Boo! It’s that time of the year again when all the ghost and ghouls come out to play! Did you know that Castle Rock is haunted? No? Well, let us inform you. Find out where you need to visit in Castle Rock- It will be cheaper than a ghost tour at the Stanley Hotel.

[caption id="attachment_2546" align="aligncenter" width="656"] Anna Hilburger in front of the Cantril School with her daughter or granddaughter. c. 1907. Douglas County History Research Center #95048-001[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2538" align="aligncenter" width="600"] 4th grade students posing by the Cantril School. October 1915. Junior Teacher: Miss Grace Sayer, Senior Teacher: Miss Gertrude Kelly. Douglas County History Research Center #93004-002.[/caption] Cantril School: 312 Cantril St. Cantril School, on what was called "Schoolhouse Hill" in the 1880s, is an example of an indomitable spirit. Built in 1896 to replace the wood-frame school that burned, the existing Cantril Building, 312 Cantril St., became home to the first high school in Douglas County. Students came from all over Douglas County to attend the high school and boarded with Castle Rock residents. Cantril School has been home of academia throughout its existence, first as a school and now as offices of the Douglas County School District. Its hallowed halls still echo with the sounds of children. But after school is out, and the children have all gone home, Cantril School is alive with a different set of echoes. "We were always hearing footsteps, even in the summer when the furnace was not running," said Dixie Manzanares, district secretary for staff development. Manzanares named the ghost "Matilda," and while conducting tours for fourth-graders, she would tell them stories of Matilda's exploits.The tour included a trip to the basement to show the pupils the coal furnace. It was during one of those trips a boy told her he thought he knew where Matilda lived and headed for the coal room. "Just then there was a clap of thunder and that boy turned back to the group as white as a sheet," Manzanares said. Manzanares led tours for about eight years before staff development moved into the University Center at Chaparral in Parker.   Castle Rock Chamber of Commerce “Victoria’s House”: 420 Jerry St. Now the Castle Rock Chamber of Commerce, Victoria's House, 420 Jerry St., still carries some of the character of the families who lived there. Victoria Anderson Honnold was once one of Castle Rock's leading socialites and leader of various women's groups. Her father, Andrew Anderson, purchased two lots at the corner of Fifth and Jerry streets in 1896. The Andersons raised their two daughters and one son in the house. After a series of deaths and unfortunate events, the last remaining family member and owner of the house, Victoria, seems to have never left after all these years. "We were sitting in the conference room one day having a meeting when the door to a metal cabinet in the corner of the room slowly opened on its own," said Deb Tucker, events coordinator for the chamber. Nighttime seems to be the creepiest in the old house, chamber employees said. "Once when I was working late I kept hearing something that sounded like someone snoring," said Judy Parson, chamber employee. "I didn't stick around long after that." The employees also said there is an upstairs bathroom that often sounds like there is a hive of angry bees in it. But snoring and buzzing aside, some of the events have left some employees unsettled. "On several occasions, while working late, the phone has rung but when I answered it there was, pardon the pun, dead silence," said Catherine Thornton, another chamber employee. The phone would continue to ring until she picked it up, Thornton said. Other chamber employees also report they've fallen prey to the ringing phone. Whether it's Victoria or not, she gets blamed for things, Tucker said. "Whenever the computers go on the fritz we blame Victoria," Tucker said. Perhaps Victoria is trying to get a message to those who work in her house. Old Douglas County News-Press Building: Perry Street *RUMORED TO BE HAUNTED* "Although there began to be problems with the old building, it was familiar. We knew where we were. We knew all the building's sounds, its creaks and groans. Some of us joked the old building was haunted by one of its first owners, George Kobalt." Kobalt built the building in the 1950s and the newspaper was so much a part of his life, we believed his spirit remained there. Employees sometimes reported hearing footsteps when working alone.   The Old Stone Church Restaurant 210 Third Street The Old Stone Church, built in 1888, was home to the St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church congregation for many years. While a church, the building was filled with the spirit of its congregation, and even after the church became a restaurant, it sported spirits of all sorts. After the Catholics moved into their new church on Colorado 86 in 1966, the old church was vacant until remodeling began in 1975 to convert it into the restaurant it is today, said Mike Wheeler, head waiter at the Old Stone Church Restaurant. During the conversion, some spaces were boarded over and others rearranged. For example, what is now the second floor was the choir loft. The most often-sighted ghost at the Old Stone Church can be found in that area, he said. Sometimes the ghost has as much return-appeal as the food. Once, a family brought their children to the Old Stone Church one day for their son's birthday because he wanted to hear the ghost stories, Wheeler said."They kind of hinted that the boy had seen a ghost here once before," Wheeler said. "I asked the boy what he'd seen." Then in a scene that could have come from the Bruce Willis' thriller "Sixth Sense," the boy described a little girl dressed in white with "something wrong with the back of her head."  The description the boy gave perfectly matched sightings other patrons and wait staff had reported, Wheeler said. "I told the parents that, and they acted like I was just patronizing them," Wheeler said. "I told them, 'No, really, other people have seen the girl.”Wheeler has even had a few ghost sightings of his own.. "One night I was alone after the restaurant closed and all the lights were off," Wheeler said. "I thought I saw a woman on the main staircase reflected in a mirror." The area is behind what was the main altar. "I walked toward the area and had to walk through a thick wall of clammy air," Wheeler said. "I felt a presence all around me." Waitresses have reported seeing sugar caddies fly through the air, chairs moving, and there have been "weird electrical disturbances" - lights going on and off and the phone doing strange things, Wheeler said. In the kitchen things have fallen off shelves and pans or utensils that hang from the ceiling on hooks have fallen, he said. Source: Douglas County News-Press

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