Haunted Deadwood: 9 Haunted Places in the Wild West Town
A gold camp where Wild Bill Hickok was shot at the poker table, a sheriff built a stone hotel and the brothels stayed open until 1980. Deadwood claims more ghosts than any town in South Dakota, and most of them are a short walk apart on Main Street.
Deadwood grew almost overnight in the 1876 Black Hills gold rush, burned in 1879, and rebuilt in brick and stone; gaming came back in 1989 and its revenue now helps pay to restore the old buildings. Its ghost stories follow its history: Hickok and Jack McCall, Sheriff Seth Bullock, the Franklin family, a century of working women on the Badlands end of Main Street and the graves on Mount Moriah. Below is every place we could check against current sources, with what each offers: hotel rooms, ghost tours, museum visits or just a walk past. Haunted Rooms has run ghost hunts at the Historic Adams House and the Brothel.
Where to look Second and third floor hallways, Room 211, Bully's restaurant and the basement
Reported ghosts Sheriff Seth Bullock, a cowboy silhouette, a giggling little girl
Visiting A working hotel with its own ghost tours
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts; take the hotel tour or stay the night
Seth Bullock, Deadwood’s first sheriff, and his partner Sol Star built this Italianate stone hotel on the site of their hardware store after the fire of 1894, and it opened in 1896 with 63 rooms. Restored in the early 1990s, it now has 28 rooms above a casino and Bully’s restaurant.
Staff say Bullock still runs the place: a tall figure in the restaurant and basement, a voice calling guests’ names, and trouble for any employee caught idle. Travel South Dakota tells of a lost boy who said a kind man walked him back to his room, then pointed at Bullock’s portrait at checkout. The hotel runs its own ghost tours and has appeared on Unsolved Mysteries.
What investigators report
Staff say activity reportedly picks up when employees stand idle, whistle or hum, put down to Seth Bullock wanting his staff kept busy. Bully’s Restaurant, Seth’s Cellar and the second and third floor hallways are the most reported spots.
Visit on a tourGhost toursHaunted Rooms ghost hunts
Address 22 Van Buren Avenue, Deadwood, SD 57732
Where to look The servants' stairway, the dining room, the attic steps and W.E. Adams' bedroom and study
Reported ghosts W.E. Adams, cigar smoke, a man's growl on the back stairs, dishes clattering in an empty room
Visiting Guided tours of the house; seasonal hours
Hours and season May to September daily 9 AM to 4 PM; October and April Tuesday to Saturday 10 AM to 4 PM; closed November to March except Christmas tours
Tickets About $12 adults, $5 children 6 to 12
Ghost hunting Haunted Rooms ghost hunts; see our event page
Harris and Anna Franklin built this Queen Anne house in 1892, and local papers called it the grandest house west of the Mississippi. W.E. Adams, a grocer and six-time mayor of Deadwood, bought it in 1920. After he died in 1934 his widow Mary closed it up and moved to California in 1936, leaving the contents in place for more than 50 years. It reopened as a museum after restoration and is run by Deadwood History.
Mary Adams is said to have claimed the house was haunted, and a guide told Black Hills State’s student media that the rumor probably kept vandals out. Staff describe cigar smoke, dishes clanking in an empty room, a shadow at a window and a man’s growl on the servants’ stairs. Black Hills Paranormal Investigations has run October hunts here, and Haunted Rooms has run its own ghost hunts in the house.
What investigators report
Investigators report using a flashlight left barely switched off for yes/no questions, plus dowsing rods and an Ovilus, with a recorder catching an older woman’s voice in the master bedroom. On one public investigation the flashlight reportedly flicked on at “one” when asked how many spirits were in Mr. Adams’ study.
Visit on a tourGhost toursParanormal investigations allowed
Address 628 Main St, Deadwood, SD 57732
Where to look The third floor, the stairs and the bar
Reported ghosts Margaret (Maggie) Broadwater, a jealous gunman and his victim, a little boy
Visiting Bar open daily; the upper floors are shown only on guided tours
Tours Nightly ghost and paranormal tours
Ghost hunting Paranormal tours and investigations are run by the building’s tour operators
The red sandstone building with the corner turret opened around 1895 as a brothel, bar and gambling hall next to the original Saloon No. 10 site, and later served as a Turkish bath, speakeasy, lodging house and apartments. Today the ground floor is the Oyster Bay bar, and the Fairmont no longer rents rooms to overnight guests.
The nightly tours tell of Margaret Broadwater, a young working woman said to have jumped from a third-floor window, a man killed in a jealous rage, and a little boy who hides behind the slot machines. Travel South Dakota notes several deaths and at least one murder here, and the building has been on The Dead Files and Ghost Lab.
What investigators report
One visitor reported recording EVPs on the top floor after a seance in a front room and in Maggie Broadwater’s Room, and a voice on the back staircase that coincided with a burst of cold air.
Where to look The period rooms upstairs, each set in a different era
Reported ghosts Working women of the old houses, men's voices bargaining, a woman shouting, a child's voice
Visiting Guided tours only, ages 16 and up
Hours and season 11 AM to 5 PM on selected days (Thursday to Saturday in summer); tours on the hour
Tickets About $15
Ghost hunting Haunted Rooms ghost hunts; see our event page
Deadwood’s brothels ran openly from 1876, when the first working women arrived on the same wagon train as Wild Bill Hickok, until federal and state agents raided the last four houses in 1980. The Brothel tour, run by the nonprofit Deadwood History, opened in 2020 in the former Shasta Rooms upstairs on Main Street, one of those last houses. Hourly guided tours cover a century of the trade; they are for ages 16 and up.
Ghost tour operators say each room has its own lady of the night, and that paranormal groups have recorded men’s voices bargaining, a woman swearing and a child’s voice. These are investigators’ claims rather than anything the museum itself puts forward. Haunted Rooms has run ghost hunts in the building.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book the first tour of the day if you want a quieter look at the rooms; groups are capped at about 18.
Where to look The Hickok and Calamity Jane plots, Seth Bullock's grave up the hill, the potter's fields and the Chinese burner
Reported ghosts Shadowy figures at closing time, gates that open on their own, a feeling of being watched
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
Deadwood’s hillside cemetery dates from 1878, and more than 3,000 people lie on its terraces above the gulch. Wild Bill Hickok was moved here from the first town graveyard in 1879, Calamity Jane, who died in 1903, was buried beside him, and Seth Bullock’s grave lies a short hike above the main grounds. There are Jewish and Chinese sections, potter’s fields and a children’s section from the epidemic years.
Travel South Dakota says staff closing up for the night have seen shadowy figures and gates that swing open by themselves, and visitors often describe feeling watched. There is no single famous ghost and no record behind the stories beyond those reports. The city charges a small entrance fee and asks visitors to treat it as sacred ground.
Haunted Rooms tip: Come late in the afternoon in summer and walk up to Seth Bullock’s grave, a short hike above the main grounds.
Where to look The recreated room where Hickok was shot and the second-floor theater
Reported ghosts Wild Bill Hickok, laundresses from an upstairs brothel, a child among the antiques, an aggressive presence some call Jack McCall
Visiting A working bar; small fee to see the recreated shooting room
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts
A plaque marks 624 Main Street as the approximate site of Nuttal and Mann’s Saloon No. 10, where Wild Bill Hickok was shot on August 2, 1876. The saloon burned in 1879 and its successor in 1895; the present building went up in 1898 and later held a restaurant with a brothel upstairs. Rick and Margi Oleson opened it as the Wild Bill Bar and Trading Post in 2014, with a recreation of the shooting room.
Ghost tour operators say Ghost Adventures and other shows claimed contact with Hickok here, and they describe footsteps upstairs, the spirits of laundresses from the old brothel, a child seen among the antiques and a pushy presence on the first floor that some blame on Jack McCall. Travel South Dakota adds that ghosts have been reported in the rentable second-floor theater.
Haunted Rooms tip: Pay the small fee to see the recreated shooting room, then walk up Main Street to the statue and Saloon No. 10.
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. These are the nearest ones we run.
Where to look The upstairs hallways and the historic rooms named for famous guests
Reported ghosts Harris Franklin, the investor behind the hotel, and a man in period clothing
Visiting A working hotel: book a room to stay the night
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts; stay the night instead
The Franklin opened on Main Street on June 4, 1903, with 80 rooms, named for Harris Franklin, its chief backer. It spent years as apartments, came back as a hotel after gaming returned in 1989, and is now owned by the neighboring Silverado. Its historic room doors carry the names of famous guests, from Theodore Roosevelt to John Wayne.
Deadwood guides and KOTA say Harris Franklin still watches over the hotel and its basement steakhouse to make sure the staff are working. Guests describe footsteps following them down empty hallways, and a story goes that a housekeeper quit on the spot after seeing a man in old-fashioned clothes watching her clean.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask for one of the historic rooms named for a famous guest rather than a standard room.
Where to look The bar, the piano and the chair over the door
Reported ghosts A piano that plays itself, voices of old patrons
Visiting A working bar and restaurant; walk in
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts
Wild Bill Hickok was shot in the back of the head by Jack McCall while playing poker at Nuttal and Mann’s Saloon No. 10 on August 2, 1876. That building burned in 1879, and today’s Saloon No. 10 sits a few doors up Main Street at number 657, with sawdust on the floor, walls of Old West relics and a chair over the door that the saloon presents as Hickok’s death chair.
KOTA and Travel South Dakota pass on the local joke that the spirits had so much fun here in life that they stayed: people say a ghost plays the piano and that ghostly voices carry over the noise of the bar. Treat the chair as a legend too; the saloon offers no proof that it is the one Hickok sat in.
Haunted Rooms tip: Pair it with a stop at 624 Main Street, the approximate site of the original saloon where Hickok was shot.
Where to look The fire-damaged auditorium, the basement and the old swimming pool area
Reported ghosts Disembodied voices and an occasional figure
Visiting Story tours in summer; shows year round
Hours and season Tours Memorial Day to mid-October, Monday to Saturday, 10 AM to 2 PM
Tickets About $10; children 10 and under free
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts; occasional Halloween events
Phoebe Hearst and the Homestake Mining Company built this opera house and recreation center for Lead’s miners in 1914, with a 1,000-seat theater, a library, a bowling alley, a billiard hall and a heated indoor pool. A fire gutted the theater in 1984, and a nonprofit has been restoring it bit by bit ever since; it now seats about 500 and hosts 40 to 50 shows a year.
Travel South Dakota says visitors occasionally see a spirit or hear a disembodied voice, and the opera house itself ran dark tours of its haunted basement at a 2024 Halloween screening. The published stories are thin and unnamed, so take them as building lore rather than a famous haunting.
Haunted Rooms tip: Take the 30-minute summer story tour to see the fire-scarred chandelier and the 1914 pool relics.
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.
Lucky Nugget Casino
Once a brothel, later a casino where investigators reported heavy boots upstairs, shadow figures and the scent of perfume. The casino is no longer operating, so see it only from Main Street.
Haunted Rooms has run ghost hunts at the Historic Adams House and the Brothel. See every date on our South Dakota 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
Is Deadwood haunted?
It has more ghost stories than any other town in South Dakota. Staff at the Bullock say Seth Bullock still keeps an eye on them, the Fairmont runs nightly ghost tours, and the Adams House has hosted paranormal investigations for years. Treat the stories as stories; the gold rush history behind them is real.
What is the most haunted hotel in Deadwood?
The Historic Bullock Hotel, built by Sheriff Seth Bullock and opened in 1896. It runs its own ghost tours and staff report a tall figure in the restaurant and a voice calling guests’ names. The Fairmont has more stories but no longer takes overnight guests.
Are there ghost tours in Deadwood?
Yes. The Fairmont runs nightly ghost and paranormal tours, the Bullock runs its own tours, and walking ghost tours leave from the Main Street area in season. Haunted Rooms has run ghost hunts at the Adams House and the Brothel; see our event pages for dates.
Where was Wild Bill Hickok shot?
In Nuttal and Mann’s Saloon No. 10, on August 2, 1876. A plaque at 624 Main Street, now the Wild Bill Bar, marks the approximate site. Today’s Saloon No. 10 is a few doors up the street at number 657.
Can you visit Mount Moriah Cemetery?
Yes. It is open daily from mid-May to mid-October, 8 AM to 8 PM, with a $2 cash fee, and has limited access in winter. Allow time to walk up to Seth Bullock’s grave above the main grounds.
Where should I stay for a haunted weekend in Deadwood?
Book the Bullock or the Franklin on Main Street; both report ghosts and both put you within a few minutes’ walk of the Fairmont tour, the saloons and the Adams House. See our South Dakota haunted hotels 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 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.
