History and Mystery

Alma Law’s Haunted Tours

Riverton, Wyoming

Photography by Melanie Limpus and contributed by Carol Harper

Alma Law is famously known around Fremont County, Wyoming as “The Ghost Story Guy.” 

“I’m not a discerner,” he said. “However, my mom was, and she had several encounters–from nightly creaking steps to glowing figures sitting in a cemetery.”

Alma grew up around ghost stories. His entire family would share stories or “feelings” of relatives that had passed and could feel their presence.

“It’s always kind of been accepted as a reality in my family,” he said, “that there are remains of personalities and energies that stay behind.”

Originally from Georgia, Alma has a deep love for both the mountains and communities of Wyoming. With two kids in school, he has established roots in Riverton with no plans of leaving anytime soon.

A passion for storytelling, history, and ghosts, Alma has found a way to incorporate all three into a way of engaging with people and sharing a sense of community. 

In 2014, while a teacher at Riverton High School, Alma came up with a unique way to increase student participation when he decided to write an online guided walking tour of ghost stories with his English students.

“I asked my students what they thought about a walking tour of Riverton, and they said it was stupid,” he laughed. “So then I asked them, ‘What if we collected local ghost stories around all of our historical research?’ and they absolutely loved that idea.”

As they dug in and went to work, they found locals that were willing to tell their ghost experiences and archived newspaper articles offered an old-fashioned perspective for the older tales.

“From that point on, my students showed up, attended the entire semester, turned in every written assignment, and we completed the online walking tour,” he beamed.

Then in 2017, Alma’s Sophomore honors students talked him into helping them write a book of the tales, and Fremont Haunts was published that very year.

That fall, by request of the Riverton Museum, he started guiding Haunted History Tours featuring ghost stories, urban myths, and legends of the Riverton and Fremont County area. The tour is a 1.5 hour trek around downtown Riverton where the stories occurred. 

Alma continually researches and adds stories for his haunted tours. His favorites include the story of the midnight jogger near the old police department, the midnight shift at the Post Office, the children of the Riverton Masonic Temple, and the many cinephiles of the Acme Theatre. 

“My stories aren’t all scary,” he said. “They are about half historical facts and half spooky tales. There’s a lot of research that goes into what I do.”

Alma and his two kids are avid rockhounders and like to take advantage of exploring the surrounding area of Riverton. One of their favorite spots, the 1838 Mountain Man Rendezvous Grounds, is steeped in both history and mystery.

The 1838 Mountain Man Rendezvous was established nearly 70 years prior to the city of Riverton. Fur companies used to caravan around the Rocky Mountain region to trade with trappers. In the summer, trappers that had worked all season traveled to the confluence of the Big and Little Wind rivers, an easy to find landmark from any direction. These men negotiated with the fur companies, reunited with other trappers, restocked their supplies, and celebrated.

“Locals have seen floating orbs or lights in these woods surrounding the rendezvous site,” Alma said. “It leads you to conjecture what those lights could be remnants of.”

He speculated that they could be lanterns from the trappers who walked down to the river to get water late at night. They also could be fairy lights enticing wanderers to come and dance with them. 

“Those same glowing balls of light are often seen in the gaslands of Wyoming,” he continued. “It could be a miner’s headlamp, or luminescence from natural gasses, or a bouncing lantern on a horse taking his passed out owner home from a drunken late night at the saloon.”

Another deeply rooted area just outside of Riverton is the historical Black Bridge. Alma explained that as the Chicago and Northwestern railroad moved westward, an early challenge was crossing the Missouri River. In 1881, a suitable crossing site was located in Nebraska. By 1883, the bridge, consisting of three Whipple (flat topped) trusses, was finally complete. Within a few decades, as rail traffic increased and locomotives became heavier and faster, the bridge was eventually deemed inadequate.

Replaced by an entirely new structure, the three old bridge trusses remained in good condition and were carefully moved out to Fremont County. Two of these bridge sections crossed the Wind River at the south end of Riverton. The other section, known as the Black Bridge, still stands on the Heritage Trail bearing its original 1883 plaque.

With its historical setting in place, Alma’s story takes a spooky twist. He stated that back in the late 90s, a group of high school students used to love ghost hunting around the area. They’d bring recording equipment and try to capture paranormal noises by the bridge.

“On one account, these students were playing back the tape when all of a sudden their voices were pulled to the background and right by the microphone was a terrible bloody scream,” he said.

After further investigation, Alma continued, these students returned to the bridge and saw a lady in a flowing white dress behind a tree. As they approached her, she would get further away, and when they stopped, she’d stop and wait. When she finally disappeared, she had led them to a clearing next to the river, and they eventually followed it back to their car.

“That’s the cool part, though,” Alma said, smiling. “Stories like this are entirely open to interpretation. Maybe she was trying to lead them to her body. American ghost stories involve figuring out why someone is troubled and helping them move on. Other cultures don’t do that.”

Alma also participated in Sinks Canyon State Park’s Friday Night Fireside Series for a few years. Folks were encouraged to come to the Sawmill Campground with blankets and chairs to gather around a campfire for s'mores and stories. 

He shared the tale of “Candy Mountain” outside of Fremont County Youth Camp. The nickname for the mountain came from an old tale which involved two campers, romance, jolly ranchers, and a fatal accident. 

Alma spends countless hours in the basement archives of the Riverton Ranger, the Riverton Museum, and in the online Wyoming Newspaper database. Besides the annual Riverton Museum tour, his goal is to schedule one haunted tour per month and tries to accommodate any group with a request for when they can meet him. He has even been approached about doing a haunted walking tour in downtown Lander. 

Alma’s tactful storytelling captivates his audiences with historical figures and locations then leading into local spooky lore. He aims not to scare, but to promote curiosity for all ages. 

To attend one of Alma’s Haunted History Tours, visit www.goriverton.com/almalaw.