Haunted Places in Skagway: 7 Gold Rush Ghost Stories
A brothel museum where staff greet a ghost each morning, a hotel bride whose story was staged for photos, a con man’s grave and a shipwreck that returned. Here is haunted Skagway, with what is true, what is legend and how you can visit.
Skagway grew from a few cabins into a stampede town of thousands in 1897 and 1898, the jumping-off point for the White Pass trail to the Klondike, and many of its wooden buildings still stand along Broadway inside Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. Its ghost stories are as much a part of a visit as the saloons. We have checked each place below against current sources, including two cemeteries where we found no ghost sightings at all, only real and sometimes tragic history, and a lighthouse out in Lynn Canal that you can see from the ferry.
Where to look The upstairs brothel museum, the madam's room and the stairs
Reported ghosts Lydia, a working woman said to have died upstairs
Visiting A working saloon and restaurant; the upstairs brothel museum is seen on a guided tour
Tours Brothel museum tours about 20 minutes long, plus a Ghosts and Goodtime Girls walking tour of Skagway that ends here
Hours and season Seasonal, roughly May to September, daily from 10 AM
Ghost hunting No public investigations; the ghost stories are told on the tours
The Red Onion opened in the fall of 1898 as one of Skagway’s biggest dance halls and saloons, with a brothel of ten small rooms, called cribs, upstairs. Behind the bar sat ten dolls, one for each woman: a doll lying down meant she was busy. The building was rolled to its present corner of 2nd and Broadway in 1914 and later served as army barracks, a bakery, a laundry and a union hall. Today it is a busy saloon with a brothel museum upstairs.
Its ghost is Lydia, described by staff as Skagway’s most famous spirit. The legend says she was a working woman who took her own life, though no record names her. Staff told the Skagway News in 2023 that they hear footsteps upstairs when the floor is empty, greet her each morning and read her fan mail aloud. Visitors report perfume in the hallway, cold spots by the rooms and men being shoved on the stairs.
What investigators report
Staff say they greet Lydia, the saloon’s resident spirit, on arrival and talk or sing to her upstairs in the brothel museum, and report objects tumbling off shelves and the bar after loud music was played.
Address Corner of 8th Avenue and Main Street, Skagway, AK 99840
Where to look Guest bedrooms
Reported ghosts A kindly young woman seen at the foot of beds and with children
Visiting A working hotel that takes overnight guests
At the White House is a white clapboard inn built in 1902 for Lee Guthrie, a gold rush saloon owner and city councilman, on a quiet corner two blocks from Skagway’s historic district. It later became a small hotel, served the Army as a small hospital in World War II and was damaged by fire in 1977 before new owners restored it. It is a contributing building in Skagway’s historic district.
Guests have described a kindly young woman standing at the end of their beds, and others have seen her talking with children in the house. The popular belief is that she ran a day care said to have occupied the building, though we found no record of one. She is described as gentle, and the stories are told with affection.
Haunted Rooms tip: Skagway is a cruise port: book early for summer, and walk Broadway after the ships leave in the evening.
Address 3rd Avenue and Broadway, Skagway, AK 99840
Where to look The onion-domed corner, once said to be Room 23
Reported ghosts 'Scary Mary', a bride said to have died waiting for her fiance
Visiting Now shops; the old hotel rooms are not open to visitors
Ghost hunting No
The building with the golden onion dome on Broadway went up in early 1898 as the Klondike Trading Company store. In 1908 it was rolled to the corner of 3rd and Broadway and became the Golden North Hotel, run for decades by the Dedman family. It no longer takes guests: the building now holds shops, and you see it on any walk through the historic district.
Its famous ghost is Mary, often called Scary Mary, a bride said to have died in her room waiting for a fiance who never came back from the gold fields. A descendant of the hotel family told the travel site Voyij that a later owner promoted the story in the late 1960s, staging photos in a borrowed wedding dress, and that the building was not a hotel at the time the tale is set. Treat it as a story the town loves rather than a record.
Haunted Rooms tip: Admire the dome from across Broadway, then stay a few blocks away At the White House if you want a haunted night in Skagway.
Address North end of State Street, past the railroad shops, Skagway, AK 99840
Where to look Soapy Smith's wooden marker and Frank Reid's monument
Reported ghosts No specific sightings on record; the ghost lore is about who lies here
Visiting Open grounds, a short walk or bus ride from downtown; many town tours stop here
Tours Self-guided; included on many Skagway town tours
Ghost hunting No organized investigations; please treat it as a cemetery
Skagway’s first cemetery sits in the forest at the north end of town, a short walk past the White Pass railroad shops. Burials began in early 1898, when the ground thawed, and about 174 people were buried here before a new cemetery opened in 1908. The two most famous graves belong to the men who killed each other on the Juneau Wharf on July 8, 1898: the con man Jefferson Randolph ‘Soapy’ Smith and city surveyor Frank Reid, who died of his wounds twelve days later.
Smith’s plain wooden marker sits just outside the main plot; Reid’s granite monument reads ‘He gave his life for the honor of Skagway.’ The cemetery is a stop on Skagway’s ghost and history walks, but we found no published ghost sightings here, only the town’s long fascination with Soapy. Visit for the history, and walk on to Lower Reid Falls behind the graves.
Haunted Rooms tip: Walk up from town or take the SMART bus, and follow the short trail behind the graves to Lower Reid Falls.
Address Dyea Road, Dyea townsite, about 9 miles from Skagway, AK 99840
Where to look The rows of wooden headboards in the forest
Reported ghosts No specific sightings on record; a resting place for avalanche victims
Visiting Owned by the municipality and reached through Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park by a short footbridge
Ghost hunting No; please treat it as a cemetery
On Palm Sunday, April 3, 1898, a series of snow slides buried stampeders on the Chilkoot Trail between Sheep Camp and the Scales. The National Park Service says more than 65 people probably died, and the four published lists of victims do not agree. Many of the dead were brought down to Dyea, then a boomtown at the foot of the trail, and buried in a new cemetery in the woods.
Dyea faded once the railroad chose Skagway, and the Slide Cemetery is now the main landmark of the disaster, with weathered headboards that carry yet another incomplete list of names. Some lists of haunted places call it haunting, but we found no reported sightings. It is a quiet, moving place to visit on a trip out to the old Dyea townsite.
Haunted Rooms tip: Pair it with a walk around the Dyea townsite and the start of the Chilkoot Trail, and bring bug spray in summer.
Address Eldred Rock, Lynn Canal, about 15 miles south of Haines, AK
Where to look The rocks of the island and the water off its south point
Reported ghosts The steamship Clara Nevada and her lost passengers
Visiting Seen from passing ferries and cruise ships; the island has no dock and landing needs permission
Tours Lighthouse cruises from Haines and Skagway were planned to begin in June 2026
Ghost hunting No
In February 1898 the steamship Clara Nevada, heading south from Skagway in a storm, was lost on a reef near Eldred Rock in Lynn Canal. Witnesses spoke of an explosion and fire; the ship may have carried gold and illegal dynamite, and no one knows how many died, though the toll is often put near 75. Only one body was identified. The wreck helped push the government to build the Eldred Rock Lighthouse, first lit on June 1, 1906, now Alaska’s oldest original lighthouse building.
The ghost story is old. In 1908, ten years after the wreck, a keeper is said to have seen the Clara Nevada lying on the rocks at dawn with the remains of her crew, before a storm took her back. In 1910 two assistant keepers vanished on a short boat trip, and the head keeper was said to call their names in his sleep. A preservation group restored the station and planned lighthouse cruises from Haines and Skagway starting in 2026.
Haunted Rooms tip: The easiest view is from the deck of an Alaska Marine Highway ferry or a cruise ship between Juneau and Haines; check the preservation group’s plans for boat trips.
Address 6th Avenue and Broadway, Skagway, AK 99840
Where to look The theater and the old hotel rooms behind it
Reported ghosts A 'malevolent' presence described by the show's co-owner
Visiting Open during performances of The Days of ’98 Show
Tours No tours; see the hall by attending the show
Hours and season Summer only, about mid-May to mid-September, one to four shows a day
Ghost hunting No
Eagles Hall is two gold rush hotels in one. The Mondamin Hotel was moved to the corner of 6th and Broadway in 1916 and the old Pacific Hotel was joined to its rear in 1920, when the Fraternal Order of Eagles, Skagway Aerie No. 25, turned the building into a hall and theater. Since the 1920s it has staged The Days of ’98 Show, a summer musical about Soapy Smith that Alaska.org calls the state’s longest running theater production.
Charity Pomeroy, the show’s co-owner, told the Skagway News in 2023 that the hall has a presence she describes as malevolent, unlike the friendlier spirits at the Red Onion down the street. No one puts a name to it. The only way inside is to buy a ticket for the show, which runs from about mid-May to mid-September.
What investigators report
Staff of the Days of ’98 Show report a dark mass crossing the theater and a backstage dressing room door opening and closing on its own; owners have bought the ghost a shot of whiskey as an offering.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the most haunted place in Skagway?
The Red Onion Saloon, a gold rush brothel that is now a saloon and brothel museum. Staff say its ghost, Lydia, walks the upstairs rooms, and they greet her when they open each morning.
Are there ghost tours in Skagway?
Yes, in the cruise season. The Red Onion runs short brothel museum tours and a Ghosts and Goodtime Girls walking tour of town led by guides dressed as madams.
Is the Golden North Hotel still open?
No. The onion-domed building on Broadway no longer takes guests and now holds shops. Its Scary Mary story was promoted by a later owner in the 1960s, according to a descendant of the hotel family.
Where is Soapy Smith buried?
In the Gold Rush Cemetery at the north end of Skagway, a short walk past the railroad shops. Frank Reid, who died after their 1898 shootout, is buried nearby under a large granite monument.
Is there a haunted hotel in Skagway?
At the White House, a 1902 inn two blocks from Broadway, where guests describe a kind young woman at the foot of their beds. See our At the White House guide.
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 are paranormal researchers who write about historic haunted places 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.
