store in Wichita. It is at 304 Main Street in Towanda, about 20 miles northeast. Stories say it was once an orphanage and a shelter for women, and employees told of the smell of fresh coffee, cold spots and being touched. TravelKS reports the building is now abandoned, so see it from the street only.
The Bender farm, Labette County
The Bloody Benders, a family suspected of killing at least a dozen travelers in the 1870s, are Kansas’s most notorious murder story. Their original homestead is gone and the land is privately owned. The Cherryvale Museum has a replica cabin and artifacts instead, and TravelKS notes it has no ghost stories of its own.
Private homes in Atchison
Atchison’s trolley tours point out several private homes with ghost stories, including the Gargoyle House, which the Saturday Evening Post says is worth admiring only from the curb, and the Glick Mansion, a former bed and breakfast that is now closed. Look from the sidewalk and respect the owners.
Haunted places by city
Haunted places in Wichita: the Broadview, Old Cowtown, the Orpheum, the Kansas Aviation Museum and Wichita State’s campus ghosts
To sleep somewhere haunted, see our guide to haunted hotels in Kansas, with the Eldridge in Lawrence, the Broadview in Wichita, the fly-in Beaumont Hotel and more. For a night out with our team, see all Kansas ghost hunts.
Abilene’s Lebold Mansion
Abilene’s best-known haunted building is not Old Abilene Town but the Lebold Mansion, built in 1880 for banker Conrad Lebold on the site of the town’s first dugout. It has been a boarding house for telephone operators, an orphanage, apartments and a house museum, and its owners tell of slamming doors and a piano bench that wanders. It is privately owned and has hosted occasional ticketed ghost hunts; otherwise see it from the street.
Changed from our older guide: we split Stull Cemetery and the Sallie House into full guides and reframed the Stull witch, hanging tree and stairway stories as legend, since they trace to a 1974 student newspaper article. The Sallie House is now city-owned and open for overnights. Hotel Josephine closed in 2023 and moved to the off-limits list. At Fort Leavenworth, the older claim that Chief Joseph haunts the cemetery has no source beyond retellings; he was held at the fort as a prisoner in 1877 but did not die there. For Molly’s Hollow, we could not confirm that the hollow was filled in by a foundry. We added Fort Hays, the Brown Grand Theatre, Old Cowtown, the Wolf Hotel, the Orpheum, the Kansas Aviation Museum, Theorosa’s Bridge, Wilner Auditorium, the Delano District and four more haunted hotels.
Visited one of these places? Tell us what happened
We collect first-hand accounts from visitors and add the best ones to our guides, with your first name and the date of your visit. We read every story before it’s published.
Stull Cemetery is the most famous, thanks to its Gateway to Hell legend, but it is fenced and patrolled and the legend dates only to 1974. The Sallie House in Atchison has the best-known haunting you can experience, with day tours and overnight stays run by the city.
Can you visit Stull Cemetery?
Only from the road. It is fenced, locked and posted No Trespassing, and trespassers can face up to six months in jail or a $1,000 fine. See our Stull Cemetery guide.
Can you stay overnight at the Sallie House?
Yes. The City of Atchison rents it for overnight investigations from $125 per person with a two-person minimum, booked through Visit Atchison. See our Sallie House guide.
Why is Atchison called the most haunted town in Kansas?
Atchison has embraced its ghost stories for decades, with the Sallie House, the McInteer Villa, Molly’s Hollow in Jackson Park and a string of haunted homes. Seasonal haunted trolley tours drive past the best-known sites.
Where can I go ghost hunting in Kansas?
Haunted Rooms runs ghost hunts at the 1889 McInteer Villa in Atchison, Old Cowtown in Wichita and the Brown Grand Theatre in Concordia. The Sallie House and the Kansas Aviation Museum also host investigations.
Who is the Blue Light Lady of Fort Hays?
Elizabeth Polly, who nursed soldiers through the 1867 cholera epidemic at Fort Hays and died of the disease. Since a farmer’s sighting in 1917, people have described a woman in a blue dress and white bonnet near Sentinel Hill, where her grave now stands.
Sources and how we research
Every place in this guide is checked against its official website, historic register listings and news coverage, and we confirm whether it is open, closed, private or gone before we list it. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and local historians tell them; we say so where records contradict a story. Each place shows how many independent sources we checked it against; our own Haunted Rooms pages are not counted.
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About the authors
The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every place in our guides using official sites, historic registers, local archives and news coverage, and we report ghost stories as the stories they are. We review each guide regularly so you are not sent to a place that has closed, changed hands or banned visitors. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
