State file · UT
Haunted places in Utah
What are the most haunted places in Utah? The best-known are Rio Grande Depot and the Purple Lady and Skinwalker Ranch.
Utah’s ghost lore is shaped by its pioneer and railroad history. Salt Lake City grew from the Latter-day Saint settlement of 1847 into a rail and mining hub, and its grand depots, theatres and mining-baron mansions carry the state’s best-known ghost stories – none more so than the Purple Lady said to haunt the 1910 Rio Grande Depot, home today of the state’s own historians.
- 2 hauntings
- 10 recorded sightings
- 1 news story
Haunted places in Utah
Rio Grande Depot and the Purple Lady
Salt Lake City’s grand 1910 railroad depot, long home to Utah’s state historians, is said to be haunted by the Purple Lady, a woman struck by a train. Local legendSkinwalker Ranch
A Uintah Basin cattle ranch famed since 1996 for claims of UFOs, mutilated cattle and strange creatures. Years of funded study produced no firm evidence. Regional legendThe ghost lore of Utah
Out in the deserts and basins, the stories take a different shape. The Uintah Basin in the north-east has a decades-long reputation for UFO sightings, and since 1996 one cattle ranch there – Skinwalker Ranch – has become one of the most famous paranormal sites in the country, studied by a Las Vegas businessman’s research institute, linked to a Pentagon program and now the subject of a television series, despite years of investigation producing no conclusive evidence.
Elsewhere, abandoned mining camps and ghost towns such as Grafton and Silver Reef draw photographers and storytellers, and Ogden’s old Twenty-Fifth Street, once a rowdy railroad strip, is a regular on ghost walks. Much of Utah is also the homeland of the Ute, Paiute, Goshute, Shoshone and Diné (Navajo) peoples, whose traditions are living religion rather than material for ghost hunts.
Ghost-hunting hotspots
- Downtown Salt Lake City
The Rio Grande and Union Pacific depots, historic theatres and mining-era mansions on South Temple feature on the city’s ghost tours.
- Historic 25th Street, Ogden
The railroad town’s old strip of saloons, hotels and brothels is a favourite of local ghost walks.
- Grafton and Silver Reef
Southern Utah ghost towns near Zion and St. George, with pioneer cemeteries and abandoned buildings open to respectful visitors.
- The Uintah Basin
The remote basin around Vernal and Fort Duchesne has a long history of UFO reports, including Skinwalker Ranch.
Timeline
- 1910The depot opens Rio Grande Depot and the Purple Lady
The Denver and Rio Grande Western completes its $750,000 station, built to outshine the Union Pacific depot nearby.
- May 29, 1979The last Rio Grande Zephyr Rio Grande Depot and the Purple Lady
The railroad’s own passenger service ends with the final run of the Rio Grande Zephyr, then the last non-Amtrak passenger train in the country.
- 1981The state historians move in Rio Grande Depot and the Purple Lady
The Utah State Historical Society makes the depot its home, and the Rio Grande Café opens in the building.
- June 30, 1996The Shermans go public Skinwalker Ranch
The Deseret News publishes the family’s accounts of UFOs, voices and mutilated cattle on their ranch. Weeks later the ranch is sold to Robert Bigelow.
- March 10, 1997The calf mutilation Skinwalker Ranch
NIDS staff report a freshly tagged calf found dead and drained 45 minutes later – the best-known incident in Hunt for the Skinwalker.
- 2004NIDS shuts down Skinwalker Ranch
Bigelow closes his institute after years of monitoring without conclusive evidence, though he keeps the ranch.
- 2005Hunt for the Skinwalker is published Skinwalker Ranch
Colm Kelleher and George Knapp’s book makes the ranch internationally famous and gives it its name.
- April 2010A centenary – and a ghost Rio Grande Depot and the Purple Lady
The Deseret News marks the depot’s 100th year and recounts the legend of the Purple Lady and the guards’ reports of footsteps.
- 2016A new owner Skinwalker Ranch
The ranch is sold to Adamantium Real Estate, later revealed to be owned by Brandon Fugal, who launches a TV-backed investigation.
- March 2020Earthquake damage Rio Grande Depot and the Purple Lady
The Magna earthquake damages the depot’s plaster and upper walls, closing the building for repairs; the café later relocates.
From other news sites