New index ranks South Dakota's 25 haunted places by published evidence

HauntBound's 2026 index ranks South Dakota's 25 documented haunted places by published evidence rather than reputation, and names the state's ten most haunted. Lawrence County holds five of the top ten.

The top five:

1. Hotel Alex Johnson, Rapid City
2. Historic Bullock Hotel, Deadwood
3. Historic Fairmont Hotel, Deadwood
4. Historic Adams House, Deadwood
5. Saloon No. 10, Deadwood (a later recreation near the 1876 site)

Hotel Alex Johnson in Rapid City has the most distinct published accounts of any South Dakota site, six. The oldest documented site is Fort Sisseton Historic State Park in Lake City, dating to 1864. Historic Bullock Hotel in Deadwood is the index's most family-friendly pick in the state. Apparitions are the most commonly reported phenomenon, on record at 17 sites.

"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.

HauntBound ranks each state's places by the documented record of reported haunting phenomena: the quantity, independence, persistence and documentary quality of published reports. A story retold many times counts for less than independent accounts, and a source that only establishes a building's history never counts as evidence of a haunting. The index does not try to determine whether paranormal phenomena are real. The 2026 index reflects sources identified and classified as of September 15, 2026.

For media:The full ranking: https://hauntbound.com/most-haunted/south-dakota/The fact sheet, with city-by-city numbers and cleared images: https://hauntbound.com/press/fact-sheets/south-dakota/Interviews by email and city-by-city data on request.

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

###