28 haunted destinations cataloged across South Dakota, spanning 14 counties. The collection features haunted hotel, theater, and haunted dining — every listing verified with family ratings, accessibility info, and practical visit logistics.
Deadwood, SD
The Historic Adams House is a Queen Anne-style mansion built in 1892 for Harris and Anna Franklin in Deadwood, South Dakota. William E. Adams — Deadwood mayor and Black Hills merchant — purchased the home in 1920 after the deaths of his first wife and his only surviving daughter. The house museum is operated by Deadwood History, Inc., and has been listed on the National Register since 1974.
Rapid City, SD
The Hotel Alex Johnson opened July 1, 1928, in downtown Rapid City as the vision of Alex Carlton Johnson. The Art Deco masterpiece represents early 20th-century hospitality luxury, featuring architectural distinction and historical significance throughout the Black Hills region. Johnson himself operated the hotel until his death in 1938. The facility has remained continuously operational and is now part of the Curio Collection by Hilton.
Deadwood, SD
The Fairmont opened in 1895 on Deadwood's Main Street and operated over the years as a brothel, Turkish bath, and speakeasy. The site is associated with Deadwood's first documented murder, the 1876 killing of Ed Shaughnessy by 'Banjo Dick' Brown, and today runs ghost and brothel tours.
Deadwood, SD
Mount Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood, South Dakota was established in 1878 on a mountainous plateau overlooking Deadwood Gulch. The cemetery serves as the final resting place for James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok, Martha Jane "Calamity Jane" Cannary, Potato Creek Johnny Pertrault, and Deadwood Sheriff Seth Bullock — figures who defined the Black Hills frontier era.
Yankton, SD
The Dakota Hospital for the Insane was established in Yankton, Dakota Territory, in 1879 — the first such institution in the region. On January 31, 1899, a fire in the laundry cottage killed seventeen women patients, a catastrophe that prompted the South Dakota legislature to mandate fireproofing standards for state institutions. The 1909 Mead Building was constructed as part of the post-fire rebuilding, housing women patients until the 1980s. Restored and reopened as a museum in 2018, it now holds a dedicated hospital history exhibit and the cemetery on the grounds contains over 1,000 burials marked only with patient record numbers.
Deadwood, SD
Seth Bullock and Sol Star constructed the Historic Bullock Hotel in 1895 in Deadwood, South Dakota at a cost of $40,000. Bullock, appointed the first Sheriff of Deadwood in 1876 following Wild Bill Hickok's death, built the hotel as a premier hospitality establishment featuring 63 oak and brass-appointed rooms and a 100-seat restaurant serving refined cuisine. The hotel remains continuously operational as Deadwood's most iconic lodging.
Deadwood, SD
The Broken Boot Mine was originally staked by Norwegian immigrant Olaf Seim in 1878, one year after the gold rush that founded Deadwood. The mine produced approximately 15,000 ounces of gold before closing. It was rediscovered and opened for tours in the twentieth century after workers found an old boot in a back tunnel during renovation work, prompting the current name.
Deadwood, SD
The Historic Franklin Hotel opened on Deadwood's Main Street in 1903, built during the city's gold-rush prosperity. It hosted notable guests including Theodore Roosevelt and operates today as part of the Silverado-Franklin Historic Hotel and Gaming Complex.
Deadwood, SD
The Haunted History Walking Ghost Tour is a commercial guided walk through Deadwood, South Dakota, focused on the town's Gold Rush history and the documented violence of its early years. It uses historical research to frame its stops rather than relying on staged scares.
Deadwood, SD
Saloon No. 10 in Deadwood is associated with the murder of gambler and gunfighter James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok, shot from behind by Jack McCall during a poker game on August 2, 1876. The original Nuttal and Mann's No. 10 was destroyed in an 1879 fire; today's Old Style Saloon No. 10 carries the name and history on Main Street.
Deadwood, SD
US Ghost Adventures runs its Deadwood program, branded 'Deadwood Ghosts,' as a nightly downtown walking tour meeting at the Deadwood Welcome Center and covering the Historic Adams House, the Historic Fairmont Hotel, and Saloon No. 10, the site of Wild Bill Hickok's murder.
Sioux Falls, SD
The Old Minnehaha County Courthouse opened in 1890 as Minnehaha County's seat of government, designed by Sioux Falls architect Wallace Dow in the Richardsonian Romanesque style out of locally quarried quartzite. County offices moved to a new courthouse in 1962, and after sitting vacant for over a decade the building reopened in 1974 as the Old Courthouse Museum, now part of the Siouxland Heritage Museums.
Sioux Falls, SD
The Orpheum Theatre opened October 2, 1913, at 315 North Phillips Avenue in downtown Sioux Falls, built by the Solari brothers as a vaudeville house. The Sioux Falls Community Playhouse ran it from 1954 until the city purchased the complex in 2000. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, it is Sioux Falls' oldest surviving theater and has operated under Washington Pavilion Management since 2019.
Sioux Falls, SD
US Ghost Adventures operates its Sioux Falls program under the local brand 'Sioux Falls Spirits,' a nightly one-hour walking tour of downtown landmarks including the Old Courthouse Museum, the Orpheum Theatre, and the Washington Pavilion.
Aberdeen, SD
Easton Castle is a large Queen Anne 'castle' home in Aberdeen built around the turn of the twentieth century. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and is connected to L. Frank Baum, author of 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,' who lived in Aberdeen from 1888 to 1891 and was a guest at the house.
Aberdeen, SD
Northern State University's Johnson Fine Arts Center in Aberdeen, South Dakota was constructed in the early 1970s. The building houses performance spaces, a costume shop, makeup rooms, and a wheelchair lift. Despite its relative youth, the building has accumulated a persistent body of reports from students and staff describing unexplained events.
Custer, SD
The Black Hills Playhouse was founded in 1946 by University of South Dakota drama professor Dr. Warren M. 'Doc' Lee, who moved his company into abandoned Civilian Conservation Corps buildings in Custer State Park. It is one of the oldest continuously operating non-profit summer stock theaters in the United States.
Hill City, SD
The Alpine Inn in Hill City, South Dakota was built in 1886 and has functioned as a Hill City landmark for over 130 years, evolving from its origins as a structure associated with Black Hills tin mining into a restaurant recognized for its authentic German-Bavarian cuisine. South Dakota Public Broadcasting has described it as 'a showplace of Hill City.'
Hot Springs, SD
The Villa Theresa Guest House occupies a hilltop building in Hot Springs, South Dakota, constructed in the 1890s. Regional sources describe it as a former retreat and club building from the era when Hot Springs drew visitors for its mineral waters. It was restored in the early 1990s into an upscale bed and breakfast.
Interior, SD
Badlands National Park preserves approximately 244,000 acres of eroded buttes, prairie, and Lakota homeland in southwestern South Dakota. Established as a National Monument in 1939 and redesignated as a National Park in 1978, the park's South Unit (Stronghold District) has been jointly managed with the Oglala Sioux Tribe since 1976.
Aerial survey · USDA NAIPKeystone, SD
Keystone Cemetery, officially Mountain View Cemetery, was established in 1900 on a hillside above the mining town of Keystone, South Dakota, on land originally tied to the Harney (Black Hills) National Forest. It is widely cited as the only cemetery with a direct line of sight to Mount Rushmore. Among its hundreds of burials are early miners, cowboys, and workers who carved Mount Rushmore.
Lake City, SD
Fort Sisseton began in 1864 as Fort Wadsworth, a U.S. Army post on the Coteau des Prairies in what is now Marshall County, South Dakota. It was renamed Fort Sisseton in 1876 and remained an active military outpost until 1889. The site became a state park in 1959 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
Lead, SD
The Homestake Opera House opened in 1914 in Lead, South Dakota, built by the Homestake Mining Company as a cultural and recreation hall for mine workers and their families. Designed in a Classical Revival style, it included a large theater, library, swimming pool, and social rooms. It served as an emergency hospital during the 1918 influenza epidemic and was heavily damaged by fire in 1984 before a community-led restoration.
Aerial survey · USDA NAIPOld Agency, SD
Old Agency Village, located in Roberts County, South Dakota, served as the historical headquarters of the Sisseton Agency from 1869 to 1923. The site is significant to the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, a federally recognized tribe whose governance, cultural preservation, and community services remain centered in this region. The surrounding hills and woodlands maintain the natural character of the northern plains landscape.
Rapid City, SD
The building at 321 Seventh Street is said to be the oldest building in Rapid City, South Dakota, dating to the late 1800s. It is named for John "Hooky Jack" Leary, who lost both arms and an eye in a mining explosion and lived on the building's third floor until his death in 1926.
Rockerville, SD
The Gaslight Restaurant & Saloon operates in Rockerville, a Black Hills placer-mining camp founded during the 1870s gold rush about 20 miles southwest of Rapid City. Most of the town emptied after U.S. Highway 16 was rerouted in the mid-1960s, leaving the Gaslight as one of the few businesses still operating there.
Spearfish, SD
Black Hills State University, founded as Dakota State Normal School in 1883, is located in Spearfish in the northern Black Hills region. The university operates as a comprehensive regional institution providing liberal arts education to the surrounding region. Wenonah Cook residence hall, BHSU's oldest dormitory, was named after Wenonah Cook (Dub-C), who founded the university's first Art Department and was the wife of BHSU's first president.
Yankton, SD
The Dakota Theatre opened in 1902 in downtown Yankton, one of the oldest cities in South Dakota and the former capital of Dakota Territory. The building has served as a performance venue across more than a century, including periods as a vaudeville house and a movie theater, and now operates as a community theater. Staff and performers have long associated the building with reports of resident spirits.