All states / South Dakota
Explore 51 haunted places in South Dakota. Read ghost stories, local history, source notes, and visiting information in the PHASM Haunted Atlas.
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Hill City, South Dakota · Other
A man in a brown suit reportedly appeared inside the Highliner Eatery’s railway dining car and then was gone. HauntedPlaces.org places this employee account at the 1880 Train attraction in Hill City. The haunting is tied to the depot-side dining car rather than every train along the railway.
Hill City, South Dakota · Hotel
The inn’s second floor is the setting for reports of voices and footsteps without a visible person. HauntedPlaces.org also notes lights unexpectedly going out. These simple incidents, rather than a firmly identified historical ghost, form the published Alpine Inn story.
Madison, South Dakota · Other
The university’s Trojan Times records ghost-hunt accounts from Professor Tom Jones and students: unexplained voices, cold patches, strange smells and objects coming off walls. The article also describes light anomalies and apparent movement captured during investigations of Beadle Hall, without establishing a supernatural cause.
McLaughlin, South Dakota · Other
An employee’s account published by HauntedPlaces.org describes hearing a baby cry while no child could be found. Furniture also reportedly shifted without anyone touching it. A story about an earlier cemetery is offered as an explanation, but the haunting account does not establish that land-use history.
Custer State Park, South Dakota · Theater
The costume room is the center of the Black Hills Playhouse legend. Staff are said to put everything away at night and find a costume neatly arranged by morning. HauntedPlaces.org attributes this quiet interference to the ghost of a workman’s daughter associated with the former camp.
Yankton, South Dakota · Theater
A face reportedly floats through the empty seating area after performances. HauntedPlaces.org also records sudden cold, cries and a stain said to return during certain productions. The accounts come from theater patrons and performers rather than a documented identification of an apparition.
Viborg, South Dakota · Other
After closing, a luminous figure is reportedly seen moving through the bar. HauntedPlaces.org also records empty-room footsteps and unexplained sounds. The brief account does not name the apparition or supply a definite reason it lingers in the inn.
Garretson, South Dakota · Natural landmark
Travel South Dakota recounts local stories of a devil-like presence wandering the grounds and the tragic legend of Nellie Harding and her would-be rescuer. The gorge also carries a story about Iktomi forming it. These are attributed place-legends, not verified events.
Brookings, South Dakota · Theater
Campus lore identifies Doner’s presence as a janitor who died near the old organ. According to HauntedPlaces.org, the instrument once sounded without a player; after it was removed, the reported mischief continued with lighting and stage props. The ghost’s proposed origin is a legend, not independently established here.
Aberdeen, South Dakota · Historic house
Travel South Dakota records longstanding rumors of an original owner, a housekeeper and an unidentified phantom lingering in Easton Castle. Its account also notes that the owners do not accept the ghost stories. The mansion’s haunted reputation is presented as local folklore rather than an owner-verified experience.
Rapid City, South Dakota · Theater
Staff call the Elks Theatre’s resident presence Jimmy. HauntedPlaces.org records sightings of a figure seated in the main auditorium after closing and describes the spirit as friendly. The story says the theater’s renovations have not persuaded this lingering audience member to leave.
Springfield, South Dakota · Other
Before the restaurant’s destruction, people reportedly saw a girl in its basement. HauntedPlaces.org records bowls tipping when the basement door was left open and an unsettling feeling on the stairs. These are historical accounts associated with the former restaurant and drugstore building.
Deadwood, South Dakota · Other
Travel South Dakota’s Deadwood Ghosts listing describes former employees and patrons hearing heavy bootsteps upstairs and glimpsing dark figures at doorways. These reports form the former Lucky Nugget’s ghost-tour reputation.
Hill City, South Dakota · Other
At the Hill City building later used by Harley-Davidson, workers reported objects shifting and unexplained sounds upstairs. A restaurant-era account describes pool balls suddenly scattering on an unattended table. HauntedPlaces.org associates the stories with the building’s reported earlier funeral-business use.
Rapid City, South Dakota · Hospital
HauntedPlaces.org records reports of children crying and childlike apparitions on the third floor of the historic Sioux San building. The accounts concern a campus with a boarding-school and tuberculosis-hospital past. These are attributed ghost reports, not an explanation of the documented suffering or the identities of children buried on the grounds.
Hot Springs, South Dakota · Hotel
The Shadowlands account calls the resident spirit Giselle and describes unexplained perfume upstairs and figures on the main staircase. HauntedPlaces.org also records multiple apparition stories associated with the former guest house.
Lake City, South Dakota · Other
Unexplained lights and an uneasy sense of another presence are the core Fort Sisseton reports collected by HauntedPlaces.org. The stories attach to the preserved military post rather than to a single identified ghost.
Rockerville, South Dakota · Other
According to Travel South Dakota, a transparent, well-dressed man sometimes greets Gaslight visitors. The tale calls him Samuelson Harney and says he arrived with furnishings from a demolished Rapid City hotel. Staff also credit this apparently friendly presence with pranks.
Watertown, South Dakota · Theater
Local Lou’s history of the Goss describes unexplained door slams, a piano heard with no player and sightings of a woman. Guides called her Annie, but the podcast flags that local historians challenged the name and backstory. The ghost’s biography should remain uncertain even while the building’s folklore is retained.
Mitchell, South Dakota · Other
The Shadowlands preserves a former dormitory legend of a student’s ghost after a fatal escape from a fire. This is an attributed Graham Hall story; the university archive confirms that the building itself was demolished in 2005.
Gary, South Dakota · Hotel
The Herrick’s haunted reputation centers on sounds: a child laughing when nobody is visible and footsteps upstairs in empty rooms. HauntedPlaces.org attributes the laughter to a child associated with the building’s reported school period. The hotel operator confirms the former school setting; the identity of the reported child remains unverified.
Deadwood, South Dakota · Historic house
A Queen Anne mansion survives in Deadwood with many of its former owner's things still in place: books, china, sheet music, even an old tin of cookies. Historic Adams House is an operating museum with traditional ghost stories, firsthand staff accounts and specially scheduled autumn paranormal investigations.
Deadwood, South Dakota · Hotel
The spirit of Deadwood lawman Seth Bullock is said to remain on duty at the historic hotel that bears his name.
Deadwood, South Dakota · Hotel
HauntedPlaces.org contributors place the strongest activity upstairs: Maggie Broadcaster reportedly paces a corridor, while visitors also describe a child and a top-hatted man in a dark coat. Objects are said to be thrown in one room. The accounts give the former hotel several distinct apparitions rather than a single resident ghost.