Bozeman Paranormal Society

History-

The Dumas Brothel was opened in 1890 by brothers Arthur and Joseph Nadeau. They had immigrated to the U.S. from French Canada in 1868. In 1878 Joseph married another French Canadian immigrant named Deliah Dumas.
When the brothel was formed, Joseph was already a successful businessman, owning the Windsor Hotel and Restaurant at 13 E. Broadway in Butte, Montana. The brothers decided to use Deliah’s maiden name so as not to reflect badly on his “legitimate businesses.”
In 1922 Dick and Lillian Walden bought the Dumas from the Nadeau’s and operated it until 1950. In 1942, the U.S. Government attempted to close all houses of ill repute in the country in an attempt to shield young men who, at the time, had the potential to be headed off to war, from contracting or spreading venereal disease. It was around this time that the basement was sealed off, and all of the rumored underground tunnels around town that lead to the Dumas and other brothels were closed as well. This effectively created a time capsule of anything left down there at the time.

In 1950 Elinore Knott took over operations of what had become the Dumas Hotel. It was a hotel in name only and the brothel continued with their business as usual. In early 1955 Elinore died in the upstairs Madame’s room. He death certificate listed her death as coronary occlusion, but what seems to be way more fact based is she died at her own hand after her lover who was supposed to come for her one night and take her away failed to show. Elinore was 42. She was buried in Mountain View Cemetery, however her spirit has been seen many times upstairs at the brothel she ran for 5 years.
From 1955 until 1971 the Dumas was run by Bonita Farren. According to Elinore’s death certificate, her body was found by Bonita. Bonita also had 1 or maybe 2 husbands. There has been no official record of her first husband, even though she was supposedly married for a couple of years when she was 19. She married John at age 21.

John died after a fall while at the Dumas. His death certificate lists alcohol as a contributing factor, although the word accident is followed by a question mark. One final note on Bonita and John. John is listed as a clerk at the Board of Trade in Butte. Which is exactly where the final madam Ruby Garrett shot and killed her abusive husband. And John was possibly there when Ruby’s husband died!

In 1971 another larger than life character took over the brother. She would also be the last. Ruby Garrett, also known as Lee Arrigoni, took over the Dumas. She had previously owned several other brothels. In 1959 she walked into a bar (the Board of Trade noted above) where her husband was playing cards, and shot him after a long history of her being abused by him. She was convicted of manslaughter, but only ended up serving 9 months in prison.
In 1981 Ruby was the victim of a rather brutal robbery. During the trial of the suspects, Ruby’s occupation as well as her finances became public knowledge. This peaked the interest of the IRS, and in 1982 she was again sentenced to prison. It was at this point that the Butte/Silver Bow sheriff decided enough was enough and the brothel was finally shut down.
In 1990 Ruby was in the process of selling furniture, and antiques from inside the brothel when Rudy Giecek stopped by and offered to purchase the whole thing. She sold it to him on the condition that he maintain the original glory of the place. By this time the Dumas was in dire need of some repairs.
Rudy ran an antique mall inside as well as tours, but he lacked the finances to make many much needed repairs.
In 2012 Travis Eskelsen, and Michael Piche bought the Dumas at a tax auction, and were restoring, as well as ensuring and shoring up the structural stability. A new roof was also added to the building during this time as well.
In early 2018, tragedy again struck an owner of the Dumas when Michael Piche lost his life.
The Dumas was again purchased through a tax auction by David and Charlee Prince. The wishes of the last Madame, Ruby Garrett as well as those of many others who has been associated with the building are still intended to be followed. The Dumas is a fabulous building with an amazing history, and work will be continued to be done to return it to an as close as possible original state.
The basement needs work. Power, water and heat all need to be restored. Several upstairs rooms received water damage before the roof was repaired, and they are going to take some work. The Dumas is deeply engrained in the history of Butte, and visa-versa. Hopefully tours will be opened again by the Spring of 2019. And plans for guided ghost hunts are also being made. Multiple spirits have been reported on all three levels of the building, and appear to be from times throughout the history of the Dumas.

Paranormal history- Dumas Paranormal – Dumas Brothel (dumas-brothel.com)

Our experiences- Elies we were in the basement doing a haunted history event with Chris Fisk and ended at Dumas Brothel with the smallest group and we saw a ball of light leaving the area. But what was really scary was the black mass that was covering all light in the basement. I thought it was a crazy idea to put my back to it and right when I did that I felt cold hands and finger nails from head to toe. My member James Jones had an experience with me while I was getting touched he watched the black mass turn into a human black form and saw it touch me. The woman with us also saw this happen after that we left quickly.

My member Joshua came out to a haunted history thing and same thing was in the basement and he was looking thru the rooms and got his eye poked like if he was peeking and wasn’t allowed to look in away. I list this place to very scary level of haunting.