HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
A guided tour of the underground vice district that ran below Havre after the 1904 fire
120 3rd Ave, Havre, MT 59501
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Adults $17, children 6-12 $9, ages 5 and under free, groups of 15+ $13. School-tour rates available. Call to book.
Access
Limited Access
Underground tunnels with stairs and uneven floors
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1904 · 1904 Havre fire and underground relocation · Prohibition-era smuggling on the Hi-Line · Shorty Young vice and tunnel network
Fire swept through downtown Havre in 1904, destroying much of the young railroad town on Montana's Hi-Line. Rather than wait for rebuilding, business owners moved underground, opening shops, barbershops, and saloons in basements and a network of brick-lined tunnels beneath the sidewalks.
The underground became, in the phrase used on the modern tour, an early 'underground mall.' Alongside legitimate trade ran a vice economy: a saloon, a Chinese laundry, an opium den, and a bordello operated below ground. Much of this activity was connected to Christopher 'Shorty' Young, a saloon operator, real-estate developer, and political figure often described as Havre's 'gangster mayor.' Young built tunnels to move between his businesses, and the proximity of the Canadian border made liquor smuggling profitable both before and during Prohibition.
The underground flourished into the 1920s and 1930s, then fell out of use as the town moved its commerce back above ground. Decades later the tunnels were excavated and restored as a historical attraction. Today 'Havre Beneath the Streets' presents reconstructed business displays, including the Sporting Eagle Saloon, the Wah Sing Laundry, a bakery, and Shorty Young's office, on a guided tour at 120 3rd Avenue.
Sources
Havre Beneath the Streets draws its reputation from history more than from a single ghost story. The site is one of several Montana underground districts that appear in regional folklore and dark-tourism coverage, alongside the better-documented haunted tunnels in Butte. Articles surveying Montana's underground spaces group Havre's tunnels with those darker stories, though coverage of Havre itself focuses on the vice economy that operated below the streets.
What unsettles visitors most is the documented record: an opium den, a bordello, and a smuggling operation that ran for decades under the feet of ordinary townspeople, much of it controlled by a man who held political power while running illegal businesses. The tour leans into that history, walking guests past reconstructions of the saloon, the laundry, and Shorty Young's office.
Unlike some Montana underground sites, Havre Beneath the Streets does not market a roster of named apparitions, and the most detailed regional folklore article attributes its 'ghost-ridden' framing to a different town's tunnels. For now the underground's appeal is the weight of the place itself: a preserved slice of early-1900s frontier vice that visitors walk through in person.
A guided walk through reconstructed underground businesses including the Sporting Eagle Saloon, an opium den, a Chinese laundry, a bordello, and Shorty Young's office. Booking is by phone at (406) 265-8888.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Galveston, TX
The Strand Historic District in Galveston was established as the city's commercial core beginning in the 1840s and became one of the most important commercial centers in Texas by the 1870s. The surviving 1877-era iron-front commercial buildings along the Strand survived the September 8, 1900 hurricane that killed between 6,000 and 12,000 people in Galveston and destroyed most residential structures on the island. During the recovery period, the Strand district buildings served as mass morgues, triage stations, and temporary housing for survivors, a role documented in local newspaper accounts from September and October 1900.
Cottonwood, AZ
Old Town Cottonwood grew up along the Verde River in central Arizona as a supply and social hub for the copper towns of Jerome and Clarkdale. Its Main Street strip of saloons, hotels, and storefronts boomed during the early 20th century and again during Prohibition, when the district earned a reputation for bootlegging and vice. The historic core has since been restored and is the setting for several locally run ghost walks.
Bowling Green, KY
Bowling Green, established in 1798 as the Warren County seat, carries a Civil War legacy as the Confederate capital of Kentucky from October 1861 to February 1862. The city saw extensive fortification and destruction during the war before its evacuation by Confederate forces ahead of advancing Union troops.