Visit Idaho’s Most Haunted Restaurant… If You Dare

Idaho is full of incredible history and historic buildings. One is an old saloon. In fact it is Idaho's first saloon and the oldest still in operation. Due to the over 110 year history, this saloon has some wild stories and some spirits that are still hanging out and causing a ruckus.

The White Horse Saloon has the most active paranormal activity of any restaurant in the state. The restaurant, saloon and 8 room hotel has been in the area of Spirit Lake since 1908.  Hardly anything in the place has changed, there have been no major renovations so the floors, bar and much of the interior is still as it was over 110 years ago. Even the creepy iron prison bars that separate the hotel have been there from the beginning.

Only in Your State says, "Numerous places throughout the state claim to be haunted to this day, but only one is said to be Idaho’s most actively paranormal restaurant: the White Horse Saloon. But this unique saloon-restaurant-hotel combination isn’t just a local watering hole; its resident ghosts are also well known to cause ghostly mayhem throughout the building."

Lingering spirits have even been known to cause damage to the bar with broken bottles and classes. People also have seen flying dishes, heard voices, if sitting alone there is a felt presence, footsteps, slamming doors and more.

The most common haunting is a spirit that the locals call "Big Girl." "Big Girl" is a former maid of the hotel whose son died while crossing the street. While she is 'felt' throughout the building the most activity is around Room 2.

One manager talked to the CDA Press about Big Girl, "She likes to stroll up and down the hallway, and she likes to play tricks on people every once in awhile,” said White Horse daytime manager Dolli Massender. “She’s known to be seen in the shadows in the windows from the street. She’s played tricks on me in the restaurant, in the dish room,” Massender said. “I’ll put dishes away into the rack where they can dry, and I’ve turned and one of the plates goes flying off. I just say, ‘Big Girl, knock it off’ … there’s just no way that a dish stacked like that is going to come off.”

Check out more about this restaurant and other historic ones in Idaho.