A bride who never left the Plains Hotel, a stonemason said to be sealed in a church tower and a judge who still smokes his cigar. These are the most haunted places in Wyoming’s capital, with what is history, what is legend and how to visit each one.
Cheyenne sprang up beside the Union Pacific tracks in 1867 and grew rich on cattle, and its ghost stories cling to the buildings of that boom: the railroad depot, the theaters of 16th Street, the mansions of the cattle barons around the Capitol and the grand hotel on Lincolnway. Visit Cheyenne runs Hauntings and History trolley tours from Depot Plaza every October, and the Old West Museum runs its own paranormal tours. We have checked every place below against current sources and say where a story has no record behind it.
Where to look The north wing near Julius Greenwald's old cell, the second-floor mess hall and discipline area
Reported ghosts Julius Greenwald (often spelled Greenwelch), prisoner No. 338, announced by cigar smoke
Visiting State historic site with self-guided visits; guided tours in summer
Hours and season May to September 9 AM to 4 PM daily; October to April 10 AM to 3 PM, Thursday to Saturday
Tickets Adults $9, ages 12 to 17 $4.50 (2026)
Ghost hunting Not as a public program; the site has hosted seasonal ghost tours
Built in 1872 of hand-quarried stone, this was a federal penitentiary until statehood in 1890 and a state prison until 1901. Its most famous inmate was Butch Cassidy, prisoner No. 187, held here from 1894 to 1896; it is the only prison that ever held him. Prisoners wore stripes, answered to numbers and were not allowed to talk. The University of Wyoming then used it as a livestock experiment station until 1989, and it opened to the public in 1991.
The resident ghost is said to be Julius Greenwald, a cigar maker who shot his wife in an Evanston brothel in 1897 and was allowed to keep making cigars in his cell. He died of a heart attack, one of only two prisoners known to have died here. Curator Renee Slider told Cowboy State Daily that the smell of cigar smoke is the strongest sign, along with footsteps and whistling in empty rooms, though she says she cannot confirm the site is haunted.
Haunted Rooms tip: Pick up a convict identity at the visitor center, and watch for the lantern-lit Dark Cell Tours and family ghost tours the site has run around Halloween.
Reported ghosts A Swedish stonemason said to be sealed in the tower wall; Father Rafter; an organ that is no longer there
Visiting An active church; see the tower from the street
Ghost hunting No; the church has hosted Halloween tours
Cheyenne’s Episcopalians first met in a small frame church in 1868. Henry Congdon designed the stone church on Central Avenue, built between 1886 and 1888, but the bell tower was left unfinished and capped until two Swedish masons were hired to complete it in the 1920s. It is on the National Register.
The legend says the masons vanished partway up, and that years later one confessed his partner had fallen to his death and he had sealed the body in the tower wall rather than risk deportation. Workers and parishioners speak of tapping, whispers, bells ringing on their own and an organ heard after it was removed. Local author Shirley Flynn told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle the story began at a church youth Halloween party, and no body has ever been found.
Haunted Rooms tip: The church is an active parish; visit for a service or a scheduled tour, and look up at the tower from Central Avenue.
Address 211 W. 16th Street (Lincolnway), Cheyenne, WY 82001
Where to look The second-floor windows and the west stairway
Reported ghosts Two young boys at an upstairs window, a sad woman on the stairs
Visiting A working community theater; open for shows
Ghost hunting Investigators have worked here; it is a stop on Cheyenne’s October trolley ghost tours
William Dubois built this three-story block on 16th Street in 1887 with a confectionery downstairs and offices above. It became a theater in 1908, was later the Strand and then the Pink Pony nightclub, and since 1966 has been home to the Cheyenne Little Theatre Players, who bought it in 1971. It is on the National Register.
The ghosts are usually tied to an 1879 collapse on the site in which, the Tribune Eagle reported, two young brothers died. Visit Cheyenne describes two boys seen in a second-story window and a silent, sad woman on the west stairway who vanishes, and local investigators say they recorded knocking. A darker tale of a preacher who killed his wife is told as legend.
Haunted Rooms tip: Catch a Little Theatre Players show, and take a look at the west stairway on your way in.
Where to look Room 444 ("Rosie's room"), the second floor, the lobby and the basement
Reported ghosts Rosie the bride, her groom and the other woman; children in the lobby and basement; cowboys sitting on beds
Visiting A working hotel: book a room to stay the night
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts; stay the night instead
The Plains opened on March 9, 1911 as Cheyenne’s grand hotel, the largest west of Chicago on the Lincoln Highway, and has hosted Buffalo Bill, Charles Lindbergh and Ronald Reagan. It still has its two-story lobby and about 130 rooms. The owner put it up for sale in 2023, but it has continued to take guests.
Its legend is Rosie, a bride who found her new husband with another woman on her wedding night, shot them both and then herself. Visit Cheyenne says you can hear her wailing and laughing in her second-floor room, and the owner told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle that Room 444 is known as Rosie’s room and is the most haunted in the hotel.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask for Room 444. Travel Wyoming notes the hotel takes bookings by phone, through its Facebook page or through travel sites rather than its own booking website.
Where to look The lobby, the second floor and the rail yard outside
Reported ghosts Watchman L.J. Sparr, 'the Mean Man', children on the second floor, a singing woman
Visiting Museum open to visitors; plaza open to all
Ghost hunting No; ghost tours start from the plaza
Union Pacific’s Richardsonian Romanesque depot, designed by Van Brunt and Howe and finished in 1887, is a National Historic Landmark and has housed the Cheyenne Depot Museum since 1993. Visit Cheyenne’s offices are upstairs, and the city’s October trolley ghost tours leave from Depot Plaza. In 1935, the Tribune Eagle reported, a fired switch tender shot division superintendent Charles Barnard in the lobby.
Visit Cheyenne’s investigators name L.J. Sparr, a Union Pacific watchman shot in the yard in 1912, and ‘the Mean Man’, a worker killed in a railcar accident. Staff say they hear children playing on the empty second floor and a woman singing in a restroom, and gift shop workers have told of items moving and lights coming on while the alarm was set.
Haunted Rooms tip: Start an October evening with the Hauntings and History trolley tour from Depot Plaza.
Open to the publicGhost toursParanormal investigations allowed
Address 4610 N. Carey Avenue, Cheyenne, WY 82001
Where to look The carriage hall, the Hole in the Wall playroom and the lobby
Reported ghosts Lucy, a girl of 14; two boys; a well-dressed gentleman; booted footsteps
Visiting Museum open to visitors
Tickets Adults $15 (2025)
Ghost hunting Yes: the museum runs ticketed paranormal tours in October
At the corner of Frontier Park, home of the Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo, this museum tells the story of the ‘Daddy of ’em All’ and holds one of the largest carriage collections in the country. Back in 2007 museum staff told the Tribune Eagle about jingling keys, a well-dressed gentleman and a motion detector by the carriages that set itself off.
In 2024 director Mike Kassel told Cowboy State Daily even skeptics admit strange things happen: a fire door found shut, a hat flying off a mannequin inside a sealed case, a display case shattering as a staff member walked by. The Haunting Across America team, who run the museum’s paranormal tours, name a girl called Lucy and two boys in the playroom.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book an October paranormal tour with the museum; they sell out.
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. See the event page for dates and tickets.
Wyoming Frontier Prison ghost hunt: our ghost hunts inside Wyoming’s old state penitentiary in Rawlins, about two and a half hours west. See the event page for dates.
Reported ghosts Thomas, said to have fallen from scaffolding; a little boy in the restrooms
Visiting A working music venue; open for shows
Ghost hunting No; a stop on downtown ghost tours
Financed by Senator Francis E. Warren, the art deco Lincoln opened in 1929 with 1,221 seats and was the first theater in Cheyenne to show talking pictures. It was split for two screens in 1953, and after its movie days ended new owners turned it into a live music venue.
Visit Cheyenne’s investigators tell of Thomas, said to have fallen from scaffolding after a fight over a woman, a figure seen in a mirror and a child’s ghost. A 2019 KING FM piece adds the ‘boy in the bathroom’, seen in both restrooms, who local lore says sneaked in one night and was never seen again. Neither death has a record behind it that we could find.
Haunted Rooms tip: Catch a concert, then take a careful look in the restroom mirrors.
Where to look The basement morgue, the attic and the upper floors
Reported ghosts Max and Fanny Idelman, thumps in the attic, a slamming basement door
Visiting State offices; view from the street
Ghost hunting No
Max Idelman, a Polish Jewish immigrant who built a liquor and cigar business in Cheyenne, put up this turreted mansion opposite the Capitol in the early 1890s. After the family left, the Schrader family turned it into a funeral home with an embalming room in the basement. The state later took it over, and it has housed governors’ staff and other state offices.
In 2025 Cowboy State Daily talked to people who work there. Anthony Apollo of the the Wyoming Stable Coin Commission heard thumping and grunting in the attic, and Buck McVeigh, former chief of staff to Gov. Mark Gordon, heard the basement door slam with nobody there. Others report footsteps on empty floors and lights switching on by themselves; one information officer is a firm skeptic.
Haunted Rooms tip: It is a government office: admire the turrets from Carey Avenue on a walk around the Capitol.
Where to look Justice Blume's old office and the law library
Reported ghosts Justice Fred Blume, with lights at night and cigar smoke
Visiting A working court; see the outside
Ghost hunting No
Fred H. Blume served on the Wyoming Supreme Court from 1921 to 1963, three times as chief justice. In his spare time, starting in 1920, he translated the entire Code of Justinian from Latin into English, more than 4,500 typed pages that were never published in his lifetime. He died in 1971 at 96, and the University of Wyoming put his translation online in 2007.
Visit Cheyenne, KING FM and the Tribune Eagle all repeat the story that Blume never left: books fly off the law library shelves, lights come on at night and cigar smoke drifts from his old office in the court building opposite the Capitol. It is a much-loved Cheyenne tale rather than anything on record.
Haunted Rooms tip: See it from Capitol Avenue on a walk past the State Capitol; it is a working court, not a tourist site.
Visiting A bed and breakfast: book a room or a tea
Ghost hunting No
Merchant Erasmus Nagle built this Romanesque sandstone mansion on Cheyenne’s ‘Millionaire’s Row’ between 1886 and 1888 for about $50,000. Senator Francis E. Warren, Wyoming’s first state governor, bought it in 1915 and hosted Buffalo Bill Cody, William Howard Taft and Gen. John J. Pershing here. After Warren died in 1929 it went to the YWCA; it became a bed and breakfast in 1997 and reopened after a big remodel in 2022.
Its ghost reputation is thin. An Only In Your State feature says some guests report paranormal happenings and that the host loves to tell Cheyenne’s ghost tales, but names no one and no room. We list it because it is one of the few 1880s houses in town you can sleep in.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book one of the main-house rooms, and come for afternoon tea if you are not staying.
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.
F.E. Warren Air Force Base
The old Fort D.A. Russell, founded in 1867, is said to have cavalry ghosts and voices in a former hospital building, but it is an active missile base closed to the public except on rare tours.
Deming Elementary School
A working school with an urban legend about a man who died in the furnace room. Please do not go peering into its windows at night.
Our nearest event to Cheyenne is at the Wyoming Frontier Prison in Rawlins. See every date on our Wyoming ghost hunts page.
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.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most haunted place in Cheyenne?
The Plains Hotel, for the legend of Rosie the bride, and St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, for the stonemason said to be sealed in its bell tower, are the city’s most famous ghost stories.
Are there ghost tours in Cheyenne?
Yes. Visit Cheyenne runs Hauntings and History trolley tours from Depot Plaza on October weekends and a Ghosts of the Wild West walking tour on summer Saturday nights. The Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum runs paranormal tours in October.
Is there a body in the St. Mark's bell tower?
No body has ever been found. Local author Shirley Flynn traced the story to a church youth Halloween party, though workers and parishioners have long described tapping and whispers in the tower.
Can you stay in a haunted hotel in Cheyenne?
Yes. The Plains Hotel takes guests and Room 444 is known as Rosie’s room. The Nagle Warren Mansion, an 1888 bed and breakfast, is another historic stay. See our guide to haunted hotels in Wyoming.
Can you visit F.E. Warren Air Force Base?
Only on rare public tours or with a military sponsor. It is an active missile base, so its ghost stories are best enjoyed from a distance.
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.
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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.
