Five South Dakota places with a haunted reputation and a public door

Bullock Hotel, Deadwood

The Bullock will rent you a room on Main Street, and its own homepage will tell you Seth Bullock still haunts the halls. It will not tell you which night the ghost tour runs. Two Deadwood.com pages will, and they will not tell you the same nights.

The homepage says to reach the hotel at 800-336-1876, or info@historicbullock.com. It spells the line "Deadwood's first Sheriff, Seth Bullock, still proudly 'haunts'." The quotation marks are the homepage's. The dining page, which I opened, prints a different phone for reservations and for group sales: 1-605-578-1745, at 633 Main Street, Deadwood, SD 57732. I'm not going to fold the 800 number and the 605 number into one desk. The homepage is the page with the 800 line. The dining page is the page with the street address and the 605 line.

Deadwood.com's hotel listing, which I opened, prints 1-605-578-1745 and the same 633 Main Street, Deadwood, SD 57732. It also says "24-hour gaming action." The dining page does not say the building is open all night. It prints three clocks, and none of them is 24 hours. Bully's: "Dining Hours: 7:00-3:00 Wednesday – Sunday Breakfast and Lunch served 7:00 – 11:00 Monday & Tuesday Breakfast Only." That line does not put a period between Sunday and Breakfast. A headline above it says lunch is open Wednesday through Sunday. I'm not going to invent the missing period. Seth's Cellar: 7 days a week, 6:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. Winter hours, on the same page: Sunday through Thursday 6:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m., Fridays and Saturdays 6:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. The page does not say which months are winter. Bully's Lounge: 7 days a week, 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. A lounge that closes at 2 a.m. is not the "24-hour gaming" line on Deadwood.com. I'm not going to decide that the slots stay up after the lounge clock. A number, 605.578.1876, is printed at the bottom of the Deadwood.com pages I opened. Those pages do not label it as the hotel desk. I'm not going to treat it as the reservation line.

The ghost-tour lines disagree with each other. The hotel listing says guided tours are $20 a person on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, "Sundays for a limited time," starting at 5:00 p.m. "No reservations are needed." About 90 minutes. The tour page on the same site says Thursday through Sunday evening during the summer season, and Friday and Saturday year-round, beginning at 5:00 p.m., about 90 minutes, and "we recommend reserving your spot in advance." It prints the phone as (605) 578-1745, and also as 605578-1745, with the hyphen in a different place. It does not print the $20. It does not say Sunday is only for a limited time. It does not say reservations are unnecessary. October 4, 2026, is a Sunday. One page I opened would send you at 5 p.m. without a reservation, for $20, if the limited Sunday is still on. The other would not put Sunday on the year-round list at all. The hotel's own homepage, which is happy to say Bullock haunts the place, does not print either schedule. I'm not going to pick a Sunday for you.

The homepage also points you toward "Adam's Museum," with an apostrophe, and Saloon #10, and the Days of '76 Rodeo Arena. Deadwood History prints Adams Museum, without the apostrophe. I'm not going to merge the spellings. The dining page says Bully's is named for Seth Bullock's friend Teddy Roosevelt, and that the fireplace is "typical of the 1895 period." That is a decorating sentence. It is not a construction date by itself.

Mimi Herrick, KOTA, October 9, 2024, is a named news piece, and it is uneven. She writes that the Bullock "was built by a man who originally just wanted to own a hardware store," that Seth Bullock became sheriff and a US Marshall before he died in 1919, and that "it's said that Bullock pranks his employees and watches over the hotel." Marshall, with two l's, is her spelling. "It's said" does not name the person who says it. The sentence that does name someone is Susan D'aniello, a tour guide for US Ghost Adventures. D'aniello said that one night, while employees were preparing for a party in the basement and blowing up balloons, "they heard this voice of a little girl, and they looked up and saw nothing." They kept hearing giggling, "and as they looked up the balloons were being pulled down one at a time as if a little girl would be doing that." That is D'aniello's account of what employees heard. It is not a sentence that says a child has been proved to be in the basement. The hotel pages I opened do not tell the balloon story.

The Rapid City Journal, October 28, 2013, updated October 23, 2015, is older, and the byline area I opened does not name a reporter. Photo illustrations are credited to Chris Huber, Journal staff. One photograph is credited to the South Dakota State Historical Society. A caption says Seth Bullock, "Deadwood's first sheriff and namesake of the Bullock Hotel, is said to still haunt the old building." Another says "Hotel guests report seeing and hearing a number of different ghosts, including Seth Bullock and a young girl." The body says the hotel "was built in 1895" and, in a caption, "in the 1890s." I'm not going to collapse 1895 and "the 1890s" into one date. The body says Bullock "is said to be one of the ghosts still taking up residence." A woman complained that her room was dirty and smelled of smoke. She was moved. Employees, the piece says, found the room perfectly clean. Another paragraph calls a further spirit a young girl, and then the letters in the sentence I opened break before a name I can read. The caption already says "a young girl." I'm not going to supply a name the broken sentence did not give me. The same piece says housekeepers sometimes carry electromagnetic-field detectors, and that they "are said to" watch the lights change. "Are said to" is the Journal's. It is not a named housekeeper. A later paragraph is in the first person. A Journal photographer writes that, last week, in the basement, a camera changed from a six-second shutter to 1/30th of a second while a finger was on the button. I'm not going to assign that paragraph to Chris Huber just because the illustrations carry his name. The layout I opened does not say he wrote it.

The photograph I'm using puts 1895 on the building, and it does not put Bullock's name on that stone. The cornice reads AYRES BLOCK, and under it, 1895. The hanging sign reads Bullock Hotel. A 633 sits over an arch. A Commons file title I saw, for a Library of Congress photograph I did not use, says the hotel was built in 1886. I'm not going to treat a file title as a construction record. The stone I can see says 1895. The Journal body says 1895. The file title says 1886. Those are three texts. The brick building at the left of the frame is not the hotel. The pale block at the right edge is not the hotel.

Visit: 633 Main Street, Deadwood, SD 57732, on the dining page and on Deadwood.com. Hotel homepage, (800) 336-1876. Dining page and the Deadwood.com listing, (605) 578-1745. historicbullock.com. Ghost-tour days, checked in October 2026: one Deadwood.com page says Friday through Sunday, $20, no reservation, Sundays limited. The tour page says Thursday through Sunday in summer and Friday and Saturday year-round, and it says to reserve. It does not print $20. The homepage says Bullock "haunts" the hotel and does not print a tour clock. D'aniello's balloons are Herrick, October 9, 2024. The Journal captions are October 28, 2013, updated October 23, 2015. The cornice says Ayres Block, 1895.

Franklin Hotel, Deadwood

The Franklin will rent you a room at the top of Main Street. The pages I opened will not tell you a ghost story. A 2024 television story will, in one sentence, and it will not name the person who says it.

The contact page says Silverado-Franklin Historic Hotel & Gaming Complex, 709 Main Street, Deadwood, South Dakota 57732. Phone, 800-584-7005, and also 605-578-3670. The homepage prints 709 Main Street, Deadwood, South Dakota, and 800-584-7005, and marketing@silveradocasino.com. It does not print the ZIP. It does not print the 605 number. The contact page's own footer then drops the 605 number and the ZIP and keeps 800-584-7005. I'm not going to pretend the footer and the contact block are the same line. Both numbers are on the contact block. The 605 number is the one the footer leaves off.

The homepage says "this year, the entire Franklin Hotel was fully renovated from floor to ceiling." It does not print the year. I'm not going to decide that "this year" means 2026 because that is when I opened the page. It names Legends Steakhouse, the Grand Buffet, the Veranda, and the Outlaw Square Deck. It does not print a meal clock. A suite is called the Willie Nelson Suite, with the line "Check In Where the Outlaw Spirit Lives On." That is a suite slogan. It is not Herrick's sentence about Harris Franklin, and I'm not going to merge them. I did not open a rate.

Mimi Herrick, KOTA, October 9, 2024, writes: "The Franklin Hotel is haunted by the historic investor Harris Franklin. It's said he watches over the hotel and restaurant to keep an eye on how things are run." "It's said" is her wording. She does not name an employee, a guest, or a date for the watching. The same story's Bullock section has D'aniello's name on a specific scene. The Franklin section does not. The hotel pages I opened do not mention Harris Franklin's ghost. I'm not going to promote "it's said" into a resident.

Visit: 709 Main Street, Deadwood, SD 57732, on the contact page. The homepage omits the ZIP. (800) 584-7005 and (605) 578-3670. silveradofranklin.com. The homepage says the hotel was renovated "this year" and does not print the year. It does not print a restaurant clock. Herrick, October 9, 2024, is the Harris Franklin line, and she does not name a speaker. The hotel pages do not tell that story.

Hotel Alex Johnson, Rapid City

The Alex Johnson will sell you a night in a room it calls paranormal, and it will hand you a K2 meter. It will also tell you a bride went out an eighth-floor window in the 1970s. That story is the hotel's "it was reported." It is not a case file I opened.

The contact page says 523 Sixth St., Rapid City, South Dakota, 57701. Phone, 605-342-1210. Email, generalmanager@alexjohnson.com. The location page prints the same address and then prints the phone as 605.342.1210, with dots. The footer on that page goes back to 605-342-1210. Driving directions on the location page say "6th St," with a numeral, while the address line says "Sixth." I'm not going to pick Sixth or 6th for you. The contact block is the one that spells South Dakota. A footer on the same contact page shortens it to SD and puts a comma before the ZIP: "523 Sixth St. Rapid City, SD, 57701." The paranormal page uses that shorter line, comma and all.

The concierge page I opened does not print a clock. An earlier search snippet had described 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The page itself, when I opened it, does not say that. I'm not going to give you those hours. I did not open a lobby schedule. The door I can describe is a hotel stay, at the phone above. I did not open a nightly rate.

The paranormal page calls the hotel "one of the most haunted hotels in South Dakota" and says some people do not believe there are ghosts there. It points you to a Ghost Adventure package: a paranormal room, a ghost detector, and "more." It also says a book of hauntings is at the front desk. I did not open the book.

The Lady in White section says that during the 1970s "it was reported" that a young bride committed suicide by flinging herself out of the window of room 812. It says people who knew her insisted on foul play, that she was to inherit a large sum of money, that no one was convicted, and that the suicide ruling stood. "It was reported" and "insisted" are the page's verbs. I'm not going to retell them as a proved death. The page then says guests claim she wanders the eighth floor in a white gown, that the window of room 812 is often found open, and that dresser drawers are taken out, turned upside down, and put back. "Claim" and "it has been reported" are the page's. The Alex Johnson section says some guests have reported seeing him, and that "it is thought" he has stayed since his death in 1938 to keep operations running. The young-girl section says some eighth-floor guests have reported a girl who knocks, disappears, and has been heard giggling. I'm not going to move D'aniello's Bullock balloons onto this hallway. Different town, different speaker, different girl.

The packages page prices Ghost Adventure at +$100 to the nightly rate. It says the hotel was "featured on 'Ghost Hunters' on the Sy-Fy Channel." Sy-Fy is the page's spelling. The included list on that page: a reported paranormal room, one K2 meter, a $25 dining credit, free valet parking. A note says an upgrade to a haunted room may be available at check-in. After that note, two more bullets are printed: sparkling wine or non-alcoholic cider, and a $25 food-and-beverage credit. Those two bullets are not inside the first list. I'm not going to add the wine to a package the first list does not name, and I'm not going to decide the second $25 is a different credit. The paranormal page's package list is a third version: a reported haunted room, one K2 meter, a $25 dining credit, free access to Vertex Sky Bar, and free valet parking. It does not print the +$100. It does not mention Ghost Hunters. It does not mention the wine. Sky Bar is on that list and not on the packages page. I'm not going to glue the lists.

Visit: 523 Sixth St., Rapid City, SD 57701. The contact page spells South Dakota. The location page spells 6th in the driving directions and Sixth in the address. (605) 342-1210. alexjohnson.com/paranormal. The concierge page I opened does not print hours. Ghost Adventure is +$100 on the packages page and unpriced on the paranormal page. Sky Bar is only on the paranormal list. The Lady in White is the hotel's "it was reported," tied to room 812. Alex Johnson's death year, 1938, is the hotel's "it is thought."

Old Courthouse Museum, Sioux Falls

The museum will let you in on a Sunday afternoon, for no admission charge, unless that day is a major holiday. The pages I opened will not tell you a ghost story. The curator, in a 2025 news piece, will ask whether hangings on the site left residual energy, and he will spell spirit wrong, and he will leave it as a question.

The museum page says 200 W. 6th St., Sioux Falls, SD 57104. Phone, (605) 367-4210. It also says to call (605) 367-4210 ext. 0. I'm not going to drop the extension and pretend the page didn't print it. Email is mentioned and not printed on the page I opened. Hours: Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Closed on major holidays. The page also says "Open daily." Thursday's 9 p.m. close is the detail that keeps "daily" from meaning one clock. The page does not list the holidays. October 12, 2026, is a Monday, and it is Columbus Day, a federal holiday. I'm not going to promise the 8 a.m. door that Monday. October 4, 2026, is a Sunday and is not a federal holiday, so the printed Sunday clock is noon to 5. October 8, 2026, is a Thursday, so the printed Thursday clock is 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Admission is free. Parking: free two-hour parking west of the museum, enter from Dakota Avenue. Metered parking curbside south along 6th Street and on the east side on Main Avenue.

The same page says construction began in 1889, architect Wallace L. Dow, completed in 1893, Sioux quartzite. It quotes Dow claiming the structure would be the "largest courthouse between Chicago and Denver." Ole Running painted 16 murals between 1915 and 1917 and was paid $500. County business ran until 1962. The building was slated for a parking lot, saved, and opened as a museum in 1974, joined with the Pettigrew Home and Museum as the Siouxland Heritage Museums. Three floors. The second floor has the restored circuit courtroom and law library. Photography is allowed. The store is on the first floor. I did not open a ticket price because the page says the admission is free.

Kevin Gansz, curator of education, is the ghost source, and it is a question. Mark Brim, Dakota News Now, October 7, 2025, quotes him on a Haunted Sioux Falls bus tour. The story says the tour covers a few private residences and mostly public buildings, "including the Old Courthouse Museum." Gansz then says interesting things have happened "on this site," that the site was used for public execution in early Sioux Falls, and that "at least three people were hanged on this site." He asks, "so is there some residual sprit energy in this area? Perhaps, maybe just a little bit." The story prints sprit. I'm not going to correct it to spirit and then treat the corrected word as his. "Perhaps" and "maybe" are his. A later quote about weird occurrences is broader. He says you'll get history and "some weird occurrences that people have told us have happened there," and that some of it is legend and lore, including stories from people who used to work in a building on the tour. I'm not going to pin that second quote on the courthouse alone. The hanging question is the sentence that follows the courthouse. The museum page does not mention it.

The 2025 story's tour dates are October 7, 14, 21, 23, 28, and 30, at 6:30 p.m. It says tickets are at the museum or by calling (605) 367-4210, with a $1 service fee on phone orders. It does not print the ticket price. Experience Sioux Falls, which I opened for the 2026 listing, puts the tour at the Old Courthouse, 200 W. 6th St., on October 6, 13, 20, 22, 27, and 29, 2026, from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tickets $15, limited, at the museum or by phone, plus the $1 phone fee. Those are not the 2025 dates. The museum page I opened does not list the tour. The tour is a bus. It is not the Sunday noon door. The free gallery is the door I can describe on an ordinary week.

The story's attribution line spells the institution "Sioux Land Heritage Museums," two words. The museum site spells Siouxland as one word. I'm not going to merge them.

Visit: 200 W. 6th St., Sioux Falls, SD 57104. (605) 367-4210. siouxlandmuseums.com. Hours, checked in October 2026: Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday until 9 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday noon to 5 p.m., closed on major holidays. Free. October 12, 2026, is Columbus Day. Gansz's "sprit" question is Brim, October 7, 2025. The 2026 bus dates and the $15 are Experience Sioux Falls, not the museum page. The museum page does not tell a ghost story.

Pettigrew Home and Museum, Sioux Falls

The house will let you in at noon in October, for no admission charge, unless the day is a major holiday. The same curator, thirteen years earlier, said a heavy perfume filled a bedroom, and a reporter wrote that he thinks a senator's second wife may haunt the house. The museum page names the first owners and does not name a ghost.

The museum page says 131 N. Duluth Ave., Sioux Falls, SD 57104. Phone, (605) 367-7097. The courthouse phone, (605) 367-4210, is printed on the same site and is not this desk. Summer, May 1 through September 30: Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Winter, October 1 through April 30: daily 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Closed on major holidays. The page says school groups can come in the mornings when the museum is closed to the general public. October 4, 2026, is inside the winter clock, so the public door that Sunday is noon, not 9 a.m. A morning in October is a school group, not a walk-in. October 12, 2026, is Columbus Day. The page says major holidays and does not list them. I'm not going to promise noon that Monday. Admission is free. Handicap parking and the wheelchair entrance are on the south side, through the alley. Curbside parking is on both sides of 8th Street and some on Duluth Avenue.

The same page says the house was built in 1889 for Thomas and Jenny McMartin. Richard Franklin Pettigrew bought it in 1911 for $12,000. He came to Sioux Falls in 1869, and the page says that when South Dakota became a state in 1889 he was elected its first full-term senator and served two terms. A museum he built at the rear of the house opened to the public in 1925. He died in 1926 and left the house and museum to the city. The city added to the house in the 1930s. Tours are guided. The rooms are arranged, the page says, much as they looked when he lived there. I did not open a fee beyond the free admission.

Nate Wek, SDPB, October 31, 2012, is the ghost source. He calls it the Pettigrew Museum and says it was built in 1889 for an attorney, Thomas McMartin, and his wife. He does not print Jenny. He says Kevin Gansz "helps manage the museum." That is not the 2025 title, curator of education. I'm not going to treat the two titles as one job. Wek writes that Gansz says Pettigrew purchased the home in 1911, which matches the museum page, and that "Gansz says the ghost of Senator's Pettigrew second wife may haunt this old building." "Senator's Pettigrew" is the story's grammar. "May" is the verb Wek gives him. I'm not going to supply the wife's name. The museum page does not print it.

The direct quotes are narrower. Gansz says that on the second floor "the mood seems to really change," and that it is "almost like a darker heavier mood." He says that while working in Mrs. Pettigrew's bedroom there was "the strong strong smell of a very heavy perfume." He says that after some research he found the McMartins lost a child in the home, and Wek writes that some also believe the building may be haunted by "Ms. McMartin." Ms. is the story's. The museum page says Jenny. I'm not going to decide those are the same sentence. Gansz also says bumps get to him later, when he is alone in the house. "May" and "some also believe" are not a proof. The museum page I opened does not mention perfume, a child, or a second wife.

The stick-figure stories people tell about other towns are not this house. The 2025 bus story is the courthouse site and a city route. I'm not going to move the hangings onto Duluth Avenue.

Visit: 131 N. Duluth Ave., Sioux Falls, SD 57104. (605) 367-7097. siouxlandmuseums.com. Hours, checked in October 2026: May 1 through September 30, Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday noon to 5 p.m. October 1 through April 30, daily noon to 5 p.m. Closed on major holidays. Free. October is the noon door. Gansz's perfume is Wek, October 31, 2012. The "may haunt" line is Wek's paraphrase, with "Senator's Pettigrew" printed that way. The museum page says Jenny McMartin and does not tell a ghost story.

How to use this

Start with the door that matches the week you are actually having. The Bullock is (605) 578-1745 on the dining page and on Deadwood.com, and (800) 336-1876 on the hotel homepage, at 633 Main Street. Deadwood.com also prints 605.578.1876 without calling it the desk. One listing says ghost tours Friday through Sunday at 5 p.m., $20, no reservation, Sundays limited. The tour page says Thursday through Sunday in summer, Friday and Saturday the rest of the year, and it says to reserve. It drops the $20. October 4, 2026, is a Sunday, so those two pages do not put you in the same tour. Bully's hours are printed as one line, 7:00 to 3:00 Wednesday through Sunday, with breakfast 7:00 to 11:00 Monday and Tuesday and the words "Breakfast Only" after that. Seth's Cellar is 6 p.m. to 2 a.m., and shorter on winter weeknights, and the page does not name the winter months. The lounge is 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. Deadwood.com says 24-hour gaming. The homepage says Seth Bullock still "haunts" the hotel. Herrick, October 9, 2024, says it is said he pranks employees, spells US Marshall, and puts his death in 1919. D'aniello, in that piece, describes a little girl's voice and balloons in the basement. The Journal, October 28, 2013, updated October 23, 2015, says guests report Bullock and a young girl, says the hotel was built in 1895 and also in the 1890s, and includes a photographer's first-person camera note. The cornice says Ayres Block, 1895. A Commons file title says 1886. The Franklin is (800) 584-7005 and (605) 578-3670, at 709 Main Street, ZIP 57732 on the contact page and missing on the homepage. The footer then drops the 605 number. The homepage says the hotel was renovated "this year" and does not print the year, and it does not print a meal clock. A Willie Nelson Suite line about an "Outlaw Spirit" is a slogan. Herrick's Harris Franklin sentence is the one that says "it's said he watches," and she names no witness. The hotel pages do not say it. The Alex Johnson is (605) 342-1210, at 523 Sixth St. The location page spells 6th in the directions and 605.342.1210 with dots. The concierge page I opened does not print hours. Ghost Adventure is +$100 on the packages page. The paranormal page adds Vertex Sky Bar and does not print the +$100. Sparkling wine is a bullet after the packages-page note, not inside the first list. The Lady in White is the hotel's report about room 812. The 1938 death is the hotel's "it is thought." The Old Courthouse is (605) 367-4210, at 200 W. 6th St. Monday through Friday 8 to 5, Thursday until 9, Saturday 9 to 5, Sunday noon to 5, free, closed on major holidays. October 12, 2026, is Columbus Day. Gansz asked Brim, on October 7, 2025, about "residual sprit energy" from hangings on the site, and the story spells Sioux Land as two words. The 2026 bus is $15 on October 6, 13, 20, 22, 27, and 29, at 6:30 p.m., on an Experience Sioux Falls listing. The 2025 story used different dates and did not print $15. The museum page does not list the tour. The Pettigrew Home is (605) 367-7097, at 131 N. Duluth Ave. October through April, daily noon to 5, free. May through September, Monday through Saturday 9 to 5 and Sunday noon to 5. October 4, 2026, is the noon door. Gansz told Wek, on October 31, 2012, about perfume in Mrs. Pettigrew's bedroom. Wek writes that a second wife may haunt the house and prints "Senator's Pettigrew." The museum page says Jenny McMartin, a $12,000 purchase in 1911, and no ghost.

If a guide adds a ghost this research did not find on the venue's site or in the news pieces cited below, enjoy it as a story and leave it there.

These five doors are not in one town. Compact binoculars and a South Dakota road atlas are the practical extras if you are driving between them.