Est. 1840 · Prohibition Era · Organized Crime · Underground Nightclub · National Register Adjacent
The sandstone beneath St. Paul's West Side was first excavated for silica, a raw material for glass production. French immigrant Albert Mouchnotte repurposed the caverns in the early 1900s as a mushroom cultivation facility, exploiting the caves' consistent underground temperature. His daughter Josie and son-in-law William Lehmann inherited the operation.
During Prohibition, St. Paul operated under what became known as the O'Connor System — an informal arrangement in which Police Chief John O'Connor permitted known criminals to reside and move freely through the city, provided they committed no crimes within city limits. The caves became an underground speakeasy under this protective arrangement.
After Prohibition's repeal in 1933, the Lehmanns converted the space into Castle Royal, marketing it as the 'World's Most Gorgeous Underground Nightclub.' At its peak, the club featured chandeliers, oriental carpets, and a gambling room. Cab Calloway, the Dorsey Brothers, and Harry James performed there. The club closed in 1941 when World War II dried up the entertainment economy.
The caves' most contested story involves an alleged triple murder in the Fireside Room. According to oral accounts passed down by guides, a waitress heard gunshots and discovered three bodies; police returned the scene cleaned with fresh tablecloths, reportedly smuggling gangsters through the back in spare uniforms. Bullet holes remained in the fireplace for decades. No confirmed historical record of this specific incident has been independently verified; the account exists in the guides' oral tradition and local lore.
The Star Tribune named the Wabasha Street Caves the most haunted location in Minnesota. The caves operate today as an event venue hosting weddings, swing dance nights, and historical tours.
Sources
- https://wanderthemap.com/2014/11/gangster-history-wabasha-street-caves/
- https://mndaily.com/269295/arts-entertainment/ghosts-gangsters-and-more-a-closer-look-at-one-of-st-pauls-spookiest-spots/
- https://beyondhaunted.com/minnesota/wabasha-street-caves
- https://www.visitsaintpaul.com/blog/gangster-past/
Phantom soundsPhantom voicesCold spotsApparitionsEquipment malfunction
The paranormal accounts here cluster around specific rooms rather than the entire cave complex. Staff members arriving before opening have reported hearing what sounds like swing music from the main ballroom — the kind that played during Castle Royal's heyday — when the sound equipment is confirmed off. Tour guide Brett Williams has described hearing whistling and footsteps while conducting closing walk-throughs alone.
The Fireside Room draws the most consistent reports. The alleged triple murder of the 1930s left physical evidence in the form of bullet holes that remained in the fireplace stonework for years. Visitors near this room have independently reported waves of sudden unease and cold spots. Whether these accounts constitute residual phenomena or the ordinary psychological effect of a space with a violent oral history is not resolved.
The caves have been cited as haunted by approximately 60 distinct presences according to local paranormal investigators, a figure that likely reflects the cumulative weight of decades of visits from people already expecting something. The caves' natural acoustics — stone chambers, long corridors, branching passages — amplify and distort ordinary sounds in ways that reliably produce disorienting experiences.
The Lilydale cave system, which connects to the broader sandstone bluff network on the same side of the Mississippi, carries its own separate and darker history. In April 2004, three teenagers — Nicholas Larson, Natalie Vanvorst, and Patrick Dague, all 17 — died from carbon monoxide poisoning after entering unsecured wild cave entrances along the bluffs. The gas, which reaches lethal concentrations with no warning, had accumulated from decomposing organic material. The city sealed more than 20 cave entrances following the deaths. The Wabasha Street Caves at 215 Wabasha St operate as a secured commercial venue and are structurally distinct from the sealed wild cave system; the deaths occurred in unsanctioned sections of the bluff network.
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