Utah's most haunted state park — the 1858 army camp that housed 3,500 troops on Mormon frontier and vanished overnight when the Civil War called them away
18035 W 1540 N, Fairfield, UT 84013
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Utah State Parks day-use fee applies. Annual paranormal investigation events are separately priced. Check stateparks.utah.gov for current rates.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Flat Utah Valley ground; restored Stagecoach Inn has interior accessibility; the military cemetery grounds are flat grass
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1858 · Largest US Army Installation During the Utah War · Utah War — Federal-LDS Territory Standoff · Pony Express Station · Unmarked Military Cemetery
President James Buchanan ordered the Utah Expedition in 1857 in response to reports that Brigham Young, governor of Utah Territory, was resisting federal authority. General Albert Sidney Johnston led approximately 3,500 troops into Utah in the spring of 1858 — by some accounts the largest single concentration of US Army forces in the country at that moment — and established Camp Floyd on the west side of the Oquirrh Mountains at Fairfield, roughly 40 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.
The camp grew rapidly. At its height it comprised approximately 400 buildings including barracks, officer quarters, a hospital, storehouses, a bakery, and a distillery. The Johnston Army Supply Depot commissary, now one of two surviving original structures, handled the logistics for the entire operation. The camp was renamed Fort Crittenden in 1861 following Johnston's resignation to join the Confederacy.
The Utah War ended without significant combat; negotiations between the Army and LDS leadership produced a settlement that allowed the troops to occupy the territory without entering Salt Lake City. The practical standoff resolved, but the troops remained until April 1861, when the outbreak of the Civil War prompted their recall to the east. The government auctioned off roughly $4 million worth of equipment and supplies — one of the largest military surplus sales in US history to that date — for approximately $100,000.
The 400 buildings were sold, dismantled, or abandoned. What remained was the military cemetery, containing approximately 84 graves of soldiers who died at the camp from disease, accidents, and the hardships of frontier posting. The graves were never formally marked; the cemetery was lost for decades and only partially rediscovered in the 20th century. It remains in the state park today.
The Stagecoach Inn, built in 1858 as a stage stop and Pony Express waystation, survived. Utah State Parks acquired and restored the inn and the adjacent commissary; both are now interpretive museum spaces operated as Camp Floyd State Park / Stagecoach Inn.
Sources
The paranormal reputation of Camp Floyd draws on two historical threads: the sudden evacuation of 3,500 soldiers in 1861 that left the camp's infrastructure and its dead behind, and the long period during which the unmarked military cemetery was lost and undocumented. Both conditions — the abrupt departure and the forgotten dead — appear repeatedly in the accounts that have accumulated at the site.
A staff member documented witnessing a full-form apparition in the Stagecoach Inn: a woman in a period dress, described as floating slightly above the floor, visible in one of the inn's rooms before disappearing without transition. The account is cited by Legends of America and regional paranormal investigators as one of the more striking single-witness reports in Utah State Parks history. Rocking chairs in the inn have been observed moving under their own power by multiple visitors and staff across separate incidents.
EMF meter readings during investigation events show spikes concentrated in two areas: the old schoolhouse structure and specific rooms of the Stagecoach Inn. The inn's staircase is a consistently active area in formal investigation reports. Fox 13 Salt Lake City covered the annual investigation events and interviewed participants who described anomalous readings and experiences during after-hours access.
Utah paranormal researchers who have surveyed the state's documented sites consistently cite Camp Floyd as producing the highest density and frequency of corroborated reports among Utah State Parks properties.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Self-guided exploration of the park grounds, which include the original military cemetery, the Johnston Army Supply Depot commissary (one of two remaining original structures), and interpretive signage on the 1858–1861 US Army occupation. The Stagecoach Inn, a restored Pony Express and stagecoach stop, is open for guided tours during park hours.
Utah State Parks hosts annual public paranormal investigation evenings at Camp Floyd, typically in October. The programs grant after-hours access to the Stagecoach Inn and grounds with investigation equipment. Dates announced through the Utah State Parks website and social media.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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