RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – The small town of Rockerville sits snugly in between the two directions US-16, where 1000 people used to live at the height of the Black Hills gold rush. Now, the town is considered mostly abandoned. This happened due to the economic nosedive the town took when US-16 expanded to 4 lanes in the mid-1960s. The expansion made it nearly impossible to gain any traction or visibility. By the early 1990s, Rockerville was essentially abandoned earning it a reputation as a ghost town.
One of the only surviving businesses after the town lost its luster in the 1990s is the Gaslight Dining Saloon. A small historic building is said to be haunted by a ghost from another historic location in the area. Samuelson Harney, a ghost formerly known to haunt the Rapid City Harney Hotel, moved to the saloon after his hotel was demolished in 1976. …