Virginia City holds two of Montana's ten most haunted places

With Halloween approaching, Virginia City holds two of Montana's ten most haunted places in HauntBound's 2026 index, including the town's historic site at #1 and the Fairweather Inn at #5. The index ranks 61 Montana sites by separate published accounts and how far back they go, not by fame or search popularity.

Virginia City ranks #1, the state's most documented site in the index. Prospectors struck gold at Alder Gulch in 1863, and the town served as Montana's territorial capital from 1865 to 1875. Six separate published accounts describe activity there, the earliest dated to 1911. Theater company members at the Opera House describe disembodied voices and footsteps on the balcony, and bartenders at the Bale of Hay Saloon report bottles shifting on shelves and figures in the back-bar mirror.

The Fairweather Inn ranks #5. The Wallace Street lot was deeded in 1863, weeks after Bill Fairweather struck gold at Alder Gulch, and the building became a hotel in the 1880s before the Bovey family renamed it for Fairweather in 1946. Two separate published accounts describe activity there, retold in five later publications. Guests describe activity centered in Room 10, plus child voices on the first floor and a figure in a long dress upstairs.

Bannack State Park in Dillon, 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:Virginia City, 300 W Wallace St., is a preserved 1860s townsite free to walk; individual museums and the Opera House charge separate admission.The Fairweather Inn, 305 W Wallace St., is a hotel offering overnight ghost-hunt investigations, 18 and older, or 16 and older with a responsible adult.

For media:The full ranking: https://hauntbound.com/most-haunted/montana/The fact sheet, with Virginia City numbers and cleared images: https://hauntbound.com/press/fact-sheets/montana/Photo: Virginia City, on the fact sheet.Venue contact: virginiacitymt.com and hauntedrooms.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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