Haunted hotel guide · Sheridan, Wyoming

The Haunted Sheridan Inn: Buffalo Bill's Hotel and Miss Kate, Who Never Left

Buffalo Bill ran it, Hemingway and Will Rogers stayed in it, and one woman loved it so much that her ashes were sealed into the wall of her room. Staff say Miss Kate is still keeping an eye on the place.

By The Haunted Rooms Team · Updated November 2026 · How we rate hotels

4.2/5Haunted Rooms Score
1893Year opened
Miss Kate's roomMost requested room

Check availabilityMeet the ghosts

The Sheridan Inn is a long, shingled building with rows of dormer windows and a wide veranda, standing beside the railroad tracks on Broadway in Sheridan. It opened in 1893, had Buffalo Bill Cody as its first operator, and was once called the finest hotel between Chicago and San Francisco. It is also one of the most beloved haunted hotels in Wyoming.

Its ghost story is unusual because the woman at the center of it is real and well documented. Catherine “Miss Kate” Arnold worked at the inn for 64 years, and when she died her ashes were placed in a wall near her old third-floor room. Here is her story, what staff and passersby report, the history of the inn, and how to book her room.

Sheridan Inn at a glance

4.2/5
Haunted Rooms Score
Haunted reputation4
History5
Ghost hunter access4
$$ · $150 to $300Haunted room bookableHotel embraces its ghosts
  • Address 856 Broadway St, Sheridan, WY 82801
  • Opened 1893; designed by Thomas R. Kimball of Omaha for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. A National Historic Landmark since 1964
  • Most haunted spots Miss Kate’s third-floor room, the ballroom, the front downstairs windows and the third-floor windows
  • Best-known ghosts Miss Kate Arnold, the inn’s longtime seamstress, clerk and hostess
  • Booking the haunted room The Miss Kate Arnold room, Room 306, is a named room with two queen beds that you can request when you book.
  • Good to know Overnight rooms reopened in May 2015 after about 50 years. It now trades as the Sheridan Inn, B/W Signature Collection, with 22 rooms named for Buffalo Bill and people in his life, and has been a Historic Hotels of America member since 2015.

Check availability

The ghosts of the Sheridan Inn

Miss Kate Arnold

Catherine B. Arnold came to Sheridan in 1901, at the age of 22, from the Rappahannock area of King George County, Virginia, and went to work at the inn as a seamstress. She stayed for 64 years, working as desk clerk, housekeeper, hostess and sitter for visiting children, and appointing herself night watchman. Flowers from her garden decorated the dining tables. She moved into a third-floor room in the early 1900s (Travel Wyoming says 1906; the inn says by 1909) and lived there until 1965, when the building was due to be torn down.

She died in 1968, and her last wish was to come back to the inn. After a private service in her old third-floor room, a longtime friend placed her ashes in a wall; the inn says the exact spot is not known. Legends of America reports that the Preceptor Tau chapter of the Beta Sigma Phi sorority later renovated her room as a community project and that her favorite chair was placed beside the wall that holds her ashes. Staff describe lights turning on and off and doors opening and closing, Travel Wyoming says the inn keeps a log of her movements, and a former employee told Cowboy State Daily in 2025 that she met a cold presence she took to be Miss Kate on the stairs almost daily. They speak of her as the inn’s guardian rather than something to fear.

Cold spots in her room and the ballroom

Miss Kate’s room is known for sudden cold spots. Similar cold patches are reported near the front windows downstairs and in the ballroom, where she would have spent many evenings hosting. Footsteps are heard through the old building when nobody is there.

The third-floor windows

One of the better-known stories comes from a driver passing the inn at 2 a.m. who noticed the third-floor windows were dark with the drapes closed. Thirty minutes later, on the way back, the lights were on and the drapes were open. Staff said the inn was closed at the time and nobody was on the third floor.

Buffalo Bill

With Buffalo Bill so closely tied to the inn, it is no surprise that some visitors wonder whether he still drops by. We found no published sightings of him here; the inn’s ghost lore belongs almost entirely to Miss Kate. For Buffalo Bill’s ghost, see his other hotel, the Irma in Cody.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

  • The Miss Kate Arnold room (Room 306): Her third-floor room, with two queen beds. Her ashes rest in a wall nearby, and her favorite chair is said to sit beside it.
  • The third floor: Lights and drapes that change when the inn is closed.
  • The ballroom: Cold spots where Miss Kate once hosted dances.
  • The front windows and lobby: More cold spots and footsteps in the oldest part of the building.

History of The Sheridan Inn

The Sheridan Inn was built in 1893 by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, to a design by Omaha architect Thomas R. Kimball that is said to have been modeled on a Scottish hunting lodge. It opened on May 27, 1893. Its 200 electric lights ran off a coal-fired threshing machine engine, and a midnight whistle told guests it was time to turn them off. George and Lucy Canfield were the first managers; a room cost a dollar a day and dinner 50 cents.

Buffalo Bill Cody was involved from the start, and led the grand opening celebration into the dining room. Accounts of his role differ: Wikipedia says he managed the inn for the railroad from 1894 to 1896, Legends of America says he bought the business, though not the building, in 1894 and kept it until 1901, and the inn’s own history says he stayed for eight years. He ran a stage line from the inn to Deadwood, South Dakota, and auditioned acts for his Wild West show on the front lawn. The inn became the social center of the Bighorn country, and guests are said to have included Ernest Hemingway, Herbert Hoover, Will Rogers and Bob Hope.

By the 1960s the inn was worn out. Miss Kate moved out in 1965, the inn closed, and a developer planned to tear it down for a shopping center. The Sheridan Historical Society ran a Save the Inn campaign, and Neltje, a granddaughter of publisher Frank Nelson Doubleday, bought the building, reopened the first floor for dining and dancing and ran it for about 18 years.

In 1990 the nonprofit Sheridan Heritage Center bought the inn out of bankruptcy court with a loan and state grant money, and reopened it to the public in 1991. Serious structural problems were found when cracks appeared in a wall, and the restoration that followed cost several million dollars. Bob and Dana Townsend and a group of investors bought the inn in 2013, and on May 15, 2015 its rooms reopened to overnight guests for the first time in about 50 years. It was listed for sale in 2022 at $4.25 million and today operates as part of Best Western’s Signature Collection.

Tips for a haunted stay

  • Request the Miss Kate Arnold room, Room 306, when you book. It is a named room and the heart of the inn’s story.
  • Be polite to Miss Kate. Staff describe her as protective, and guests often say good night to her.
  • Walk the wraparound veranda where Buffalo Bill held court, then eat at Wyoming’s Rib & Chop House, a block away on Main Street.
  • Book through the Booking.com link on this page, or call the inn at 307-674-2178.
  • Pair the stay with the Occidental Hotel in Buffalo, about 35 miles south.

Want to investigate, not just sleep?

Sleeping in a haunted hotel is one thing. Investigating one after dark is another. On a Haunted Rooms ghost hunt our team takes you through the building with professional ghost hunting equipment, runs EVP sessions and lets you explore on your own during free roam.

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Frequently asked questions

Is the Sheridan Inn haunted?

Staff say it is, by Miss Kate Arnold, who worked there for 64 years. They report lights and doors switching and opening by themselves, a cold presence on the stairs and cold spots in her room and the ballroom.

Are Miss Kate's ashes really in the wall?

Yes. When she died in 1968 a longtime friend placed her ashes in a wall near her third-floor room. The inn says the exact spot is not known.

Can you stay in Miss Kate's room?

Yes. The Miss Kate Arnold room, Room 306, is a named guest room with two queen beds that you can request when booking.

Did Buffalo Bill own the Sheridan Inn?

Not the building. He was its first operator, but sources disagree on the details: some say he managed it for the railroad from 1894 to 1896, others that he owned the business until 1901. He auditioned Wild West show acts on its front lawn.

When did the Sheridan Inn reopen for overnight stays?

In May 2015, after a renovation by private investors, for the first time in about 50 years.

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.

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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 hotel in our guides using hotel histories, local archives, news coverage and the accounts of guests and staff, and we review each guide regularly so you are not booking a hotel that has closed or changed its name. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.

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