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Cripple
Creek District Ghosts |
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The Palace Hotel/Womack's Casino
Cripple
Creek's
Palace Hotel first began as the Palace Drug Store. However, in 1892,
the building was transformed into a hotel. With the influx of the
many miners to the region, the hotel also featured one of
Cripple
Creek's
original gambling dens. As one of only two hotels during
Cripple
Creek's
early days, the place was so crowded at times; they even rented chairs to
sleep in for $1 per night.
Alas, the
building did not survive the 1896 fire that destroyed the entire town. However, the building was rebuilt and opened to guests once again. With its lavish décor, it soon became a major attraction for wealthy gold
barons and high-rollers, as well as the many people who stepped off the
stage at its front door.
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The stage stops at the front door of the
Palace Hotel
in 1894, courtesy
Denver Public Library
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By the
turn of the century, the hotel was owned by Dr. Chambers and his wife
Kitty. Taking care of his patients, the hotel was run by his
wife, affectionately known as Miss Kitty. Priding herself on service,
she offered a number of amenities to her guests, including placing
lighted candles throughout the hotel and turning down the beds at
night.
When Miss
Kitty died in 1908 in Room #3 of the hotel, she evidently wasn’t ready
to leave, as stories have it that she continues to reside there. Over the years, guests have told stories of how she continued to
provide great service by making sure that the candles were lit and
sometimes turning down the beds. Others have reported seeing a
vision of Miss Kitty dressed in an old-fashioned white night gown with
her long hair down over her shoulders. Yet other people have
reported seeing the same figure in the window of Room #3.
Miss Kitty is not the only ghost said to lurk within these historic
confines as some suggest other spirits continuing to roam the old
hotel, including a short fat man, a tall woman, and a blind piano
player. Reports include feelings of being watched; people who
feel a gentle nudge as the walk up and down the stairs, crashing
noises and footsteps in the halls when no one is there, and strange
anomalies appearing in photographs.
Today, the hotel is the property of Womack's Casino, as of
this writing, no changes have been made to the building, which
continues to stand vacant. The Palace Hotel is located at
172 E. Bennett Avenue.
Update:
Reader's Story - My wife and I were at Womacks Casino
overnight on April 3, 2008 celebrating our anniversary in room 101. At
approximately 1:30 am, I awoke to hear a scratching sort of sound
coming from near our overnight bag. Remembering that I had some beef
jerky in the bag, I figured a mouse may have found it's way into the
bag. I got up and noticed that the bag was touching the bottom of a
chair that was in the room. As I leaned on the chair and reached down
to grab the bag, I found that the scratching sound was actually coming
from the chair itself. The chair was made of stiff leather on a type
of rattan or similar wood/vine. I checked the bag and found nothing
wrong with it, no mouse or anything else that would make a noise. I
moved the bag away from the chair and did not hear the sound anymore.
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I fell back asleep
and about 3:15 am I was in a dreamlike state I think, because I was
laying on my left side facing my wife, and in this dreamy state I was
trying to move my right arm so as to hold my wife but something was
holding my right shoulder tight. I must have awakened while struggling
to move my right shoulder and suddenly when I awoke, my shoulder was
released. I laid there awake for a few minutes (actually afraid to
move) and listening for anything. I turned the television on and
watched for an hour or so before drifting in and out of sleep. Then I
heard scratching on the sheet behind me, needless to say I was wide
awake again and all of a sudden the sheet behind me was pulled tight
and bounced back with a slight "popping" sound. I sat straight up,
looked around and saw nothing. That was the end of my trying to sleep.
I said a prayer while remembering my father always saying that a ghost
cannot physically harm you, just scare you if you let them. I did not
hear or experience anything else the next few hours, but woke my wife
up early and told her what I had experienced. She is a very heavy
sleeper and recalled nothing. We checked out by 8:30 am and have not
been back since. Thanks for letting me share this experience. -- Don,
Westcliffe, Colorado, July, 2008
The Victor Hotel
The first
Victor Hotel
was built in the early 1894 by the Woods Brothers just in time to
accommodate travelers arriving on the newly completed Florence &
Cripple
Creek
Railroad. The large two-story wooden frame building was a
showplace with its cone-shaped tower and enclosed balconies on its
second and third stories. The "modern” hotel even featured
electricity.
However, when a
devastating fire swept through Victor in August, 1899, the wooden
building succumbed to the flames that spread quickly and destroyed the
entire town in just five hours.
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The first
Victor Hotel
was built in 1894, photo courtesy
Denver
Public Library
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Not to be deterred,
the building was reconstructed to stand the test of time, with brick and
stone. Larger than the prior building, the "Bank Block,” as it was
called, housed not only the "new”
Victor Hotel ,
but also the Woods Brothers Investment Company and the First National
Bank. The four-story building also housed storefronts along the
first floor and the upper floors held simple accommodations for
businessmen and miners.
One distinctive
feature of the hotel was its elevator, which came in handy for yet another
function that the building took on. During the winters, when the
ground was frozen between October and June, it was impossible to dig
graves for those that died in the quickly growing city. As an
alternative, the bodies were taken up the elevator and stored on the
fourth floor of the building until the ground thawed enough to bury them. |
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The
Victor Hotel
today, June, 2006, Kathy Weiser.
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The new
Victor Hotel
was built in 1899 after the first one was destroyed by fire. This hotel
continues to stand and serve travelers today, photo courtesy
Denver
Public Library
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It is apparently many of these long-dead
Victor
residents that haunt the historic hotel today. Though seemingly
harmless, several people have witnessed the site of disembodied
apparitions on the fourth floor. Reports include what look like both
doctors and patients, sometimes without arms, legs, and even a heads,
moving about this place that once acted as "holding cell” for the dead.
There are other haunted areas in the hotel
including the basement, the elevator, the third floor, and the kitchen.
Throughout the hotel, guests often tell of
seeing misty forms and hearing footsteps, sometimes accompanied by the
sudden rush of cold air. In the kitchen, employees tell of utensils that
are suddenly thrown about the room.
But the most
prevalent ghost is that of a man named "Eddie” who allegedly fell down the
elevator shaft years ago. Staying in Room 301 at the time of his
death, Eddie has often been seen in the room, in the hallways, and in the
elevator. Guests who stay in Room 301 also report hearing footsteps
and other strange sounds that cannot be explained. Though the
elevator is regularly inspected and maintained, it often tends to activate
itself going up and down the shaft when no one is near it. Always
stopping on the third floor, the elevator’s ghostly activity usually
occurs around 3:00 a.m.
Today, the
Victor Hotel ,
located at 4th Street and
Victor
Avenue continues to provide accommodations to travelers. Listed on the
National Register of Historic Places, the hotel features 20 "modern” rooms
with private baths.
Victor
is just a ten minute drive from
Cripple
Creek
through
the historic mining district on
Colorado
State Highway 67
Continued Next Page .
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From the Rocky Mountain General Store
Colorado
Postcards -
If you're like we are and can't get enough of
Colorado,
take a virtual tour through our many
Colorado
postcards. Each one of these is unique and, in most cases, we have only one
available, so don't wait. To see them all, click
HERE!
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