HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
+ 1 further entry on record
Geothermal Resort Where Staff Say a Ghost Named Simone Still Turns On the Stove
31 Hot Springs Road, Boulder, MT 59632
Research updated September 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Day-use pools and spa facilities: Weekday Rate (Monday to Friday): $12 Adults, $10 Seniors (60+), $7 Children (3-12). Weekend (Saturday & Sunday) & Holiday Rate: $14 Adults, $12 Seniors (60+), $8 Children (3-12).
Access
Limited Access
Historic multi-story hotel with indoor and outdoor mineral pools; some areas require stairs.
Equipment
Photos OK
National Register of Historic Places · Montana Territorial History · Geothermal Springs Resort
The mineral springs southeast of Boulder, Montana drew visitors long before the town existed. Prospector James E. Riley built the first commercial structure on the site in 1863 — a saloon and bathhouse serving miners and ranchers working the surrounding hills. Riley enlarged the hotel in 1881 and began a new fifty-person hotel the following year; the hotel was completed after his death, combining Mission and Queen Anne architectural elements around the property's roughly 20 to 40 geothermal springs, which run between 140 and 160 degrees Fahrenheit at the source.
The hotel changed hands repeatedly over the following century, and by the 1980s the building had been condemned and was slated for demolition. In 1989, Anne Wilson Schaef purchased the property with a stated goal of restoring it and keeping the mineral water accessible to the public. The National Register of Historic Places had already listed the hotel and its surrounding 240 acres in 1979, recognizing both the architecture and the site's decades of use as a regional health destination.
Under Schaef's ownership and the operators who followed, Boulder Hot Springs was rebuilt into a working bed-and-breakfast with guest rooms, indoor and outdoor mineral pools, and a spa, set on 274 acres bordering Deer Lodge National Forest. Montana's Secretary of State has highlighted the property's history of prominent guests, including reported visits from Theodore Roosevelt, Warren Harding, Franklin Roosevelt, and General Omar Bradley.
Sources
Staff and guests at Boulder Hot Springs describe Simone as a ghost with a personality rather than a menace. The story told locally holds that she worked at the hot springs and was stabbed to death in an office after an argument with a mining executive from Butte; the claim has never been documented in a contemporary record and should be read as local legend rather than established history. What is consistently reported is the pattern of activity attributed to her: unexplained perfume in empty rooms, footsteps in the halls, and — according to past owner Anne Wilson Schaef, who restored the property starting in 1989 — a figure glimpsed on the third floor wearing a white Victorian-style blouse and dark skirt.
Staff describe Simone as playful rather than threatening, crediting her with small pranks like turning on the stove when no one is in the kitchen. Visitors in the lobby have also reported hearing the voices of arguing men with no one present. The hotel keeps a guest suite named for Simone, though staff say she rarely spends time there. The Billings Gazette and Montana's Secretary of State's office have both covered the property's paranormal reputation alongside its geothermal and architectural history.
Notable Entities
Book a guest room in the historic inn, with access to the property's indoor and outdoor geothermal pools. The inn keeps a suite named for Simone, the resident ghost said to haunt the building, though staff say she reportedly spends little time in it.
Day visitors can access the property's geothermal soaking pools and spa services without booking a room. The pool is handicap-accessible with assistance, and no lifeguard is present. Hours and current day-use pricing are posted on the venue's website.
See current room rates and availability at Boulder Hot Springs Inn.
Check rates and bookEvery HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Free Guide
10 verified stops, rated for families, mapped in order. Free.
One email to confirm, then the guide link. Unsubscribe anytime.
Bisbee, AZ
The Oliver House was built in 1909 by Edith Ann Oliver and her husband Henry Oliver to house executives of the Calumet & Arizona Mining Company. The building was converted to a bed and breakfast in 1986 and operates today as a historic inn in Bisbee, Arizona.
Apalachicola, FL
The Gibson Inn was built in 1907 as the Franklin Hotel at the height of Apalachicola's lumber and shipping trade. Sisters Annie Gibson Hayes and Mary Ellen Gibson purchased and renamed it in 1923. During World War II, the U.S. Army requisitioned it as officers' quarters near Camp Gordon Johnston. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Long Beach, CA
The RMS Queen Mary was constructed at John Brown & Company's Clydebank shipyard beginning in 1930, launched September 26, 1934, and sailed her maiden voyage on May 27, 1936. Requisitioned as a troopship in 1939, she carried 810,000 soldiers under the nickname 'The Grey Ghost.' The ship has been permanently moored in Long Beach, California since December 1967.