Haunted Places in Montana, Idaho & Wyoming: 10 Real Sites

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The haunted places in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming are mostly gold-rush ghost towns, territorial prisons, frontier forts, and a few historic hotels and mansions. Each of these three states has too few well-sourced ghost stories for a page of its own, so we combined them. Below are 10 haunted places across the Northern Rockies, with the documented history kept apart from the legend. Most of the ghost stories come from tour promotion, local news features, and paranormal websites, not from independent records, and we say so each time. Where a site has history but no real ghost story, we say that too.

Quick answer if you're short on time: Of the haunted places in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming listed here, Bannack is the best preserved, the Old Idaho Penitentiary is the easiest to tour, and the Wyoming Territorial Prison is the one tied most closely to a famous outlaw, Butch Cassidy.

1. Bannack State Park (Montana)

Bannack was founded in 1862 after a gold discovery on Grasshopper Creek and was briefly the capital of Montana Territory in 1864. Sheriff Henry Plummer and two deputies were hanged without trial there on January 10, 1864, during the vigilante period. The town became a National Historic Landmark in 1961 and a Montana state park in 1954, and about 60 historic buildings still stand. The ghost lore centers on the Hotel Meade, a former courthouse turned hotel, where paranormal sites report cold spots, voices, and a drowned girl named Dorothy Dunn. We found no independent record behind those stories.

Can you visit: Yes, as a state park with a year-round day-use area. Check the park's current hours and any ghost-walk events before you go.

2. Virginia City (Montana)

Gold was found near Alder Creek on May 26, 1863, and Virginia City became a boomtown within weeks. It was the territorial capital from 1865 to 1875 and was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1961. Montana's Heritage Commission now runs the town. Vigilantes hanged road agents there in late 1863 and early 1864, and some of the executed are buried on Boot Hill. Ghost stories name the Bale of Hay Saloon, where a jukebox and a player piano are said to have played on their own, and the Fairweather Inn, said to have child ghosts. These are paranormal-site and tour-promotion stories only.

Can you visit: Yes. It is a living historic town, and many buildings are open in the summer season. Confirm what is open off-season.

3. Garnet Ghost Town (Montana)

Garnet grew around a stamp mill in 1895, was renamed from Mitchell in 1897, and reached roughly 1,000 people in 1898. Fewer than 300 remained by 1900, and a fire in 1912 destroyed much of the town. The Bureau of Land Management manages it today, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010. It is among Montana's best-preserved ghost towns, with about 16,000 visitors a year. We found no well-documented ghost story, so it is here as a real ghost town that ghost-town lists often group with the others.

Can you visit: Yes, but access depends on the season and the road. Check BLM's current information first.

4. Moss Mansion (Billings, Montana)

Preston Boyd Moss and his wife, Martha, built this red sandstone mansion, designed by Henry Hardenbergh, who also designed the original Waldorf-Astoria. Wikipedia dates it to 1903, though local reporting says construction began in 1901. It was added to the National Register on April 30, 1982, and runs as a house museum. Staff tell ghost stories on the October tours: Virginia Moss, a child who died of diphtheria at about five, is said to linger on the stairs, and piano notes are said to sound with no one at the keys. These are tour stories from the museum, not documented events.

Can you visit: Yes, as a museum, and flashlight ghost tours run in October. They often sell out, so book ahead.

5. Old Idaho Penitentiary (Boise, Idaho)

The prison held inmates from 1872 until December 3, 1973, when the 416 remaining inmates were moved after riots in 1952, 1971, and 1973. It housed more than 13,000 people over its life, including Harry Orchard, who killed former Governor Frank Steunenberg in 1905, and “Diamondfield” Jack Davis. The Idaho State Historical Society counts ten executions, ending with Raymond Snowden in 1957. It was listed on the National Register on July 17, 1974. The state site says visitors report odd experiences but that there is “no conclusive evidence” of ghosts, and Ghost Adventures and Destination Fear have filmed there.

Can you visit: Yes, as a state museum with a paid admission and optional guided tours. Check the current hours.

6. Wallace (Idaho)

Colonel William Wallace founded the town in 1884, and the Great Fire of 1910 destroyed about a third of it. A downtown historic district was listed on the National Register in 1979. Regulated brothels operated in Wallace into the late twentieth century, and the Oasis Bordello Museum preserves one. Local and paranormal sources describe women's voices in empty rooms and the smell of perfume at the Oasis, and footsteps in the halls of the Jameson hotel, which hotel profiles date to 1889. We found no independent documentation of those experiences.

Can you visit: Yes. The historic downtown is open, and the Oasis is a museum. Confirm hours and any paranormal events.

7. Bonanza (Idaho)

Bonanza was settled in 1877 and had about 600 residents by 1881. Fires in 1889 and 1897 and the closing of the area's last major mine in 1911 turned it into a ghost town. It sits in the Yankee Fork area, near the Land of the Yankee Fork State Park. Its Boot Hill cemetery holds the grave of Lizzie King, whose death is described as an unsolved mystery in local history. We found no documented ghost story for Bonanza, so it is included for its real history.

Can you visit: Yes. The land is reported as privately owned but open to the public. Stay on marked paths and out of closed buildings.

8. Historic Occidental Hotel (Buffalo, Wyoming)

The hotel dates to 1880 and served travelers on the Bozeman Trail. Guests are said to have included Calamity Jane, Butch Cassidy, Theodore Roosevelt, and author Owen Wister. Hotel staff tell of a young girl named Emily, supposedly the daughter of a woman who worked in the bordello suite and died of cholera in the early 1900s. She is said to tap guests on the shoulder and appear near the foot of beds. A Wyoming radio station repeated these as staff accounts, and the television series Ghost Adventures has featured the hotel. We found no record of Emily.

Can you visit: Yes, as a hotel and museum. Confirm current operations before you book.

9. Wyoming Territorial Prison (Laramie, Wyoming)

The prison was built in 1872 and ran as a federal territorial prison until 1890 and then a state prison until 1903. Butch Cassidy served time there from 1894 to January 1896. The University of Wyoming later used the site for livestock-breeding experiments until 1989, and it opened to the public in 1991. It was listed on the National Register on March 29, 1978, and became a state historic site in 2004. The ghost story is of Julius Greenwelch, a cigar maker convicted of murdering his wife, said to play pranks and leave cigar smoke near his old cell. That story appears in local media and paranormal sites.

Can you visit: Yes, as a state historic site. Check the current season and hours.

10. Fort Laramie (Wyoming)

Fort William was founded as a fur trade post in 1834. The U.S. Army bought it in June 1849 for $4,000, and treaties were negotiated there in 1851 and 1868. The Army decommissioned it in 1890, and it became a National Historic Site in 1960. “Old Bedlam,” built in 1849, is the oldest known military building in Wyoming. Because the treaties and the wars that followed involved the Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho, we treat that history as history. Local ghost lore, from radio and paranormal pages, names a “lady in green” on a black horse near the fort and an officer who tells visitors to “be quiet” at Old Bedlam. None of this is documented.

Can you visit: Yes, as a National Park Service site. Check the current hours and building access.

What's Actually Verifiable

Across these haunted places in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, the founding dates, fires, prison terms, and hangings are documented, and the NPS, state agencies, and the National Register back many of them. The ghosts mostly are not. Even the Idaho State Historical Society says there is no conclusive evidence of ghosts at the Old Pen. Three states with long distances between sites also means fewer tour operators and fewer written ghost accounts than in the East.

Visiting Haunted Places in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming Responsibly

These are big, remote states. Many ghost towns sit on rural roads that can close for weather, and some land is private or managed by the BLM or a state park. Stay on public ground, use official tours, and do not enter closed buildings, which is trespassing and can be dangerous. Hours and seasons change, so check each site before a long drive. For the wider American picture, see our guide to haunted places in the United States. For another mining-era ghost town list, see our haunted places in Nevada, and for sites that welcome visitors, our list of real haunted places you can actually visit on Halloween.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most haunted place in Montana?

There is no objective ranking. Bannack and Virginia City are the best-known haunted places in Montana, and the Moss Mansion in Billings runs staff-led ghost tours each October. Treat any “most haunted” label as marketing, since the ghost stories are unproven while the gold-rush history can be checked.

Is the Old Idaho Penitentiary really haunted?

There is no proof. The Idaho State Historical Society says there is no conclusive evidence of ghosts, though visitors report odd experiences, and the television series Ghost Adventures and Destination Fear have filmed there. The history, including riots and executions, is documented, and you can tour it as a museum.

Who is the ghost at the Wyoming Territorial Prison?

The story names Julius Greenwelch, an 1890s cigar maker convicted of killing his wife, who is said to play pranks and leave cigar smoke near his old cell. It comes from local media and paranormal sites, not from records. The better-documented fact is that Butch Cassidy served time there from 1894 to 1896.

Is Bannack ghost town really haunted?

Paranormal websites say the Hotel Meade has cold spots, voices, and a girl named Dorothy Dunn, but we found no independent record behind those stories. What is documented is Bannack's 1862 founding, its 1864 stint as territorial capital, and the January 1864 hanging of Sheriff Henry Plummer and two deputies.

Can you visit these haunted places in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming on your own?

Mostly yes. Bannack, Virginia City, the Old Idaho Penitentiary, the Wyoming Territorial Prison, and Fort Laramie are public sites, and Garnet and Bonanza are open to visitors in season. Remote roads can close in winter, so check each site's current hours, and book the Moss Mansion's October ghost tours ahead of time.

Is it legal to explore abandoned haunted places in these states?

Not without permission. Entering closed buildings, private land, or restricted ground is trespassing, and old mining structures can be dangerous. The legal ways to see these sites are public visiting hours, museum tours, and official events such as the October tours, so plan around those and always ask first.