Ghostly Happenings in Colorado

Disturbed Spirits

In Denver, an expanse of greenery, Cheesman Park comes with a macabre history since it was once a burial ground known as Mount Prospect Cemetery established by General William Larimer in 1858. The job of exhuming bodies began, and some were left behind resting beneath the park. However, the ghostly spirits don’t wish to rest in peace beneath the park, and visitors here have felt cold touches, seen ghostly children playing at night, and heard a singing lady who disappears when approached.

The most disturbing spirit is named "Slackjaw," a spectral figure with a broken jaw and blood-soaked gown who appears and then vanishes into the night.

Spooky Ghost Town

Cripple Creek is full of haunted buildings. It was a former mining camp southwest of Colorado Springs near the base of Pikes Peak. One of the most haunted buildings is the Hotel St. Nicholas, built in 1898, which was used as a hospital for miners and their families and at one time was a facility caring for the mentally ill. Two women who felt uncomfortable in Room 11 slept, leaving the TV on. One of the ladies felt someone or something sitting on the end of her bed by her feet, but there appeared to be nothing there. In the morning her friend said she thought she had seen a shadow in that spot but thought her eyes might be playing tricks on her.

At the Palace Hotel, a lady in a nightgown walks the halls carrying another nightgown, perhaps looking for a bedmate. (pictured above)

Ghostly Hotel Residents

The Hotel Jerome in Aspen is a popular hangout for spirit. There is the ghost of a young child who unfortunately drowned in the hotel pool, and he haunts Room 310. Visitors have seen him drenched and trembling as if he just climbed out of the pool. Then he would disappear, leaving behind damp footprints. He is not the only spirit and is known as the “Water Boy." Some other ghostly spirits are those of a miner named Henry and a maid named Katie.

The Spirits of Molly, James, Catherine Ellen, and Others

The Molly Brown House was constructed in 1889, and well-known Titanic survivor Molly Brown and her husband purchased the home in Denver in 1894. After them, this house was divided into twelve apartments; it was also a home for misbehaving girls and a gentleman’s boarding house. Today the Molly Brown House Museum holds a place of great historical significance in Colorado and local history.

However, the original family, James Joseph Brown, Molly, and their daughter Catherine Ellen, also known as Helen, have chosen to keep living in their home as spirits. Helen was the last resident before going to an assisted living facility, and you can see the blinds in her room go up and down when her spirit is around. Along the way at least six other spirits have joined her.

Unhappy Ghostly Spirits

In southern Colorado, Canon City is home to the Museum of Colorado Prisons. When it opened in 1905, it was an all-female prison and today houses prison artifacts. Visitors can hear the painful cries from past inmates and have seen shadowy figures in the cells. Other paranormal activity includes hearing disembodied voices and seeing full-bodied apparitions. Even though this is now a museum, there is a prison next door providing energy for the dark and disturbing paranormal experiences here.

Ghostly Spirit of Julia and a Sobbing Woman

In Highlands Ranch, the Highlands Ranch Mansion was built in 1881. At one time it was the home of Frank Kistler, one of the West’s first oil billionaires, and his family. In 1937 his 11-year-old daughter Julia died in her upstairs bedroom. Now her ghostly apparition can be seen in her room, walking down the hallways, and looking out the windows. Other paranormal activity includes a sobbing woman and a dark figure that moves about. Today the mansion is rented out for corporate events and weddings; you just get a couple of extra guests.

Spirit of a Victorian Girl and Others Like Al Capone

In Glenwood Springs, Hotel Colorado is one of the oldest hotels in the state, founded in 1893, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The hotel has earned the moniker “the tiny White House of the West” since it was a preferred summer getaway for some well-known visitors, such as US presidents William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt. Among the ghostly spirits at the hotel is a young Victorian girl who has been seen playing with a ball and some other ghostly figures. Guests and staff have reported high activity between the hours of 2-4 A.M., describing the elevator moving from floor to floor with no passengers and the smell of cigar smoke. Notorious gangster Al Capone was known to use the elevator as an escape route when the hotel was raided, and he is still around in spirit. Other paranormal activity has been detected by paranormal investigators. 

The Ghosts of F.O Stanley, Flora, and Those That Come from the Imagination

Horror novel author Stephen King is credited with writing at least some of his novel “The Shining” while vacationing at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. Go ahead, close your eyes. Can you see Jack Torrence limping along the hallways with an ax in his hand? Be brave; stay the night. Will the sound of the elevator keep you awake at night?

Some of the more active spirits here belong to F.O. Stanley, who built the hotel, and his wife, Flora. Flora enjoyed playing the piano in the ballroom. The piano was a gift from her husband to commemorate the hotel’s grand opening, and you can still hear her play it.