HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
A century-old Casper saloon, once a cowboy pool hall, whose haunted reputation outlived the bar that closed in 2019.
256 S Center St, Casper, WY 82601
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
The Wonder Bar closed in 2019. The building at 256 S Center St has changed hands twice since: a steakhouse (2019-2025), and as of early 2026 the Jae Foundation's headquarters, with 3OH7 Hospitality holding an on-premises liquor license for the space. There is no Wonder Bar admission or ghost tour. Exterior viewing is free.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Downtown storefront on paved sidewalks
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1914 · 1914 downtown Casper saloon building · Long-running Wonder Bar; renamed Rock Bottom briefly in 1988 · Closed in 2019 and redeveloped as a steakhouse
The building at 256 S Center Street went up in 1914, during the boom years when Casper was replacing wood-frame structures with brick. The Wonder Bar operated first on Second Street before moving to the South Center location around 1937, settling into the long run that made it a downtown institution. A frequently shared 1943 photograph shows horses ridden inside the bar on a parade day, a snapshot of its frontier-saloon atmosphere.
In 1988 new owners briefly renamed the bar Rock Bottom; a newspaper clipping from that period tied the rebrand to police reports of shootings and stabbings at or near the Wonder Bar, which had damaged its reputation. The Wonder Bar name later returned.
Local energy businessman Tony Cercy and his son Cole bought the building in late 2016 and gave it a full gut renovation, reopening in August 2017 as C85 at the Wonder Bar with a second-floor kitchen and self-serve taps. That operation closed in February 2019. The Rib & Chop House steakhouse subsequently moved into the former Wonder Bar space at 256 S Center Street.
Because the Wonder Bar itself no longer operates and its building has been repurposed, this entry documents the historic site and the haunting tradition attached to it rather than an active attraction. It is held for review on that basis.
The steakhouse that took over the space, Wyoming's Rib & Chop House, closed permanently at the end of 2025 after its lease was not renewed. In January 2026 the Jae Foundation announced it would open its Casper headquarters in the former Rib & Chop House location, with 3OH7 Hospitality holding the on-premises liquor license for the address. The building at 256 S Center Street remains standing and publicly viewable from the street.
Sources
The Wonder Bar's haunted reputation was documented in 2017 by Oil City News, which interviewed Lisa Lauderdale of the Paranormal Research Society of Casper. Employees over the years described being pushed by something unseen, footsteps on the upper floor when the building was empty, glasses sliding off and falling from the bar, and an orange-and-yellow glow with no clear source. One bartender reported seeing a white, misty figure and leaving.
A later staff account described televisions that turned off and back on with no input, and one employee said her daughter had reported seeing a small child in the bar. No named ghost and no specific documented death inside the building were established in the coverage; the lore was tied generally to the bar's reputation for shootings and stabbings near the premises during the rougher decades referenced in the 1988 rebrand.
Wyoming's state tourism office also listed the Wonder Bar among the state's haunted places, repeating the apparition and unexplained-activity accounts before noting the bar's permanent 2019 closure.
Since the Wonder Bar closed and the building was redeveloped, there is no operating venue to investigate and no current activity reported. The haunting tradition survives as part of downtown Casper's frontier-saloon history rather than as a live attraction, which is why this entry is held for review.
The Wonder Bar closed permanently in 2019, and its 256 S Center Street building was redeveloped as a steakhouse. This is an exterior historic-site stop, not a guided ghost experience; the saloon and its tours no longer exist.
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