Two Wichita landmarks rank among Kansas's ten most haunted places

With Halloween approaching, two Wichita landmarks, Old Cowtown Museum and Eaton Place (exterior viewing only), rank among Kansas's ten most haunted places in HauntBound's 2026 index. The index ranks 68 Kansas sites by separate published accounts and how far back they go, not by fame or search popularity.

Old Cowtown Museum ranks #4. Its Murdock House was built in 1874 for Col. Marshall Murdock, who launched the Wichita Eagle; his eight-year-old daughter, Love'n Tangle Murdock, died of spinal meningitis in 1883, and her funeral was held in the parlor. Three separate published accounts describe activity there, the earliest dated to 2022. During a public ghost hunt, an investigator described a taller shadow figure descending the staircase, disembodied voices elsewhere on the property, and a candle lifting from its holder.

Eaton Place ranks #10. Wichita mayor John B. Carey built the five-story hotel in 1887 as the Carey House, and in 1900, temperance activist Carrie Nation stormed its barroom with a hatchet. It was renamed the Eaton Hotel and rehabilitated into apartments. One firsthand published account describes activity there. Local lore holds that a woman was killed there in an unsolved case; guides call her the blue handkerchief ghost, said to walk the second and third floors lifting phone receivers and disturbing roses. No documentation ties a specific killing to the hotel.

Statewide, Fort Riley ranks #1, and Sallie House (visits by guided tour only), the state's most famous haunted site, ranks #2.

"We rank by evidence, not legend: independent published accounts, documented history, and how far back the reports go. We don't claim ghosts are real, or that they aren't. We document where the reports concentrate, and we show our work," said Ben Fineman, editor of HauntBound. The ranking shows each site's documented record.

Visiting:Old Cowtown Museum, 1865 W Museum Blvd., Wichita, is a living-history museum open seasonally, with after-hours ghost hunts scheduled separately.Eaton Place, 517 E Douglas Ave., Wichita, is now private apartments; exterior viewing only. Please do not trespass.

For media:The full ranking: https://hauntbound.com/most-haunted/kansas/The fact sheet, with Wichita numbers and cleared images: https://hauntbound.com/press/fact-sheets/kansas/Venue contact: oldcowtown.orgA short version follows.

HauntBound (hauntbound.com) is a family-friendly field guide to more than 6,000 documented haunted and historic places across the United States, ranked by published evidence rather than legend. No venue pays to be listed or ranked.

Media contact: Ben Fineman, Editor, HauntBound, editor@hauntbound.com

###