Wabasha Street Caves ranks among Minnesota's ten most haunted places

With Halloween approaching, Wabasha Street Caves in Saint Paul ranks #5 in HauntBound's 2026 index of Minnesota's most haunted places. The index ranks 98 Minnesota sites by separate published accounts and how far back they go, not by fame or search popularity.

Wabasha Street Caves ranks #5, and no Minnesota site is older, dating to 1840. The sandstone caverns beneath Saint Paul's West Side were first mined for silica, and French immigrant Albert Mouchnotte later ran them as a mushroom farm; his son-in-law William Lehmann then converted the space into a Prohibition-era speakeasy and, after Prohibition's repeal in 1933, the nightclub Castle Royal. Four separate published accounts describe activity there, the earliest dated to 1934.

Staff arriving before opening have reported hearing swing music from the main ballroom when the sound system is confirmed off, and whistling and footsteps during closing walk-throughs. The most consistent reports cluster in the Fireside Room, where bullet holes said to date to an alleged 1930s gangland killing remained in the fireplace stonework for years; no confirmed historical record of the incident has been found.

Statewide, the SS William A. Irvin in Duluth ranks #1, and Palmer House Hotel in Sauk Centre, the state's most famous haunted site, ranks #10.

"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:Wabasha Street Caves, 215 Wabasha St. S., Saint Paul, offers guided cave tours Monday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

For media:The full ranking: https://hauntbound.com/most-haunted/minnesota/The fact sheet, with Saint Paul numbers and cleared images: https://hauntbound.com/press/fact-sheets/minnesota/Venue contact: wabashacaves.comA 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

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