Haunted Places in the Dakotas: 11 Sites With Real History

This article contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

The best-known haunted places in the Dakotas are the Bullock Hotel and the Adams House in Deadwood, South Dakota, the Hotel Alex Johnson in Rapid City, and the Custer House at Fort Abraham Lincoln in North Dakota. We cover North and South Dakota together because neither state has enough well-sourced lore to fill a page alone. Below are 11 sites, each split into what the record supports and what is only told as legend. Most ghost stories here come from hotel owners, museum guides, and ghost-tour companies, not independent documentation. One entry, Wounded Knee, is history only, because it is the site of a massacre of Lakota people and we do not turn it into a ghost story.

Quick answer if you're short on time: Of these haunted places in the Dakotas, Deadwood has the densest mix of real Old West history and ghost lore, the Alex Johnson and the Bullock are working hotels with their own ghost stories, and Wounded Knee is included only as history.

1. Old Style Saloon No. 10 and the Death of Wild Bill Hickok (Deadwood, SD)

On August 2, 1876, Jack McCall walked into Nuttal & Mann's Saloon No. 10 and shot James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok in the back of the head while Hickok played poker, at about 4:15 in the afternoon. Hickok had taken the only open seat, one with his back to the door. The cards he held, black aces and eights, became known as the "dead man's hand," though the fifth card is reported variously. McCall was executed on March 1, 1877. A saloon operating today as Old Style Saloon No. 10 stages a summer reenactment of the shooting. We did not find a ghost story with a traceable source tied to Hickok himself, so this is a history stop first.

Can you visit: Yes. It is a working saloon in downtown Deadwood. Check hours and the reenactment schedule.

2. Mount Moriah Cemetery (Deadwood, SD)

The cemetery on the steep hillside above Deadwood was established around 1878. Hickok was reinterred there in 1879, and Calamity Jane is buried beside him. In the 1880s many graves from the older Ingelside Cemetery were moved up the mountain to make room for housing. We found no widely sourced ghost story tied to the cemetery, so it belongs here as the place where Deadwood's real people are buried.

Can you visit: Yes. It is a public historic cemetery. Stay on paths, do not disturb graves, and expect a steep climb.

3. The Bullock Hotel (Deadwood, SD)

Seth Bullock, Deadwood's first sheriff, built the hotel with his partner Sol Star, and it opened around 1895 after the 1894 fire, at a reported cost of about $40,000. It is billed as the oldest hotel in Deadwood. The owner told the Rapid City Journal that more than thirty employees and several guests have reported odd experiences, including voices, orbs, and a tall man resembling Bullock walking the halls. These are anecdotes from the hotel's own management and local media. We found no dated, named incident, so treat the ghost as a marketing-era legend, not a documented event.

Can you visit: Yes, as a hotel and casino building. Confirm availability and any ghost-tour offerings before you go.

4. The Historic Adams House (Deadwood, SD)

Harris and Anna Franklin built the house at 22 Van Buren Avenue in 1892, and the local press called it the grandest house west of the Mississippi. Their son Nathan sold it in 1920 to W.E. and Alice Adams. Alice died in California that year after traveling to be with their daughter Helen, who died after a premature birth, and the baby lived only a few hours, so W.E. Adams lost his family in less than two days. W.E. died in the house after a stroke. Deadwood's preservation commission bought the house in 1992 and restored it as a museum. The ghost stories, including footsteps on the second floor, come from a relative's account and local retellings, and we could not trace them to a record.

Can you visit: Yes, as a house museum run by the city. Confirm tour times and any seasonal schedule.

5. Fort Meade and Sturgis (SD)

Sturgis is better known for its motorcycle rally than for ghosts, and the haunted-places listings we found for it are thin. What is documented is nearby Fort Meade, established in 1878 to protect settlers in the northern Black Hills and active until 1944. Survivors of Custer's 7th Cavalry founded its cemetery on September 24, 1878, and it holds only 209 graves. The post is now a veterans hospital and National Guard training site. We found no ghost story with a traceable source, so this entry is here as honest context for a place people ask about.

Can you visit: The Old Fort Meade Museum and the cemetery are public. Confirm the museum's hours.

6. Hotel Alex Johnson (Rapid City, SD)

Alex Johnson, a railroad executive, built the eight-story hotel, which opened on July 1, 1928, with a Tudor exterior and Lakota-inspired interiors, including a teepee-shaped chandelier. It has 143 rooms and operates as part of Hilton's Curio Collection. The ghost story centers on a “Lady in White” in room 812 and on the founder himself walking the halls. The versions conflict: one says the woman was Johnson's daughter, another says she was a jilted bride who jumped from a window in the 1970s. We found no record for either, and the hotel promotes the stories with a ghost package and guest books at the front desk, so this is a hotel legend with a marketing role.

Can you visit: Yes, as an operating hotel. Confirm room availability and the ghost package.

7. Pettigrew Home & Museum (Sioux Falls, SD)

The house was built in 1889 for attorney Thomas McMartin, and Richard Pettigrew, a former U.S. senator, bought it in 1911. When he died in 1926, he left it to the city as a museum of Sioux Falls and state history. Staff and visitors have described a perfumed presence thought to be a former owner's wife and a young girl in white on the stairs, reported on ghost listing sites and in local media. We found no named, dated witness, so these are museum lore. The record is the house and the senator's collection.

Can you visit: Yes, as part of Siouxland Heritage Museums. Confirm hours.

8. The Custer House at Fort Abraham Lincoln (Mandan, ND)

George Armstrong Custer and his wife Libbie lived at Fort Abraham Lincoln from 1873 until Custer died at the Little Bighorn in 1876. The house you can tour today is a reproduction built in 1989 for the state's centennial, not the original. Tour guides have told local reporters of a presence that tapped shoulders, moved dishes, and a woman in a dark gown seen at a window. Because the building is a reproduction and the accounts come from guides and local media, we treat the stories as park lore. For the other side of the history, remember that Custer's 7th Cavalry was also at Wounded Knee in 1890, though not under his command.

Can you visit: Yes, at Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park near Mandan. Check the park's seasonal hours.

9. The Former Governors' Mansion (Bismarck, ND)

Asa Fisher, a banker and businessman, built the Victorian house in 1884, and the state bought it in 1893. It served as the governor's residence through 1960 and housed twenty governors, then state offices, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. It reopened as a state historic site in 1983. Local media report moving curtains, a bedroom door that opens and closes, and a tap on the shoulder, and mention that Governor Briggs died there in 1898. We could not independently confirm that death or any of the experiences.

Can you visit: Yes, as a State Historical Society of North Dakota site. Confirm hours and seasons.

10. Hotel Donaldson and the Fargo Theatre (Fargo, ND)

Fargo's lore centers on two downtown buildings. The Hotel Donaldson was built in 1893 after a downtown fire as an Odd Fellows lodge and became a hotel in the mid-1910s, and it has 17 rooms. Guests report an unseen presence and odd sounds. The Fargo Theatre, an Art Deco movie house, opened on March 15, 1926, and was listed on the National Register in 1982. Staff are said to see a “Lady in White” in the balcony and two children near the concession stand. All of this comes from ghost-tour companies and listing sites. A local business paper reported the hotel was listed for sale, and we could not confirm its current operating status, so call before planning a stay.

Can you visit: The theatre shows films and events, so check its schedule. For the hotel, confirm that it is open.

11. Wounded Knee (Pine Ridge Reservation, SD)

This entry is history, not legend. On December 29, 1890, soldiers of the U.S. 7th Cavalry opened fire on a camp of Miniconjou and Hunkpapa Lakota led by Spotted Elk (Big Foot) near Wounded Knee Creek, after a failed attempt to disarm them. Between 250 and 300 Lakota people were killed, including many women and children, and about twenty-five soldiers died, some likely by their own side's fire. It is a massacre site on the Pine Ridge Reservation, and there is a mass grave there. We do not include ghost stories about it, because the dead are the families of people alive today, and turning that into entertainment would be wrong.

Can you visit: It is on a reservation and is a place of mourning, not an attraction. Learn from Lakota-led sources and from the Oglala Sioux Tribe before you go, and be respectful.

What's Actually Verifiable

Across these haunted places in the Dakotas, the dates, builders, and deaths are documented and the ghosts mostly are not. Hickok's killing on August 2, 1876, the hotel and house construction dates, and the Wounded Knee massacre are real and well sourced. The apparitions come from hotel owners, museum staff, and ghost-tour listings, and several buildings, like the Custer House, are reproductions or modern hotels. Treat the ghosts as stories told about real places, and treat the real victims with respect.

Visiting Haunted Places in the Dakotas Responsibly

Haunted places in the Dakotas include working hotels, house museums, a state park, and a massacre site on tribal land. Book tours where they exist, check hours before you drive, and never enter closed buildings or private land. Trespassing is illegal, and Wounded Knee is a place of mourning for the Lakota. For the wider picture, see our guide to haunted places in the United States, our list of real haunted places you can visit on Halloween, and our neighboring guides to haunted places in Minnesota and haunted places in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most haunted place in the Dakotas?

There is no objective ranking of haunted places in the Dakotas. The Bullock Hotel, the Adams House, and the Hotel Alex Johnson are the most promoted, and all are working buildings with owner-told stories. What can be checked is their history, such as construction dates and real deaths. Treat any “most haunted” label as marketing, since the ghosts are unproven.

Is Deadwood, South Dakota, really haunted?

Deadwood has real Old West history, including Wild Bill Hickok's killing on August 2, 1876, and the Bullock Hotel and the Adams House both promote ghost stories. The ghost reports come from owners, staff, and tours, not independent records. Visit for the history, and take any apparition claim as a story told about a real place.

Is the Custer House at Fort Abraham Lincoln the original?

No. The Custer House you can tour today is a reproduction built in 1989 for North Dakota's centennial. The Custers lived at the fort from 1873 until 1876. Tour guides have reported odd experiences in the house, but those are anecdotes from guides and local media, not records, so treat them as park lore rather than evidence.

Are there ghost stories about Wounded Knee?

We do not repeat any. Wounded Knee is the site of the December 29, 1890 massacre of between 250 and 300 Lakota people, including women and children, on the Pine Ridge Reservation. It is a place of mourning for living families, and it is covered here as history only. Please visit with respect, and learn from Lakota sources.

Can you stay in the haunted hotels in the Dakotas?

Some, yes. The Bullock Hotel in Deadwood and the Hotel Alex Johnson in Rapid City operate as hotels, and the Alex Johnson offers a ghost package. The Hotel Donaldson in Fargo was reported listed for sale, so we could not confirm its status. Always call to confirm availability, since hotel operations and ownership change.

Is it legal to explore abandoned haunted places in the Dakotas?

Not without permission. Entering a closed building or private land without the owner's consent is trespassing, and that includes the grounds of sites that offer tours when you go outside tour hours. Wounded Knee and other reservation land also require respect for tribal rules. The legal way to see these places is through public hours and official tours.