Here’s Where to Find the Spooky Side of Cody Yellowstone
CODY, Wyo., October 14, 2024 — In just a few weeks, many people in Cody Yellowstone will become zombified. Even the sweet faces of innocent little children will begin appearing around town with blood dripping from their foreheads as they cling to the guiding hands of grown-ups, attired in scary apparel.
As adults, teens, kids and infants embrace their right to express their inner wacko, Halloween is a reminder that a little quirk can be good for the soul.
And here in Cody, one of the country’s original Wild West towns, “quirk” comes naturally, and you don’t have to look far to find fun things to do and creepy, quirky and even allegedly haunted places to see.
Things to Do:
Load up the kids with sugar. On Halloween Day, Cody’s main street, Sheridan Ave., closes to cars while shops and restaurants hand candy and to costumed kids. In nearby Powell, the
Powell Tribune sponsors the annual Powell-O-Ween with trick-or-treating at a variety of stops downtown.
Head to The Haunt. For adults only, this fundraising event at the Cody Country Art League celebrates local art and Halloween with adult beverages, snacks, costumes and more. Staged at the Cody Cattle Company, The Haunt will include a cash prize costume contest, food, drinks and dancing.
Party time. Several restaurants, bars and gathering places, including the Irma Hotel, Brewgards, Silver Dollar Bar & Grill, Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Elkhorn Bar & Grill in Meeteetse, are staging Halloween parties and costume contests.
Lace up your running shoes for the Graveyard Gallop. The Homesteader Museum in Powell, about 20 minutes from Cody, is hosting the 2nd annual Jim Beavers Memorial Graveyard Gallop 10K/5K/1 mile Run/Walk on Saturday, Oct. 26. In keeping with the theme, the race route passes Powell’s Crown Hill Cemetery.
Explore a Haunted House. Staged at the county fairgrounds, the haunted house is a fundraising event for Powell High School drama students.
Get lost in the Gallagher’s Corn Maze. Head to the town of Clark for a farm adventure that includes hayrides and hay slides, a petting zoo and pick-your-own-pumpkin patch.
Haunted Places:
Irma Hotel. One of the most recognizable buildings on Cody’s Sheridan Ave., the Irma Hotel was built by Buffalo Bill Cody in 1902 and named for his daughter Irma. Irma and her
husband Fred Garlow – manager of the hotel – both died tragically of the Spanish flu in October 1918. Irma was only 35 when she died, and Room 35 at the hotel is where there have been numerous reports hauntings. Among the occurrences guests of that room have reported: water in the bathroom turns on and off by itself, belongings are moved to different locations in the room, and artwork is found on the floor where it couldn’t have simply fallen from the picture hooks. There have also been reports of guests and staff seeing an apparition of a soldier in a cavalry uniform with a sword, but it is only the soldier’s bottom half that appears.
In another room, there have been reports of Irma herself in a rocking chair in the corner of a guest room. And servers in the dining room have reported seeing guests sitting in booths in the restaurant but finding no one there when they return to serve the guests.
In that same dining room, there’s a photo – circa early 1900s – of a ghostly figure hanging out in the dining room surrounded by a few men at the bar, seemingly undaunted by the eerie extra in their group.
J.H. Vogel Building. Now the home of a thriving retail store called the Cowboy Palace, the J.H. Vogel Building is another place with a history of hauntings. When the building opened in 1912, proprietor J.H. Vogel and his wife made full use of every nook and cranny of the building by operating a furniture store in the front and a mortuary in the back. The two businesses were separated by just a curtain, so presumably furniture shoppers were occasionally distracted by the presence of sorrowful mourners paying their respects to their deceased loved ones. Several businesses have operated in the building over the years, and many of those business owners have reported seeing a small boy in strange clothing roaming the aisles.
Cody Cemetery. There have also been reports of apparitions roaming around a field that was once a Cody cemetery. The graves in the cemetery were relocated in the 1960s because irrigation and heavy rains caused some of the coffins in shallow graves to rise to the surface. The effort to relocate the cemetery was only partially successful, and Cody locals have surmised that some of the graves were missed, and bodies may still be buried beneath what is now just a field.
Nelson Performing Arts Center at Northwest College. When it is not being used by students staging performances at this college in Powell, Wyo. near Cody, the auditorium and classrooms at Nelson Performing Arts Center are reportedly frequented by ghosts. Some students have reported hearing strange sounds and seeing ghostly figures late at night. One of the seats (we’re not telling which one) is especially haunted, with a persistent recurring ghost insisting on sitting in the seat alone late at night.
Cowboy Bar in Meeteetse. Continuously operated since 1893, this storied watering hole has seen some stuff. It’s the kind of place where shootouts really did happen, and its rough-and-tumble clientele were often on the other side of the law. It’s no wonder there have been reports of weird goings-on. Regulars have watched full glasses of liquor fall off the bar and then land on the ground upright without a drop spilled. There have also been reports of banging noises and the sound of footsteps stomping across an empty bar.
Kirwin Ghost Town. High in the mountains above Meeteetse, Kirwin was a bustling town with a population of 200 people at the peak of its mining days, but an avalanche that killed four people combined with the mining bust turned the tiny town into a ghost town in just months. Visitors can still take a UTV on the trails to the town and explore what is left of the buildings there. Many visitors have reported feeling a paranormal presence in the empty buildings…as if they’re not really alone.
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Home of the Great American Adventure, Cody Yellowstone is comprised of the northwestern Wyoming towns of Cody, Powell and Meeteetse as well as the valley east of Yellowstone National Park. The region is known for rodeos, authentic guest and dude ranches, world-class museums and recreational adventures that reflect the adventurous spirit of the visionaries and explorers who brought the remote region to the world’s attention.
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Mesereau Travel Public Relations
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