by Deb Anderson
Denver- Belle Worden’s House- The ghost of John Fitzgerald haunts the whorehouse where he was murdered.
On March 19, 1884, he was stabbed to death as he lay sleeping in the bed of a prostitute.
His lifeless body was thrown into cherry Creek and found by a group of boys two months later. Madame Bell Worden and two of her employees were sent to jail for the murder robbery. The phantom of Fitzgerald has returned to make sure the place would never again be a house of ill-repute. The house is a private residence at 578 Holiday Street.
Bombay Club-Owner Greg McAllister says he serves cowboy ghosts as well as living guests in the 1895 saloon. The Bombay Club is located at 1128 Grant Street.
Bradmar-The haunting of this Tudor mansion began when a ceiling beam was split by a ghost. The mansion was built in 1920 by George Gano, when he died; Hubert Work bought the house and married Gano’s widow Ethyl.
Many years before her death, Ethyl told friends and relatives that when she died she wished to lie in state before the fireplace. She promised that on that night she would split a certain beam on the ceiling above her coffin. The beam split just as she had promised.
After the Works died, no one lived in the house until 1962, when it was purchased by Dr. Robert Bradley and soon after moving in; the Bradleys experienced ghostly presences, levitating objects, odors, and moaning sounds.
Dr. Bradley consulted renowned psychic Arthur Ford who identified the spirits as Ethyl and Hubert Work. Bradley wrote a book about the experiences and finally the house was sold in 1980. The people who bought it couldn’t stand the paranormal activity and moved out shortly after. It is still a private residence at 4100 South University Blvd.
Croke-Patterson-Campbell Mansion-The haunting began in 1970 when tenant’s offices were remodeled. The often heard typing in the building at night and when they brought in two Dobermans to guard the place, the found them the next morning dead on the sidewalk, the animals had been so frightened of something they jumped from a third floor window.
In the same year, a baby died in the third floor nursery and the distraught mother committed suicide. The mansion was then turned into a museum at 428 East 11th Street.
Denver Courthouse-In 1900, every night for a week at 3:00 AM, the ghosts of departed souls walked the hallways accompanied by the stench of brimstone. Not one but dozens of spirits were reported by night watchmen and janitors and one of the ghosts was the courthouse elevator operator who had fallen to their death down the elevator shaft.
The courthouse is located on the corner of 16th Street and Tremont Avenue.
Grant-Humphreys Mansion-This old house is said to be haunted by five ghosts, one the former owner, A.E. Humphreys. Humphreys died on May 8, 1927 from a suspicious gun accident despite being an excellent marksman.
A séance sponsored by radio station KNUS contacted several ghosts. The Grant-Humphreys Mansion is located in the Cheesman Park area and ghost lectures are held in October.
Littleton Town Hall Arts Center-Ghostly laughter and music have been heard coming from this community theater building late at night. The ghost also likes to mess up workers desks and move their personal belongings.
Molly Brown House-The ghost of Molly Brown wanders her former home, which was built in 1889. Molly survived the sinking of the Titanic and died in 1932. Her husband James Joseph Brown’s ghost has also been detected in the home as visitors sometimes smell cigar smoke in his study.
Molly Brown House Museum is located at 1340 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Peabody Mansion-This house was built by Colorado Governor James Peabody at the turn of the century and haunted by later residents. It is rumored a woman was brutally raped in the basement and that someone committed suicide in the bathroom.
Whatever the cause of the disturbances, many people feel bad vibes here.
Reynolds Cottage-This historic house is haunted by Madge Reynolds who had an adulterous affair with Denver Post owner Fred Bonfils. She collapsed and died in her bedroom after a horseback ride with Bonfils. Ever since, her ghost has been seen roaming in the rooms on the north side of the house. The house is a private residence on Logan Street in the Capital Hill area of Denver.
Fairplay-Buckskin Cemetery-J. Dawson Hidgepath came to Fairplay to find gold and a wife, but only found tragedy in 1865. His broken, lifeless body was found at the bottom of the West side of Mount Boss where he had apparently fallen while trying to prospect the mountainside.
Soon after, the bones of the wandering lothario were found in the bed of a dance hall girl in the town of Alma.
Believing some prank had occurred, the citizens of Fairplay reburied the bones in the Buckskin Cemetery. Time and time again, the bones would find their way to the house of some fair lady.
By 1872, Dawson’ bones were the talk of the territory, and in a last attempt to rid themselves of the wandering bones; someone threw them into an outhouse where they seemed to have stayed.
Alma is two miles east of Buckskin Cemetery though not much is left of the town. Buckskin Cemetery is in the town of Laurette eight miles northwest of Fairplay.