Bellevue Haunted Forest

Bellevue, Idaho’s townsite was laid out in 1880, with the infamous Minnie Moore Queen of the Hills silver and lead mines soon in operation. Many people converged in this area with desperate dreams of getting rich in a new country filled with opportunity. Some of them found that wealth, but many others only found hard weather, hard work and hard times. The Chinese immigrants were the primary workers of the mines. Along with the mining industry, opium made its’ economic mark on the territory bringing with it chaos, madness and mayhem in the underground world. The meadow on the west side of the canal is the site of an old city dump and “unofficial graveyard” and the gallows were located just south of the graveyard. These gallows were known to be the site of over 200 hangings. Just northwest of the meadow, a very successful “house of ill-repute” once operated.  Here as times grew worse, darkness prevailed. Local thieves, pirates and murderers would await the immigrants returning from the mines with their silver who stopped at the house on their way down the river. Many more than were ever known died here. Some tortured, murdered and given a shallow grave. In the decades since, the forest has long been known as an area teaming with the supernatural. Over the years, the forest itself has taken on it’s own evil entity as it continues to attract darkness and “otherworldly” things. Many things have been seen, many stories have been and are yet to be told.  In any event, you have been warned. Our Mission of the Haunted Forest in Bellevue: To provide a fun, safe and entertaining environment that ensures a public benefit, while promoting the proper stewardship of the Howard Preserve through “hands-on” leadership and best practices management, as detailed in the management plan designed by the Friends of the Howard Preserve.