Buffalo Bill's Irma Hotel

The hotel's paranormal lore is unusually well-documented for a small Wyoming property, in part because both staff and the local Cody Yellowstone tourism office have collected and published accounts.

Buffalo Bill himself is the most frequently reported figure. Employees describe the unmistakable sound of spurs jingling at the cherry-wood bar before the dining room opens, when the building is empty. A separate account describes loud knocking at guest-room doors in the early hours, attributed to Cody's known habit of personally knocking on doors to deliver wake-up calls when he managed the hotel.

Irma Cody Garlow, the hotel's namesake, is reported on the second floor in the suite that bears her name. Guests have described her seated in a rocking chair and have reported the chair rocking on its own. She is described in staff folklore as a hospitable presence rather than an unsettling one.

Room 35 is the most consistently cited location for guest-reported activity. A guest interviewed by Cowboy State Daily described an overnight stay in which activity continued throughout the night. The earliest circulated account describes a soldier in nineteenth-century uniform near the cherry-wood bar and an aggressive presence in the kitchen, which broadly aligns with staff accounts of unexplained noises in the back-of-house spaces.

The hotel does not run formal ghost tours or paranormal investigations. The reputation operates as folklore layered onto an active commercial restaurant and hotel.