Investigation Deadwood
**Fair warning – this is long and we don’t have PROOF of things we experienced, so this is just a narrative of how our weekend went**
Deadwood South Dakota – where gold brought thousands of people expecting to hit it big and take home a fortune. Some did, some did not. In 1874 gold was found in the majestic Black Hills. In 1876 the miners arrived and started prospecting in the Northern Hills – thus Deadwood was born.
With gold came the rough and tumble characters of the west – if you have watched the series ‘Deadwood’ you will be familiar with names like Al Swearingen, Seth Bullock and Potato Creek Johnny. Wild Bill Hickok also came into town looking for his fortune but was cut short in a few weeks of arriving by being gunned down while playing cards. (More about him later!)
Deadwood as a town suffered. Not only did gunslingers and gamblers run the town, there was also the prostitution that came along with it. Many girls chose the lifestyle, and in all honesty the madams treated the girls like family and were ruthless when it came to anyone being less than savory with them. There were however, the girls that did NOT choose to be there. Those girls sometimes ended up at what is the top floor of the Fairmont Hotel. Fun fact that prostitution was still legal in Deadwood South Dakota up until 1980 when the final raid happened and it was shut down.
The suffering wasn’t just ‘man-made’ it was nature. Floods and fires ravaged the town multiple times. Enough that most of the now street level town of Deadwood is actually BUILT ON TOP OF the first level of buildings. You can see this especially at the Bullock Hotel, where the decorative window arches of the original hotel peak out over the cobblestone street.
With all this comes paranormal activity. Death, grief, anger, mistreatment and horror all lead up to the hauntings of today!
In 2023, GWP made the trip to Deadwood for ‘Spirits of Deadwood’ a paracon supporting the wonderful organization Sacred Mountain Retreat Center (you can find their link in our Recommendations Page) Here we got to meet Searchers – Shane Pitman and Josh Purvis along with Horn Paranormal, the Ghost Biker and All Out Paranormal’s Rex Nielson. It was our first outing as an actual ‘group’ and it was AWESOME. The paranormal community can be a fickle one at times, but the friendships we made and the support we received was a huge stepping stone for us finding ourselves and gaining our confidence.
The investigations began at Mount Moriah Cemetery at night – first time for us seeing an SLS in person (shout out to Horn Paranormal for making some AMAZING equipment – check them out on our Rec Page as well) While we were there, the VIP group of about 25 kinda wandered here and there and with it being dark and high up above the city the atmosphere is definitely creepy. The group centered around Wild Bill and Calamity Jane’s graves to try and get responses and use the SLS. As Michelle and I stood in one of the main pathways, we decided to walk up a bit to where the children’s area was and I stopped in my tracks. Ahead of me was a dark shadow figure up on the hill watching. I have to giggle now because my reaction was to lower my head and stand there going ‘nope – no sir I’m not seeing that’ but I did. We tried to debunk it – was it one of the historical street signs? Was it just a tree?
A little unnerved, we walked onlooking around and joined the outskirt of the group. Like a prickling at the back of your brain we were both drawn to keep looking at the top of the hill. That’s when 3 of us at the same time saw this shadow MOVE. It walked in between a set of trees and stopped. Then moved again. Thankfully more than just Michelle and I saw it so we didn’t think we were matrixing this shadow into reality. Strange – and it started the weekend out just right.
Next up was the full night of several buildings – this night we included general public that could buy tickets. Let me tell you one thing about Deadwood….its a big tourist attraction NOT for the history but for legal gambling and of course drinking. Which led to some very interesting encounters with people that night. The group was split up into 3, with mostly the VIPs in the same group. We went from the Bullock Hotel to the Green Door to the Fairmont.
The Bullock Hotel is a staple of the town – built in 1895 by Seth Bullock and Sol Star, over the ashes of a converted warehouse after the Deadwood fire of 1894 ravaged the original 2-story wood-frame building and much of the town. Seth was Lawrence County’s sheriff, elected in 1877 after the murder of Wild Bill. The hotel is a beautiful building and was our base of operations for the weekend. While we had full ability to roam the hotel and some rooms to investigate, Shane & Josh were conducting an Estes Method Investigation. In all honesty we didn’t get too much at this location. I have stayed here previously and had someone whisper in my ear and also have seen a shadow move between rooms on the top floor. So this stop was a learning experience for us with watching and listening to the Estes experiment.
Next up was the Green Door. Let me tell you – the people at Deadwood History are absolutely awesome. Paired up with Black Hills Paranormal in this location – it was active, fun and sad at the same time. The Green Door was a brothel, and was one of the last ones operating in 1980. Housed in the ‘Lower End’ of Deadwood, also called the ‘Badlands’, the Green Door was quite the experience. BHPI has investigated this location multiple times and have a really good relationship with the spirits there. The leader of BHPI, Mo was getting multiple voices and responses as he interacted with one of the ladies. If you want to hear some great EVPs they have captured there head to their website! (Link on our Rec Page)
Finally – The Fairmont. This one was CRAZY guys. Since this is getting long winded (thank you Charity for always wanting to be a writer) I’ll just tell you that this place was eerie, sad and ACTIVE. The Fairmont had separate levels of the brothel. 2nd floor girls were the ladies that CHOSE to be there, worked well with the Madam and were treated ‘well’. But the 3rd floor is another story. The 3rd floor is dark. There is a not very nice spirit that resides there and we think holds power over the spirits of the ladies. While investigating, we had 2 devices out – a Tempest and a GEC Spirit Chat. Both are an ovilus like device that spirits can ‘talk’ through. While in one area, the room just behind the turret area we started getting warnings. “He’s coming” “Run” from BOTH devices at the same time. Needless to say that sent shivers up the spine. What we didn’t know at the time was a pair of investigators (who now make up Psydkicks Paranormal) were snapping pictures and caught him. A very tall shadow figure wearing a bowler style hat was behind Michelle. So having the words be corroborated with a picture later once we got back to the Bullock was HUGE. The sadness on the 3rd level is palpable. The large iron rings that held the chains to keep the girls in check are still in the walls. Seeing that is a stark reminder of the roughness that was Deadwood. Many girls leaped from the 3rd floor windows, only to be yanked by the chain and either break their legs as they only fell a few feet out the window or their body slammed into the outside wall.
In between the night investigation of course we roamed Deadwood, and ended up in the original Saloon 10 – which is now Wild Bill Bar. For a small fee you can go downstairs into the actual room where Bill was playing cards and was shot in the back…holding the Dead Mans Hand of aces and eights. It was the first and last time Bill sat with his back to an open doorway. After meeting the owners and going on a tour of the entire building, we had an obligatory shot and headed downstairs. We didn’t feel the presence of Mr Hickok that day, but another more ‘angry’ spirit. Jack McCall seemed to think that Michelle’s red hair made her a ‘lady of the night’ and was not very nice. She got this same response several times over the investigations. I told her maybe wear a hat next time…wink wink. There is an original jail cell down in the area as well, and sitting in there is a strange feeling – like being transported back in time. Hearing cell doors slam, feeling automatically clammy and nauseous.
We had our clock radio in our room in the Franklin turn on by itself – and we checked there was no alarm set and it was BLARING. We also had an encounter with a VERY pissed off and “WHY WONT HE DIE” wasp in our room that I’m pretty sure we used every chemical in our arsenal of hygiene/hair products to destroy.
There is so much history in this little town. From end to end Deadwood is only around 4 square miles. If you walk from the First Gold to the Gold Country Inn, it’s a 1.5 mile walk. Did that a lot! It calls to us often, and we try to get out there at least once a year or so. Our goal is to host our own Paracon there one day, and have the ticket sales benefit Sacred Mountain.
