Mount Moriah Cemetery, Deadwood: Wild Bill, Calamity Jane and the Ghosts on the Hill

Mount Moriah Cemetery climbs a steep, pine-covered plateau on the east side of Deadwood Gulch, looking down on the rooftops of Main Street. It is the town’s historic cemetery, owned by the City of Deadwood, and for most visitors it is the place to stand at the grave of Wild Bill Hickok, with Calamity Jane buried beside him. Seth Bullock, the sheriff who built the Bullock Hotel, rests up the hill above them.

It is also one of the places people name when they call Deadwood the most haunted town in South Dakota. The stories here are quieter than the hotel ghosts on Main Street: shadows among the stones at closing time, gates that swing open by themselves and a strong feeling of being watched. We set out what is history, what is legend and how to see the cemetery for yourself.

History of Mount Moriah Cemetery

Deadwood was barely a year old when it needed a proper cemetery. The camp’s first burials were on lower, flatter ground nearer the creek, a spot known as the Ingleside graveyard, and as the town spread along the gulch that land was wanted for building. The Lawrence County Commission set aside the hillside plateau now called Mount Moriah, and Wikipedia records its first burial on September 1, 1878. Some of the earlier graves were moved up the hill. A local businessman named Ayres gave the city its favorite line about the place: the Black Hills climate was so healthy, he said, that you would have to kill a man to start a cemetery.

The cemetery’s most famous resident arrived the year after it opened. Wild Bill Hickok had been shot in the back of the head by Jack McCall during a poker game at Nuttal and Mann’s Saloon No. 10 on August 2, 1876, and his friend Charlie Utter buried him at Ingleside under a wooden marker calling McCall an assassin. In 1879, on the third anniversary of the burial, Utter paid to move him to Mount Moriah. Witnesses said the body had petrified in the wet ground and was so heavy that the men could barely carry it; one estimate put it at 400 pounds, another at 500.

Hickok’s grave has drawn souvenir hunters ever since. They whittled away the wooden marker by 1891, a statue that replaced it was destroyed, and a life-sized sandstone figure put up in 1902 was hacked at, caged and finally carried off in the 1950s. Today a bronze bust marks the grave, inside a fenced plot. Calamity Jane, who died in 1903, was buried beside him, reportedly at her own request; her burial committee later said Hickok had no use for her in life and that they put her next to him as a joke.

The rest of the hill is a census of the gold rush town. Seth Bullock, sheriff, marshal and hotel builder, died in 1919 and was buried up the hillside, more than 750 feet from the main grounds. His partner Sol Star lies in the Jewish section, whose many Hebrew inscriptions reflect a large and well-established Jewish community. Henry Weston Smith, the preacher known as Preacher Smith who was murdered in 1876, is here, as are the prospector Potato Creek Johnny, madam Dora DuFran and Blanche Colman, the first woman lawyer in South Dakota.

About 400 Chinese people lived in gold rush Deadwood, and roughly 33 were buried on Mount Moriah over fifty years. Most were later dug up and their bones sent back to China, as was the custom; three graves remain. In 1908 the Chinese community built a burner and altar in Section Six, and the Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission rebuilt it in 2013. There are also four potter’s fields, a mass grave for eleven men killed in a sawmill fire, a children’s section from the typhoid, cholera and smallpox years and a veterans’ section with government headstones. The cemetery has been closed to new burials for about 75 years, and the city now welcomes 100,000 to 120,000 visitors a year.

The ghost stories of Mount Moriah

Shadows at closing time

The most specific story comes from Travel South Dakota, the state tourism office, which says that staff closing the cemetery for the night have seen shadowy figures moving among the graves. It is the kind of report you hear at many old cemeteries, and no one has attached a name or a date to it. Still, it is easy to see why the hill gets these stories: the terraces drop away steeply in the half light, the pines close in and the town noise fades.

Gates that open on their own

The same source says the cemetery gates have been seen opening by themselves. Gates on a windy hillside do move, and nobody has filmed or documented a case, so treat this as staff lore rather than evidence. It is still one of the reasons Deadwood’s walking ghost tours point people up the hill.

The feeling of being watched

Visitors’ accounts on ghost sites and travel pieces return again and again to one thing: a feeling of being watched, as if, in one site’s words, ghostly eyes are upon you. Some people say they feel it most strongly at the Hickok and Calamity Jane plot; others feel it in the potter’s fields, where so many of the graves are unmarked.

Wild Bill and the restless famous dead

Hickok himself is more often said to haunt the place where he died, the site of the old Saloon No. 10 at 624 Main Street, than the grave where he lies. Popular lists still name Mount Moriah as somewhere you might meet the spirits of Wild Bill, Calamity Jane or Seth Bullock, but no one has published a specific sighting of any of them on the hill. We think the honest answer is that Mount Moriah is a place of real history with an atmosphere that people feel, rather than a cemetery with a famous ghost.

Where to look

• The Hickok and Calamity Jane plot: The fenced plot with Hickok’s bronze bust and Calamity Jane’s grave beside it is the heart of the cemetery and the spot most visitors describe as the most intense.
• Seth Bullock's grave: A short, steep hike of more than 750 feet from the main grounds. It is the quietest corner of the cemetery and worth the climb.
• The potter's fields: Four sections of mostly unmarked graves of the poor and the unknown, including the North Potter’s Field. These are where people most often mention feeling watched.
• The Chinese burner and altar: Rebuilt in 2013 in Section Six, it marks the Chinese community’s place in Deadwood’s history and the graves that were sent home.
• The gates: Stay until closing time in summer and walk out as the light goes: this is when staff say the shadows appear.

Visiting Mount Moriah Cemetery

Mount Moriah is open every day from mid-May to mid-October, from 8 AM to 8 PM, and the visitor center at the entrance keeps the same hours from Memorial Day. It shows a 15-minute film and has panels on the cemetery’s history, its plants and grave symbols, and Deadwood’s death statistics from 1875 to 1900. Entry is $2, cash only, and the money pays for upkeep; there is an ATM in the gift shop. In winter the cemetery stays open with limited maintenance, so expect snow on the steep paths.

Drive or walk up Mount Moriah Drive from the east end of town. RVs, trailers and tour buses are not allowed on the hill; large vehicles should park in the Sherman Street lot and walk up. Pets are not allowed, though service dogs are welcome. The city asks visitors to treat the cemetery as sacred ground and to take only photographs. There are no ghost hunts or night visits here; it is a city cemetery, and you should leave by closing time.

• Visiting Open daily mid-May to mid-October; limited winter access
• Hours and season 8 AM to 8 PM in season
• Tickets $2, cash only
• Ghost hunting No: a city cemetery; treat it as sacred ground

Tips for your visit

• Allow at least half an hour for the famous graves, and longer if you plan to climb to Seth Bullock’s grave.
• Use the city’s online map before you go to find specific plots, with photos and scanned records.
• Wear proper shoes: the terraces and the path to Bullock’s grave are steep and uneven.
• Come in the last hour before closing in summer for the best light and the quietest paths.
• Pair your visit with 624 Main Street, where Hickok was shot, and the Adams House a few blocks away.

More haunted places nearby

• Haunted places in Deadwood: the Bullock, the Adams House, the Brothel and Saloon No. 10
• Bullock Hotel: Seth Bullock’s own hotel on Main Street, said to be haunted by him
• Haunted hotels in South Dakota: where to sleep with the stories
• Haunted places in South Dakota
• Haunted places in Deadwood

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the official website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and investigators tell them, and we say where records contradict a story.

• City of Deadwood: Mount Moriah Cemetery
• Wikipedia: Mount Moriah Cemetery (South Dakota)
• Wikipedia: Wild Bill Hickok
• South Dakota News Watch: Burial sites bring history to life across South Dakota (2024)
• Travel South Dakota: Haunted outdoor places in South Dakota
• OnlyInYourState: Mount Moriah Cemetery
• HauntedPlaces.org: Mount Moriah Cemetery