Cripple Creek, Colorado Ghosts

Cripple Creek District Ghosts

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Reader's Tales of Cripple Creek, Colorado

I hesitated at first to send this off to you. However, after reading some of the other reader's posts...I felt compelled to go ahead and send mine. This encounter occurred during the summer of 1973 in Cripple Creek, Colorado. My father had fallen in love with the town, and consequently moved all six of us kids, lock, stock, and barrel to the high country of Colorado.

I feel that I first should give some back ground on this former mining town in the Rockies. Cripple Creek exploded as a city when gold was discovered in the nearby hills around 1891. The town has had a rather tumultuous history, burning to the ground in 1896 and having a reputation for lawlessness in its infancy. The survival of the city depended on the price of gold...and when the price dropped, so did Cripple Creek.

Cripple Creek, Colorado today, June, 2006, Kathy Weiser.

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Needing a means to survive, the city turned to tourism when the last mine closed in 1962 (ironically, a few have since re-opened recently.) Tourism became the main economic engine that sustained the town until 1991, when limited stakes gambling was introduced to the area. Today, Cripple Creek enjoys the benefits of all three economic variables -- tourism, mining, and gambling.

During the summer of 1973, I was a sophomore at Cripple Creek - Victor High School. My sister, myself, and her boyfriend decided to sneak inside a supposed “haunted” house (turns out the rumors where true!) Technically, we were trespassing and easily could have been busted and suffered the consequences. But the thrill of experiencing a ghost sighting, combined with juvenile hormones, negated any threats of common sense.

We found a back door that was almost too easy to move and sauntered in. This house was a two story Victorian, turn-of-the-century brick, with some of the original antique furniture still inside. We began to roam around the house, laughing, and making jokes.

When I opened the door to the cellar.............that's when we heard it. I want to point out that all of this was occurring in broad daylight, with the sun shining bright, in the middle of the afternoon. It wasn't midnight or the typical 3:00 a.m. “ghost hunt.”

At first we heard the sounds of silverware clinking on plates, then a cacophony of voices, combined with music from a bygone era. I should also mention that there was no electricity being provided to this residence at the time. The sounds began to swell and before long, the entire house was filled with the din of what we later thought to be a party or a ball of some kind. The three of us then proceeded to set a land speed record for exiting a home during a crisis.

Months later, this very same house was purchased by a wealthy writer, whose name I can't mention. Afterwards, several parties were held there. One night, during a particularly raucous evening, a young woman ran from this house screaming. Once her friends caught up with her and asked her what had happened, she told her friends that the “figure” of a miner had materialized by the fireplace. Others later reported seeing a '”distinguished” looking Victorian era gentleman at the top of the stairs.

Years later, when I was researching the eccentric inventor Nicola Tesla, I came upon an article that described how the unconventional electrical genius had conducted a number of experiments in Cripple Creek. The same writer who had purchased and was living in the house at the time, confirmed it was, in fact, Tesla’s residence at one time, where he had conducted experiments.

Despite his prolific inventiveness and eccentric lifestyle, Tesla was known to maintain a rather high social profile. His experiments in physics also upheld the belief and possibility of life after death.

Could it be Nicola Tesla, himself, that remains in this house?

Submitted by Mike Warden, January, 2006

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Legends Notes: Nikola Tesla was an inventor, physicist, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer originally from Croatian Krajina who later became an American citizen. Tesla was best known his contributions and inventions in electricity and magnetism in the late 19th and early 20th century.

After his demonstration of wireless radio communications in 1893, he was widely respected as America's greatest electrical engineer. However, Tesla was an eccentric man, prone to making

unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments. After making a number of these wild claims, he began to be ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. He died impoverished in January, 1943 at the age of 86.

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Additional Update: Back in the early '90's my girlfriend and I were traveling in Cripple Creek. I was an avid admirer of Nicola Tesla, and living in Colorado I felt it would be almost criminal not to venture down to Cripple Creek and find his old house. The drive from Denver/Colorado Springs/Manitou/Cripple Creek took much longer than we expected, and we arrived about 10 at night.

here really wasn't anyone around to tell us where, exactly, Tesla's house was (although we had heard it was still standing.) We drove around the residential streets for nearly an hour hoping to find some placard or some kind of guidepost to no avail. After about an hour, we pulled to the side of a street and seriously considered heading back to Denver admitting failure.

Just then, as we were scanning the dark silhouettes of the surrounding houses, the near side of a two-story house on the next block lit up as though a huge arc light had been aimed at it. We both saw it, then scanned the area looking for a streetlight or anything that could have produced the light.... nothing!

Knowing Tesla's genius was in electricity and lighting, we both felt satisfied that this was his way of saying he was there, and "welcome to my home." The light disappeared as quickly as it appeared, and we drove home satisfied we had found the house we were looking for.... with a little help from Mr. Tesla.

Charles Byrne, Denver, Colorado, October, 2007

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ALSO SEE:

Cripple Creek - World's Greatest Gold Camp

Pearl de Vere - Soiled Dove of Cripple Creek

Victor - The City of Mines

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