Cripple Creek
Bennett Avenue- 1896
Photos from www.photoswest.org
Step back in time - Cripple Creek, CO. The World's Greatest Gold Camp!Meet Bob Womack. On first appearance he seems the typical
turn-of-the-century cowboy.But this man made a discovery that changed history. In October 1890, he discovered gold in Poverty Gulch
(now Cripple Creek, Colorado),starting a rush that caught the attention of the world.
The ore Womack dug from the earth sent the fever through thousands of souls and has created a National Park Service recognized
National Historic District that draws tourists from around the world. Old mine shafts, head frames and cabins still dot the landscape here
in the high countrybehind Pikes Peak.
Today gold mining is still in full swing as the state's largest open pit and heap leach project takes shape between Cripple Creek and
Victor. Modern-day miners scoop ore-laden earth in gigantic trucks and haul it to the local gold processingplant, a far cry from the
pioneer ways of Womack's time. Despite his discovery,Womack died impoverished. But the gold rush he started left a legacy that lives
on today.
www.pikes-peak.com
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Mountain Jackpot Magazine
Tues. October 28th, 2008
CORPS Has Tea With Ghost At The Colorado Grande
Volunteer members of CORPS (Colorado Researchers of Paranormal Science) wire the team's many cameras to laptop computers for
overnight monitoring of the top floors of the Colorado Grande Friday night. The team, although not finished
with their analysis of the evening, did confirm recording some unusual events. (Above photo from MountainJackpot.com)
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Article:
Like many other mining towns of the old west, Cripple Creek is said to be haunted. In fact, many claim it is the most haunted city in
America. Given its dramatic history, complete with mining accidents, floods, fires, lawlessness and bloody battles between mine owners
and labor unions, it isn’t so hard to believe that there may be ghosts who continue to wander this historic town.
The Fairley Brothers and Lampman building at 300 East Bennett now houses the Colorado Grande Casino and Maggie’s Restaurant.
Here, you can enjoy a little gaming and great food, but guests may get a treat that they weren't expecting - a glimpse of a ghost. In
addition to the slot machines heard throughout the building today, many have claimed to have heard or seen the ghost of “Maggie,”
described as a young woman of about 25, dressed in 1900s attire. She wears a white shirtwaist, a long cotton skirt and high heeled
boots. The young beauty, with her hair piled atop her head, is known to leave behind the scent of her rose perfume. Most often sighted
on the top two floors of the building, the sound of her high heeled boots are often heard echoing in the halls.
Some have reported that singing and dancing is heard emanating from the old ballroom as well as the sounds of Maggie’s soprano
voice singing an Irish-accented concertina. Last Friday, five team members from the Colorado Researchers of Paranormal Science
(CORPS), a Colorado-based paranormal investigation organization, spent the night at The Grande in hopes of experiencing “Maggie”
themselves.
The CORPS team employed a variety of equipment for the investigation, such as thermal imaging cameras, hand-held video cameras,
closed circuit infra-red cameras with DVRs which were monitored via laptops, digital voice recorders, EMF meters (which measure
electromagnetic fields), K2 meters (which also measure EMF’s), and ambient air thermometers which detect unusually cold or hot spots
believed to be the result of a ghost pulling energy from the air in an attempt to manifest in some way.
The CORPS team was still analyzing the hours of tape and other possible evidence as of press time Monday, but CORPS co-founder
Terri Wardell was able to share some of her personal experiences during the overnight investigation. “I do know that Maggie favored
the female investigators with activity," explained Wardell. "In Maggie’s room my own hand-held video recorder went to standby mode,
which requires pushing a button, numerous times when I was in there with another female investigator. We then had a male investigator
in with us and it stayed on the entire time - at least half an hour.
Exactly three seconds after he left the room it went to standby mode again and continued doing that about every five minutes while we
were alone.” “We also had all five female investigators go down to the restaurant around 2:30 am. We sat around the large round table
in the furthest room and started talking to Maggie, asking her to join us for a “Ladies tea.” The rose smell became so strong that you
could literally taste it in the air. It (the smell of rose perfume) travelled around the room - we could follow it. It would travel around the
table and over near the doorway. This continued until we got a call from the men on the two-way radio around 3:30.”
Wardell also stated that they got at least one Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP) from Maggie’s room which will be posted on the
CORPS website:www.paranormalcolorado.com, along with any additional evidence that may have been discovered during the analysis.
So is the mystery of Maggie solved? The CORPS team prefers everyone to make up their own minds. The entire adventure will be
posted at their web site within the next few weeks.
www.mountainjackpot.com/pdf/2008-10-28.pdf#page=1
www.mountainjackpot.com
Tues. October 28th, 2008
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Tales of the Haunted Jail House
The Outlaw & Lawmen Jail Museum
The Teller County Jail in Cripple Creek was recently discovered to have been used as a temporary holding area for Colorado’s
criminally insane. The news comes as a shock to local residents, whom for many years believed that the jail was simply a local jail from
1901-1992, and was eventually transformed into a museum in the fall of 2007.
“I know that the jail held people who were killers and robbers from the old days, but I never knew that it held crazy people who
committed crimes. That’s just scary!”
Cripple Creek Resident
“I pass by the jail everyday to go to work and I always walk on the opposite side of the street. Well, because I get a strange feeling that
someone is watching me.”
Colorado Springs Resident
“Once I stopped on the side of the building to fix a flat and thought I heard someone screaming inside. I don’t know much about the
place, but I heard that those paranormal teams have been inside and have gotten some strange recordings. What? No, I don’t want to
go inside.”
Cripple Creek Resident
“I tried to tour the museum when it opened, but I couldn’t make it around the entire building. I got sick and ended up leaving in the
middle of the tour. That night I had nightmares about the place. I’ll never go back”
Colorado Springs Resident
When you first walk into the museum, former jail, it looks like a house but then you pass through a steel door and the next room is filled
with a large steel frame that encloses fourteen cells. On the second floor of the building are another three cells which I have been told
housed women and children. As I walk from cell to cell, I have a feeling of discomfort and uneasiness about me, which later I am many
people experience when visiting the museum. The paranormal team later played the recordings they had captured on different visits to
the museum, and frankly this reporter got chills.
One can only imagine the things that have occurred here over the years and until recently no one knew but, recently the manager of
the museum discovered old papers in the basement that contained information about twenty or more criminals, who had stayed in the
Teller county jail between 1901 and 1941. These papers indicate that these criminals had been lodged in the jail, temporarily, on their
way to a prison hospital in Canon City. This was a common practice of law enforcement and is still done to this day when transporting
convicted criminals across counties or state lines.
The names of the criminally insane that had stayed the night or multiple nights in the old jail are not being released by the City of
Cripple Creek, who now owns the documents. The documents are rumored to indicate that on more than one occasion these criminals
escaped at least twice, captured later, and that some were even murdered or committed suicide in the jail. The City will not confirm or
deny any of these statements at this time; until the papers are authenticated, the City will remain quiet and continue to run the jail as a
museum and later this month a haunted house, yes a haunted house.
www.visitcripplecreek.com/JailHouseTale.aspx
Cripple Creek District Museum
P.O. Box 1210, 5th & Bennett Avenue
Cripple Creek, Colorado 80813
719-689-2634 ~ 719-689-9540
ccdmuseum@ccvnet.net
Outlaws & Jail Museum
(719) 689-6556
jailmuseum@cripple-creek.co.us
www.cripple-creek.org
www.visitcripplecreek.com
The Cripple Creek District Museum is a private, non-profit foundation. Donations to the foundation are tax deductible.
Friends of the Museum memberships are now available! Contact us for information
For more information, call the Jail Museum at 719-689-6556 or the District Museum at 719-689-2634.
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***** Cripple Creek ghost tour update*****
Rick Wood, the previous host of the Cripple Creek ghost tours, has moved out of Cripple Creek and no longer
offers the tours.
The Last Dollar Inn has been sold to new owners -- and at last check, they do NOT conduct the ghost tours.
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*** Note: For new Cripple Creek Ghost Tours & other haunted events, please visit my Halloween 2009 page at:
www.hauntedcolorado.net/Halloween_2009_Colorado.html ***
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...Guests can still stay at the haunted Last Dollar Inn B&B--which is continuing to operate as a bed and breakfast and open to the public.
Here is the Last Dollar Inn's new website: www.lastdollarinn.com
Last Dollar Inn Bed & Breakfast
315 E. Carr Ave., Cripple Creek, CO 80813
719-689-9113 1-888-429-6700
reservations@lastdollarinn.com
Last Dollar Inn B&B
Newspaper Article from 1997:
For those with a love of gambling and ghost tales, the Last Dollar Inn has a room with a view.
The Last Dollar Inn is the first bed and breakfast located in the center of Cripple Creek, near all of the gaming. The inn, which opened
last December in a house on 315 E. Carr Ave., took 16 months to refurbish. The old brownstone has six guest rooms, each with a
private bath.
Built in 1898, it is said to be one of the most haunted houses in town, according to its owner, Rick Wood.
"I tell people if they want to see something, they will. I don't want to scare people away," he said. But not to worry: Wood said he hasn't
seen any objects moving on their own.
The location has proven to be a gold mine of opportunity for the inn because many guests stumble across it while gambling.
"We get a lot of walk-ups, and the hotels refer people to us when they're booked, so it's great for us," Wood said.
He said the rebuilding took longer than planned because he and his wife, Janice, wanted to maintain the historical value of the house.
"We wanted to make sure we kept as much of the original structure as possible," he said.
One thing they did do to make it easier was redesign part of the house to accommodate about 12 guests. "We added double laundry
rooms, big store rooms, and I have some commercial equipment in the kitchen. It makes things run a little smoother," Wood said.
Even though it took a lot of work to get it where they wanted it, Wood said he couldn't be happier.
"When we walked in, we knew right away it was the perfect location. We're real happy with what we've got," he said.
Source: Ghosts, gamblers attracted to new inn
Tanya Bell, Gazette Telegraph. Colorado Springs Gazette - Telegraph. Colorado Springs, Colo.: Jan 25, 1997. pg. D.1
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The Imperial Casino Hotel
~ and George, the permanent resident!
www.photoswest.org
For extensive info on George the ghost, please check out Rich's fantastic website:
Click here!
***** (As featured in Jeff Belanger's book, "The World's Most Haunted Places," p. 61-67).
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Author Kathi Mac Iver- Ghost lectures!
Kathi Mac Iver, the author of: Living With Ghosts, Ghosts of Bennett Avenue, Haunted Inns, Gambling Ghosts, Ghosts of
the Mining District, Mount Pisgah: A Complete Guide to Cripple Creek's Historic Burial Grounds, A Pictorial View of Mt.
Pisgah, and more:
- Hosts excellent lectures on the hauntings and the sacred burial grounds of Cripple Creek!
Now available to: libraries, schools, historic societies and civic organizations.
To schedule this very special presentation with Kathi, contact her at: (719) 689-2141
E-mail: pkmacv@earthlink.net
You can purchase all of Kathi's books at the Cripple Creek District Museum gift shop. (719) 689-2634
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Mount Pisgah Cemetery Tours
Photo from www.ghostwalker.net
If you would like to tour the historic Mount Pisgah Cemetery, pick up a walking tour at the Cripple Creek Chamber of Commerce.
Call 719-689-3315 or 877-858-GOLD
****Also, the Gold Camp Victorian Society hosts an annual cemetery tour of Mount Pisgah Cemetery.
The Mount Pisgah cemetery tour in Cripple Creek was one of the first activities established, acting as a means to both educate and
raise funds for the group. Costumed re-enactors, speaking in first-person, depict the historical characters buried in the cemetery. This
event was, and continues to be well received by visitors.
September 15th, 2007
719-689-9795
http://www.goldcampvictoriansociety.org/
info@goldcampvictoriansociety.org
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Palace Hotel & Casino
) Womack's
172 East Bennett Avenue
1894 - www.photoswest.org
*** Important note: The Palace Hotel (Casino) is currently CLOSED.
Womack's Casino has purchased the property but haven't made any structural changes to it yet.
The glorious and haunted old hotel has been boarded up for at least 2 years now (with the ghost of Miss Kitty inside.)
Bob Lays, co-owner of the Palace Hotel in Cripple Creek, had heard the stories of a ghost called Kitty Chambers. But it wasn't until one
night when he was shampooing the dining-room carpet at 3 a.m. that he encountered her.
The shampooer started acting up, so Lays turned it off to see what was wrong. He couldn't find the problem, but when he started it
again, it ran fine.
It was then he felt "a presence, someone else in the room, for about five minutes."
He shut off the machine and looked toward the door of the lobby.
"And there she was, a lady walking by ... in one of those old-fashioned white night gowns, with ruffles on the sleeves and at the neck.
Her hair was down, just straight."
He hadn't seen this guest before, but the way she was headed, she had either to walk up a creaky staircase or go out a heavy, squeaky
front door. There was no sound.
When Lays got the courage to enter the lobby, it was empty.
"She could have been a real person," he says. "I mean, you couldn't see through her or anything. I called 'hello,' but never got an
answer."
The encounter left him so shaken, he says he talked to the ghost out loud, while he finished shampooing the carpet.
"I said, 'I don't care if you want to show yourself once in a while, but could you not scare me like that again?'"
A woman from Cripple Creek told him she once saw the same figure in the window of room 3.
Other guests in the hotel have reported sighting the same elusive woman.
"I know they see her, because they supply details I haven't told anyone," Lay says.
A few years ago, when a local researcher found some history on the hotel, it was decided the wraith is not Kitty Chambers, a rich and
eccentric woman who lived in Cripple Creek for a while.
Rather, it's probably Mary Hedges, who ran the hotel from 1916 to 1918, he says he was told by a local historian.
But Kitty, or Mary, still makes her presence known. Frequently, she lights a candle on one of two tables in the dining room. Just so they
don't forget her.
Colorado Springs Gazette archive
For the story of an investigation of the Palace Hotel & Casino- check out:
http://www.sgha.net/co/palacehotel/palacehotel.html
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Private residence - 126 Aspen Street
{Private residence- please do not disturb}
The house sits on 10 lots and has a fantastic view of Cripple Creek and the Sangre de Cristo mountains. The two-bedroom ranch has
wood-burning stoves and an added attraction: His name is Ed. He's a ghost.
Ed opens kitchen drawers and shuts them. He hammers on the roof and plinks glasses together as if making an Irish toast.
"It would knock on the back door and I'd go to answer it and no one would be there," said June Sylvain, owner of the home. "Then,
instantly, it would knock on the front door and I'd be running back and forth. I'd say: `Ed, stop it!' And it would stop."
Sylvain and her husband, Russell Sylvain, moved out of the haunted house when gambling came to Cripple Creek.
They're asking $129,000 for the home at 126 Aspen St., which was built as a log cabin sometime in the late 1890s.
Realtors Jay and Enid Angello are advertising the property as a "Documented Haunted House."
The home has been featured in the book "Ghosts of Cripple Creek."
Apparently, the ghost was there long before Sylvain moved into the gray house with white trim in 1974.
"I was pretty open-minded when I moved in because the girls who were living there said, `There's a ghost in this house.' I said, `Oh,
yeah, sure.' "
It wasn't long before Sylvain started hearing things. But she passed them off as the wind blowing through the house or the house
creaking because it was old.
But the ghost was persistent. Things started to disappear - shirts, books, you name it. And then there was the footsteps. Sylvain could
hear them - heavy ones - stomping over the wooden dining room floor.
"I was never alone there," said Sylvain, who now lives in Paonia on the Western Slope. "I was never scared. It was almost like there was
someone living with me."
The poltergeist got the name "Ed" about 1976, when Sylvain's oldest son, Russell, and his former girlfriend took out the Ouija board. It
came up with "Ed" or "Ted O'Brien." The Ouija board also indicated that "Ed" was a philanderer who was killed by a jealous husband -
but that part has never been confirmed in any history book.
Years ago, there was a Cripple Creek resident named "Ted O'Brien," historical records show. He lived on Aspen Street - but not in the
house the Sylvains own. But he may have left something behind near the house.
Sylvain found a silver fork engraved with the letters "O'B" while digging for bottles in her yard in the late 1970s.
"We started calling him Ed," Sylvain said. "It's great to have that because when something disappeared, you could always blame it on
Ed. My husband's doing that here (in Paonia). I tell him, `You can't blame it on Ed.' "
Sylvain never actually saw an apparition while living in the house on the hill. But her son awoke from sleeping on the couch one night
and saw a man standing in the archway of the house, between the living room and the dining room. He had on a long overcoat and a
derby hat.
He was there for a second, then disappeared.
The family that lived in the house before the Sylvains had two young boys who saw a man dressed in a long overcoat and a derby hat.
The two lads would place a large rock in front of their bedroom door to keep the man with the funny hat out of their room. The closest
Sylvain ever got to "Ed" was the night she was in bed and felt a cold hand on her face. A few nights later, her husband, Russell, whom
she describes as a `nonbeliever,' felt the same sensation.
It seems even the family pets could feel "Ed." The dog would bark at the wall as if someone was standing there. The cats would stare at
something Sylvain could not see, and their fur would stand up and they'd become extremely agitated.
But no one was ever as agitated with "Ed" as the couple who came from Virginia to visit the Sylvains.
One of the visitors, an ex-Marine, was asleep one night in the Sylvain home. He woke up and, in a gruff voice, said: "Who was rubbing
my back?"
His wife, who had been asleep next to him, swore it wasn't her.
That's when Sylvain told the ex-Marine about "Ed," the friendly, mischievous ghost.
Next morning, the ex-Marine and his wife packed their bags and drove back to Virginia.
Source: Publication: The Gazette; Date:1995 Feb 06; Section:CITY/STATE; Page Number 2
Erin Emery; Gazette Telegraph
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Maggie - the ghost of Colorado Grande Casino
In the Fairley Bros. and Lampman Building
www.photoswest.org
300 East Bennett Avenue
Cripple Creek, Colorado, 80813
(719) 689-3517
(877) 244-9469
www.coloradogrande.com
General Manager: Eric Rose's E-mail: granderewards@coloradogrande.com
This historic building was once a funeral parlor. Little café called “Maggie’s Restaurant.”
The ghost is named MAGGIE.
Security guards have reported seeing Maggie and a gentleman friend playing a slot machine after hours.
MAGGIE HAS BEEN TAPED BY THE SECURITY CAMERAS.
Mysteriously, the tapes have "vanished," just as Maggie does when the security guards run down to the casino floor.
The tape was sent to Unsolved Mysteries- but then the show went off the air.
Does the Colorado Gaming Commission possibly have a copy of this tape.....?
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A ghost haunts the big brick building at Third and Bennett, says Katherine Hartz. Hartz owns Colorado's Own-Christmas Tree, which
occupies the building's first floor.
The ghost Hartz calls Maggie usually appears on the building's two top floors, which once housed medical offices and a Masonic Lodge
ballroom. Hartz first encountered Maggie in 1968 as she prepared to close up the building for the winter. Hartz was walking down the
second-floor hall when she heard the sound of high heels walking on the third floor. She started upstairs to investigate.
The apparition appeared to be about 25 years old, and was dressed in turn-of-the-century Gibson Girl style. Her hair was piled up on
her head and she wore a white shirtwaist, a long cotton skirt and high-heeled boots.
Maggie greeted Katherine Hartz through mental telepathy; Hartz answered the same way.
Since then, Hartz has heard music, singing and dancing emanating from the old ballroom. Hartz says she has never felt threatened by
Maggie, adding that she plays a concertina, and sings in a beautiful Irish-accented sorpano voice.
"She's been around dozens of times; in fact, she's never gone away. She's always around here, even if you can't see her."
One telltale sign that Maggie has been in a particular area of the building recently is the scent of rose perfume, Hartz says. "My ghost is
a beautiful human being. There isn't any story. She's just a nice person. There are a lot of nice entities in our midst."
Gazette, The (Colorado Springs, CO)
October 27, 1991
Section: LIFESTYLE
Page: 1
GHOSTS OF THE GOLD CAMP
Friendly spirits from Cripple Creek's colorful past still stalk old haunts
Author: D'Arcy Fallon
Gazette Telegraph
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Lilly of Buffalo Billy’s Casino
Formerly the "Turf Club Room"- 1896
Photo from www.sgha.net/co/buffalobillys/Buffalo_Billys.html
(Southwest Ghost Hunter's Association)
239-243 E. Bennett Ave.
719-689-2142
Haunted by a young girl named Lilly. She draws on the walls at the top of the steps.
A female employee saw Lilly sitting on a stairstep. She said that her name was Lilly.
The employee asked her if she was lost- and the little girl replied that she was not lost- but that she lived there. When the employee
went to notify a security guard, they returned moments later to find the little girl gone.
Once, a tourist was playing a slot machine and lost track of her young daughter. She searched, and found her on the staircase. When
the mother asked her what she was doing up there, the little girl replied that she was just playing with Lilly.
SOURCE: Ghosts of Bennett Avenue- Cripple Creek, by Kathi Mac Iver, 2000
To read the investigation of the haunted Buffalo Billy's Casino by the Southwest Ghost Hunters Association - check out:
www.sgha.net/co/buffalobillys/Buffalo_Billys.html
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The Hotel St. Nicholas
Spirits and Ghosts
Cripple Creek, with its wild and turbulent past, has a history of unexplained, supernatural occurrences that has led it to be called "one of
the most haunted towns in America". Maggie, who inhabits the top floor at the Colorado Grande Casino, may be the best know of
Cripple Creek’s ghostly residents, but many of the area’s turn-of-the-century businesses and homes have a history of strange sights
and sounds that offer no apparent rational explanation.
The Hotel St. Nicholas is no exception. Since its reopening in 1995, a number of unexplained events have happened at the hotel, and it
seems that at least two friendly, but mischievous spirits, call the hotel home.
One has been identified as Petey, who on some occasions has moved small items or hidden cigarettes in the bar. Petey is believed to
be the spirit of a young boy, possibly an orphan, who was cared for by the Sisters of Mercy in the St. Nicholas’ early days. A second
ghost, dressed as a miner, has been reportedly heard and seen walking down the back stairways. While these two spirits seem to be
the most common, an occasional report of other sightings or 'feelings' comes in from other areas of the hotel. Regardless of the
number, the St. Nicholas’ spirits seem to be a friendly and playful, if elusive group.
The Hotel St. Nicholas has hosted a number of ghost hunting groups. The Southwest Ghost Hunters Association has visited and
reported on the hotel a number of times.
www.hotelstnicholas.com/hsnwebhsnspirits.html
information@hotelstnicholas.com
The Hotel St. Nicholas
303 N. 3rd Street
P.O. Box 1459
Cripple Creek, Colorado 80813
Main Number: 719-689-0856
Toll Free Number: 888-786-4257
Directions From Denver, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo:
Take I-25 to Highway 24 West to Highway 67 South to Cripple Creek. Highway 67 turns into Bennett Street. Turn right at 3rd Street. The
Hotel St. Nicholas is on the left in two blocks.
Back to home page
Bennett Avenue- 1896
Photos from www.photoswest.org
Step back in time - Cripple Creek, CO. The World's Greatest Gold Camp!Meet Bob Womack. On first appearance he seems the typical
turn-of-the-century cowboy.But this man made a discovery that changed history. In October 1890, he discovered gold in Poverty Gulch
(now Cripple Creek, Colorado),starting a rush that caught the attention of the world.
The ore Womack dug from the earth sent the fever through thousands of souls and has created a National Park Service recognized
National Historic District that draws tourists from around the world. Old mine shafts, head frames and cabins still dot the landscape here
in the high countrybehind Pikes Peak.
Today gold mining is still in full swing as the state's largest open pit and heap leach project takes shape between Cripple Creek and
Victor. Modern-day miners scoop ore-laden earth in gigantic trucks and haul it to the local gold processingplant, a far cry from the
pioneer ways of Womack's time. Despite his discovery,Womack died impoverished. But the gold rush he started left a legacy that lives
on today.
www.pikes-peak.com
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Mountain Jackpot Magazine
Tues. October 28th, 2008
CORPS Has Tea With Ghost At The Colorado Grande
Volunteer members of CORPS (Colorado Researchers of Paranormal Science) wire the team's many cameras to laptop computers for
overnight monitoring of the top floors of the Colorado Grande Friday night. The team, although not finished
with their analysis of the evening, did confirm recording some unusual events. (Above photo from MountainJackpot.com)
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Article:
Like many other mining towns of the old west, Cripple Creek is said to be haunted. In fact, many claim it is the most haunted city in
America. Given its dramatic history, complete with mining accidents, floods, fires, lawlessness and bloody battles between mine owners
and labor unions, it isn’t so hard to believe that there may be ghosts who continue to wander this historic town.
The Fairley Brothers and Lampman building at 300 East Bennett now houses the Colorado Grande Casino and Maggie’s Restaurant.
Here, you can enjoy a little gaming and great food, but guests may get a treat that they weren't expecting - a glimpse of a ghost. In
addition to the slot machines heard throughout the building today, many have claimed to have heard or seen the ghost of “Maggie,”
described as a young woman of about 25, dressed in 1900s attire. She wears a white shirtwaist, a long cotton skirt and high heeled
boots. The young beauty, with her hair piled atop her head, is known to leave behind the scent of her rose perfume. Most often sighted
on the top two floors of the building, the sound of her high heeled boots are often heard echoing in the halls.
Some have reported that singing and dancing is heard emanating from the old ballroom as well as the sounds of Maggie’s soprano
voice singing an Irish-accented concertina. Last Friday, five team members from the Colorado Researchers of Paranormal Science
(CORPS), a Colorado-based paranormal investigation organization, spent the night at The Grande in hopes of experiencing “Maggie”
themselves.
The CORPS team employed a variety of equipment for the investigation, such as thermal imaging cameras, hand-held video cameras,
closed circuit infra-red cameras with DVRs which were monitored via laptops, digital voice recorders, EMF meters (which measure
electromagnetic fields), K2 meters (which also measure EMF’s), and ambient air thermometers which detect unusually cold or hot spots
believed to be the result of a ghost pulling energy from the air in an attempt to manifest in some way.
The CORPS team was still analyzing the hours of tape and other possible evidence as of press time Monday, but CORPS co-founder
Terri Wardell was able to share some of her personal experiences during the overnight investigation. “I do know that Maggie favored
the female investigators with activity," explained Wardell. "In Maggie’s room my own hand-held video recorder went to standby mode,
which requires pushing a button, numerous times when I was in there with another female investigator. We then had a male investigator
in with us and it stayed on the entire time - at least half an hour.
Exactly three seconds after he left the room it went to standby mode again and continued doing that about every five minutes while we
were alone.” “We also had all five female investigators go down to the restaurant around 2:30 am. We sat around the large round table
in the furthest room and started talking to Maggie, asking her to join us for a “Ladies tea.” The rose smell became so strong that you
could literally taste it in the air. It (the smell of rose perfume) travelled around the room - we could follow it. It would travel around the
table and over near the doorway. This continued until we got a call from the men on the two-way radio around 3:30.”
Wardell also stated that they got at least one Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP) from Maggie’s room which will be posted on the
CORPS website:www.paranormalcolorado.com, along with any additional evidence that may have been discovered during the analysis.
So is the mystery of Maggie solved? The CORPS team prefers everyone to make up their own minds. The entire adventure will be
posted at their web site within the next few weeks.
www.mountainjackpot.com/pdf/2008-10-28.pdf#page=1
www.mountainjackpot.com
Tues. October 28th, 2008
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Tales of the Haunted Jail House
The Outlaw & Lawmen Jail Museum
The Teller County Jail in Cripple Creek was recently discovered to have been used as a temporary holding area for Colorado’s
criminally insane. The news comes as a shock to local residents, whom for many years believed that the jail was simply a local jail from
1901-1992, and was eventually transformed into a museum in the fall of 2007.
“I know that the jail held people who were killers and robbers from the old days, but I never knew that it held crazy people who
committed crimes. That’s just scary!”
Cripple Creek Resident
“I pass by the jail everyday to go to work and I always walk on the opposite side of the street. Well, because I get a strange feeling that
someone is watching me.”
Colorado Springs Resident
“Once I stopped on the side of the building to fix a flat and thought I heard someone screaming inside. I don’t know much about the
place, but I heard that those paranormal teams have been inside and have gotten some strange recordings. What? No, I don’t want to
go inside.”
Cripple Creek Resident
“I tried to tour the museum when it opened, but I couldn’t make it around the entire building. I got sick and ended up leaving in the
middle of the tour. That night I had nightmares about the place. I’ll never go back”
Colorado Springs Resident
When you first walk into the museum, former jail, it looks like a house but then you pass through a steel door and the next room is filled
with a large steel frame that encloses fourteen cells. On the second floor of the building are another three cells which I have been told
housed women and children. As I walk from cell to cell, I have a feeling of discomfort and uneasiness about me, which later I am many
people experience when visiting the museum. The paranormal team later played the recordings they had captured on different visits to
the museum, and frankly this reporter got chills.
One can only imagine the things that have occurred here over the years and until recently no one knew but, recently the manager of
the museum discovered old papers in the basement that contained information about twenty or more criminals, who had stayed in the
Teller county jail between 1901 and 1941. These papers indicate that these criminals had been lodged in the jail, temporarily, on their
way to a prison hospital in Canon City. This was a common practice of law enforcement and is still done to this day when transporting
convicted criminals across counties or state lines.
The names of the criminally insane that had stayed the night or multiple nights in the old jail are not being released by the City of
Cripple Creek, who now owns the documents. The documents are rumored to indicate that on more than one occasion these criminals
escaped at least twice, captured later, and that some were even murdered or committed suicide in the jail. The City will not confirm or
deny any of these statements at this time; until the papers are authenticated, the City will remain quiet and continue to run the jail as a
museum and later this month a haunted house, yes a haunted house.
www.visitcripplecreek.com/JailHouseTale.aspx
Cripple Creek District Museum
P.O. Box 1210, 5th & Bennett Avenue
Cripple Creek, Colorado 80813
719-689-2634 ~ 719-689-9540
ccdmuseum@ccvnet.net
Outlaws & Jail Museum
(719) 689-6556
jailmuseum@cripple-creek.co.us
www.cripple-creek.org
www.visitcripplecreek.com
The Cripple Creek District Museum is a private, non-profit foundation. Donations to the foundation are tax deductible.
Friends of the Museum memberships are now available! Contact us for information
For more information, call the Jail Museum at 719-689-6556 or the District Museum at 719-689-2634.
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***** Cripple Creek ghost tour update*****
Rick Wood, the previous host of the Cripple Creek ghost tours, has moved out of Cripple Creek and no longer
offers the tours.
The Last Dollar Inn has been sold to new owners -- and at last check, they do NOT conduct the ghost tours.
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*** Note: For new Cripple Creek Ghost Tours & other haunted events, please visit my Halloween 2009 page at:
www.hauntedcolorado.net/Halloween_2009_Colorado.html ***
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...Guests can still stay at the haunted Last Dollar Inn B&B--which is continuing to operate as a bed and breakfast and open to the public.
Here is the Last Dollar Inn's new website: www.lastdollarinn.com
Last Dollar Inn Bed & Breakfast
315 E. Carr Ave., Cripple Creek, CO 80813
719-689-9113 1-888-429-6700
reservations@lastdollarinn.com
Last Dollar Inn B&B
Newspaper Article from 1997:
For those with a love of gambling and ghost tales, the Last Dollar Inn has a room with a view.
The Last Dollar Inn is the first bed and breakfast located in the center of Cripple Creek, near all of the gaming. The inn, which opened
last December in a house on 315 E. Carr Ave., took 16 months to refurbish. The old brownstone has six guest rooms, each with a
private bath.
Built in 1898, it is said to be one of the most haunted houses in town, according to its owner, Rick Wood.
"I tell people if they want to see something, they will. I don't want to scare people away," he said. But not to worry: Wood said he hasn't
seen any objects moving on their own.
The location has proven to be a gold mine of opportunity for the inn because many guests stumble across it while gambling.
"We get a lot of walk-ups, and the hotels refer people to us when they're booked, so it's great for us," Wood said.
He said the rebuilding took longer than planned because he and his wife, Janice, wanted to maintain the historical value of the house.
"We wanted to make sure we kept as much of the original structure as possible," he said.
One thing they did do to make it easier was redesign part of the house to accommodate about 12 guests. "We added double laundry
rooms, big store rooms, and I have some commercial equipment in the kitchen. It makes things run a little smoother," Wood said.
Even though it took a lot of work to get it where they wanted it, Wood said he couldn't be happier.
"When we walked in, we knew right away it was the perfect location. We're real happy with what we've got," he said.
Source: Ghosts, gamblers attracted to new inn
Tanya Bell, Gazette Telegraph. Colorado Springs Gazette - Telegraph. Colorado Springs, Colo.: Jan 25, 1997. pg. D.1
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The Imperial Casino Hotel
~ and George, the permanent resident!
www.photoswest.org
For extensive info on George the ghost, please check out Rich's fantastic website:
Click here!
***** (As featured in Jeff Belanger's book, "The World's Most Haunted Places," p. 61-67).
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Author Kathi Mac Iver- Ghost lectures!
Kathi Mac Iver, the author of: Living With Ghosts, Ghosts of Bennett Avenue, Haunted Inns, Gambling Ghosts, Ghosts of
the Mining District, Mount Pisgah: A Complete Guide to Cripple Creek's Historic Burial Grounds, A Pictorial View of Mt.
Pisgah, and more:
- Hosts excellent lectures on the hauntings and the sacred burial grounds of Cripple Creek!
Now available to: libraries, schools, historic societies and civic organizations.
To schedule this very special presentation with Kathi, contact her at: (719) 689-2141
E-mail: pkmacv@earthlink.net
You can purchase all of Kathi's books at the Cripple Creek District Museum gift shop. (719) 689-2634
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Mount Pisgah Cemetery Tours
Photo from www.ghostwalker.net
If you would like to tour the historic Mount Pisgah Cemetery, pick up a walking tour at the Cripple Creek Chamber of Commerce.
Call 719-689-3315 or 877-858-GOLD
****Also, the Gold Camp Victorian Society hosts an annual cemetery tour of Mount Pisgah Cemetery.
The Mount Pisgah cemetery tour in Cripple Creek was one of the first activities established, acting as a means to both educate and
raise funds for the group. Costumed re-enactors, speaking in first-person, depict the historical characters buried in the cemetery. This
event was, and continues to be well received by visitors.
September 15th, 2007
719-689-9795
http://www.goldcampvictoriansociety.org/
info@goldcampvictoriansociety.org
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Palace Hotel & Casino
) Womack's
172 East Bennett Avenue
1894 - www.photoswest.org
*** Important note: The Palace Hotel (Casino) is currently CLOSED.
Womack's Casino has purchased the property but haven't made any structural changes to it yet.
The glorious and haunted old hotel has been boarded up for at least 2 years now (with the ghost of Miss Kitty inside.)
Bob Lays, co-owner of the Palace Hotel in Cripple Creek, had heard the stories of a ghost called Kitty Chambers. But it wasn't until one
night when he was shampooing the dining-room carpet at 3 a.m. that he encountered her.
The shampooer started acting up, so Lays turned it off to see what was wrong. He couldn't find the problem, but when he started it
again, it ran fine.
It was then he felt "a presence, someone else in the room, for about five minutes."
He shut off the machine and looked toward the door of the lobby.
"And there she was, a lady walking by ... in one of those old-fashioned white night gowns, with ruffles on the sleeves and at the neck.
Her hair was down, just straight."
He hadn't seen this guest before, but the way she was headed, she had either to walk up a creaky staircase or go out a heavy, squeaky
front door. There was no sound.
When Lays got the courage to enter the lobby, it was empty.
"She could have been a real person," he says. "I mean, you couldn't see through her or anything. I called 'hello,' but never got an
answer."
The encounter left him so shaken, he says he talked to the ghost out loud, while he finished shampooing the carpet.
"I said, 'I don't care if you want to show yourself once in a while, but could you not scare me like that again?'"
A woman from Cripple Creek told him she once saw the same figure in the window of room 3.
Other guests in the hotel have reported sighting the same elusive woman.
"I know they see her, because they supply details I haven't told anyone," Lay says.
A few years ago, when a local researcher found some history on the hotel, it was decided the wraith is not Kitty Chambers, a rich and
eccentric woman who lived in Cripple Creek for a while.
Rather, it's probably Mary Hedges, who ran the hotel from 1916 to 1918, he says he was told by a local historian.
But Kitty, or Mary, still makes her presence known. Frequently, she lights a candle on one of two tables in the dining room. Just so they
don't forget her.
Colorado Springs Gazette archive
For the story of an investigation of the Palace Hotel & Casino- check out:
http://www.sgha.net/co/palacehotel/palacehotel.html
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Private residence - 126 Aspen Street
{Private residence- please do not disturb}
The house sits on 10 lots and has a fantastic view of Cripple Creek and the Sangre de Cristo mountains. The two-bedroom ranch has
wood-burning stoves and an added attraction: His name is Ed. He's a ghost.
Ed opens kitchen drawers and shuts them. He hammers on the roof and plinks glasses together as if making an Irish toast.
"It would knock on the back door and I'd go to answer it and no one would be there," said June Sylvain, owner of the home. "Then,
instantly, it would knock on the front door and I'd be running back and forth. I'd say: `Ed, stop it!' And it would stop."
Sylvain and her husband, Russell Sylvain, moved out of the haunted house when gambling came to Cripple Creek.
They're asking $129,000 for the home at 126 Aspen St., which was built as a log cabin sometime in the late 1890s.
Realtors Jay and Enid Angello are advertising the property as a "Documented Haunted House."
The home has been featured in the book "Ghosts of Cripple Creek."
Apparently, the ghost was there long before Sylvain moved into the gray house with white trim in 1974.
"I was pretty open-minded when I moved in because the girls who were living there said, `There's a ghost in this house.' I said, `Oh,
yeah, sure.' "
It wasn't long before Sylvain started hearing things. But she passed them off as the wind blowing through the house or the house
creaking because it was old.
But the ghost was persistent. Things started to disappear - shirts, books, you name it. And then there was the footsteps. Sylvain could
hear them - heavy ones - stomping over the wooden dining room floor.
"I was never alone there," said Sylvain, who now lives in Paonia on the Western Slope. "I was never scared. It was almost like there was
someone living with me."
The poltergeist got the name "Ed" about 1976, when Sylvain's oldest son, Russell, and his former girlfriend took out the Ouija board. It
came up with "Ed" or "Ted O'Brien." The Ouija board also indicated that "Ed" was a philanderer who was killed by a jealous husband -
but that part has never been confirmed in any history book.
Years ago, there was a Cripple Creek resident named "Ted O'Brien," historical records show. He lived on Aspen Street - but not in the
house the Sylvains own. But he may have left something behind near the house.
Sylvain found a silver fork engraved with the letters "O'B" while digging for bottles in her yard in the late 1970s.
"We started calling him Ed," Sylvain said. "It's great to have that because when something disappeared, you could always blame it on
Ed. My husband's doing that here (in Paonia). I tell him, `You can't blame it on Ed.' "
Sylvain never actually saw an apparition while living in the house on the hill. But her son awoke from sleeping on the couch one night
and saw a man standing in the archway of the house, between the living room and the dining room. He had on a long overcoat and a
derby hat.
He was there for a second, then disappeared.
The family that lived in the house before the Sylvains had two young boys who saw a man dressed in a long overcoat and a derby hat.
The two lads would place a large rock in front of their bedroom door to keep the man with the funny hat out of their room. The closest
Sylvain ever got to "Ed" was the night she was in bed and felt a cold hand on her face. A few nights later, her husband, Russell, whom
she describes as a `nonbeliever,' felt the same sensation.
It seems even the family pets could feel "Ed." The dog would bark at the wall as if someone was standing there. The cats would stare at
something Sylvain could not see, and their fur would stand up and they'd become extremely agitated.
But no one was ever as agitated with "Ed" as the couple who came from Virginia to visit the Sylvains.
One of the visitors, an ex-Marine, was asleep one night in the Sylvain home. He woke up and, in a gruff voice, said: "Who was rubbing
my back?"
His wife, who had been asleep next to him, swore it wasn't her.
That's when Sylvain told the ex-Marine about "Ed," the friendly, mischievous ghost.
Next morning, the ex-Marine and his wife packed their bags and drove back to Virginia.
Source: Publication: The Gazette; Date:1995 Feb 06; Section:CITY/STATE; Page Number 2
Erin Emery; Gazette Telegraph
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Maggie - the ghost of Colorado Grande Casino
In the Fairley Bros. and Lampman Building
www.photoswest.org
300 East Bennett Avenue
Cripple Creek, Colorado, 80813
(719) 689-3517
(877) 244-9469
www.coloradogrande.com
General Manager: Eric Rose's E-mail: granderewards@coloradogrande.com
This historic building was once a funeral parlor. Little café called “Maggie’s Restaurant.”
The ghost is named MAGGIE.
Security guards have reported seeing Maggie and a gentleman friend playing a slot machine after hours.
MAGGIE HAS BEEN TAPED BY THE SECURITY CAMERAS.
Mysteriously, the tapes have "vanished," just as Maggie does when the security guards run down to the casino floor.
The tape was sent to Unsolved Mysteries- but then the show went off the air.
Does the Colorado Gaming Commission possibly have a copy of this tape.....?
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A ghost haunts the big brick building at Third and Bennett, says Katherine Hartz. Hartz owns Colorado's Own-Christmas Tree, which
occupies the building's first floor.
The ghost Hartz calls Maggie usually appears on the building's two top floors, which once housed medical offices and a Masonic Lodge
ballroom. Hartz first encountered Maggie in 1968 as she prepared to close up the building for the winter. Hartz was walking down the
second-floor hall when she heard the sound of high heels walking on the third floor. She started upstairs to investigate.
The apparition appeared to be about 25 years old, and was dressed in turn-of-the-century Gibson Girl style. Her hair was piled up on
her head and she wore a white shirtwaist, a long cotton skirt and high-heeled boots.
Maggie greeted Katherine Hartz through mental telepathy; Hartz answered the same way.
Since then, Hartz has heard music, singing and dancing emanating from the old ballroom. Hartz says she has never felt threatened by
Maggie, adding that she plays a concertina, and sings in a beautiful Irish-accented sorpano voice.
"She's been around dozens of times; in fact, she's never gone away. She's always around here, even if you can't see her."
One telltale sign that Maggie has been in a particular area of the building recently is the scent of rose perfume, Hartz says. "My ghost is
a beautiful human being. There isn't any story. She's just a nice person. There are a lot of nice entities in our midst."
Gazette, The (Colorado Springs, CO)
October 27, 1991
Section: LIFESTYLE
Page: 1
GHOSTS OF THE GOLD CAMP
Friendly spirits from Cripple Creek's colorful past still stalk old haunts
Author: D'Arcy Fallon
Gazette Telegraph
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Lilly of Buffalo Billy’s Casino
Formerly the "Turf Club Room"- 1896
Photo from www.sgha.net/co/buffalobillys/Buffalo_Billys.html
(Southwest Ghost Hunter's Association)
239-243 E. Bennett Ave.
719-689-2142
Haunted by a young girl named Lilly. She draws on the walls at the top of the steps.
A female employee saw Lilly sitting on a stairstep. She said that her name was Lilly.
The employee asked her if she was lost- and the little girl replied that she was not lost- but that she lived there. When the employee
went to notify a security guard, they returned moments later to find the little girl gone.
Once, a tourist was playing a slot machine and lost track of her young daughter. She searched, and found her on the staircase. When
the mother asked her what she was doing up there, the little girl replied that she was just playing with Lilly.
SOURCE: Ghosts of Bennett Avenue- Cripple Creek, by Kathi Mac Iver, 2000
To read the investigation of the haunted Buffalo Billy's Casino by the Southwest Ghost Hunters Association - check out:
www.sgha.net/co/buffalobillys/Buffalo_Billys.html
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The Hotel St. Nicholas
Spirits and Ghosts
Cripple Creek, with its wild and turbulent past, has a history of unexplained, supernatural occurrences that has led it to be called "one of
the most haunted towns in America". Maggie, who inhabits the top floor at the Colorado Grande Casino, may be the best know of
Cripple Creek’s ghostly residents, but many of the area’s turn-of-the-century businesses and homes have a history of strange sights
and sounds that offer no apparent rational explanation.
The Hotel St. Nicholas is no exception. Since its reopening in 1995, a number of unexplained events have happened at the hotel, and it
seems that at least two friendly, but mischievous spirits, call the hotel home.
One has been identified as Petey, who on some occasions has moved small items or hidden cigarettes in the bar. Petey is believed to
be the spirit of a young boy, possibly an orphan, who was cared for by the Sisters of Mercy in the St. Nicholas’ early days. A second
ghost, dressed as a miner, has been reportedly heard and seen walking down the back stairways. While these two spirits seem to be
the most common, an occasional report of other sightings or 'feelings' comes in from other areas of the hotel. Regardless of the
number, the St. Nicholas’ spirits seem to be a friendly and playful, if elusive group.
The Hotel St. Nicholas has hosted a number of ghost hunting groups. The Southwest Ghost Hunters Association has visited and
reported on the hotel a number of times.
www.hotelstnicholas.com/hsnwebhsnspirits.html
information@hotelstnicholas.com
The Hotel St. Nicholas
303 N. 3rd Street
P.O. Box 1459
Cripple Creek, Colorado 80813
Main Number: 719-689-0856
Toll Free Number: 888-786-4257
Directions From Denver, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo:
Take I-25 to Highway 24 West to Highway 67 South to Cripple Creek. Highway 67 turns into Bennett Street. Turn right at 3rd Street. The
Hotel St. Nicholas is on the left in two blocks.
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