Red Onion Saloon
Skagway, Alaska, United States
Other · established
The Story
Above Skagway’s Red Onion Saloon, a preserved brothel museum introduces the women of the Gold Rush and a resident ghost called Lydia. Perfume and sudden cold spots accompany her story. The business’s normal visitor season runs from May through September, with upstairs access through museum tours.
The Hauntings
The Red Onion brings together a working saloon and rooms preserved for historical interpretation. Downstairs is the public bustle of food and conversation; upstairs are the small spaces where women worked during the Gold Rush. The museum tells that history through its room arrangement and collections, with costumed guides helping visitors navigate the past. Lydia’s story is woven into the same upstairs setting rather than attached to a separate, supposedly secret destination. The saloon’s own museum page names Lydia as its resident ghost and invites visitors to look for her presence. Atlas Obscura’s 2019 retelling supplies two characteristic signs: perfume in the hallways and pronounced cold spots near the upstairs rooms. In that telling, Lydia is described as a former madam. Other accounts vary in how they describe her work, and a complete historical identity has not been established here. The appeal of the tradition lies partly in its ordinary scale. A scent in a corridor or a sudden change in a small room can feel more personal than a grand apparition. Lydia belongs to the museum’s continuing story of the women who occupied these spaces—a remembered presence rather than a single, settled biography.
The History
The Red Onion began as a saloon and bordello in 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush. Its upstairs arrangement contained ten small rooms. The operator describes a signaling system in which dolls at the downstairs bar indicated which women were available to customers. This was a commercial system governing people’s work, not a collection of haunted dolls. The building’s current museum collection combines objects found in the former brothel with pieces from the owner’s collection. That distinction helps visitors read the rooms without assuming that everything on display belonged to one particular resident. The ground floor remains a restaurant and bar, while the upstairs museum has a separate visitor experience.
A sense of place.
Visitor Experiences
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This future chapter will bring together stories from the PHASM community. An unexpected encounter, a lingering feeling, or a quiet visit—your experience will be welcome.
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Sources & further reading.
- Red Onion Saloon — Brothel Museum (history)
- Atlas Obscura — Red Onion Saloon in Skagway (history)
- Red Onion Saloon — Plan Your Visit (history)
- Red Onion Saloon — Brothel Museum (reports)
- Atlas Obscura — Red Onion Saloon in Skagway (reports)
- Red Onion Saloon — Plan Your Visit (visiting)
Plan Your Visit
The official site lists a normal May–September season. October access was not established, so check directly before planning a visit outside that window. Dining is generally walk-in during operation; museum and walking tours have their own tickets and availability. The upstairs museum requires stairs. Use the current address, 201 Broadway, and distinguish a public street tour from permission to explore rooms independently.