HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
An 1895 Deadwood building, former brothel and saloon, marketed for nightly ghost and brothel tours
628 Main Street, Deadwood, SD 57732
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Ticketed ghost and brothel tours; see operator listing for times and pricing
Access
Limited Access
Multi-story 1895 building with stairs to the upper floors
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1895 · 1895 Victorian Brothel · Site of Deadwood's First Documented Murder · Speakeasy and Turkish Bath
The Fairmont opened in 1895, during Deadwood's rebuilding in brick, and over the following decades served a string of uses that mapped the town's vices: a Victorian brothel, a Turkish bath, and, during Prohibition, a speakeasy. It was, by local accounts, among Deadwood's most notorious houses in its brothel years.
The ground it stands on predates the building. According to tour operators and local press, the site is tied to Deadwood's first documented murder. In 1876, the entertainer known as 'Banjo Dick' Brown shot and killed Ed Shaughnessy in a dispute over a woman, an act recorded as the camp's first official killing. The building later saw the death of a young woman named Margaret 'Maggie' Broadwater, who had worked in the area's brothels and died in a fall from an upper-floor window; accounts treat her death as a likely suicide, and it is remembered here with restraint.
The Fairmont now operates as a tour attraction rather than a working hotel, marketing nightly ghost and brothel tours. It has been featured on paranormal television programs, including 'The Dead Files' and 'Ghost Lab,' which has reinforced its standing as one of Deadwood's best-known haunted stops.
Sources
The Fairmont's reputation rests on the layered violence and hardship of its history. Tour operators and local press say the building's upper floors are no longer rented for lodging because of the volume of reported activity there, and the tours concentrate on those spaces.
The figures named in the lore are drawn from the site's real record. Maggie Broadwater, the young woman who died in a fall from an upper window, is among the most frequently cited presences, and the building's brothel years and its association with Deadwood's first murder are woven through the storytelling. The reported phenomena follow the building's age and use: apparitions, touches, voices, and disturbances on the upper floors.
The Fairmont has been featured on paranormal television, including 'The Dead Files' and 'Ghost Lab,' which has amplified its profile among Deadwood's haunted sites. Because the people behind these stories were real and their endings hard, the site's history is told here without invented detail or gratuitous emphasis on how anyone died.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
A ticketed nightly tour of the 1895 Fairmont, covering its history as a Victorian brothel, Turkish bath, and speakeasy, the violent events tied to the site, and the upper floors that operators say are no longer rented because of reported activity.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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