Haunted hotel guide · Medicine Bow, Wyoming
The Haunted Virginian Hotel, Medicine Bow: The Woman in Beige, Hank the Cowboy and Room 34
A three-and-a-half-story concrete hotel on the open plains, named for the first great western novel. Staff call its spirits “Our Friends”, and guests say the nights here are rarely quiet.
The Virginian Hotel rises out of the tiny railroad town of Medicine Bow, halfway between Laramie and Rawlins on the old Lincoln Highway. When it opened in 1911 it was the largest hotel between Denver and Salt Lake City, and it takes its name from Owen Wister’s novel The Virginian, set in this very town. It is one of the most atmospheric haunted hotels in Wyoming.
Our earlier guide warned that the Virginian is not the place for a good night’s sleep, because the activity guests describe runs from night until morning. Below are the ghosts people talk about, from a jilted woman on the third floor to a polite cowboy who likes the television, along with the hotel’s history and how to book.
The Virginian at a glance
Haunted Rooms Score
- Address 404 Lincoln Highway (US 30), Medicine Bow, WY 82329
- Opened September 30, 1911; listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978
- Most haunted spots The third-floor hallway, Room 34, the Shiloh Saloon and the Back 40 dining room below
- Best-known ghosts The woman in beige, Hank the cowboy, Riley at the bar and children in the sitting room
- Booking the haunted room Book online through the owners’ website or call (307) 331-2288, and ask for a third-floor room or the Owen Wister Suite. Specific rooms are a request.
- Good to know The 15 single sleeping rooms share bathrooms down the hall and are simply furnished; the antique suites have private tubs. There are also motel-style rooms, rooms in the old bank building and nine RV sites. The hotel lists itself as pet friendly.
The ghosts of the Virginian Hotel
The woman in beige
The Virginian’s best-known ghost is a very tall woman with dark hair and a prominent nose, dressed in beige clothes from the early 1900s. Legend says she came to the hotel to wait for her fiance, who was due on the train from back east. When he never arrived, she threw herself from a third-floor window. Travel Wyoming says guests still hear her crashing through the glass, and Y95 Country describes a loud crash from that end of the third-floor hallway and from the Back 40 section of the saloon directly below it. There is no published record of the death, so treat her as the hotel’s legend.
Hank the cowboy
Y95 Country, in a 2018 feature by Debbie Cobb, calls Hank the most prominent of the hotel’s ghosts: a tall, chivalrous cowboy with a mischievous streak, in an antique hat and duster. He is said to push glasses off the table at his favorite spot in the bar and to open doors for women as they reach for them. His story mirrors the woman in beige: he is said to have died of a heart attack on the third floor while waiting for his wife to arrive from back east. People say he likes to sit on the antique bed in Room 34 and enjoys the television in the room across the hall.
Riley at the bar
Riley is described as a former employee and a calm, kind presence who still likes to unwind on his favorite bar stool.
Children in the sitting room
At least one story describes young children playing in the first-floor sitting room. One of them is said to have frightened a drunk regular from the saloon so badly that he sobered up on the spot.
Footsteps on the third floor
A Y95 Country writer who spent a winter night in the hotel, the only guest in the building because of a blizzard, heard footsteps outside the room around 3 a.m. with no shadow showing in the window above the door.
The most haunted rooms and places to look
- The third floor: The woman in beige, Hank’s last night and the late-night footsteps.
- Room 34: Where Hank is said to sit on the antique bed.
- The Owen Wister Suite: One of four antique suites, named for the author of The Virginian.
- The Shiloh Saloon: Bullet holes in the bar, and Hank and Riley’s favorite spots.
- The Back 40: The dining area below the third-floor hallway, where people hear crashing glass.
History of The Virginian Hotel
Medicine Bow grew up as a Union Pacific railroad town in ranching country. In 1885 a young Owen Wister passed through and, the story goes, slept on the counter of the general store. The town and its cowboys became the setting of The Virginian, published in 1902 and often called the first great western novel.
August Grimm, Medicine Bow’s first mayor, and his partner George Plummer began building a hotel in 1901, using concrete blocks made on site with sand from the Medicine Bow River. When money ran short, the town’s leading citizens bought shares to finish it. The Virginian held its gala opening on September 30, 1911, and was the first building in the area with electricity and indoor plumbing, which earned it the nickname “Pearl of the Plains.” It was then the biggest hotel between Denver and Salt Lake City.
The hotel sat on the Lincoln Highway, the first coast-to-coast road, and drew travelers for decades. Famous guests are said to include Elvis, Roy Clark, Buck Owens, Hank Thompson and Walter Cronkite, and the bar still has five bullet holes from a shoot-out. An addition was built in 1957, and a renovation brought back the hotel’s turn-of-the-century decor before a grand reopening in 1984.
The same family owned the hotel for four generations, with Vernon and Vickie Scott running it for 40 years and adding it to the National Register in 1978. In April 2024 they sold it to Aaron Mumford and Jesse Baker of Jet Hospitality. The purchase included the historic hotel, the old bank building next door and a 20-room motel. By 2025 the new owners were stripping old carpet to bring back the original hardwood floors and replacing the bedding, while a plan to turn the unfinished top floor into a suite was on hold for lack of money.
Tips for a haunted stay
- Book online through the owners’ website or call. The historic building has guest rooms, antique suites including the Owen Wister Suite, and 15 simple single sleeping rooms; ask for the third floor.
- The single sleeping rooms share bathrooms down the hall, which makes a late-night walk through the old corridors part of the stay.
- Eat in the Owen Wister Dining Room, have a drink in the Shiloh Saloon, and look for the bullet holes in the bar.
- Winter on the plains can close roads quickly. Check the weather on US 30 before you set out.
- Combine the stay with Rawlins, an hour west, home to the Wyoming Frontier Prison and the Ferris Mansion.
Want to investigate, not just sleep?
Sleeping in a haunted hotel is one thing. Investigating one after dark is another. On a Haunted Rooms ghost hunt our team takes you through the building with professional ghost hunting equipment, runs EVP sessions and lets you explore on your own during free roam.
- Old St. James Hospital Ghost Hunt, Butte, Montana: the nearest Haunted Rooms investigation with dates on sale
See all Wyoming ghost hunts, including the Wyoming Frontier Prison
More haunted hotels nearby
- The Plains Hotel, Cheyenne: Rosie the bride, about two hours east
- Ferris Mansion, Rawlins: a Victorian mansion an hour west
- Hotel Higgins, Glenrock: an oil boom hotel with four ghosts
- Haunted hotels in Wyoming
Stayed in one of these hotels? Tell us what happened
We collect first-hand accounts from guests and add the best ones to our guides, with your first name and the date of your stay. We read every story before it’s published.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Virginian Hotel in Medicine Bow haunted?
Staff and regulars say so, and call the spirits “Our Friends”. Stories include the woman in beige on the third floor, a cowboy named Hank and a former employee named Riley.
Who is the woman in beige?
A tall dark-haired woman in early 1900s clothing who, legend says, jumped from a third-floor window when her fiancé failed to arrive by train.
What is the most haunted room at the Virginian Hotel?
The third floor is the most talked about, and Room 34 is linked to Hank the cowboy.
Is the Virginian Hotel named after the novel?
Yes. It is named for Owen Wister’s 1902 novel The Virginian, which is set in Medicine Bow.
Can you book the Virginian Hotel online?
Yes. The owners, Jet Hospitality, now take online bookings on their website, or you can call (307) 331-2288. Older guides say phone only, which is out of date.
Who owns the Virginian Hotel now?
Jet Hospitality owners Aaron Mumford and Jesse Baker bought it from Vernon and Vickie Scott in April 2024, and have been restoring the rooms since.
Sources
Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.
- Jet Hospitality: The Virginian Hotel (official site)
- Wikipedia: Virginian Hotel (Medicine Bow, Wyoming)
- Cowboy State Daily: The Virginian Hotel has been a Wyoming and western icon for more than a century (2023)
- Cowboy State Daily: The Virginian Hotel has new out-of-state owners (2024)
- Bigfoot 99: New owners restoring the Virginian Hotel (2025)
- Y95 Country: Haunted 307, the Virginian Hotel in Medicine Bow (2018)
- Travel Wyoming: 15 haunted places to visit in Wyoming
- Carbon County WyoGenWeb: The Virginian Hotel
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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 hotel in our guides using hotel histories, local archives, news coverage and the accounts of guests and staff, and we review each guide regularly so you are not booking a hotel that has closed or changed its name. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
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