The practice of dressing up in costumes and begging door to door at Denver Haunted Houses for treats on holidays dates back to the Middle Ages and includes Christmas wassailing. Trick-or-treating resembles the late medieval practice of souling, when poor folk would go door to door at Denver Haunted Houses on Hallowmas (November 1), receiving food in return for prayers for the dead on All Souls Day (November 2). It originated in Ireland and Britain, although similar practices for the souls of the dead were found as far south as Italy. Shakespeare mentions the practice in his comedy The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1593), when Speed accuses his master of “puling like a beggar at Hallowmas.”

However, there is no evidence that souling was ever practiced in North America, where trick-or-treating may have developed independent of any Irish or British antecedent. The custom of wearing costumes and masks at Halloween goes back to Celtic traditions of attempting to copy the evil spirits or placate them, In Scotland for instance where the dead were impersonated by young men with masked, veiled or blackened faces, dressed in white. Ruth Edna Kelley, in her 1919 history of the holiday, The Book of Hallowe’en, makes no mention of ritual begging in the chapter “Hallowe’en in America.” Kelley lived in Lynn, Massachusetts, a town with about 4,500 Irish immigrants, 1,900 English immigrants, and 700 Scottish immigrants in 1920. The thousands of Halloween postcards produced between the turn of the 20th century and the 1920s commonly show children but do not depict trick-or-treating. The editor of a collection of over 3,000 vintage Halloween postcards writes,

There are cards that mention the custom or show children in costumes at the doors of Denver Haunted Houses, but as far as we can tell they were printed later than the 1920s and more than likely even the 1930s. Tricksters of various sorts are shown on the early postcards, but not the means of appeasing them.

Thus, although a quarter million Scots-Irish immigrated to America between 1717 and 1770, the Irish Potato Famine brought more than a million immigrants to North America in 1845–1849, and British and Irish immigration to America peaked in the 1880s, ritualized begging on Halloween was virtually unknown in America until generations later.

The earliest known reference to ritual begging on Halloween in English speaking North America occurs in 1911, when a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario, near the border of upstate New York, reported that it was normal for the smaller children to go street guising on Halloween between 6 and 7 p.m., visiting shops and neighbors to be rewarded with nuts and candies for their rhymes and songs. Another isolated reference to ritual begging on Halloween appears, place unknown, in 1915, with a third reference in Chicago in 1920.

The earliest known use in print of the term “trick or treat” appears in 1927, from Blackie, Alberta, Canada:

Hallowe’en provided an opportunity for real strenuous fun. No real damage was done except to the temper of some who had to hunt for wagon wheels, gates, wagons, barrels, etc., much of which decorated the front street. The youthful tormentors were at back door and front of Denver Haunted Houses demanding edible plunder by the word “trick or treat” to which the inmates gladly responded and sent the robbers away rejoicing.

Trick-or-treating does not seem to have become a widespread practice until the 1930s, with the first U.S. appearances of the term in 1934, and the first use in a national publication occurring in 1939.

(Source: wikipedia.org)

Come Halloween there is a short window that the Denver Haunted Houses are open.  Although some of the haunted houses are open longer than others, they all have a down time but they all have a great time to go depending on your own personal situation.  Are you going with your friends? Are you bringing your children?  Are you looking for the scariest time possible?  These are all questions you need to ask yourself to ensure you choose the best time to go to all of the Denver Haunted Houses.

If you are going to bring your children, chances are you aren’t going to want to go at a time where there is a line.  You’re also not going to want to go when the haunted house is fully staffed if your children are small so there will be more breaks between scares.  Haunted houses tend to be fully staffed on the weekends and actually the first few weeks they are open they have more people working the haunted house as well.

If you are going with a group of friends you are probably more concerned with the actual Denver haunted house iteself then the line so you will want the complete opposite; more staff and a great show.  You will want to know when the haunted house has a special event because chances are the haunted house will be fully staffed.  Its also great to go when everyone is enthusiastic about the haunted house. Going on a Thursday is probably the best time to go with friends because the haunted house will be fully staffed and line should be down a bit.

There is another alternative to avoiding the line and thats buying tickets online!  So many of the Denver haunted houses now accept credit cards online and often times offer a discount for buying tickets early.  Check out the hanted house’s website, buy tickets online and when you show up move straight to the front of the line.  VIP tickets are worth buying online to avoid the long lines of the haunted houses.

Even furniture can be the recipient of ghostly attention in haunted houses.  Not very far from Castle Hill, Virginia, is one of America’s important historical buildings: the country home once owned by former president James Monroe, where he and Thomas Jefferson often conversed and may have made major political decisions.  This haunted houses, small and cozy, was James Monroe’s favorite even after he moved to the bigger place that became his stately home later in his career.  At Ash Lawn he could get away from affairs of state and public attention to discuss matters of great concern with his friend Jefferson, who lived only two miles away at Monticello.

The ghostly occurrences center around a wooden rocking chair in the main room, which has been seen to rock without the benefit of human hands.  It is unknown how many people have seen the chair rock, but Mrs. J. Massey, who lived in the area for many years, is on record as saying, “I will tell anyone and I have no objection to its being known, that I’ve seen not once but time and time again the rocking chair rocking exactly as though someone were in it.  My brother, John, has seen it too.  Whenever we touched it, it would stop rocking.”

Although there has been considerable speculation regarding the nature of this haunted houses, there has thus far been no consensus.  A haunted houses of this vintage has likely been marred by tragedy more than once.  The truth behind the haunted chair at Ash Lawn may never be known.

One article dated May 28, 1881, gave an explanation of a lawsuit against Idaho Springs Mayor Thomas B. Bryan.  “Mayor Bryan has laid the foundation of the large bath house, and is tunneling and sinking for the water that is to supply the bath.”  This bathhouse was designed to service his Colorado haunted house.

This area of Idaho Springs is located on a hot springs, which had been run for years by a popular citizen of the town, and purportedly used by such luminaries as Frank and Jesse James, Walt Whitman, Horace Tabor, and Sarah Bernhardt.  By claiming to mine for gold while actually tapping into the sulfur springs, Bryan was essentially stealing another man’s livelihood.  There followed a lawsuit in which Bryan was the loser.

The present owner on this Colorado haunted house has not run across “her,” but a guest at dinner, a prominent and quite well-known painter, did see and hear a figure in the dining room one evening, who told him her name was Mary.  Adjourning to the solarium for coffee, the guest saw her there as well.  Other guests have felt cool breezes in the music room, with no open doors or windows.  Mary is possibly the daughter of Bryan, but that remains an unverified fact, as she was always referred to as Miss Bryan during her life.  Other occurrences in this Colorado haunted house include the sound of “Mary” crying, footsteps during the night, lights turning on and off, and objects being moved without explanation.

This is a pretty funny video of some pranks people pulled on some poor unexpected individuals.  Has anyone done something like this as a Halloween prank?  This next video is a pretty good Halloween prank:

Although there is evidence of human habitation in this area for thousands of years, it was in the mid-1800s that the first Europeans came upon the desert ruins.  The name “Hovenweep,” Paiute/Ute for “deserted valley,” was adapted by pioneer photographer William Henry Jackson in 1874, and quite accurately describes the desolation of these canyons and mesas wherein the ancient farmers cultivated and irrigated their crops.  Though we know the natives in this Four Corners area as Anasazi, they are more accurately called Ancestral Puebloans, and the fascinating thing about them, besides their mysterious exodus, is the variation in the composition of their living areas.  While the better known Mesa Verde tribe built into the cliffs, the Hovenweep people, also members of the Mesa Verde tribe, had a penchant for building towers and massive castle-like buildings with shapes that varied, including square rectangle, round, D-shaped and horseshoe.  The remains of these structures are now Colorado haunted houses.

The Hovenweep area began with small, scattered units, pueblos built on the mesa around 1100, and evolved after 1200 into sophisticated masonry-walled pueblos, with large structures interspersed, often at the head of the canyons.  Water was the life-blood of the Ancestral Puebloans, which, in this dry, arid climate, they diverted into the fields to grow food, using innovative farming methods like terrace farming and irrigation.  Modern scientists examined tree rings from the logs used for construction in the area and found that from 1250 to 1300 there was a severe drought, which likely caused a large migration of the Puebloan people.  Additionally, there now are no trees here, although logs were a corporate part of the construction.  This indicates a depletion of a vital building material and fuel.  Not everyone left however, as they are believed to be the ancestors of the modern tribes of the Hopi, Zuni and Pueblo.

It is widely believed that the Hovenweep Castle is an ancient haunted houses, cursed by the spirits of the Ancestral Puebloans who were forced to migrate during the drought of 1250 – 1300.  Modern-day visitors have reported hearing Native American drumming in the distance.  Others have reported smelling the odor of sage smoke, often used in Puebloan ceremonies.  In a sense, the Hovenweep Castle is one of the most interesting and unusual Colorado Haunted Houses.

What a cool haunt! I don’t know if all the rumors of the ghostly activity inside the actual warehouse are true, but certainly the haunt itself held up to its expectations. It is a dark haunt. Not literally speaking, but there is a very ominous feeling about the warehouse itself. The setting is awesome! As you walk into the warehouse to get in the cue line, the scene reminded me a lot of the first “Blade” movie where the vampires are all dancing to their techno Goth like music in an abandoned warehouse under showers of blood. Unfortunately, there were no vampires slaughtering all of us unsuspecting victims, but there was a hot Goth chick doing a hot dance to entertain you while standing in line! There also a freak show, but I will let the other critics mention something about that and cut to the chase.

With a name like the 13th floor, I was really curious as to how they were going to pull that off and make it feel like you’re climbing multiple floors. Well… they did it! You step into an enclosed elevator room and suddenly you feel like
you really are in an old rickety elevator that could drop at any second. The actors here did a terrific job making you believe that you could too. Once on the 13th floor, the scenes began to unfold. One thing that really stood out in
this particular haunt, were the props looked very movie quality real. There was a severed head in a container that was awesome! I thought the coolest gag, which I am sure all the critics also dually noted, was the ghostly bride. She
slithered in and out of the rooms in the dark and was really creepy the way she moved. Just like if you were to really see a ghost, she was there for a split second, and gone the next.

The acting I felt was fantastic. The little scenes I thought were great! The smoke was perfect! I like it when you can’t see much in front of your face and don’t know exactly where you are going. Over all, I really loved this entire haunt. I felt it really held up to all the others that have had the benefit of running for years. I can’t wait to see the adjustments made and how much further it goes in years to come.

If you’re like most people who stretch Halloween into a month-long frightfest, you’ll be looking for a good Haunted House here in the next couple of weeks.  Haunted Houses have become big business in recent years and they’re not exactly cheap, so I recommend doing a little research before heading out for the night.  Here are a few things that you’ll want to know before making your trip out for the evening:

1. Know what time the Haunted House closes. Some of these attractions can be a bit of a drive and it’s a real bummer to get rejected because they are closed or the line is too long to get in before they close.  (I learned this the hard way last year.)  Some haunted houses have a number you can call to check on the status of the line but in all cases just get there early!

2 . Check on the ticket options. The average price is around $15 per person, but you might want to see if there is a “VIP” ticket and online ticketing options.  The VIP tickets will cost a little more, but could save you a lot of time.

And don’t forget to find out if there are any discounts available.  Some of the venues give a small discount with a canned food donation.

3. Get the scoop on the the “fright factor”. Ask friends and co-workers to see which ones they like/dislike and how scary they are before choosing your Haunted House.   Picking a Haunted House is like picking salsa – do you want Mild, Medium or Hot?

4. Who are you going with. When you ask your friends, co-workers, and check the review boards about the particular haunted houses you need to keep in mind who you are going with.  Are you planning on having a few beers and going with your buddies?  Are you planning on attending with a younger child or girlfriend who might not appreciate the blood and gore.  Keep this in mind when choosing a haunted house!

Here are two websites that are good resources for a lot of this information.   Haunted Colorado | Haunted House Guide