HauntBound Press Fact Sheet · Updated September 2026
The Most Haunted Places in South Dakota
South Dakota has 25 documented haunted locations in the HauntBound index.
Top 10 identified after source-level analysis of the 16 strongest South Dakota candidates.
By the numbers
- Total documented
- 25
- Haunted Hotel / Inn
- 5
- Theater / Performance Venue
- 4
- Haunted Dining / Bar
- 3
- Family-friendly
- 25
- Bookable
- 11
- Oldest documented site
- Fort Sisseton Historic State Park (1864)
- Most-reported phenomenon
- apparitions
Ranked
- 1. Hotel Alex Johnson The Hotel Alex Johnson opened in 1928 as Alex Johnson's Art Deco showcase in Rapid City; he ran it until his death in 1938. Staff and guests describe his apparition moving through hallways and administrative areas, a distinguished figure in formal attire who appears to inspect operations before vanishing. Guests also report phantom piano music in the lobby, 1920s-era melodies playing with no one at the keys. 6 original accounts · documented across 6 decades, 1928-2024 · retold in 3 later publications
- 2. Historic Bullock Hotel Seth Bullock, appointed Deadwood's first sheriff after Wild Bill Hickok's 1876 killing, built the $40,000 Bullock Hotel in 1895 with partner Sol Star; he died at his home in 1919, not at the hotel. Guests and staff report a tall figure in period clothing, most often near room 211, along with phantom cigar smoke, floral scents, a male voice calling their names, and glasses and plates that shake in the restaurant. 5 original accounts · documented across 8 decades, 1876-2015 · retold in 6 later publications
- 3. Historic Fairmont Hotel The Fairmont opened in 1895 on Deadwood's Main Street and over the decades served as a brothel, a Turkish bath, and a Prohibition-era speakeasy. The site is tied to Deadwood's first documented killing, the 1876 shooting of Ed Shaughnessy by 'Banjo Dick' Brown. Tour operators report apparitions, touches and voices concentrated on the building's upper floors, which are no longer rented to guests. 4 original accounts · documented across 4 decades, 1895-2018
- 4. Historic Adams House Built in 1892 for Harris and Anna Franklin, the Queen Anne mansion was bought in 1920 by Deadwood mayor William E. Adams. His wife Alice died of cancer in 1925, and their daughter Helen died the next day in childbirth; Adams died in 1934 after a stroke. Staff and visitors report the shadow of a tall thin man pacing an upstairs window, the scent of cigar smoke, and a rocking chair that moves unaided. 4 original accounts · documented across 7 decades, 1895-2024 · retold in 3 later publications
- 5. Saloon No. 10 (Wild Bill Hickok Death Site) HauntBound identified three distinct published accounts at this documented crime site, across three kinds of published source. Reported phenomena include a sensed presence and phantom sounds. 3 original accounts · documented across 8 decades, 1876-2014
- 6. Easton Castle HauntBound identified three distinct published accounts at this historic home. One later publication retells those accounts. Reported phenomena include apparitions and cold spots. 3 original accounts · documented across 6 decades, 1888-1973 · retold in 1 later publication
- 7. Fort Sisseton Historic State Park Fort Sisseton began in 1864 as Fort Wadsworth and was renamed in 1876; from 1884 to 1888 Companies E and G of the 25th Infantry, a Black regiment known as the Buffalo Soldiers, carved their names into the guardhouse bricks. Visitors report a woman in white in the officers' quarters, said to be a servant who once burned bedbugs off the walls, along with mysterious lights on the grounds and footsteps behind locked doors where no one can be found. 2 original accounts · documented across 3 decades, 1870-1990
- 8. Mead Museum The Dakota Hospital for the Insane opened in Yankton in 1879, and a fire in the laundry cottage on January 31, 1899 killed seventeen women patients. The fireproofed Mead Building, built in 1909, housed women patients until the 1980s and reopened as a museum in 2018; the grounds hold a cemetery of more than 1,000 burials marked with patient numbers rather than names. The museum's Haunted History Tours center the patients' documented history rather than staged effects. 3 original accounts · documented across 2 decades, 1909-2024 · retold in 1 later publication
- 9. Historic Homestake Opera House HauntBound identified two distinct published accounts at this working theater, across three kinds of published source. Reported phenomena include apparitions and cold spots. 2 original accounts · documented across 3 decades, 1914-1990
- 10. Orpheum Theatre HauntBound identified one distinct published account at this working theater, across four kinds of published source. Three later publications retell those accounts. Reported phenomena include apparitions and electrical anomalies. 1 original account · documented across 2 decades, 1959-1970 · retold in 3 later publications
By city
- Deadwood: 7 documented sites
- Rapid City: 2 documented sites
- Yankton: 2 documented sites
- Aberdeen: 2 documented sites
- Sioux Falls: 2 documented sites
- Hill City: 1 documented site
- Custer: 1 documented site
- Spearfish: 1 documented site
- Lake City: 1 documented site
- Lead: 1 documented site
- 3 more across the rest of South Dakota
Press images
- Hotel Alex Johnson Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hotel_Alex_Johnson_-_Rapid_City,_South_Dakota.jpg hauntbound.com/images/locations/south-dakota/alex-johnson-hotel/hero.jpg
- Historic Bullock Hotel Carol M. Highsmith hauntbound.com/images/locations/south-dakota/bullock-hotel/hero.jpg
- Saloon No. 10 (Wild Bill Hickok Death Site) Steve Elliott, CC BY-SA 2.0, via https://www.flickr.com/photos/jabberwock/36846126450/ hauntbound.com/images/locations/south-dakota/saloon-no-10/hero.jpg
- Easton Castle Joel Bradshaw hauntbound.com/images/locations/south-dakota/easton-castle/hero.jpg
- Fort Sisseton Historic State Park Ammodramus hauntbound.com/images/locations/south-dakota/fort-sisseton-historic-state-park/hero.jpg
- Mead Museum Ammodramus hauntbound.com/images/locations/south-dakota/mead-museum/hero.jpg
Images listed here may be republished with the credit shown; all other HauntBound images are not offered for press use.
Superlatives
- Oldest documented site: Fort Sisseton Historic State Park Documented since 1864.
- Most documented: Hotel Alex Johnson 6 distinct published accounts.
- Top haunted stay: Historic Fairmont Hotel Overnight stays bookable.
- Most family-friendly: Historic Bullock Hotel Family Comfort rating: High.
Methodology
For purposes of the HauntBound Index, "most haunted" means the location with the strongest documented record of reported haunting phenomena. We evaluate the quantity, independence, persistence, and documentary quality of published reports. We do not attempt to determine whether paranormal phenomena are real, and we never count a source that only establishes a building's history as evidence of haunting claims. Repetitive coverage is subject to diminishing returns, so a story retold many times does not outrank a story independently documented. Rankings never consider commercial relationships.
The 2026 Index reflects sources identified and classified as of September 15, 2026.
Updated October 19, 2026: listings that could not be sourced, or that are private or have no public access, were withdrawn after an October review, so some of the state's town counts are lower. The documented total stays as published until the November update.
This is a documentation ranking, not a visitation guide; sites not open to visitors are marked on their entries.