Haunted Places in Nebraska: 23 of the Most Haunted to Visit
A castle with a woman on the stairs, a park full of legends, a frontier fort where Crazy Horse died, a brewery cave and a 1963 sighting that made national news. These are Nebraska’s most haunted places, with what is history, what is legend and how to visit.
Nebraska’s ghost stories grew up along its rivers, rail lines and Army posts: Omaha’s mansions and pioneer cemeteries, Lincoln’s Capitol and college campuses, river towns like Brownville and frontier forts out west. We have checked every place below against current sources, so you know which are open, which you can tour, which let you stay the night and which you can only see from the road. Where a story has no record behind it, we say so.
For the best ghost story with a paper trail, start with Prospect Hill Cemetery, where the Omaha Daily Bee reported a woman in white in 1874, and Nebraska Wesleyan, where a secretary’s 1963 sighting of a long-dead music teacher made national news. To sleep somewhere haunted, the Argo in Crofton, the Arrow in Broken Bow and the Olde Main Street Inn in Chadron all take guests, and at Fort Robinson you can stay in the 1870s officers’ quarters. Haunted Rooms does not run ghost hunts in Nebraska yet; our nearest events are listed below.
Where to look The main staircase, the upper floors and the basement
Reported ghosts A woman in white on the staircase, voices and music from empty rooms
Visiting Interior by guided tour only; the grounds are open by day
Tours Public tours on set days each month (see the castle calendar), about an hour, three floors; occasional Unlocked tours include the basement
Ghost hunting Occasional ticketed evenings such as Highly Spirited in the Midwest end with an hour-long investigation; no private ghost hunts
George and Sarah Joslyn built this 35-room Scottish Baronial mansion of Kansas limestone in 1903, on a farm west of the city that Omaha soon grew around. George made his fortune with the Western Newspaper Union and died in 1916; Sarah lived here until her death in 1940. The house then served as the headquarters of Omaha Public Schools from 1944 to 1989, and since 2010 the Joslyn Castle Trust has run it as a museum.
Staff and visitors tell of voices on the upper floors, music when no one is playing and a woman in white on the main staircase, and Visit Omaha repeats a docent’s story of a photo that seemed to show a woman in blue. A paranormal team told FOX 42 in 2014 that it recorded a humming voice saying “get out.” The Trust leans into its dark history with occasional ticketed evenings that end with an hour-long investigation.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book an Unlocked tour if you can: it is the only way to see all four floors, including the basement.
Where to look The Crook House, the old officers' quarters and the former post hospital
Reported ghosts Soldiers, a murdered nurse at a hospital window, a little girl, a man in formal dress
Visiting House museum open for tours and events; the fort grounds are a college campus
Tours Crook House After Dark story evenings with historian Jamie Nestroyl (about $30)
Ghost hunting The After Dark evenings share stories and are not ghost hunts
Fort Omaha opened in 1878, and the brick Italianate house at its heart was built in 1879 for the commander of the Department of the Platte. General George Crook was the only department commander to live in it. The post later ran a balloon school, and the house stayed in Army and Navy use until 1973. Today the Douglas County Historical Society runs the restored house as a museum, and much of the old fort is Metropolitan Community College’s campus.
North Omaha historian Adam Fletcher Sasse has collected the fort’s ghost stories: a servant who died in the officers’ quarters in 1890 and was said to haunt the post for years, soldiers killed in a 1918 balloon-gas explosion, a nurse murdered in the hospital in 1945 who is said to stare from its windows, and builders in the 1970s who heard knocking from empty rooms. The historical society now runs Crook House After Dark evenings that share the stories, while saying plainly they are not ghost hunts.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book a Crook House After Dark evening early; recent dates have sold out.
Where to look The stairways, the basement and the tower floors
Reported ghosts A worker said to have fallen to his death, dark mists on the stairs, a Native American man in the basement
Visiting Open to the public daily; free guided tours
Tours Free guided tours several times a day from the North Entrance, second floor
Hours and season Mon to Fri 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sat 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sun 1 to 5 p.m.
Ghost hunting No ghost hunting; the US Ghost Adventures Lincoln walk passes the Capitol from outside
Bertram Goodhue’s Capitol, built in stages from 1922 to 1932 for just under $10 million, is a 400-foot tower topped by the gold Sower statue and one of the most admired public buildings in America. It has been a National Historic Landmark since 1976. Free guided tours run every day, and the 14th-floor Memorial Chamber is the highest public level.
The stories are persistent but thin. Students and websites tell of a prison inmate who fell from the dome while stringing Christmas lights, a workman who slipped changing a bulb, two people who went over a stair railing, a mist falling through the tower, and a Native American man in the basement, sometimes tied to a claim that the site was sacred ground. We found no record of any of these deaths, and a Capitol staff member told the Daily Nebraskan the stories are superstition.
Haunted Rooms tip: Take the free guided tour from the North Entrance and ask about the building’s real history; the guides know it well.
Where to look The theatre balcony beside the sound booth, the prop attic and empty classrooms
Reported ghosts Theatre chairman Dallas Williams, a little girl in the prop room
Visiting A working university building, open during normal weekday hours
Ghost hunting No ghost hunting; a working university building
The Temple Building opened in 1906 as a theatre and student activity center for the University of Nebraska, and it is still the home of the university’s theatre and film department. Generations of students have rehearsed, built sets and taught classes here, which is where the stories come from.
It is called the most haunted building on campus. The best known ghost is Dallas Williams, who chaired the theatre department from 1944 to 1971 and was famous for throwing chairs to make a point; people report chairs crashing in empty rooms, phantom applause and a figure by the sound booth. A little girl is said to haunt the prop attic, where a story says doll parts left in pieces were found sorted overnight. A 2019 graphic novel in Nebraska Quarterly explored the legend.
Haunted Rooms tip: Walk in during weekday hours between classes, or catch a student show in the evening.
Address 11808 John J. Pershing Drive, Omaha, NE 68112
Where to look The long stone staircase, Devil's Slide overlook and the wooded roads
Reported ghosts Legends of hanged figures in the trees, a man calling his wife's name, stairs that never count the same
Visiting A public city park, open year round by day
Tours Midwest Paranormal History Tours runs seasonal haunted hikes here
Ghost hunting No ghost hunting after dark; the park closes at night
Hummel Park is a 202-acre wooded city park in the Ponca Hills of North Omaha, created in 1930 on donated land and named for Joseph B. Hummel, the long-serving parks superintendent. It has hiking trails, a nature center, picnic shelters and an overlook above a cliff called Devil’s Slide. It also has a real dark side: Omaha Magazine lists a 1933 murder, a 1992 killing and the 2005 discovery of 12-year-old Amber Harris’s remains in the park.
Its legends are some of the best known in Nebraska. Stories tell of lynching victims seen in the trees, a colony of albinos in the woods, satanic rituals, and a stone staircase that never counts the same going up and down. None of it holds up: there is no record of a lynching here, the albinos are folklore, and the stairs have about 188 irregular steps that are easy to miscount. North Omaha historian Adam Fletcher Sasse traces much of the reputation to racism and imagination.
What investigators report
Visitors traditionally count the Devil’s Staircase steps on the way up and again on the way down to see whether the totals match. Tour groups focus on the stone steps near the Devil’s Punchbowl, where people report the wind shifting direction.
Where to look The older graves near the Parker Street side, where the Stanwood shop stood
Reported ghosts The Woman in White of 1874, looking for her children's tomb
Visiting Open daily, 8 a.m. to sunset
Tours Self-guided walking tour; History Walks runs guided tours
Hours and season Daily 8 a.m. to sunset
Ghost hunting No ghost hunting; the cemetery closes at sunset
Prospect Hill is Omaha’s oldest cemetery. The first burial was in June 1858, and about 15,000 people lie here, among them Omaha’s founders, Fort Omaha soldiers, Buffalo Soldier Sgt. Allen McClare and at least 360 early African American Omahans. One grave holds four boys killed together in an 1884 gunpowder explosion; another is that of Anna Wilson, the madam the papers called the queen of the underworld.
Its ghost story is unusually well documented. In July 1874 the Omaha Daily Bee reported that a woman in white came out of the cemetery to the shop of marble cutter H. P. Stanwood, asked whether her children were buried in a certain tomb, shrugged off two revolver shots and vanished at a grave. The paper said Stanwood was no believer in ghosts but backed the story. A caretaker convicted in 1909 of digging up the dead only added to the place’s reputation.
Haunted Rooms tip: Walk the grounds before sunset (gates close then) and look for the Four Boys grave near Anna Wilson’s.
Visiting a haunted place by day is one thing. Investigating one after dark is another. On a Haunted Rooms ghost hunt our team takes you through a historic building with professional ghost hunting equipment, runs EVP sessions and vigils, and gives you time to explore on your own. These are the nearest ones we run.
Where to look The Smith-Curtis Administration Building, on the site of the C.C. White Building
Reported ghosts Music teacher Clara Mills, seen in 1963 in the office where she died in 1940
Visiting A university campus; the grounds are open, buildings are for students and staff
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunting
On the morning of October 3, 1963, secretary Coleen Buterbaugh walked into an office suite in Nebraska Wesleyan’s C.C. White Building. The room went silent, she smelled a musty odor, and she saw a tall, slender woman with black hair in an old-fashioned long skirt reaching into a cabinet. Through the window, the streets and a later sorority house had vanished. The office had belonged to Clara Mills, who taught music here for 28 years and was found dead at her desk in 1940.
The case drew national attention and became one of the best known ghost sightings in the Midwest; staff took Buterbaugh seriously, and she later picked Mills out of an old yearbook. The C.C. White Building was torn down in 1973 and the Smith-Curtis Administration Building now stands on the site. Mills is buried in Wyuka Cemetery, and the university still tells the story every Halloween.
Haunted Rooms tip: Walk the campus by day and stop at Smith-Curtis; Mills’s grave is a few miles away in Wyuka Cemetery.
Where to look The reconstructed guardhouse and adjutant's office, the 1874 officers' row and the parade ground at night
Reported ghosts Soldiers and Native Americans, and hoofbeats on the parade ground after dark
Visiting A state park, open year round; park entry permit required
Tours Fort Robinson Museum in the 1905 headquarters; lodging in historic officers’ and enlisted quarters April 1 to November 30
Ghost hunting No ghost hunts; you can stay overnight in the historic quarters
Fort Robinson was set up in 1874 in the Pine Ridge country to guard the Red Cloud Agency, and it saw some of the hardest moments of the Plains wars. Crazy Horse was bayoneted here while resisting arrest on September 5, 1877, and died that night. In January 1879 Dull Knife’s Northern Cheyenne broke out of the barracks where they were held, and soldiers killed men, women and children as they fled. The fort later bred cavalry horses, trained war dogs and held German prisoners of war.
Today it is a state park and National Historic Landmark where you can sleep in the old officers’ quarters. Visitors’ stories, as collected by travel writers, are of the specters of soldiers and Native Americans and the sound of horses on the parade ground at night; we found no detailed published accounts beyond that, so take them as folklore around a place whose tragedies are fully documented.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book a night in the 1870s officers’ quarters (April to November) and walk the parade ground after dark.
Where to look The boarded maids' staircase in the Post Commander's Home
Reported ghosts An officer's wife who fell down the stairs in 1885
Visiting Museum open summers; tours by appointment through November
Tours Volunteer-led tours by appointment (call 308-249-1844 or 308-250-0273); free Shadows of Fort Sidney evening each late October with flashlight tours and local ghost stories
Ghost hunting No ghost hunts; the haunted staircase is closed to visitors
The Army set up Sidney Station between the North and South Platte rivers to guard the transcontinental railroad, and it was Fort Sidney until it closed in 1894. A few buildings survive as the Fort Sidney Complex: the Post Commander’s Home, furnished as it was in the late 1800s, a powder house, and the married officers’ quarters, which hold the Cheyenne County Museum. The complex is on the National Register.
The story everyone tells is of a commander’s young wife who fell to her death in 1885 on the steep, narrow maids’ staircase, said to be carrying laundry. Her grieving husband had the stairs walled up. When they were opened again in 1975, people began to hear footsteps on them and the sound of someone tumbling down. The stairs are not open to visitors, and we found no record naming the woman.
Haunted Rooms tip: Go in late October for the free Shadows of Fort Sidney flashlight tours, or call ahead for an appointment.
Where to look Room 1, the hallways and the lounge with its player piano
Reported ghosts A crying woman, a crying baby, a man in a hat and long black coat
Visiting A working hotel; book a room to stay
Ghost hunting No organized ghost hunts; book a room
The Argo opened in 1912 as a railroad hotel in Crofton, became a clinic and sanatorium in 1940, and was restored as a hotel decades later. It has been on the National Register since 1999.
Its best-known story is grim: workers renovating the building are said to have found an infant’s bones hidden in a wall, and guests had long reported a baby crying. Others describe a sad woman in the halls, a man in a hat and long black coat, slamming doors and a player piano that starts on its own. Ghost Hunters filmed an episode here. Call ahead to confirm rooms before you travel.
Haunted Rooms tip: Call the hotel before you plan a trip to confirm rooms.
Where to look The staircase, the guest suites and the 77 Longbranch Saloon
Reported ghosts Anna in a red satin dress and Jack, an Irish prankster
Visiting A working hotel; book a room to stay
Ghost hunting No organized ghost hunts; book a room
The Hotel Chadron opened on Main Street in August 1890, and that winter General Nelson Miles used it as his headquarters while he investigated the Wounded Knee Massacre. It later served as a railroad YMCA and the first gym for Chadron State College. Innkeeper Jeanne Goetzinger has run it as the Olde Main Street Inn for 35 years, with nine suites and the 77 Longbranch Saloon.
Its two ghosts have names. Anna is seen in a red satin dress, and Jack, said to be Irish, gets the blame for a St. Patrick’s Day beer that came out of the tap green. Guests also report footsteps on empty stairs and a glass of water that moved across the room overnight.
Haunted Rooms tip: Call ahead; the inn was listed for sale in 2025.
Where to look The granite chapel and its basement, the old crematory
Reported ghosts A dark mass in the chapel basement and a voice saying "get out"
Visiting Cemetery grounds open daily; the historic chapel is usually closed
Hours and season Gates open from 7 or 8 a.m. to between 6 and 8 p.m. depending on season
Ghost hunting No ghost hunting; an active cemetery
Forest Lawn is Omaha’s largest cemetery, 349 acres of rolling hills in North Omaha, laid out on John Brackin’s farm in 1885; Brackin himself was the first burial a year later. Governors, senators, the founder of the World-Herald and Howard Buffett lie here. Its small granite chapel, designed by John McDonald (architect of Joslyn Castle) and dedicated in 1913, hides the cemetery’s original crematory in its basement, said to be the site of Nebraska’s first cremation.
That basement is where the stories are. A paranormal team told the Omaha World-Herald it saw a shadow cross a wall, recorded a voice saying “get out,” and watched a large black mass block a doorway; one member said her hair was pulled. The chapel was restored in 1990 and is only used for occasional services, so it is usually locked, and one Omaha writer who visited felt nothing at all.
Haunted Rooms tip: Visit in daylight and look at the chapel from outside; it opens only for occasional services.
Where to look The walled-off end of the cave and the carved sandstone chambers
Reported ghosts Voices, chanting and drumming; spirits said to be behind a sealed section
Visiting Privately owned; by booked tour only
Tours Guided tours of about an hour, every day by reservation (call or text 402-975-0598)
Tickets Adults about $23, children 6 to 12 about $10
Ghost hunting No ghost hunts; the tour ends with a paranormal story
Under an event hall in south Lincoln is about 5,000 square feet of tunnels cut into soft Dakota sandstone. A small natural cave was enlarged by German immigrant Jacob Andra between about 1869 and 1873 to store beer for Lincoln’s first brewery. After the brewery closed it became a pleasure ground: the Scarborough family opened it to the public in 1906, and for decades it was a dance hall, party room and student hangout, its walls covered with carved names. It joined the National Register in 2020.
The name comes from legends of horse thieves and outlaws, including Jesse James, that no historian has confirmed. Older stories, our own guide among them, claimed Pawnee ceremonies and tunnels to the state penitentiary and asylum where prisoners died; tour operators treat these as urban legends. Ghost stories focus on voices and drumming and a walled-off section, and guide Joel Green ends each tour with a paranormal tale.
Haunted Rooms tip: Call or text to book a few days ahead, and bring a layer: the cave stays about 55 degrees all year.
Address 3rd and Macomb Streets, Valentine, NE 69201
Where to look The old music room and the hallways
Reported ghosts A girl said to have died from a poisoned clarinet reed in 1944, and music from an empty room
Visiting A local history museum, open summers or by appointment
Hours and season Memorial Day to Labor Day: Thursday and Friday 1pm to 5pm, Saturday 9am to 5pm; other times by appointment (402-376-2969)
Tickets Small admission fee
Ghost hunting No ghost hunts
Valentine Public School went up in 1897 and is said to be the oldest standing high school building in Nebraska. It is on the National Register, and as Centennial Hall it now holds a local history museum with exhibits in about a dozen former classrooms.
Its legend says a student died after someone poisoned the reed of her clarinet; most tellings say 1944, some 1947. Teachers were said to see her in the halls, often with a sudden sick feeling, and since the school became a museum visitors have reported clarinet music from the old music room, though no instruments are kept there, plus footsteps and a rocking chair that moves by itself. No victim is ever named and we found no record of such a death, so treat it as a story.
Haunted Rooms tip: The museum opens Memorial Day to Labor Day (Thursday and Friday afternoons, Saturdays) or by appointment; ask the volunteers about the music room.
Where to look The interior doors that will not stay shut
Reported ghosts Captain Bailey and his wife, said to have been poisoned by a jealous neighbor
Visiting Museum open weekend afternoons in season
Hours and season Fridays to Sundays 1 to 4 p.m., early April to October
Tickets Free
Ghost hunting No ghost hunts
Brownville was the biggest town in Nebraska Territory, a Missouri River port founded in 1854 that faded when the railroads passed it by, leaving a village of historic houses and museums. The seven-gabled brick Bailey House, built of brick from one of the town’s own kilns, belonged to a Civil War captain. In 1877 it was taken apart and moved brick by brick from near the river up to Main Street. It is on the National Register and run by the Brownville Historical Society.
The historical society itself repeats the local story: the doors in the house will not stay closed because Captain and Mrs. Bailey haunt it, after being poisoned by a jealous neighbor. Other tellers add piano music at night. We found no record of a poisoning.
Haunted Rooms tip: Visit on a summer weekend afternoon (admission is free) and pair it with the other Brownville museums.
Where to look Room 205, the basement, the stairs to the kitchen and the old cigar room
Reported ghosts A former owner on the kitchen stairs, a grey-haired man, a red-haired woman, a ghost cat
Visiting A working hotel; book a room to stay
Ghost hunting No organized ghost hunts; book a room
Broken Bow businessmen built the Arrow in 1928 on the town square, in a Prairie School design by John Latenser and Sons. It later became apartments, which is why the upstairs historic rooms are full suites with kitchens, and then came back as a hotel. It has been on the National Register since 1985.
Staff and guests describe a former owner walking the stairs to the kitchen, a gaunt grey-haired man, a woman with long red hair and even a ghost cat. A local paranormal team has recorded audio here, and staff once watched a smoking man on camera who vanished. Room 205 and the basement get the most reports.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask for Room 205 or one of the historic upstairs suites.
Open to the publicParanormal investigations allowed
Address 1110 Douglas Street, Omaha, NE 68102
Where to look The basement Sit Challenge room and the doll cases, including Ayda
Reported ghosts Objects said to move on camera, a crying baby and a child's voice in the basement
Visiting Self-guided tours, no appointment needed; recommended for mature visitors
Hours and season Wednesday to Sunday, afternoons into evening (check the website)
Tickets About $25 per person
Ghost hunting The museum runs its own ghost hunts and the Sit Challenge
Nate and Kaleigh Raterman opened the Museum of Shadows in 2016 to show the allegedly haunted objects people had been sending them. It started in Elmwood, moved to an old building in Plattsmouth within a year, where in 2018 its security cameras caught a ball rolling across the floor before dawn, and since June 2020 it has filled the Christian Specht Building on Douglas Street in downtown Omaha, an 1884 building with Nebraska’s only surviving cast-iron front. It claims thousands of donated items.
This is a modern attraction rather than a historic site, and its claims are the owners’ own. Staff say the doll Ayda turns her head and has leaned forward to hit her glass, that another doll injured a couple, and that a baby cries in the basement. Visitors can tour on their own, try the Sit Challenge (ten minutes alone in the dark basement) or join an evening ghost hunt led by Nate.
What investigators report
Visitors can take the Ten-Minute Sit Challenge, sitting alone in complete darkness in a designated room. Staff advise guests to watch what they say around Claire, a doll kept in a glass case in the basement.
Address 230 North Jefferson Street, Papillion, NE 68046
Where to look The schoolroom; Heartbeat Bridge is part of the legend
Reported ghosts A teacher said to have killed her pupils, and hearts beating under a bridge
Visiting Museum open limited hours and by appointment
Hours and season Wednesdays 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., or by appointment
Tickets School and farmhouse tour about $5
Ghost hunting No ghost hunting; a historical society museum
The Portal School was a one-room country school for Portal Township, south of Papillion. The 1890 building replaced an 1871 school after floods, was moved out of the flood plain in 1908, and was the last working one-room school in Sarpy County when it closed in May 1993. In 1995 the Papillion Area Historical Society bought it for $1 and moved it to East 3rd and Jefferson Streets, where it is now a small museum.
Generations of Omaha teenagers knew it as the Hatchet House. The legend says a teacher went mad, killed her pupils, left them at their desks and threw their hearts from a nearby bridge, whose boards still thump like heartbeats. Folklorists have recorded the story from people who grew up in Omaha, but no record of any such killing exists, and both the school and the bridge have since been moved.
Haunted Rooms tip: Visit on a Wednesday lunchtime or book an appointment for a tour, and read the historical marker out front.
Address Road L, south of Nebraska City, Otoe County, NE
Where to look The seven hills along the road
Reported ghosts Seven sisters said to have been hanged, screams, stalling cars
Visiting A public road; drive it, but respect the farms and homes along it
Ghost hunting Do not stop on private land
Road L is a gravel road over rolling hills south of Nebraska City, and it is one of the best known legends in the state. The story says that in the late 1800s a man, a brother in some versions and a father in others, hanged seven sisters from trees on seven hills along the road. Other versions add poison and a pregnant sister, and say the sisters are buried in a nearby cemetery.
Drivers report screams and bells, cars that stall or speed up, dimming lights, windows that open on their own, and worse. There is no record that the murders ever happened. Writers who have looked into it point instead to real hangings in the area in the 1800s that may have fed the tale.
Haunted Rooms tip: Drive it in daylight, slowly, and pull over only where it is safe: it is a working country road with homes along it.
Address Military Avenue and Clarkson Street, Fremont, NE 68025
Where to look The park's edges after dark
Reported ghosts A grieving woman who walks the park, voices when no one is near
Visiting A public city park, open until dark
Ghost hunting No ghost hunting after dark; the park closes
Barnard Park was once Fremont’s cemetery. When the city turned it into a park, burials were moved to Ridge Cemetery, but the story goes that not every grave was found, and some unmarked graves were left behind.
Those left behind are said to be why the park is restless. Visitors describe figures and voices when no one is around, and a woman, often said to be a grieving mother, who walks the edges of the park; some say sightings are best in winter. We found no record of who was left behind or of the woman herself, so treat it as local legend. A marker on the park’s north edge notes that the Mormon Pioneer Trail passed here in 1847. The park closes at dark.
Haunted Rooms tip: Stroll through before dark; it is a neighborhood park and closes at night.
Reported ghosts Running footsteps, whispers and shadow figures
Visiting A working movie theater; buy a ticket
Ghost hunting No ghost hunts
The Alliance Theatre fills the old Charters Hotel building on Box Butte Avenue, put up as a hotel in 1903. It became the New Imperial Theatre in 1914, and in 1937 Fox gutted and rebuilt it with a Streamline Moderne front designed by Denver architect Walter H. Simon; it reopened on November 23, 1937. It has since been split into five screens and still shows first-run films.
Staff say they see shadowy figures and hear footsteps running up and down the aisles and through the halls. In 2002 the Omaha World-Herald ran the story under the headline “If theater is haunted, ghosts are very friendly, owner says”, and owner Gerald Bullard shrugged it off as “just a friendly ghost.” Nobody has put a name to it, and no death is linked to the building.
Haunted Rooms tip: Buy a ticket for an evening show; it is still a working cinema.
Address 3200 Veterans Memorial Drive, Lincoln, NE 68502
Where to look The field behind the caretaker's house and the woods beyond
Reported ghosts Figures that cross the field and vanish into the trees
Visiting A public city park, open daily 5am to 11pm
Hours and season Daily, 5am to 11pm
Ghost hunting No organized ghost hunts
Antelope Park is one of Lincoln’s oldest city parks. The city bought its first 31 acres in 1905, donors including William Jennings Bryan added more, and today it runs along Antelope Creek from 23rd and N to 33rd and Sheridan, with the Sunken Gardens, a rose garden, the children’s zoo next door, a golf course, a 1914 memorial fountain and miles of trail.
Its ghost story is simple and often repeated: visitors say they have seen figures walk across the field behind the caretaker’s house and disappear into the woods on the far side, and others describe their hair standing on end. Our older guide added a man who hanged himself from a swing set, but we found no record of that, so we have left it out.
Haunted Rooms tip: Make a day of it with the Sunken Gardens, then walk out to the field behind the caretaker’s house before dusk.
Address Wayne State College, 1111 Main Street, Wayne, NE 68787
Where to look The basement storage closet
Reported ghosts Cora, a student said to have died in the basement
Visiting A college residence hall; see it from outside
Ghost hunting Residents only; no ghost hunting
Neihardt Hall opened in 1930, part of a push to replace Wayne State’s old frame dormitories with fireproof brick, and it is now the oldest residence hall left on campus. Students learn the legend of Cora within weeks of arriving: a young student who died in the basement, now blamed for flickering lights, doors that will not behave and noises at night.
The college archivist, Marcus Schlichter, looked into it for the student paper and found no record of anyone named Cora dying there; a 1991 version even put her death before the building existed. He suggests the name came from Cora Hintz, a rural teacher murdered near Coleridge around 1917 whose sister studied in Wayne, blended with a student’s 1930s death that made national news. He found no campus ghost stories before the mid-1960s.
Haunted Rooms tip: Walk the campus by day; Neihardt is a residence hall, so stay outside.
These places appear in older lists of haunted spots. We keep them here so you know the facts before you go, but you cannot (or should not) visit them.
Ball Cemetery, Springfield
A small 1800s family cemetery in Sarpy County, said to hold a tall, bad-tempered male figure and a laughing woman who tugs at clothing. It is posted No Trespassing and neighbors watch it closely; at most, look from outside the gate by day. Our older guide wrongly placed it in Missouri.
Devil's Canyon, north of McCook
The story says a man killed his wife and children here more than a century ago and then himself, and that his ghost, sometimes called the Duke, makes cars fail at night. We found no record of the killings or a clear public location, so we have taken it off the main list.
Blackbird Hill, near Decatur
The burial place of Omaha chief Blackbird, on the Omaha Reservation. The ghost story of a woman stabbed by her husband, who then leapt into the Missouri River, said to scream every October 17, has no record behind it. This is tribal land and a grave site: please do not go looking for it.
Mystery Manor, Omaha
Wayne Sealy ran a haunted-house attraction in this 1886 house at 716 North 18th Street from 1984. Its legend, a man who killed his wife with an axe after the 1929 crash and was killed in turn, has no basis: Omaha Magazine found that a single woman who bred terriers lived there at the time. The attraction has closed and Creighton University bought the building.
Cornerstone Mansion, Omaha
The 1894 Offutt-Yost mansion at 140 North 39th Street ran as a bed and breakfast until about 2016, with stories of a woman named Emily said to have been beaten to death by her chauffeur husband in the carriage house. A local historian found no trace of Emily in Omaha papers. It changed hands several times and sold in 2025 to a mental health association planning transitional housing, so it no longer takes guests.
David Hall, Concordia University, Seward
Our older guide said this residence hall was haunted by Native American spirits after bones were dug up during 1970s construction. We could not find a source for that, and it is a student dorm, so we have removed it.
Platte County Museum, Columbus
Our older guide mentioned shadow figures and voices at this local history museum, but gave no source and we could not find one. The museum itself is open; the haunting is unverified, so we have removed it from the list.
Haunted places by city
Haunted places in Omaha: Joslyn Castle, Hummel Park, Prospect Hill, Forest Lawn, the Crook House, the Museum of Shadows and more
Haunted places in Lincoln: the Capitol, Robber’s Cave, the Temple Building, Nebraska Wesleyan and the Ferguson House
Changed from our older guide: we checked every place against current sources. Ball Cemetery, Devil’s Canyon and Blackbird Hill moved to the off-limits list because they are private, tribal land or unverifiable; David Hall and the Platte County Museum were removed because we could find no source for their stories; the Museum of Shadows has moved from Plattsmouth to downtown Omaha. We added Joslyn Castle, Prospect Hill, the Crook House, Fort Robinson, Fort Sidney, the Clara Mills sighting, the Hatchet House, Neihardt Hall, the State Capitol, Robber’s Cave and Nebraska’s three haunted hotels.
Visited one of these places? Tell us what happened
We collect first-hand accounts from visitors and add the best ones to our guides, with your first name and the date of your visit. We read every story before it’s published.
Joslyn Castle in Omaha and Hummel Park are the best known, but the best-documented ghost story is the 1874 Woman in White at Omaha’s Prospect Hill Cemetery, reported in the Omaha Daily Bee at the time. The 1963 Clara Mills sighting at Nebraska Wesleyan in Lincoln is the state’s most famous single encounter.
Can you stay overnight in a haunted place in Nebraska?
Yes. The Argo Hotel in Crofton, the Arrow Hotel in Broken Bow and the Olde Main Street Inn in Chadron all take guests and have well-known ghost stories, and Fort Robinson State Park rents rooms in its 1870s officers’ quarters from April to November.
Is Hummel Park really haunted?
Hummel Park has a real history of crimes, but its famous legends, from lynchings to albinos in the woods to stairs that change count, have no evidence behind them. The stairs have about 188 irregular steps that are easy to miscount. Visit by day.
Where can I go ghost hunting in Nebraska?
The Museum of Shadows in Omaha runs its own ghost hunts, and Joslyn Castle holds occasional ticketed evenings that end with an investigation. Haunted Rooms does not run events in Nebraska yet; our nearest ghost hunts are in Wisconsin and Illinois.
Are there ghost tours in Nebraska?
Yes. Lincoln has a nightly ghost walk past the Capitol and the Kennard House, Omaha has seasonal tours from Midwest Paranormal History Tours, the Douglas County Historical Society runs Crook House After Dark evenings, and Fort Sidney holds flashlight tours each October.
Is Seven Sisters Road real?
The road is real: it is Road L, a gravel road south of Nebraska City. The legend of seven sisters hanged on seven hills is not; there is no record of the murders. Drive it slowly in daylight and respect the homes along it.
Sources and how we research
Every place in this guide is checked against its official website, historic register listings and news coverage, and we confirm whether it is open, closed, private or gone before we list it. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and local historians tell them; we say so where records contradict a story. Each place shows how many independent sources we checked it against; our own Haunted Rooms pages are not counted.
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About the authors
The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every place in our guides using official sites, historic registers, local archives and news coverage, and we report ghost stories as the stories they are. We review each guide regularly so you are not sent to a place that has closed, changed hands or banned visitors. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
