Historic Adams House
Deadwood, South Dakota, United States
Historic house · established
The Story
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.
The Hauntings
Deadwood is full of preserved Wild West history, but Historic Adams House tells a quieter story. Its stained glass and carved woodwork belong to the town’s prosperous later years, when comfort and civic ambition joined frontier wealth. After W. E. Adams died, his widow left the house furnished and largely undisturbed. Its rooms can now be toured as a historic home. Their remarkable completeness is also part of the haunting tradition: staff and investigators have spoken of voices and the feeling that someone remains in the upstairs rooms. The Adams House’s ghost tradition is tied closely to the museum's active staff rather than only to tourist retellings. In a 2018 interview with *605 Magazine*, Deadwood History communications director Rose Speirs described a moment on an evening tour when she believed she heard an older woman's voice asking where she was going. Speirs said other visitors in the group had heard it as well. Her account is meaningful because the speaker is named and the circumstances were recorded in published reporting. The house has hosted recurring investigations with Black Hills Paranormal Investigations. Deadwood History describes these programs as opportunities to explore stories associated with the mansion and learn the group's observation methods. Participants are led through historic rooms during specially scheduled evening sessions; the museum does not thereby allow informal after-hours investigations. Other ghost-story retellings associate unusual sounds or sensed presences with former residents, but specific identities should not be treated as proven by a disembodied voice. The haunting is particularly evocative beside the material survival of the house. A piano still holds old sheet music, books remain in the library, and the rooms retain small articles of daily life. When visitors hear the story of the question directed at a staff member, it is easy to picture an upstairs occupant noticing someone leaving. The ghost tradition belongs to the interpretation of those rooms, while the rooms themselves preserve a rare domestic record.
The History
The house was constructed in 1892 by Harris and Anna Franklin, a prominent Deadwood family, and later passed to businessman and civic benefactor W. E. Adams. Its richly detailed Queen Anne architecture features stained glass, carefully finished oak woodwork and amenities that would have felt modern in a late nineteenth-century Dakota home. W. E. Adams died in 1934. His wife Mary maintained the residence with its furnishings substantially intact while the house remained largely unused for decades. The Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission purchased it in 1992. After extensive restoration, the home opened as a museum in 2000. Today's interpretation makes the objects as important as the architecture: sheet music, china, medicines and furnishings show how a Deadwood family lived in the period between frontier beginnings and modern town life.
A sense of place.
Visitor Experiences
Have you experienced something here?
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.
Submissions are not open yet.
Sources & further reading.
- Deadwood History — Historic Adams House (history)
- 605 Magazine — A Supernatural Experience: The Adams House (history)
- 605 Magazine — A Supernatural Experience: The Adams House (reports)
- Deadwood History — Paranormal investigations (2025 press release) (reports)
- Deadwood History — Historic Adams House (visiting)
- Deadwood History — official hours and admission (visiting)
- Deadwood City Tourism — October 2026 Adams House investigation (visiting)
Plan Your Visit
Deadwood History operates guided tours under a published seasonal schedule, with a winter closure for ordinary house visits. As of this research check, a city tourism page lists separately reserved paranormal investigations on October 24, 2026. Ticketing, age restrictions and event scope come from the operator and may change. Ordinary museum admission does not authorize evening access or investigation equipment.