How Haunted Hotels Turn Terror Into Cash

Things to do in Deadwood when you’re dead include shooting whiskey alone and basking in the pale blue light of 5¢ slot machines. Activities for the living are similar, though there’s also a lovely Chinatown tour.

A few years ago, I took this tour and then spent the night in a pretty, historic hotel on this South Dakota town’s main drag. It's a 19th century mining town swathed in American frontier lore, and its contemporary economy is primarily driven by Wild West nostalgia. As I checked into my hotel, the concierge shared both Wi-Fi rates and the best places to see the ghost of sharp-shooting sheriff Seth Bullock, the Wild West legend who’d built the hotel in 1894. She also recommended a dinner theater in which local players reenacted the deaths of frontiersmen murdered on this very spot. Hours later, I spotted the actor cast as slain villain Wild Bill Hickok drinking alone at the hotel bar, the glow of nearby nickel slots his only witness. A phrase from the hotel casino’s marketing material—“Seth will be watching”—rang all too true.