Haunted Kansas

72 haunted destinations cataloged across Kansas, spanning 32 counties. The collection features museum, other dark tourism site, and haunted house — every listing verified with family ratings, accessibility info, and practical visit logistics.

72 locations 32 counties 12 classifications 42 wheelchair accessible

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Top 6

Second Empire brick facade of the historic Eaton Hotel / Carey House in downtown Wichita

Other Dark Tourism Site

Eaton Place (Carey House / Eaton Hotel)

Wichita, KS

Completed in 1887 as the Carey House, this five-story Second Empire brick hotel was built by Wichita mayor and businessman John B. Carey. On December 27, 1900, temperance activist Carrie Nation famously stormed its barroom, smashing mirrors and damaging the bar's decor. Renamed the Eaton Hotel, the building was rehabilitated in 1999 and now operates as Eaton Place mixed-use apartments. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

$ All Ages Family: High

The six-story brick Eldridge Hotel at 7th and Massachusetts Street in downtown Lawrence, Kansas, rebuilt on the original Free State Hotel site after Quantrill's 1863 raid

Haunted Hotel / Inn

The Eldridge Hotel

Lawrence, KS

The Eldridge Hotel anchors downtown Lawrence at 7th and Massachusetts. The original Free State Hotel was built in 1855 by New England abolitionists, burned twice during Bleeding Kansas and Quantrill's 1863 raid, and rebuilt each time. The current building dates to 1925, set on the original cornerstone Colonel Shalor Eldridge salvaged from the ashes.

$$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Museum / Historical Site

Haskell Indian Nations University

Lawrence, KS

Haskell Indian Nations University was established in 1884 in Lawrence, Kansas as the United States Indian Industrial Training School — one of a network of non-reservation boarding schools designed to forcibly assimilate Native American children. At least 103 children died while attending the institution, primarily during its first 30 years, and are interred in the campus cemetery. The institution evolved over the 20th century into a tribal land-grant university.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Haunted House / Historic Home

Sauer Castle

Kansas City, KS

Sauer Castle is an Italianate-style residence at 935 Shawnee Drive in Kansas City, Kansas, designed by architect Asa Beebe Cross and built between 1871 and 1873 for German immigrant Anton Sauer. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, the two-and-a-half-story home with its central tower and widow's walk is regarded as Kansas's finest surviving Italianate residence.

$ All Ages Family: High

Haunted Hotel / Inn

Glick Mansion

Atchison, KS

The Glick Mansion at 503 N 2nd Street in Atchison, Kansas was begun in 1873 for George Washington Glick, ninth Governor of Kansas and the first Democrat elected to that office. Construction continued for 39 years on the Gothic Victorian structure, which passed through multiple owners — including a mortician named William Stanton Jr. and later Ray and Joyce Barmby, who operated it as a bed-and-breakfast. The property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Museum / Historical Site

Reno County Courthouse

Hutchinson, KS

The Reno County Courthouse in Hutchinson, Kansas was built in 1929-1930 in the Art Deco style with buff brick and Bedford limestone. It was the county's fifth courthouse and cost $386,500. The fifth floor housed prisoners until a new law enforcement facility was completed in 1971. The former jail floor was later altered for public works and, after 2005, for the district attorney's office.

$ All Ages Family: High

More in Kansas

Wichita — 9

Museum / Historical Site

Kansas Aviation Museum

Wichita, KS

The building is the Art Deco terminal of the former Wichita Municipal Airport, designed by Glen H. Thomas and dedicated in 1935. It served as Wichita's commercial passenger airport from 1935 until 1954, when operations moved to what is now Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport. The terminal was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990 and now houses the Kansas Aviation Museum.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Other Dark Tourism Site

Lawrence-Dumont Stadium

Wichita, KS

Lawrence-Dumont Stadium opened in 1934 as the home of the National Baseball Congress and its annual NBC World Series, founded by Wichita native Raymond 'Hap' Dumont. Renamed in 1978 for Dumont — who died in his stadium office on July 3, 1971, at age 66 — the stadium was demolished in November 2018 and replaced by Riverfront Stadium (Equity Bank Park).

$ All Ages Family: High

Museum / Historical Site

Old Cowtown Museum (Murdock House)

Wichita, KS

Old Cowtown Museum is a 23-acre living-history museum re-creating frontier Wichita as it appeared between 1865 and 1880, with more than fifty period and re-created buildings. Its centerpiece, the Murdock House, was built in 1874 and was the home of Col. Marshall M. Murdock, founder of The Wichita Eagle newspaper.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Theater / Performance Venue

Orpheum Theatre

Wichita, KS

The Orpheum Theatre opened September 4, 1922, as a 1,800-seat atmospheric-style vaudeville and movie palace designed by John Eberson with a Spanish garden and courtyard motif. Funded by a group of ten local businessmen contributing $20,000 each, the building cost about $750,000 to complete. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Aerial survey view of Salon 5thirty5 (former Travel Air Manufacturing Building)

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Other Dark Tourism Site

Salon 5thirty5 (former Travel Air Manufacturing Building)

Wichita, KS

The building at 535 W Douglas Avenue is best known as the 1920s home of the Travel Air Manufacturing Company, founded in 1925 in Wichita by aviation pioneers Clyde Cessna, Walter Beech, and Lloyd Stearman. The building now houses Salon 5thirty5 (The Perfect Touch beauty salon), an active hair and nail salon.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Aerial survey view of Spektrum Muzik (former Central Plains Novelty)

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Other Dark Tourism Site

Spektrum Muzik (former Central Plains Novelty)

Wichita, KS

The building at 905 W Douglas Avenue is more than 120 years old and sits in Wichita's historic Delano district. For roughly six decades it housed Central Plains Novelty, a family-run costume and novelty store. Today the storefront is home to Spektrum Muzik, a record store and print shop selling vinyl, CDs, and tapes.

$ All Ages Family: High

Broadview Hotel in Wichita Kansas, 1922 high-rise on Douglas Avenue, now Drury Plaza

Haunted Hotel / Inn

Drury Plaza Hotel Broadview

Wichita, KS

The Broadview Hotel opened on May 15, 1922, in Wichita, Kansas, after only eight months of construction under owner George Siedhoff. Built along the banks of the Arkansas River near the Chisholm Trail, it served railway passengers and hosted Charles Lindbergh, Clyde Cessna, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Al Capone. Drury Hotels renovated the property in 2011 and reopened it as the Drury Plaza Hotel Broadview.

$$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

The 1892 Richardsonian Romanesque limestone city hall building at 204 S Main St in Wichita, Kansas, now housing the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum

Museum / Historical Site

Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum

Wichita, KS

Designed by Proudfoot & Bird and completed in 1892 at a cost of about $100,000, the Romanesque limestone building was nicknamed the 'Palace of the Plains' and served as Wichita's City Hall from 1892 to 1976. After a new city hall was built nearby, the building was preserved and reopened in 1981 as the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum.

$ All Ages Family: High

Aerial survey view of Wilner Auditorium (Wichita State University)

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Other Dark Tourism Site

Wilner Auditorium (Wichita State University)

Wichita, KS

Wilner Auditorium was built in 1938 as the Auditorium and Commons Building of what was then the University of Wichita, funded by the federal Public Works Administration. The 553-seat theater is home to WSU's theater program and was renamed for George D. Wilner, longtime head of the speech and theater program from 1923 until his retirement in 1959.

$ All Ages Family: High

Atchison — 7

Haunted House / Historic Home

1889 McInteer Villa

Atchison, KS

The McInteer Villa was built 1889–1890 by John McInteer, an Irish immigrant who built a small fortune selling harnesses and saddles in Atchison, Kansas. The Queen Anne mansion at 1301 Kansas Avenue passed through several owners and saw nine documented deaths on the property — among them the suicide of Charles J. Conlon, brother-in-law of McInteer's second wife, who died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and now operates as a paranormal tourism destination.

$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Aerial survey view of Benedictine College (Ferrell Hall & Memorial Hall)

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Other Dark Tourism Site

Benedictine College (Ferrell Hall & Memorial Hall)

Atchison, KS

Two Benedictine monks arrived in Atchison from Doniphan, Kansas in 1858 and established St. Benedict's College, a boarding school on bluffs above the Missouri River. The institution merged with Mount St. Scholastica College in 1971 to form Benedictine College, which now enrolls over 1,000 students on the same 120-acre campus where the original Benedictine community settled.

$ All Ages Family: High

Haunted House / Historic Home

Dilgert House

Atchison, KS

The Dilgert House was built in 1890 by Adam Dilgert, described by local sources as one of Atchison's original stonemasons. Frances Dilgert, a resident of the home, died at the age of 22 from double pneumonia. The property operates as a paranormal tourism destination, bookable through Visit Atchison, offering 2- and 4-hour investigations to the public.

$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Haunted House / Historic Home

Gargoyle House (Waggener House)

Atchison, KS

The Waggener House at 819 N 4th Street was built in 1884 for Bailie P. Waggener, general counsel to the Missouri Pacific Railroad and a prominent figure in Atchison's legal community. The three-story Late Victorian residence remained in the Waggener family until the 1950s and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. Its most recognizable feature — a pair of gargoyle sculptures on the roofline — generated local legend about a subsequent owner who attempted to remove them and died in the attempt.

$ All Ages Family: High

Haunted House / Historic Home

Sallie House

Atchison, KS

The Sallie House at 508 N 2nd Street in Atchison, Kansas is a two-story residence built by the Finney family in the mid-1800s, where physician Dr. Charles Finney maintained a medical practice. Local legend — uncorroborated by any documentary evidence — holds that a young girl named Sallie died on Finney's basement operating table. The house gained national attention in 1993 when renters Tony and Debra Pickman documented unexplained fires, physical scratches on Tony's body, and poltergeist phenomena that were captured on live cameras.

$$ All ages for day tours; overnight guests should confirm age policies when booking Family: Low

Museum / Historical Site

Santa Fe Depot (Atchison)

Atchison, KS

The Santa Fe Depot in Atchison served the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and was a central hub for a city that calls itself the birthplace of Amelia Earhart. Today the depot anchors Atchison's heritage tourism and is the official launch point for the city's popular Haunted Trolley Tours.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Theater / Performance Venue

Theatre Atchison

Atchison, KS

The building at 401 Santa Fe Street in Atchison was constructed in 1913 as the First Church of Christ, Scientist, modeled in design after the Christian Science Mother Church in Boston. The congregation eventually vacated the building, which was later converted to serve as a community theater and Presbyterian community center. Theatre Atchison now operates in the space, presenting mainstage productions and youth programs as an active performing arts venue now in its 43rd season.

$ All Ages Family: High

Topeka — 6

Museum / Historical Site

Great Overland Station

Topeka, KS

The Great Overland Station at 701 N Kansas Ave in North Topeka opened in January 1927 as a Union Pacific Railroad passenger depot designed by architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood. Regular passenger service ended in 1971, the building was abandoned by 1989, and a 1992 fire damaged its western section. After a full rehabilitation from 2000 to 2002 it reopened as a railroad heritage museum and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 1, 2002.

$ All Ages Family: High

Theater / Performance Venue

Jayhawk Theatre

Topeka, KS

The Jayhawk Theatre opened in 1926 as a 1,550-seat movie and vaudeville palace designed by architect Thomas Lamb. Located at 522 SW Kansas Ave in downtown Topeka, it operated for 50 years before closing in 1976. The building has been the subject of preservation discussions and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

$ All Ages Family: High

Museum / Historical Site

Kansas State Capitol

Topeka, KS

Construction of the Kansas State Capitol began in 1866 and was not completed until 1903, spanning 37 years and five legislative sessions. The dome's construction — a complex engineering undertaking for the period — resulted in at least nine documented worker deaths. The building houses John Steuart Curry's landmark murals and is managed by the Kansas Historical Society.

$ All Ages Family: High

Former Moose Lodge 555 building at 1901 N Kansas Ave in North Topeka, Kansas, now operating as The Woodshed Event Center

Other Dark Tourism Site

Former Moose Lodge 555 (The Woodshed Event Center)

Topeka, KS

Topeka's Moose Lodge 555 at 1901 N Kansas Ave in North Topeka was the site of a significant historical event on April 11, 1955, when Officer Clarence 'Boots' Shields of the Topeka Police Department was fatally shot after surprising two burglars on the roof of the lodge. The lodge continued operating for over 60 years until the chapter relocated to Kansas City in 2016. The building is now The Woodshed Event Center, with a ballroom and memorial plaque dedicated to Officer Shields.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Aerial survey view of Rochester Cemetery

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Rochester Cemetery

Topeka, KS

Rochester Cemetery in North Topeka is the oldest cemetery in Shawnee County, with more than 14,000 burials dating from the mid-19th century. It holds the graves of Civil War veterans, early Topeka settlers, and generations of Shawnee County residents. The cemetery predates the formal organization of Topeka as a city.

$ All Ages Family: High

The Topeka State Mental Hospital main building photographed in 2008, two years before its demolition in 2010, in Topeka, Kansas

Asylum / Hospital

Topeka State Hospital

Topeka, KS

Topeka State Hospital operated as a Kansas public psychiatric institution from 1872 until its closure on May 17, 1997. Over its history it became notorious for documented patient neglect and abuse, including prolonged restraint and forced sterilizations under Kansas's 1913 eugenics law. The historic buildings were demolished in 2010, leaving a patient cemetery as the principal surviving feature.

$ All Ages Family: Low

Lawrence — 5

Aerial survey view of Old Lawrence Community Theatre Building

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Other Dark Tourism Site

Old Lawrence Community Theatre Building

Lawrence, KS

The building at 1501 New Hampshire Street in Lawrence began life in the 1950s as a church for the Full Gospel Christian Assembly. After the congregation dissolved, the Lawrence Community Theatre purchased the building in 1984 and converted it into a performing arts center, staging productions there until the company relocated to a new $7 million facility on Bauer Farm Drive in 2013. Since roughly 2014 the original building has been occupied by Vintage Church, which retained the stage and theater seating.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Battlefield / Military Site

Lawrence Massacre Site / Oak Hill Cemetery (Quantrill's Raid)

Lawrence, KS

At dawn on August 21, 1863, William Quantrill led approximately 400 Confederate guerrillas into Lawrence, Kansas — the symbolic center of Kansas antislavery politics — and spent four hours killing approximately 150 men and boys and burning most of the town. Lawrence had been targeted specifically for its abolitionist identity. The massacre was one of the largest single-day atrocities committed against civilians in the Civil War.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Haunted Dining / Bar

Merchants Pub & Plate

Lawrence, KS

The building at 746 Massachusetts St was constructed in 1872 as Merchants National Bank, one of the anchor commercial buildings of post-Reconstruction Lawrence. It has served various businesses over the decades and now operates as Merchants Pub & Plate.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Aerial survey view of Pioneer Cemetery (Lawrence)

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Pioneer Cemetery (Lawrence)

Lawrence, KS

Pioneer Cemetery was established in 1854 as Lawrence's first formal burial ground and was later incorporated into the University of Kansas campus. On August 21, 1863, William Quantrill led approximately 400 Confederate guerrillas into Lawrence and killed roughly 150 to 200 men and boys in four hours. Some Quantrill's Raid victims were buried at Pioneer Cemetery before later reinterment at Oak Hill Cemetery; a few are believed to remain.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Haunted House / Historic Home

Sigma Nu Fraternity House (Stubbs Mansion)

Lawrence, KS

The Victorian mansion at 1111 W 6th St was built for William Stubbs, who served as Kansas governor from 1909 to 1913. After Stubbs vacated, the building passed through private hands before the University of Kansas Sigma Nu chapter acquired it for use as a fraternity house.

$ All Ages Family: High

Abilene — 3

Haunted House / Historic Home

Lebold Mansion

Abilene, KS

Conrad Lebold, a prominent Abilene banker, built the limestone mansion at 106 N Vine St in 1880, on the site of the original 1857 Hersey settler dugout — the first permanent structure in what would become Abilene, Kansas. Wikipedia confirms the 1880 construction date and the Lebold family's significance in the city's early commercial development.

$$ 18+ Family: Moderate

Museum / Historical Site

Old Abilene Town

Abilene, KS

Old Abilene Town preserves a collection of original 1860s-1870s structures from the era when Abilene was the northern terminus of the Chisholm Trail and the primary cattle-shipping railhead in Kansas. Marshal James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok served as Abilene's city marshal in 1871, during the peak of the cattle drives.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Aerial survey view of Rivendell Book Store

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Other Dark Tourism Site

Rivendell Book Store

Abilene, KS

Rivendell Book Store is an independent bookstore operating in downtown Abilene, Kansas, in a commercial building on N Broadway St. The store's name references J.R.R. Tolkien's elven sanctuary. No primary historical documentation of the building's earlier uses was found in the available sources.

$ All Ages Family: High

Dodge City — 3

Haunted Dining / Bar

Boot Hill Distillery

Dodge City, KS

Boot Hill Cemetery operated from 1872 to 1879 as Dodge City's original burying ground for those who died violently — primarily in gunfights — and were interred with their boots on. Between 1872 and 1876, approximately 49 men and one woman were buried there. Bodies were later relocated to Prairie Grove Cemetery, though the 1927 excavation of a basement in the area turned up additional human remains that had been missed.

$$ 21+ Family: Moderate

Haunted House / Historic Home

Hardesty House at Boot Hill Museum

Dodge City, KS

R.J. Hardesty built his limestone home in Dodge City in 1879, during the peak of the cattle-trade era when Dodge was the primary shipping point for Texas Longhorns. The home was later moved to the Boot Hill Museum campus at 500 W Wyatt Earp Blvd, where it is preserved as part of the reconstructed 1870s townscape.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Haunted Hotel / Inn

Historic Santa Fe Depot & El Vaquero Hotel

Dodge City, KS

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway built the Dodge City depot in 1898, and Fred Harvey's El Vaquero Hotel opened on the site as part of the celebrated Harvey House dining and lodging chain. The hotel closed in 1948, reportedly with its furnishings left partially sealed inside, ending more than five decades of service to transcontinental rail passengers.

$ All Ages Family: High

Hutchinson — 3

Hutchinson Fox Theatre 1931 Art Deco marquee lit at night, Hutchinson, Kansas

Theater / Performance Venue

Hutchinson's Historic Fox Theatre

Hutchinson, KS

Hutchinson's Fox Theatre opened on June 8, 1931, designed by the Boller Brothers as a 1,221-seat movie palace and vaudeville house. After closing in 1985 and standing empty for five years, it was purchased by Hutchinson's Historic Theatre, Inc., a non-profit, and reopened in 1999 after a $4.5 million restoration.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Aerial survey view of Hutchinson Public Library

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Other Dark Tourism Site

Hutchinson Public Library

Hutchinson, KS

Ida Day Holzapfel served as head librarian at the Hutchinson Public Library for approximately 40 years, from around 1913 until her death in a California car accident in 1954. Her tenure defined the library's professional development through the Depression, World War II, and postwar growth. The Hutchinson News documented worker accounts of her apparition as early as 1975.

$ All Ages Family: High

Museum / Historical Site

Reno County Museum

Hutchinson, KS

The Reno County Museum occupies a complex anchored by the 1913 Rosemont Apartment building in downtown Hutchinson, Kansas. Multiple deaths were recorded in the building during its apartment years. The museum has operated in the space for several decades, preserving regional history from the area's agricultural and commercial development.

$ All Ages (ghost hunts 16+) Family: High

Leavenworth — 3

Aerial survey view of Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery

Leavenworth, KS

Established in 1862 on the grounds of Fort Leavenworth—the oldest active U.S. Army post west of the Mississippi—this national cemetery holds the remains of soldiers from every major American conflict since the Civil War, including members of the Buffalo Soldier regiments and Nez Perce prisoners of war detained at the fort.

$ All Ages Family: High

Prison / Reformatory

Old United States Disciplinary Barracks (The Castle)

Leavenworth, KS

Established in 1875, the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth served as the U.S. Army's military prison for 127 years. The original structure — an eight-winged stone fortress known informally as 'the Castle' — held military offenders, conscientious objectors, and German POWs during World War II. It was the site of the last military execution by hanging in American history: Private John A. Bennett was hanged on April 13, 1961, for the rape and attempted murder of an 11-year-old Austrian girl.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Haunted House / Historic Home

The Rookery (Fort Leavenworth)

Leavenworth, KS

Built in 1832, The Rookery at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is the oldest continuously inhabited structure on an active U.S. Army installation. Named for the crows that once roosted in the surrounding trees, the building has housed officers and their families for nearly 200 years — briefly including General George Custer in 1867 before his court-martial that year.

$ All Ages Family: High

Fort Scott — 2

Battlefield / Military Site

Fort Scott National Historic Site

Fort Scott, KS

Fort Scott was established May 30, 1842, on the Military Road linking Fort Leavenworth and Fort Gibson. After the Army departed in 1853, the buildings became civilian hotels and residences that were flashpoints for Bleeding Kansas violence. The Union Army returned in 1861, using the site as a major supply depot and a recruitment center for United States Colored Troops. The NPS acquired and restored 20 of the original structures, opening the site in 1978.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Battlefield / Military Site

Fort Scott National Historic Site

Fort Scott, KS

Fort Scott National Historic Site preserves a restored 1840s U.S. Army frontier post that served sequentially as a peacekeeping outpost on the Permanent Indian Frontier, a Bleeding Kansas border garrison, a Civil War supply depot, and a federal court venue. The site was designated a National Historic Site in 1965 and is operated by the National Park Service.

$ All Ages Family: High

Hays — 2

Aerial survey view of Frontier Historical Park (Old Swinging Bridge)

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Outdoor / Natural Site

Frontier Historical Park (Old Swinging Bridge)

Hays, KS

Frontier Historical Park (commonly called Frontier Park) sits along Big Creek in Hays, Kansas, on the former grounds of the Fort Hays Military Reservation. In the 1930s, a Civilian Conservation Corps veterans' camp built park infrastructure here, including a notable swinging footbridge over Big Creek. The deteriorated swinging bridge was dismantled in the 1970s.

$ All Ages Family: High

Battlefield / Military Site

Old Fort Hays

Hays, KS

Old Fort Hays was a frontier U.S. Army post active from 1865 to 1889, established to protect the Smoky Hill Trail, the Kansas Pacific Railroad, and travel between Fort Riley and Fort Wallace. It was the duty station of George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry, was visited by Wild Bill Hickok and Buffalo Bill Cody, and is now preserved as the Fort Hays State Historic Site.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Pittsburg — 2

Theater / Performance Venue

McCray Hall, Pittsburg State University

Pittsburg, KS

McCray Hall was constructed in 1929 to house Pittsburg State's music department and has served as the home of the Dean Recital Hall since opening. The building is named for a university benefactor and remains an active performance venue.

$ All Ages Family: High

Aerial survey view of Russ Hall, Pittsburg State University

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Other Dark Tourism Site

Russ Hall, Pittsburg State University

Pittsburg, KS

On June 29, 1914, a lightning strike ignited the Main Building at what was then Kansas State Manual Training Normal School — now Pittsburg State University. Student Rex Tanner died fighting the blaze. The university rebuilt almost immediately, supported by community pledges raised within hours. The rebuilt building was renamed Russ Hall; a dormitory complex was named Tanner Hall at the 2014 centennial.

$ All Ages Family: High

Alma — 1

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Alma Cemetery

Alma, KS

Alma Cemetery is the public burial ground for the small community of Alma in Wabaunsee County, Kansas, in the Flint Hills west of Topeka. The cemetery is a typical late-nineteenth-century prairie burial ground; no archival documentation accessed during research substantiates the dramatic origin story attached to it in folklore.

$ All Ages Family: High

Cherryvale — 1

True Crime Site

Cherryvale Museum (Bloody Benders Exhibit)

Cherryvale, KS

Between 1871 and 1873, John Bender Sr., his wife, and adult children John Jr. and Kate operated a roadside inn and general store on the Osage Trail eight miles northeast of Cherryvale. They killed at least 11 travelers — possibly more — by seating victims near a canvas curtain while a family member attacked from behind, then robbing the bodies and burying them on the property. The family vanished in May 1873 before authorities arrived, and their ultimate fate has never been confirmed.

$ All Ages Family: Low

Coffeyville — 1

Museum / Historical Site

Brown Mansion

Coffeyville, KS

The Brown Mansion is a 16-room, three-story mansion completed in 1904 by William Pitzer (W.P.) Brown, a businessman who accumulated wealth through lumber and natural gas interests in Coffeyville. The structure was designed by the Kansas City architectural firm of Wilder and Wight at a cost of $125,000. The mansion was the family residence until 1970, when Violet Brown, the sole surviving child, sold it to the Coffeyville Historical Society for use as a museum.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Ellis — 1

Southwest view of the Ellis Railroad Museum at 911 Washington Street in Ellis, Kansas, a National Register building formerly known as Memorial City Hall.

Museum / Historical Site

Ellis Railroad Museum Jail Cell

Ellis, KS

The Ellis Railroad Museum in Ellis, Kansas occupies a building roughly a century old and preserves Union Pacific railroad heritage in this western Kansas town. Founded in 1994, it houses artifacts, photographs, and a large operating model railroad layout, along with an on-site historical jail cell now used for storage.

$ All Ages Family: High

Emporia — 1

Outdoor / Natural Site

Rocky Ford Bridge (Bird Bridge)

Emporia, KS

The Rocky Ford Bridge is a one-lane metal bridge dating to 1907 that carries a rural road over the Cottonwood River southeast of Emporia, Kansas. It is popularly called 'Bird Bridge' after the 1983 death of Sandra (Sandy) Bird, wife of Lutheran pastor Thomas Bird, whose case became the basis of the 1987 CBS miniseries 'Murder Ordained.'

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Fort Dodge — 1

Historic two-story building with white porch at Fort Dodge, Kansas — the original 1865 military post five miles east of Dodge City now operating as the Kansas Soldiers' Home

Battlefield / Military Site

Fort Dodge / Kansas Soldiers' Home

Fort Dodge, KS

Fort Dodge was established in 1865 along the Arkansas River to protect travelers on the Santa Fe Trail. The post served through the Indian Wars and was decommissioned as a military installation in 1882. Following federal authorization in 1889, the grounds reopened as the Kansas Soldiers' Home in February 1890, a function the site has continuously served for more than 130 years.

$ All Ages Family: High

Fort Riley — 1

Aerial survey view of Fort Riley (Custer House & Main Post)

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Battlefield / Military Site

Fort Riley (Custer House & Main Post)

Fort Riley, KS

Fort Riley was established in 1853 at the confluence of the Republican and Smoky Hill Rivers to protect emigrants on the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails. It became the home of the 7th Cavalry under General George Custer in the late 1860s. A cholera epidemic struck the post in summer 1867, killing hundreds of soldiers and civilians at a time when Custer himself was under investigation for abandoning his command to ride to his wife. The post remains an active Army installation today.

$ All Ages Family: High

Galena — 1

Aerial survey view of Oak Hill Cemetery (Witch's Grave)

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Oak Hill Cemetery (Witch's Grave)

Galena, KS

Oak Hill Cemetery, also known as Empire Cemetery, sits on a hill in Galena, Cherokee County, Kansas, a town rooted in the lead-and-zinc mining boom of the late 1800s. The cemetery holds burials from the Empire City and Galena communities and is documented by Find a Grave and BillionGraves.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Gardner — 1

Other Dark Tourism Site

New Century AirCenter

Gardner, KS

Naval Air Station Olathe opened October 1, 1942, as a WWII primary flight training base. John Glenn completed his first military solo flight from the base in its first class of cadets. The base later served as continental headquarters for the Naval Air Transport Service. It was closed June 30, 1970, and transferred to Johnson County government, which developed it into New Century AirCenter — a commercial airport, industrial complex, and business center.

$ All Ages Family: High

Independence — 1

Aerial survey view of Le Hunt Cement Plant Ruins

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Outdoor / Natural Site

Le Hunt Cement Plant Ruins

Independence, KS

Le Hunt is a ghost town in Montgomery County, Kansas, a few miles northwest of Independence. It began in 1905 when the United Kansas Portland Cement Company bought 1,500 acres and built a large cement plant. The company went bankrupt by January 1914, and the town faded to ruins. The plant's remains, including its smokestack, still stand in the woods near Elk City Lake.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Lansing — 1

Prison / Reformatory

Kansas State Penitentiary

Lansing, KS

The Kansas State Penitentiary opened in 1859 and operated for 161 years before the Kansas Department of Corrections moved to a new facility in 2020. The prison conducted 15 state executions over its history, including the April 1965 hangings of Perry Smith and Richard Hickock — the killers of the Clutter family as documented in Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. Notable inmates included Charles 'Pretty Boy' Floyd. The Lansing Historical Society took control after closure and runs public tours.

$$ All Ages (ghost hunts 18+) Family: Low

Lenexa — 1

Haunted Dining / Bar

Grinders Stonewall (formerly Kieltyka's Stonewall Inn)

Lenexa, KS

The property at 10240 Pflumm Road in Lenexa, Kansas is identified as one of the area's earliest farmsteads. The Kieltyka family began operating a restaurant in the larger of the two white farmstead buildings in 1978, serving traditional Polish dishes alongside American bar food. After years as Kieltyka's Stonewall Inn, the location transitioned to Grinders Stonewall, which operates there currently.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Medicine Lodge — 1

Aerial survey view of Flower Pot Mountain

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Outdoor / Natural Site

Flower Pot Mountain

Medicine Lodge, KS

Flower Pot Mountain is a Gypsum Hills landmark west of Medicine Lodge, Kansas. The broader area carries deep significance as the site of the 1867 Medicine Lodge Treaty Council, in which the United States negotiated three treaties with the Kiowa, Comanche, Plains Apache, Southern Cheyenne, and Southern Arapaho.

$ All Ages Family: High

Newton — 1

Historic 1890 photograph of the Warkentin Mill (Newton Milling and Elevator Company) at 301 North Main Street in Newton, Kansas — now operating as Old Mill Plaza

Museum / Historical Site

Old Mill Plaza

Newton, KS

The Old Mill Plaza in Newton, Kansas was built in 1879 as the Monarch Steam Mill. Bernhard Warkentin purchased the mill in 1886 to grind Turkey Red hard winter wheat, the variety that transformed Kansas grain agriculture. The mill ceased flour production in 1964 and was scheduled for demolition in 1973 before Lloyd and Jacqueline Smith bought it the night before to begin a multi-decade restoration.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Osawatomie — 1

Osawatomie State Hospital photographed in 1894, showing the original campus buildings of Kansas's oldest public psychiatric facility.

Asylum / Hospital

Osawatomie State Hospital Cemetery & Asylum Bridge

Osawatomie, KS

Founded in 1863 and opened in 1866 as the Kansas State Lunatic Asylum, Osawatomie State Hospital is the oldest public psychiatric institution in Kansas. The campus grew substantially through the late 19th and early 20th centuries and at its peak housed hundreds of patients. The 1906 Asylum Bridge served as the sole connection between the town and the hospital grounds.

$ All Ages Family: High

Pleasanton — 1

Aerial survey view of Mine Creek Battlefield State Historic Site

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Battlefield / Military Site

Mine Creek Battlefield State Historic Site

Pleasanton, KS

The Battle of Mine Creek on October 25, 1864 was the largest cavalry engagement fought west of the Mississippi during the Civil War. Union cavalry surrounded 8,000 Confederates from Sterling Price's Missouri Raid force stalled at a creek crossing, capturing nearly 1,000 men and two Confederate generals — Marmaduke and Cabell — in a battle that lasted roughly 10 minutes. The defeat effectively ended Price's Raid and the last major Confederate offensive in the Trans-Mississippi.

$ All Ages Family: High

Prairie Village — 1

Homestead Library Athletic Club football team, 1899

Haunted Dining / Bar

Homestead Country Club

Prairie Village, KS

Homestead Country Club in Prairie Village, Kansas traces to a 1952 land donation from J.C. Nichols; the clubhouse opened the following year in 1953. The club filed for bankruptcy in 2014 and was acquired by Hulsing Enterprises in late 2017, which led a 2018-2022 expansion adding a covered tennis building, expanded fitness facilities, and six pickleball courts. The facility operates as an active private club.

$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Salina — 1

Museum / Historical Site

The Temple (Former Masonic Temple)

Salina, KS

The Salina Masonic Temple suffered a catastrophic partial structural collapse in July 1921 during construction, followed by a gas-explosion fire in January 1922 that destroyed the hall, according to Wikipedia's documented article on the building. The current structure at 336 S Santa Fe Ave was completed in 1927 and operated as the Masonic lodge until the organization eventually transitioned the property.

$$ 18+ Family: Moderate

Sedan — 1

Aerial survey view of Round Mound Cemetery

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Round Mound Cemetery

Sedan, KS

Round Mound Cemetery is a small rural cemetery situated atop a distinctive round hill in Chautauqua County, in far south-central Kansas near the Oklahoma line. It is documented as a recognized cemetery feature in the county's records and serves the surrounding farming community.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Stull — 1

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Stull Cemetery

Stull, KS

Stull Cemetery is a small rural burying ground in the unincorporated community of Stull, Douglas County, Kansas, west of Lawrence. The cemetery dates to the mid-nineteenth century and serves families of the original Evangelical settlement. Its modern reputation began with a 1974 University Daily Kansan article that has been the subject of decades of folklore.

$ All Ages Family: High

Valley Center — 1

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Outdoor / Natural Site

Theorosa's Bridge

Valley Center, KS

Theorosa's Bridge crosses Jester Creek on 109th Street North at Meridian Avenue, about 12 miles north of Wichita near Valley Center (founded 1872). The original wood-and-iron span burned in 1974 and again in 1976, and the current concrete-and-iron bridge was built in 1991. Local historians note no Theorosa appears in 1800s census or newspaper records.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

By type

Museum / Historical Site (14) Other Dark Tourism Site (12) Haunted House / Historic Home (9) Cemetery / Burial Ground (7) Battlefield / Military Site (7) Outdoor / Natural Site (5) Theater / Performance Venue (5) Haunted Dining / Bar (4) Haunted Hotel / Inn (4) Prison / Reformatory (2) Asylum / Hospital (2) True Crime Site (1)