Want to scare up some fun?

'Tis the season for things that go bump in the night! Are you a fan of the scary, of macabre mysteries, of interesting characters living and dead? Then do we have some fun events for you to partake in this Halloween season. Colorado is not a stranger to the supernatural and eerie, and several tours are welcoming guests and ghost hunters to learn interesting history and maybe make contact with a few people from our past. 

Of course, we are still in the midst of the pandemic, so be sure to call these locations or visit their websites to learn more and find out what precautions they require. 

Haunted Hotels, Homes, and Museums

Stanley Hotel: The grand dam of Colorado's haunted hotels is the Stanley in Estes Park. It's a gem of architecture, history, and the supernatural. Children laughing, phantom piano music, an apparition in the honeymoon suite, and various other other-worldly happenings have made this hotel a popular ghost hunting destination. During this time of year, the hotel offers nighttime tours, which discusses all of the above, as well as Stephen King's history with the hotel (it inspired The Shining), and more. It has also offered ghost hunts complete with paranormal technology during this time of year, though the website has no note of it currently. 

Tours: Night tours of this grand hotel are available. The Stanley Night Tour is a unique way to experience the hotel’s history, architecture, folklore, and pop culture with a knowledgeable storyteller under the ambiance of nighttime in the Rocky Mountains. Each tour offers you opportunities to explore, ask questions, and perhaps leave with a few stories of your own. 

Events: October 11, 16, 17, 18 through December 25, Aden Sinclair, Magus, Oracle, and Apparationist, will be featured in his show "Illusions of the Passed." The show is billed as "Illusions of the Passed is an immersive, and audience interactive, theatrical magick and seance experience. The show takes its guests on a journey into magick and the paranormal and leaves them wondering if there isn’t just a little bit more to this life than any of us know? Fortunes are told and fate is tested in this full evening show!"

Brown Palace Hotel: This crown jewel of Denver's history offers several themed tours that are a lot of fun. The Enduring Spirits Tour is perfect for October. You can book a private tour to explore the ghosts that make the Brown Palace unforgettable. 

Molly Brown House: The Unsinkable Molly Brown herself may not have let even death take her under. The house is rumored to be haunted by both the lady herself, servants, and more. This year, the house will host Victorian Horror nights in October. Start your in-person experience with a live-stream transmission from one of our Gothic horror authors who come back from the grave. Each night of Victorian Horrors will feature a different “lively” spirit sharing their ghostly tale. Then, revel in the atmosphere of the decidedly spooky nighttime environment of the Molly Brown House as you creep from room to room hearing tales of Halloweens gone by. More information and tickets are available on the Molly Brown website.

Museum of Colorado Prisons: You can only imagine the type of supernatural residue that is left behind in the sorrowful spaces of confinement. This is a must-experience place for ghost hunters who are serious about the paranormal. Tours will lead you through the museum with the latest in technology to see what you can scare up. Learn more and get tickets.

Interested in more haunted hotels you can visit on your own? Check out: Your Room is Ready a These Haunted Hotels.

How about another haunted museum to visit in your spare time? Check out: Colorado Mental Health Asylum History on Display at Pueblo Museum.

Cemetery Tours and Outdoor Places to Visit

Central City Masonic Cemetery: While there's no doubt that the dead reign supreme in cemeteries, not all of them are resting in peace. This cemetery has a long history of haunting events, from orbs to a mysterious woman in black that leaves flowers on a specific grave, then vanishes into thin air. 

The Gilpin County Historical Society usually offers October cemetery crawls, but as of the time of this writing, there is no word on whether it will happen this year or not. Please refer to the society's events page to see if it makes an announcement on the tours.  

However, the society does appear to be hosting a paranormal night at the Gilpin History Museum on October 24 and 31, complete with real ghost hunting and more. Check out more information and tickets here. 

Fairmount Cemetery Tours, Denver: This cemetery is a study in history to visit any time of the year, and tours are offered in all seasons. But in October, the Fairmount Heritage Foundation offers History Mystery tours at Fairmount and Riverside Cemeteries. History Colorado also offers a Cemetery Crawl on October 24. While less about the scares and more about history, these tours are not to be missed! Check out the events calendar for more information. 

Cheesman Park and Botanic Garden Ghost Tours: Cheesman Park is a hot spot for hauntings thanks to a gruesome history. In the late 1800s, the city hired E.P. McGovern to exhume and move thousands of graves to make way for a growing Denver. In a series of ghoulish practices, seeing a chance to profit on others' loss, McGovern took it upon himself to chop up bodies and bury them in smaller, child-size (3 feet by 1 foot) coffins to triple his money. Body parts of dozens of corpses ended up in one box, leaving so many bodies dispersed and displace. He wasn't particularly respectful of the dead in other ways, leaving bones and coffins everywhere during the process. McGovern was eventually pulled off the project, and the rest of the graves he didn't get to were just plowed over. Cheesman Park sits on thousands of bodies to this day. Read more: Haunted Colorado: The Chilling History of Cheesman Park.

The Denver Botanic Gardens, right next to Cheesman and part of the original cemetery, offers a fantastic ghost tour that touches on the park's history and more. Check out more information about the Ghosts in the Gardens tour. 

Courtesy of History Colorado

Walking Tours 

There are tons of walking tours available this time of year, and it's a really fun way to get to know your area more and maybe catch a spirit or two:

• All aboard a vintage tour bus to be regaled with ghostly tales of Boulder and Denver by Banjo Billy's Bus Tours. 
• Creep through the haunted mansions of Denver's Capitol Hill and area neighborhoods on the Denver Walking Tour's Ghosts of Capitol Hill Tours. 
• Colorado Haunted History Tours will take you through the darker sides of Morrison and Golden (these are excellent tours), with plenty of scary stories to boot. 
• Blue Moon Haunted History Tours will lead you to a tale of curses and ghosts in Manitou Springs. 
• Uncover Aspen’s tarnished past of ghosts, murder, and mayhem with true stories of Aspen’s darker history from 1879 to the present DarkSide Tour. 
• Tours are everywhere! Simply Google "ghost tours" in your town to find an endless list of companies who are ready to lead you down a spooky path. 

Do you know of more haunted tours, hotels, and more to visit this Halloween? Let us know in the comments!