Are traditional Halloween festivities not enough to satisfy your desire for all things creepy and creepy? Colorado boasts numerous haunted roads, buildings, and even entire towns where residents have reported paranormal encounters.
Croke-Patterson Mansion may have the strongest reputation among Denver haunted houses, boasting of numerous unsettling occurrences that reportedly occur there. Other spooky locations in Denver include Hotel Colorado where ghostly train conductors have given guests chills.
Mount Prospect Cemetery
One may expect a lush park, complete with pavilion, flower gardens and tree lined pathways, not to be haunted. But Denver’s Cheesman Park is more than just an idyllic place for enjoying nature; it contains thousands of bodies buried below its surface.
William Larimer designed Denver Cemetery so that those with significant wealth would be interred at the top of a hill, while criminals, vagrants and poor citizens were interred around its edges. Unfortunately as Denver became a more modern city with different needs and tastes it fell into disrepair and disuse.
As time passed, residents living near the former cemetery began reporting ghost activity. People have reported hearing moans and whispers in the wind, seeing shadowy figures moving through the park and catching glimpses of old headstones under moonlight. There has also been reports of a female spirit singing but quickly disappears when approached by witnesses.
Hotel Colorado
Horror fans everywhere have surely heard of Hotel Colorado in Estes Park. Notorious figures such as Teddy Roosevelt and members of Chicago mafia once called this estes Park hotel home, as well as being considered one of the state’s most haunted places, including guests and staff experiencing paranormal activity such as hearing children running and laughing, unexplained smells, cold spots and moving objects – with reports coming from both guests and staff members alike experiencing paranormal phenomena such as these phenomena in its basement which was used as both morgue and crematorium – where many guests and staff members reported experiencing paranormal experiences including seeing founder Walter Devereaux cleaning his room as well as another ghost seen cleaning her room!
Colorado’s mining history is filled with mining accidents, lawlessness and bloodshed; therefore it should come as no surprise that Cripple Creek streets are haunted with long-dead spirits.
Cheesman Park
Cheesman Park is one of Denver’s most beloved parks, providing a welcome respite from urban jungle of Denver. Visitors can stroll through botanical gardens or attend concerts under its pavilion; or just spread out on grass and soak up some sun rays. Little do they realize, however, that they are walking or sitting directly over 19th century settlers’ restless spirits who might otherwise haunt this space.
In 1893, the city hired E.P McGovern as an undertaker to manage the relocation of 5,000 graves from Cheesman Park. To increase his pay, McGovern dismembered bodies and placed body parts into small coffins – this practice may still have left numerous spirits trapped beneath Cheesman Park to this day.
Over time, numerous people have reported encountering strange sights and hearing voices at Cheesman Park. Some have even reported experiencing chilling sensations while lying down. Others have described children playing and then seemingly vanish before suddenly disappearing while another reported hearing singing before her voice vanishes into thin air.
Aspen
Colorado offers the perfect destination for both casual Halloween fans and those seeking more intense paranormal experiences alike. Take a tour down one of Colorado’s many creepy roads or stay overnight at one of its haunted hotels and you are guaranteed to get chills.
Aspen tops our list for its haunted history. A few ghosts still haunt Aspen today, such as a woman in black who roams its cemetery at night and another who wanders its streets after dark.
Dean Weiler, who leads tours and walks that explore Aspen’s darker side, admits he doesn’t fully understand why people believe ghost tales, but believes it may have something to do with our human nature and desire for the past.
