Colorado, with its inviting climate and stunning landscape, is a great place to take a vacation.
Exploring the wilderness and enjoying all those great outdoor activities, not to mention the fantastic city life in Boulder, Denver, and elsewhere is a blast.
The Centennial State is home to skiing, hiking, climbing, museums, botanical gardens, haunted attractions, and supernatural threats from beyond the grave.
Photo credit left: coloradorealestatediary.com right: flickr/danielle-tunstall
Updated 2/9/2020 – Wait, back that up?
10 Scariest Haunted Attractions in Colorado
That’s right. There are ghosts and spirits in Colorado just like anywhere else.
If anything, Colorado is more prone to haunting than many other states.
The state was a key part of the Old West, always a great source to find some spookiness to exercise your thermal camera.
Colorado was part of the Civil War, too, contributing soldiers to both sides.
Regiments formed during the War Between the States later took part in conflicts with Indian natives of the region.
All of that conflict and high emotion leads to paranormal activity, and that’s not even getting into more typical spirits like the White Lady, poltergeists, and floating orbs.
Suffice to say, any seasoned or aspiring ghost hunter will find much to love in Colorado’s haunted attractions.
There’s nothing quite like getting the wits scared out of you, and then enjoying some fine dining or a tasty craft beer in one of Boulder’s many gastropubs.
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10 – Museum of Colorado Prisons
Photo credit: uncovercolorado.com
This in Canon City was once a prison itself, and is home to a number of ghosts and spirits from those dark days.
The haunted attractions here include a laundry room rife with cold spots.
The smell of tobacco can sometimes be detected there, even though nobody has smoked in there for years.
Cell 19 is outright haunted, apparently by the ghost of a female prisoner who died in the cell.
She appears as a floating orb in photographs, and sometimes manifests the sound of coughing.
It’s unknown whether she is recreating her passing, or simply doesn’t like the spectral smoke in the laundry room.
9 – Richthofen Castle
Photo credit: coloradorealestatediary.com
This honest to goodness stone castle located in Denver was owned by family members of the famous German World War I flying ace known as the Red Baron.
Although the ghosts here aren’t pilots themselves, they have a breed of haunted attractions all their own.
The strongest spirit in the castle is a glowing translucent figure who appears in one of the towers in the small hours of the morning.
It’s harmless, but will reach out to touch visitors.
They report a feeling of intense cold as the hand reaches them, though nobody has yet been brave enough to let the spirit actually make contact.
8 – Garden of the Gods
Photo credit: wikiwand.com
This sprawling natural preserve was once a sacred Indian burial ground.
That always works out well!
Tourists visiting the haunted attractions of the park today start feeling the ghosts before they even step out of their vehicles.
The ghosts like to enter approaching cars, imparting a noticeable chill on the passengers and making them feel as though they are being watched.
The spirits have been known to do more with the poor cars, as well.
One story tells of a car that died in the middle of the road, its engine simply stopping without explanation.
When a passing police officer stopped to help, he found all four doors open and not a sign of the driver or passengers.
They were just gone.
7 – Fort Francisco Museum
Photo credit: cohauntedhouses.com
The West Wing of this fortress turned historical exhibit is haunted by two very well-known ghosts.
Their names are The Candle Lady and The Floating Lady.
The pair of women are locally famous as haunted attractions.
The Candle Lady typically appears simply as a candle in a window, while the Floating Lady is a bit stronger.
She’s been known to materialize in front of guards at night, scaring them out of their wits.
Cold spots and floating orbs are also common here, as well as bizarrely malfunctioning lights.
6 – Imperial Hotel and Casino
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The staff of the Imperial says it is full of haunted attractions.
One has been known to state that it’s absolutely guaranteed that visitors will see something out of this world.
Young men and women dressed in 1800s garb have been reported appearing out of nowhere and disappearing through walls.
A man falls down the stairs, only to vanish just before hitting the ground.
The staff is so confident in the Imperial’s paranormal activity that they have written a book, Not a Ghost of a Chance!
5 – Hiwan Homestead Museum
Photo credit: colorado.com
This cultural center’s haunted attractions are centered around the old Spinning Room.
Stand alone in there, and you might hear a strange voice calling you over.
Turn around, and you should hope you see nothing.
You might, though, see a shockingly strong apparition.
She’s enormously tall, seven or eight feet, and wears a floor-length gown.
Phantom footsteps permeate Hiwan as well, and floating orbs have been captured on film numerous times.
4 – Mount Vernon Country Club
Photo credit: mountvernoncc.com
The club restaurant is closed on Monday, but that’s when it earns its status as one of Colorado’s most haunted attractions.
A club manager has often spoken of hearing footsteps in the lobby, even though he’s the only one working.
The ghost has been known to throw empty straws and other light objects at him when he calls out, which is usually his cue to leave.
Sometimes, after a particularly strong Monday haunting, a ghost will call the front desk.
The phone system will be set to not answer any calls so the receptionist can check voicemails, but a caller will get through anyway.
The receptionist doesn’t like to relate what the spirit says to her, but she’s quite sure the caller is not of this Earth.
3 – Pasquini’s
Photo credit: thrillist.com
A historic restaurant in Louisville is currently operated as Pasquini’s Pizzeria.
Years ago, it was a speakeasy during Prohibition.
The basement still has an entrance to an old bootlegger’s tunnel, from which they would supply an illegal gambling hall.
Violence was common in those days, and a man and his girlfriend were shot over a poker game.
The girl who just wanted a night out on the town and ended up dying to protect her man is today one of Colorado’s haunted attractions.
She shifts the temperatures in the basement, particularly near the old tunnel entrance, and sometimes interferes with the lights.
2 – Brown Palace Hotel
Photo credit: denverpost.com
One of Denver’s most haunted attractions is the Brown Palace Hotel, which has stood since the 1800s.
The paranormal activity here is so strong that the hotel offers private ghost tours.
The spirits of Brown Palace are poltergeists.
They love to exert physical influence on our world, from unscrewing lightbulbs to opening and closing doors.
Ghost hunters have loved the Brown Palace Hotel for years, and it’s been featured on documentaries and in books.
The stories of many of the spirits here are unknown, but they are legion and they are strong.
Visitors should come equipped for detection, and be careful.
1 – Cheesman Park
Photo credit: Heather Shields
Easily topping the list of Colorado’s most haunted attractions is Cheesman Park in Denver.
The park is so extremely haunted that it was the inspiration for the classic horror film Poltergeist.
Cheesman was built right on top of a graveyard, and what’s worse, many of the bodies were disrespectfully exhumed during construction.
The spirits are restless indeed at Cheesman, and they tend to bubble up and infest the nearby homes as well as the park itself.
It’s thought that some of those homes actually sit on top of graves themselves, such was the haste of the exhumation and construction.
Floating orbs are the most common manifestation at the park, and it’s a wonderful, if scary, source for evidence of the supernatural.
