Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainLibby Dam-Era RV Park on the Former Riverside Inn Site
Libby, MT
Research updated May 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
RV site rates apply to overnight stays; check directly with the park.
Access
Limited Access
Gravel RV sites, wooded property along a river
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1965 · Libby Dam Construction Era · Northwest Montana Roadside History
Libby sits in the Kootenai River valley of northwest Montana, on the route of U.S. Highway 2. The Libby Dam, completed by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1975 across the Kootenai River, transformed the local economy during its construction period. Construction crews from across the region took temporary residence in the small town, and a number of roadside businesses sprang up to serve them.
The Riverside Inn was one of these. Established in the late 1960s in anticipation of dam construction, the property combined several businesses common to the era: a steak house, a gas station, a mobile-home park, and a motel. Local accounts also describe an informal sex-work operation associated with the motel rooms. The Inn served construction workers, transients hoping to land jobs on the dam, and travelers along Highway 2.
Some years after the dam's 1975 completion, the Inn burned down in a fire whose specifics are not preserved in readily available regional records. The buildings were not rebuilt, and the property was eventually converted to an RV park. Sportsman's RV Park currently occupies the site, offering RV sites and limited services to travelers passing through northwest Montana.
The Shadowlands narrative attached to the site references squatters and transients who reportedly camped in the surrounding woods waiting for dam-construction work and whose fates the narrative leaves unresolved. Research did not surface independent newspaper or historical-society documentation of specific deaths at the property, and the broader narrative should be read as community folklore tied to the rough mid-century construction-camp atmosphere of the Inn's prime.
Sources
The Sportsman's RV Park folklore centers on a hooded figure reported during spring thunderstorms. Visitors and longer-term campers describe a shape resembling a person in a hooded poncho or robe, drifting at slight elevation rather than walking, observed primarily during lightning flashes against dark sky. The figure's hood obscures any face, and the wind around the poncho is reported as inconsistent with the actual weather conditions.
The figure is interpreted in local tradition as one of the construction-era transients who camped in the woods behind the Riverside Inn while waiting for work on the Libby Dam. The narrative implies that some of these workers never made it home and that the figure represents an unresolved death from the era. Research did not surface independent documentation of specific deaths at the site, and the legend should be treated as community folklore tied to the rough mid-century atmosphere of the property rather than as a documented incident.
The RV park itself functions as a typical small western recreation business. Visitors interested in the folklore should approach with the awareness that the property is private and that staff and overnight guests are not necessarily interested in paranormal discussion. A drive-by view from the public road is appropriate; overnight stays should be booked for camping purposes, not as paranormal investigation.
Drive past Sportsman's RV Park outside Libby, Montana, on the former site of the Riverside Inn, a multi-purpose roadhouse and motel operated during the 1960s Libby Dam construction. The Inn burned down after the dam was completed and was never rebuilt. Folklore describes a hooded figure seen on stormy nights.
Some links on this page may earn HauntBound a small commission when you book, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial picks are independent. Full disclosure
Every 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.
Aerial survey · USDA NAIPGreat Falls, MT
Black Horse Lake is a shallow, seasonal 576-acre lake bed in Cascade County, Montana, just northeast of Great Falls along the corridor of US Highway 87 toward Fort Benton. The lake is usually dry except in spring and early summer. The surrounding prairie has long been associated with travel routes across north-central Montana, and the highway here is the setting for one of the state's best-known road legends.
Aerial survey · USDA NAIPOpelika, AL
Double Hill Road near Opelika, Alabama follows the course of a pre-statehood native trail and later a horse-and-wagon route connecting Columbus, Georgia, to Auburn and Opelika. A small Daniel family cemetery is situated along the road, containing the grave of Mary Melissa Daniel (born 1846). The road has been part of Lee County's rural landscape since before Alabama achieved statehood in 1819.
Aerial survey · USDA NAIPMount Hope, AL
Henry Hill on County Road 25 in Mount Hope, Alabama has accumulated multiple origin stories over generations. The most common modern version describes a man named Henry who died pushing his family's stalled car out of the path of an oncoming vehicle. Older community accounts predate this narrative, with elder residents recalling stories of a young enslaved person killed by a horse-drawn vehicle at the same spot long before the Civil War.