HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Downtown Lewiston's old saloon-and-brothel block, home to the Blue Lady
301 Main St, Lewiston, ID 83501
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
The building houses shops and dining open to the public during business hours. The Blue Lady legend is a featured stop on Garry Bush's paid downtown Lewiston ghost tours.
Access
Limited Access
Multi-level historic commercial building with interior staircases
Equipment
Photos OK
Gold Rush Commerce · Frontier Saloon History · Downtown Lewiston Heritage
Morgan's Alley sits at 301 Main Street in the heart of Lewiston's historic downtown, on a block whose commercial life began in the wake of the 1861 gold rush that brought thousands of prospectors up the Snake and Clearwater rivers. For decades the building functioned as a saloon and gentlemen's club, with the second floor used for prostitution. Lewiston did not formally outlaw prostitution until 1945, and the trade operated openly downtown long before then.
The building takes its present name and form from a later redevelopment that converted the old block into an interior arcade of shops, offices, and dining space, a common adaptive reuse of aging commercial buildings in northern Idaho river towns. The staircases and upper floors that once served the brothel trade remain part of the structure.
Downtown Lewiston as a whole carries an unusually dense layer of frontier-era history, including a network of underground passageways beneath several Main Street buildings. Local historian Garry Bush has led downtown history and ghost walks for more than a decade, and Morgan's Alley is a recurring stop on those tours, where its saloon-and-brothel past is presented alongside the building's better-documented commercial history.
Sources
The best-known story attached to Morgan's Alley is the Blue Lady. By local tradition she was a devout woman who took exception to the prostitution conducted on the building's second floor during its saloon era. One account, reported by writer Milana Marsenich, names her as Mary Spalding, a religious Lewiston woman who died in 1941, several years before the city outlawed prostitution in 1945. That identification is local lore rather than a documented fact, and other accounts leave her unnamed.
Witnesses describe her in consistent terms: a soft blue mist, a drifting orb of blue light, or a full-bodied figure in a high-collared blue gown with her hair pinned up. She is most often reported on the staircase between floors. Garry Bush, who has guided Lewiston ghost walks for over a decade, includes Morgan's Alley as a featured stop, and tour participants have described watching their own eyes track something moving up the stairs.
Local television station KLEW-TV produced a news segment on the Blue Lady that reviewed reported evidence from the building, and the legend is recounted in the Lewiston Tribune's coverage of downtown ghost lore. The phenomena are reported sightings and tour accounts; no claim here asserts a confirmed cause of death or a verified identity for the figure.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Walk the shops and dining inside Morgan's Alley at 301 Main Street during business hours. The building anchors the old downtown saloon block dating to the 1860s gold-rush era, when the upper floors operated as a brothel. The Blue Lady is reported on the staircase between floors. The site is also a featured stop on local historian Garry Bush's downtown Lewiston ghost walks.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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