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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Butte is home to Montana's #2 haunted place, new index finds

A new index ranks places by published accounts, not legend

September 30, 2026

With Halloween approaching, Butte is home to the #2 site in HauntBound's 2026 index of Montana's most haunted places. The index ranks 61 Montana sites by separate published accounts and how far back they go, not by fame or search popularity.

The Dumas Brothel Museum ranks #2. The brick building opened in 1890 in Butte's red-light district and operated as a brothel until 1982, by then described as the longest continuously operating brothel in the United States; it is now a museum of the district's history. Two separate published accounts describe activity there, retold in four later publications, the earliest dated to 1970.

Visitors and staff describe a woman carrying a suitcase who walks the upstairs hallway toward the stairs and descends, a figure associated with Elinore Knott, the Dumas's madam in the early 1950s, who was found dead on an upper floor in February 1955 after a planned departure did not happen; her death was ruled natural causes. An employee in the 1970s reported seeing the same figure pass the upstairs bathroom door with no one else in the building.

Statewide, Virginia City ranks #1, and Bannack State Park, the state's most famous haunted site, misses the top ten.

"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:Dumas Brothel Museum, 45 E Mercury St., Butte, is a museum with daytime tours; paranormal investigations and overnight stays are offered separately.

For media:The full ranking: https://hauntbound.com/most-haunted/montana/The fact sheet, with Butte numbers and cleared images: https://hauntbound.com/press/fact-sheets/montana/Venue contact: dumasbrothel.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

Short version

SHORT VERSION

Butte is home to Montana's #2 haunted place

Butte is home to the #2 site in HauntBound's 2026 index of Montana's most haunted places, which ranks sites by separate published accounts rather than fame. The Dumas Brothel Museum, an 1890 building that operated as a brothel until 1982, ranks #2; visitors describe a woman carrying a suitcase, a figure associated with Elinore Knott, its madam in the early 1950s. The museum offers daytime tours of the preserved building.

Full ranking: https://hauntbound.com/most-haunted/montana/