Seeking a fright? Here are six stories from the Western History and Genealogy (WHG) blog archives that mix mystery with local history.
6. CHEESMAN PARK'S PAST LIFE...AS A CEMETERY
Read on to find out what happened when a local cemetery was transformed into a park...and the undertaker contracted to move graves gravely mismanaged the project. [CLICK TO READ STORY]
5. THE DARK HISTORY OF AN ABANDONED INSTITUTION
Librarian Morgan explores the dark story behind Arvada's now-demolished Ridge Home—once known as the "Colorado State Home and Training School" and the "Home for Mental Defectives." [CLICK TO READ STORY]
4. NEWSPAPER REPORTS OF A HAUNTED HOUSE, 1902-1904
Between 1902 and 1904, three Denver newspapers referred to a residence located on the corner of 19th and Grant as a "haunted house." In 1904, the Rocky Mountain News even sent a reporter to a séance performed at the home. [CLICK TO READ STORY]
3. " SKELETON AND GHOST": JUST A POEM...OR AN ACCOUNT OF A DENVER HAUNTING?
Jessie Adeline Cole Phelps's poem "Skeleton and Ghost" details how a boarding house owner's visit from a ghost at her breakfast table led to the discovery of a skeleton in her cellar. The poem mentions the names of real Denver people and places. Was this a work of fiction or Phelps's telling of a paranormal encounter? [CLICK TO READ STORY]
2. A GHOST AT GEORGETOWN, 1868
A game of cards gone bad results in a shot from a pistol and later, a lynching of the shooter. Soon after, the Rocky Mountain News declared, "Georgetown has a haunted house," when the doors in the home closest to where the lynching occurred open and slam on their own — and a man with a rope around his neck is seen wandering the property. [CLICK TO READ STORY]
1. A DENVER HOUSE THAT INSPIRED A HORROR FILM: PART 1 — PART 2 — PART 3
In interviews, Russell Hunter said that his paranormal experiences while renting a Denver home near Cheesman Park in the late 1960s became the basis for the 1980 Hollywood horror film, The Changeling. Read the details of Hunter's alleged paranormal encounter and the history of a home said to have inspired a horror flick. [CLICK TO READ PART 1 - PART 2 - PART 3]