Haunted Places in Tombstone, AZ: 7 Places to Visit or Stay
The town too tough to die has a saloon that was shut up with its contents inside, a hillside cemetery of gunfight victims and a hotel janitor still said to be guarding his silver. Here is what is true, what is legend and where to go.
Tombstone was laid out in 1879 after Ed Schieffelin found silver, and for a few years it was one of the richest and wildest towns in the West. The gunfight near the O.K. Corral on October 26, 1881, two great fires and the flooding of the mines followed in quick succession, and by the late 1880s most people had gone. What survived, along Allen Street and on the hill at Boothill, is now a National Historic Landmark district and one of the most ghost-storied small towns in America. We have checked every place below against current sources and flagged the claims that rest only on legend.
Ghost tours run nightly in town, and the Bird Cage Theatre runs its own. Tombstone is about 70 miles southeast of Tucson, and Bisbee, with its own haunted hotels, is 25 miles further south.
Where to look The stage, the curtained balcony boxes, the hallway behind the stage and the basement poker room
Reported ghosts Women in period dress, a man in a visor crossing the stage, music and laughter at night
Visiting Privately owned museum on Allen Street, open daily
Tours Self-guided day visits and a nightly guided ghost tour
Ghost hunting The museum runs its own nightly ghost tours; ask the museum about private investigations
The Bird Cage opened on December 26, 1881, run by Billy and Lottie Hutchinson. Billy hoped for respectable variety shows, but Tombstone’s silver boom wanted something rougher, and the Bird Cage became a saloon, gambling hall and theater with twelve curtained boxes above the floor where prostitutes worked. When flooding and a pump fire ruined the mines in the 1880s the town emptied, and the building was shut up with much of its contents inside. It reopened as a tourist attraction in the 1930s and is now a privately run museum.
Inside are the original stage, a faro table, bullet holes in the walls and ceiling, and an ornate hearse. Guides say 26 people died here and that a poker game in the basement ran for eight years; those figures come from the museum’s own telling and we found no record behind them. Staff and visitors report women in period dress, a man in a visor walking the stage and music and laughter after closing. Ghost Hunters filmed here in 2006 and Ghost Adventures in 2009 and 2015.
What investigators report
One investigation team reports using divining rods to map active spots before the night, and a K-II meter lit strongly during an EVP session when they asked if they were speaking with Leroy, a former caretaker. The basement gambling room, at the bottom of the stairs, is where they reported seeing a small white figure.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book the nightly ghost tour if you want the stories; the day visit is better for looking closely at the bullet holes and the faro table.
Address Northwest edge of Tombstone off Highway 80, Tombstone, AZ 85638
Where to look The graves of Billy Clanton and the McLaury brothers, and the Lester Moore marker
Reported ghosts Figures among the graves and lights after dark, as told on Tombstone ghost tours
Visiting Open to visitors through the gift shop entrance; a small entry fee is charged
Tickets About $5
Tombstone’s first cemetery sits on a rise at the northwest edge of town and was closed in late 1886, when a new city cemetery opened on Allen Street. More than 300 people are thought to be buried here, though only 205 are recorded, because many Chinese and Jewish burials and wooden markers were lost. Billy Clanton and Frank and Tom McLaury, killed in the gunfight near the O.K. Corral on October 26, 1881, lie here, along with outlaws who were hanged and the much-photographed marker of Lester Moore.
Boothill is one of the most visited cemeteries in the West, and Tombstone’s ghost tour companies call it one of the most haunted, with tales of figures moving among the rock-piled graves after dark. We found no documented report behind those tales, so take them as tour lore. The place itself, with its blunt hand-painted epitaphs, is atmosphere enough.
Haunted Rooms tip: Go late in the afternoon, when the low light picks out the epitaphs, and walk to the nearby Jewish cemetery too.
Where to look The Soiled Dove and Fallen Angel rooms, which keep their 1881 layout
Reported ghosts A miner said to have died outside, and spirits that brush past guests at night
Visiting A working hotel; book a room to stay, and ask about the rooms with the best-known stories
This white clapboard house was a working brothel in Tombstone’s red-light district during the silver boom; local lore links it to Big Nose Kate. In 1923 it was moved to West Allen Street to save it from demolition when a school was built. Owner Susan Sinsley runs it as a bed and breakfast with rooms named for the women who worked there, such as Calico Queen and Shady Lady, a hot breakfast, a seasonal pool and a hot tub.
Each room has a logbook for guests’ experiences. The owner says the spirits rearrange small things or brush against people at night and are never frightening; a handful of guests have still left on arrival. The best-known story is of a miner who died in a fight outside and is said to make advances toward women.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book the Soiled Dove or Fallen Angel for the original 1881 layout, and read the room logbook before bed.
Where to look The upstairs hallway, the parlor and the old guest rooms
Reported ghosts Nat Anderson, murdered in 1920, and others from the house's boarding days
Visiting A working hotel; book a room to stay, and ask about the rooms with the best-known stories
The Oliver House opened in 1909, just after fire swept through Bisbee, and spent decades as a boarding house for mine staff, railroad men and ballplayers from Warren Ballpark. It became a bed and breakfast in the 1980s and new owners took over in 2023. It is adults only (21+), with vintage rooms, no TVs, several shared bathrooms and big porches looking over town. You can also rent the whole house.
Its ghost story has a real crime at its center: in February 1920 railroad employee Nat Anderson was shot as he returned to his room, and the murder was never solved. Older tellings add a deputy who shot his wife and her lover in the house, and claim more than two dozen deaths here, which no record we found confirms. Guests describe footsteps, cold spots, a moving rocking chair and doors opening by themselves.
Haunted Rooms tip: Rent the whole house with friends for the full experience, and read the guest ghost book in the parlor.
Where to look The basement and the old mine tunnel, the stairs and hallways
Reported ghosts The Swamper, a hotel janitor said to guard his hidden silver
Visiting A working saloon and restaurant on Allen Street, open daily
Hours and season 10 AM to 9 PM Sunday to Thursday, to 11 PM Friday and Saturday
The Grand Hotel opened on September 9, 1880, with an invitation-only ball, and was Tombstone’s finest. The saloon says Ike Clanton and the McLaury brothers were registered guests the night before the gunfight of October 26, 1881. The great fire of May 25, 1882 destroyed it, leaving only arches and floor joists, and the rebuilt building is now Big Nose Kate’s Saloon, named for Doc Holliday’s companion. Its long bar survived the fire.
The saloon’s own legend is the Swamper, the hotel’s live-in janitor, who is said to have dug from his basement room into the mine workings under town and quietly taken silver ounce by ounce. Nobody knows if he spent it or hid it. Staff say a figure walks the halls and stairs, and the saloon shows photographs said to catch him. You can see the mine entrance in the basement.
What investigators report
Staff say the basement, by the gate to the Swamper’s old quarters and mine shaft, is the focus: visitors who approach the gate report feeling a shove, and some staff say they have heard a voice telling them to stay away.
Where to look The original adobe rooms, including Rooms 110, 115 and 119
Reported ghosts Unseen hands, shaking beds and a presence that answers questions
Visiting A working hotel; book a room to stay, and ask about the rooms with the best-known stories
The motel at 502 East Fremont, long known as The Tombstone Motel and now trading as Inn History Tombstone, sits in an adobe building that predates the O.K. Corral gunfight. It began as a livery stable, then served as a general store, a lumber yard and living quarters before becoming a motel in the 1940s. It is a two-minute walk to Allen Street.
Under its old name the motel warned guests that it was haunted and that people asked to switch rooms in the middle of the night. Guest accounts name several rooms, including 110, 115 and 119: lights switching on and off, luggage moved while guests were at dinner, beds shaking and a presence answering flashlight questions. One room is linked to a man said to have taken his own life there. These are guest reports, not records.
What investigators report
Writers who stayed overnight report taking a baseline EMF reading, then asking yes/no questions with a flashlight as the signal; they say the light switched on and off in answer and the bed shook.
Where to look Rooms 1 to 4 in the original block, especially Room 3 and Room 4 (the Wyatt Earp Room)
Reported ghosts A tall white-haired man in 1950s clothes and a presence that moves guests' things
Visiting A working hotel; book a room to stay, and ask about the rooms with the best-known stories
The Larian is a small 1950s motel on Fremont Street (Highway 80), a block from Allen Street and a short walk to the O.K. Corral, Big Nose Kate’s and the Bird Cage Theatre. Rooms are named for Tombstone characters, it has been recently remodeled, and it is one of the better value stays in town.
Its stories are low key and mostly in the original block, Rooms 1 to 4. Guests have described waking at the same moment in Room 3, the Doc Holliday Room, to the feeling of someone in the room, and belongings vanishing and turning up later right where they were left. In Room 4, the Wyatt Earp Room, guests have reported a large white-haired man in a white shirt and 1950s style clothes, perhaps a past guest who never checked out.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask for Room 3 or Room 4, then walk to Allen Street for an evening ghost tour.
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.
Buford House
This 1880 adobe on Safford Street, built by mine owner George Buford, ran for years as a bed and breakfast with a well-known ghost story: George Daves is said to have shot his sweetheart Petra and then himself in April 1888 (she survived). It closed to guests by late 2020 and is no longer listed among Tombstone’s lodgings. See it only from the street.
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 Tombstone?
The Bird Cage Theatre, an 1881 saloon, gambling hall and theater that now runs as a museum with nightly ghost tours. Staff and visitors report women in period dress, a man crossing the stage and music after closing.
Can you visit Boothill Graveyard?
Yes. It is open to visitors through the gift shop at the edge of town for a small fee. Billy Clanton and Tom and Frank McLaury, killed in the 1881 gunfight, are buried there.
Where can I stay in a haunted place in Tombstone?
The Tombstone Bordello, a former brothel run as a bed and breakfast, the Larian Motel and the Tombstone Motel all have ghost stories. The Oliver House in Bisbee, 25 miles away, is one of Arizona’s best-known haunted inns.
Are there ghost tours in Tombstone?
Yes. Several companies run nightly ghost walks on Allen Street, and the Bird Cage Theatre runs its own ghost tour every evening.
Was the gunfight really at the O.K. Corral?
Not quite. It happened on October 26, 1881, in a vacant lot on Fremont Street a short distance from the corral, where the O.K. Corral attraction now stages reenactments.
What is the legend of the Swamper?
Big Nose Kate’s Saloon, in the old Grand Hotel, says its live-in janitor tunneled from his basement room into the mines and took silver ounce by ounce. Staff say a figure on the stairs is him, still guarding it.
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.
New guides and haunted places to visit. No spam, unsubscribe any time.
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.
