Haunted places guide · Fort Laramie, Wyoming

Fort Laramie, Wyoming: History, the Lady in Green and Visiting

For half a century this was the most important stop on the Oregon Trail, and it has the West’s most romantic ghost story: a girl in a green riding habit said to gallop past every seven years. Here is Fort Laramie’s real history, its legends and how to visit.

By The Haunted Rooms Team · Updated November 2026 · How we rate places

3.8/5Haunted Rooms Score

1834Founded as Fort William

1849Old Bedlam built

Our nearest ghost hunt: Fairweather Inn, MT Meet the ghosts

Fort Laramie stands where the Laramie River meets the North Platte, in Goshen County in southeast Wyoming. Emigrants who had come about 300 miles from the Missouri stopped here to rest, repair wagons and buy supplies, and for decades nearly everyone heading to Oregon, California or Utah passed its walls. It began as a fur trading post, became an Army post, hosted two of the most important treaties in Plains history and closed in 1890.

The National Park Service has restored a cluster of its buildings around the old parade ground, and admission is free. Fort Laramie also has a set of ghost stories told by rangers, visitors and old soldiers, led by the Lady in Green. We explain where each comes from, which ones have any record behind them, and how to see the places they are tied to.

Fort Laramie at a glance

3.8/5
Haunted Rooms Score

Haunted reputation4

History5

Ghost hunter access2

Open to the public

Address 965 Gray Rocks Road, Fort Laramie, WY 82212
Founded 1834 as Fort William; bought by the Army in 1849
Closed 1890; last soldiers left April 20
Oldest building Old Bedlam, the 1849 officers’ quarters, the oldest known military building in Wyoming
Most haunted spots Old Bedlam, the cavalry barracks, the captain’s quarters and the trail east of the fort
Best-known ghost The Lady in Green, said to ride a black horse every seven years
Good to know Grounds open sunrise to sunset every day; admission is free

Our nearest ghost hunt: Fairweather Inn, MT Visit / tours

History of Fort Laramie

William Sublette and Robert Campbell built a log stockade here in 1834 and called it Fort William. It changed hands within a year, and by the early 1840s the American Fur Company had it and renamed it Fort John after a partner, John Sarpy. The name Laramie came from the river, itself named for the French trapper Jacques La Ramee, who according to a long-told legend was killed and buried in a beaver dam.

As emigrant traffic on the Oregon Trail exploded, the Army bought the post in 1849 for $4,000, and Company G of the 6th Infantry arrived that August. That same year the Army built Old Bedlam, a two-story frame officers’ quarters that housed officers of every rank and marital status because nothing else existed yet; with shared kitchens and thin walls, it earned its nickname. In 1851 the first Treaty of Fort Laramie was signed nearby with the Plains nations, and in 1854 the Grattan fight killed a small force of troops from the fort.

In 1866 John ‘Portugee’ Phillips rode some 236 miles to Fort Laramie with news of the Fetterman fight at Fort Phil Kearny, and in 1868 the second Treaty of Fort Laramie ended Red Cloud’s War. The fort was a staging point for the Great Sioux War of 1876. Stone and concrete buildings replaced many older ones, including the cavalry barracks of the 1870s and the Burt House of 1884.

With the frontier gone, the Army closed the post in 1890; the last soldiers marched out on April 20, and the land was opened to homesteaders the next year. Settlers bought and reused many buildings. The federal government bought the site back in 1938 and began restoring it, it became Fort Laramie National Historic Site in 1960, and it was listed on the National Register in 1966. About 37,000 people visited in 2025.

The ghosts of Fort Laramie

The Lady in Green

The fort’s most famous legend dates to its fur trading days. The factor in charge of Fort John brought his daughter west, an Eastern-schooled girl and a fine rider, and warned her never to ride out alone. One day, while he was away, she took her favorite black horse east along the trail and never came back. Her father searched for a week and found nothing. The story says that every seven years a young woman in a green riding habit urges a black horse along the trail near the fort, and that no one has ever caught her.

The earliest dated sighting is from June 1872, when Lt. James Nicholas Allison of the 2nd Cavalry saw a rider in green after a wolf hunt, and another officer saw her too; Allison found no tracks. His account reached print decades later through his son, who told it to former superintendent Dave Hieb in 1951, and Hieb published it in 1978. Cowboy State Daily, retelling it in 2026, notes there is no contemporary record of the girl. Hieb himself said he never saw her in 11 years at the fort, but that Fort Laramie deserves a few ghosts.

The cavalry officer in Old Bedlam

Old Bedlam’s ghost is a cavalry officer said to walk its rooms and, on occasion, tell visitors to be quiet, a fitting complaint in a building once known for its noise. Legends of America and Cowboy State Daily both repeat the story, which comes from visitors and staff rather than any named event.

Boots in the barracks and George in the captain's quarters

In the cavalry barracks, built in 1874 with two open squad bays upstairs for hundreds of men, people describe heavy boots on the boardwalk and the second floor around reveille. In the captain’s quarters, a duplex of about 1870, staff call their spirit George and describe doors opening by themselves, footsteps in empty rooms and lights seen late at night in a building with no electricity. Visitors also tell of a surgeon in a blood-stained uniform and figures in upper windows.

What a ranger has noticed

Casey Osback, who began at Fort Laramie as a 14-year-old living history volunteer in 1989 and returned in 2022 as chief of interpretation, told Cowboy State Daily that he has never seen a ghost and never felt uneasy there. He does describe two quarters balanced on edge on the bar’s change box in 1992, one heads and one tails, with nobody heard coming in; a sudden smell of 19th-century flower water in an officer’s quarters; and his lost keys turning up on a garbage can in a basement he had not visited. He also suggests the old buildings simply breathe with the wind, which may explain the faint music some rangers hear across the parade ground. Visitors and rangers have even reported Portugee Phillips riding across it.

Where to look

Old Bedlam: the 1849 officers’ quarters, home of the cavalry officer who asks for quiet.
The cavalry barracks: for boots on the boardwalk and upstairs around dawn.
The captain's quarters: where staff say ‘George’ opens doors and lights appear at night.
The trail east of the fort: where the Lady in Green is said to ride every seven years.
The enlisted men's bar: in the post trader’s store, where a ranger found two coins balanced on edge.

Visiting Fort Laramie

Fort Laramie is beside the small town of the same name in Goshen County; the nearest city is Torrington. The grounds are open from sunrise to sunset every day of the year, and admission is free. The museum and visitor center, in the 1884 commissary storehouse, are open 8 AM to 6 PM in summer, 8 AM to 5 PM in May and September, and 8 AM to 4 PM from October through April, closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.

Restored rooms such as the enlisted men’s bar, the captain’s quarters and Old Bedlam are furnished as they were, and rangers sometimes lead tours in period clothing. Rangers have led moonlight tours in the past; check the park’s calendar for evening programs. The site is a national park unit, so there is no ghost hunting, no investigation equipment use and no access after dark outside ranger-led programs.

Allow two to three hours. Nearby, the Oregon Trail Ruts near Guernsey show wagon tracks worn about five feet deep, and Miners and Stockmen’s Steakhouse in Hartville has a back bar that once stood in Fort Laramie’s officers’ club.

Visiting Grounds open sunrise to sunset every day; museum and visitor center in the 1884 commissary
Hours and season Visitor center 8 AM to 4, 5 or 6 PM depending on season
Tickets Free
Ghost hunting No: a national park site, no ghost hunting

Tips for your visit

Start at the visitor center for the orientation film and a map of the buildings.
Look for ranger-led evening or moonlight programs on the park calendar.
Stand on the parade ground at dusk, when the fort is at its quietest.
Combine it with the Oregon Trail Ruts near Guernsey.
Bring water and sun protection; there is little shade on the parade ground.

Go ghost hunting nearby

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.

Fairweather Inn Ghost Hunt and Sleepover, Virginia City, Montana: investigate a historic hotel in the old gold rush town of Virginia City, then sleep in one of its rooms.
Old St. James Hospital Ghost Hunt, Butte, Montana: an after-dark investigation of the old St. James Hospital building in the mining city of Butte.
Old Ravalli County Courthouse Ghost Hunt, Hamilton, Montana: investigate the old county courthouse in Hamilton, in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley, after dark.

See all Wyoming ghost hunts

More haunted places nearby

Wyoming Territorial Prison: Butch Cassidy’s prison and its cigar-smoking ghost, in Laramie
Haunted places in Cheyenne: the Plains Hotel, St. Mark’s bell tower and the Atlas Theatre
Wyoming Frontier Prison ghost hunt: our ghost hunts in Rawlins
Haunted places in Wyoming

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Frequently asked questions

Is Fort Laramie haunted?

It has some of Wyoming’s best-known ghost stories: the Lady in Green on the trail, a cavalry officer in Old Bedlam, boots in the cavalry barracks and ‘George’ in the captain’s quarters. They come from legend, visitors and staff rather than documented events.

Who is the Lady in Green at Fort Laramie?

Legend says she was the daughter of the Fort John trader, who rode off alone on a black horse and was never seen again, and that she reappears every seven years. The earliest dated sighting is an officer’s account from 1872; no record of the girl has been found.

Is Fort Laramie free to visit?

Yes. Admission is free, and the grounds are open from sunrise to sunset every day.

What is Old Bedlam?

The two-story officers’ quarters built in 1849, the oldest known military building in Wyoming. It got its nickname from the crowded, noisy life of the officers who shared it.

Can you go ghost hunting at Fort Laramie?

No. It is a National Park Service site and does not allow ghost hunts. Haunted Rooms runs ghost hunts at the Wyoming Frontier Prison in Rawlins.

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.

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.