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.

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.

There are many things to do in the Denver Metro Area on and around Halloween. The choices available accommodate people of all ages and abilities. Similarly, admission fees vary, and just about anyone ought to be able to afford an outing. There are many events targeted at families, such as hayrides, corn mazes, and seasonal programs at the Denver Zoo and Denver Botanic Gardens. There are also several commercial haunted houses, such as those operated by Screamworks Entertainment. There are also many “real” haunted houses, and even haunted castles, in the Denver area.

One such example is the South Broadway Christian Church, located at Ellsworth and Lincoln. John Sutton built the structure in the early 1890s. Nicknamed “Uncle” John, Mr. Sutton lived in a two-room apartment in the tower. Many haunted house stories have very logical explanations for the strange noises, footsteps, or eerie happenings, but the goings-on here are pretty hard to attribute to natural causes.

Today, somebody lives in the church, and some guess it’s Uncle John. “He” is a talented fellow, and plays the organ when the church is dark and the organ is shut up. Once a member, Dustin Adkins, was vacuuming, with the cord coiled at his feet, when the vacuum stopped. Dustin turned to find the plug on the floor. Puzzled, he plugged it back in and again started vacuuming, when it quit again. This time, the plug was on the floor and four feet from the outlet, and it was obvious that tension had not caused the cord to pull out. Dustin left, in a big hurry.

Rochelle Chartier, president of the Denver Classical Guitar Society, was at the church alone late one evening. Pushing on the front door, she just couldn’t get it to open, though she tried for several minutes. Finally, and quite suddenly, the door released and opened with the greatest of ease. She left again for more boxes and the problem repeated itself. Neither before nor since has the door stuck; never again has Rochelle stayed late alone.

Source: (”Castles of Colorado,” Westerberg)

What exactly is a ghost? In terms of psychic research, a ghost appears to be a surviving emotional memory of someone who died traumatically or tragically, but is unaware of his or her death. Those ghosts who do know are confused about where they are, or why they don’t feel quite the way they used to feel. When a person has lived in a place for a very long time, acquiring certain routines and becoming very attached to the premises, sudden death comes as a shock. Unwilling to part with the physical world, those human personalities stay on at the spot where their tragedy or their emotional attachment existed prior to their physical death.

In seeking out a haunted house, keep in mind that a relaxed, open-minded attitude toward the phenomena is helpful. Patience is a must. What might not happen on the first visit might very well occur on a subsequent trip. There is no hard and fast rule concerning a successful ghostly experience, but there is a reasonable likelihood of experiencing something in a haunted house if one is somewhat psychic. If one is psychic to a high degree, chances are that one will at least feel something of the unseen inhabitant of the place. Whenever possible, take photographs using black and white film and a timed exposure. Something that the naked eye doesn’t see might very well show up on your film.

But even if you don’t encounter ghosts or have a psychic experience in a haunted house, you will find them fascinating places. As an adventure in historical research, haunted houses have no equal.

(Source: “Hans Holzer’s Travel Guide to Haunted Houses”)

“Within the walls of the legendary Nightmare Factory a hidden passage was unearthed! This passage descended two levels into Gordon Cottingham’s Hospital for the Mentally Insane, The Asylum. Much deeper and darker than the previous levels, the Asylum is a damp and musty place infested with spiders, rats, snakes, and the endless screams of the tortured souls.”

Check out more on this great haunted House in Denver, you’ll get scared!

Formerly known as the Most Haunted House in America, the home of carpetbagger Charles Wright Congelier, his Mexican wife Lyda, and a young servant girl, Essie, was located at 1129 Ridge Avenue, in the Manchester, North Side neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The story of its life as a haunted house begins in the winter of 1871, with Lyda’s discovery of Charles having an affair with the maid. Lyda was so enraged, that she fatally stabbed Charles and chopped off Essie’s head. For the next 20 years the house remained vacant. It was remodeled to accommodate railroad workers in 1892, but they soon moved out, claiming to hear the sobbing and screaming of a woman. The Most Haunted House in America once again stood vacant.

Around 1900, Dr. Adolph C. Brunrichter bought the home. “Keeping to himself, the doctor was rarely seen by his neighbors. Then on August 12, 1901, the family next door heard a terrifying scream from the Brunrichter residence,” wrote Richard Winer and Nancy Osborn in their book, Haunted Houses. “When they ran outside to investigate, the neighbors saw a red explosion-like flash shooting through the house. The earth under them trembled, and the sidewalls cracked. Every window in the doctor’s home was shattered.”

When officials entered the house to investigate, they found a decomposed female body strapped to the bed and five headless young women in basement graves. “Dr. Brunrichter had been experimenting with severed heads,” wrote Winer and Osborn. “Apparently he had been able to keep some alive for short periods after decapitation.” Dr. Brunrichter, meanwhile, had disappeared, and the house once again stood vacant.

As a result of its reputation for being haunted, the house stood empty for several years before undergoing its second remodeling to ready it for housing emigrant Equitable Gas Company workers. These workers experienced many strange occurrences but wrote them off as pranks by the American workers they had replaced (for lower wages). One night things took a tragic turn, however, and two of the workers were found dead in the basement. One had a board driven like a stake through his chest, and the other was hanging from a rafter. These men had both been seen alive just minutes earlier.

In 1920, the famous scientist and inventor, Thomas Edison, came to study the house. Edison spoke of a machine that he was building to allow communication with the dead. Edison died before the mechanism was perfected. Winer and Osborn wrote that Thomas Edison’s visit to the house at 1129 Ridge Avenue apparently influenced his strong belief in the afterlife.

In September of 1927, a drunk was arrested who claimed to be Dr. Adolph Brunrichter. He told police gruesome stories of sex orgies, demonic possession, torture and murder that had occurred in the house. The authorities could not determine if the man they had in custody was indeed Dr. Brunrichter. The man was released after a month and was never seen again.

Days were numbered for the haunted house that everyone was convinced was evil. Nearby, on the site that is now the Carnegie Science Center, stood the largest natural gas storage facility in the world. On the morning of November 15, 1927, the giant gas storage tank owned by the Equitable Gas Company exploded with an awesome force that was felt across the county. The Story of Old Allegheny City, compiled by workers of the Writers’ Program of the Works Projects Administration, describes the destruction. “As houses collapsed and chimneys toppled, brick, broken glass, twisted pieces of steel and other debris rained on the heads of the dazed and shaken residents who had rushed into the streets from their wrecked homes, believing that an earthquake had visited the city.” The force was so strong it reportedly blew out windows throughout downtown, Mt. Washington, and as far away as East Liberty. Dozens of manufacturing plants and hundreds of homes were damaged or destroyed within a 20-mile radius.

The Most Haunted House in America, which once stood at the present day site of the Route 65/I279 interchange, was obliterated in the explosion. According to Winer and Osborn, it was the only structure destroyed in the blast for which no trace was ever found.

(Source: Albrecht Powell, About.com)