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.

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.

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.

Rumor has it that Alma Osgood at one time may have had a love affair with one of the Italian artists she had imported to paint inside the mansion, and that and that her husband, John Cleveland Osgood, had him shot for allegedly cheating in a poker game.  No real evidence documents this story, however there is a secret passageway through the castle from the guest quarters, which comes out very near Alma’s private suite in this Colorado haunted house.

The biggest black mark on Osgood’s character was his reaction to the horrific Ludlow Massacre in 1914, where a camp of striking miners and their wives were gunned down and burned out by men in the employ of the mine owners.  As spokesman for the coal operators of Colorado, he loquaciously blamed the victims for the problem, although he was fully aware of, and had participated in, the evil conditions the miners endured.  Later testimony disproved his claims, but perhaps his sympathies had been blunted by the desertion of his adored wife, and later the betrayal of the miners in walking out of his mines.

Most prevalent is the smell of cigar smoke, particularly around the pool room area, when smoking is not allowed, of course, in the Colorado haunted house.  Osgood was a perpetual cigar smoker.  Other guests have reported being touched while sleeping, or of smelling the scent of fresh lilacs in mid-winter.  Housekeepers report seeing people reflected in mirrors in empty rooms and of footprints on clean floors.  With its many unsolved mysteries, the Redstone Castle is among the greatest Colorado haunted houses.

Perusing a book titled “Journeys,” the story of the Sisters of Mercy written by Kathleen O’Brien, one finds an account of the departure of Father Jean Baptiste Francolon in 1900.  The Mother Superior, Mother Baptist, harshly accused the Father of accosting children.  She then threatened to expose him.  In response, the Father cursed her, telling her that she would be dead within a year’s time.

Apparently the accusation reached the public ear and Angus Gillis, driving a wagon in town, came across an angry crowd headed for the Colorado haunted house.  Driving ahead, Angus warned the Father, secreted him under a blanket in his wagon, and drove him to Colorado Springs where Father Francolon left abruptly for Europe.

A sad and creepy postscript to this tale is that in August of 1901, the very next year, Mother Baptist died quite horribly in a train accident while traveling from Durango to Silverton.

A less substantiated incident is that of a nun, Henrietta, who hanged herself, supposedly because she was carrying the child of Father Francolon, who refused to give up his priesthood and marry her.

It seems that Sister Henrietta never left Miramont Castle, a Colorado haunted house, and is still seen occasionally.  There also is a little girl on the fourth floor, but who she is remains a mystery, although one psychic thought she might have been a patient who died there.  A transparent Victorian couple has been seen on the grand staircase, once by the president of the Manitou Historical Society, and a Victorian widow sometimes appears in the mirrors in the mother’s room.  A Native American is another regular visitor.

Phenomena are so common that there are books on the third level for visitors to relate any odd occurrences that they encounter.  And the entries are many.  With its many unsolved mysteries, the Miramont Castle is among the greatest Colorado haunted houses.

There are two issues here: the first is that sometime between Marcus C. Wright’s death and Bill Barnes’ acquisition, the castle was at one time a brothel and gambling casino.  The second issue is more serious.  The plane crash that killed three of the Barnes family has never been properly explained, and the investigation of the crash is still open.

With its history, it would be surprising if the castle did not have spirits.  Lisa Barnes, who lived there as a child, believes the castle is truly an entity, with its energy deriving from the structure being made of solid rock, with materials all from the surrounding area.  Wright, the man who actually created the castle, was building his own dream.  And the rock is granite, Lisa adds, which vibrates at a very low frequency and has accumulated its history over time, both positive and negative.

Lisa is a Sensitive, or Medium, and has been aware of a multitude of spirits around the castle.  As a child, she often heard footsteps along the long hallway from the garage into the house, though no one visible was there.  In fact, guests staying in the lower bedrooms adjacent to the hall, complained to her parents about the noise that disturbed their sleeping.  Another annoyance was a spirit dog whose nails clicked on the terrazzo floor and whose panting would awaken Lisa.

Following the airplane crash, the castle was on the market for four years, with several interested buyers.  But Lisa found it disturbing that these potential owners were interested in the land only, and planned to scrap the castle and rebuild.  Then Mike Dunafon and Debbie Matthews found the estate, and it was the castle that they wanted, and wished to restore.  Soon after, Lisa encountered the spirit of her mother who assured her that they were the right people to own it.  With its many unsolved mysteries, the Dunafon Castle is among the greatest Denver haunted houses.

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John W. Springer was a man of impeccable family and background. His family was of German descent and traceable back to 1089. Reputation was what he strove for his entire life. A scandal involving drugs and promiscuity with his second wife, Isabelle Paterson, must have just about unhinged him. For a complete scenario on this escapade, read Dick Kreck’s book, “Murder at the Brown Palace.”

As a postscript, Isabelle died in April of 1917 in the Pauper’s Hospital, Blackwell’s Island, NY. This was a mere six years following her divorce from Springer. Alcohol and narcotics now ravaged her former beauty.

Regarding the haunting of the Springer Castle, most prominent is the ghost of Julia Kistler, daughter of the fifth owner, whose father abandoned her for his stepsons. There are claims that her figure has been seen silhouetted in her bedroom on days the castle was known to be vacant, and several workers throughout the upper halls have heard her soft, anguished sobs.

Other odd incidences have occurred in the castle. Several years back, the mammoth clock in the great hall was heard to chime during a meeting, although the mechanism has been out of order for years.

Caroline Smith, docent and president of the Highlands Ranch Historical Society, reports a day when, waiting for a group of school children, she suddenly smelled a strong bouquet of flowers, although there were none in the building. Later, a mother commented on the aroma as well.