14 OCTOBER 23-29, 2025 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | LETTERS | CONTENTS | the legends, while connected, are at the same time unique. But there’s no question that the area as a whole seems to support more than its share of shades. The Changeling was based on the legends of the Treat-Rogers Mansion, a story Westword covered in depth in 2023. But in addition to that tale, residents from all over claim to have seen people in Victorian-style dress walking the century-old sidewalks or sitting on porches that may well have been their own sy onr yimr There are also tales from the Denver Botanic Gardens, particu- larly from the Beaux-Arts design 1927 Waring House, which supposedly has a number of lingering spirits who get angry when anyone opens a specifi c door leading to a stairway and a single bedroom. Why? That’s not known, but it’s said that once that door is opened, it takes weeks for unexplained sounds and objects moving of their own accord to ebb. The Brown Palace 321 17th Street The fl agship of Denver fanciness has long been the vaunted Brown Palace hotel, which opened back in 1892. Perhaps the most famous of its ghost stories was used in the plot for Den- ver novelist Erika T. Wurth’s latest novel, The Haunting of Room 904. The historic version of that story involves Louise Sneed Hill, wife of Denver businessman Crawford Hill, who lived the last decade of her life in Room 904. The room was included in an historic tour of the hotel many decades after her passing, and that tour included a somewhat lascivious tale of a supposed affair Mrs. Hill had indulged in, which resulted in ghostly phone calls from the room down to the front desk, even though there was no longer a phone in that room — un- til the tour stopped mentioning the rumored affair, when the ghostly complaints ceased. It’s not the only ghost story from the Brown; there are tales of suicides being replayed over and over again, like the poor soul who threw themself down the main stairs. And there are more romantic stories too, like the spectral quartet of musicians sometimes heard still rehearsing in the restaurant/bar. The Historic Elitch Theatre 4600 West 37th Place One of Denver’s most celebrated sites was the original Elitch Gar- dens, which also boasted one of Denver’s most storied theaters. The Elitch Theatre was built only a year after the Gardens themselves opened, and John Elitch died less than a year after the theater’s debut, leaving his wife Mary — long an afi cionado of the stage — to run it on her own. She did so successfully for many years, and when she sold the property in 1916, she did so with several conditions: that the name would not change, that she could continue to live on the premises, and that she’d retain her favorite viewing box in the theater itself. Those conditions seemed to survive even her death in 1936; she’s been seen not only on the grounds of the original park, which was relocated to the Platte Valley in 1995, but also in the still-preserved theater, which was restored in the early 2000s and continues to put on shows. Those who have sup- posedly witnessed her spirit still inhabiting her theater box are many, including actress Shelley Winters, who claimed to have seen her watching a rehearsal. The Croke-Patterson Mansion 430 East 11th Avenue “This is quite possibly the location with the greatest number of distinct ghost stories in Denver, and perhaps in all of Colorado,” Lewis says. He offers a list in Volume 2 of RMPRS’s Case Files series — starting with what was perhaps the very fi rst. “Supposedly, when construction was fi nished, Mr. Croke stepped inside, immediately left, and never returned,” explains Lewis. “We’re skeptical, but it’s true that he didn’t spend much time there.” Many of the other stories have to do with the miscarriage and sudden suicide of one of the residents, which is a matter of record, and might be related to a later story of a pregnant woman who claims a ghost helped her into bed, only to disappear. “There are supposed to be several other ghosts,” Lewis adds, “including perhaps Senator Patterson himself,” referring to newspaper publisher Thomas Patterson. And then there’s the well-known story of guard dogs which supposedly leapt to their deaths from the manse’s tower room. “We think this is impossible,” Lewis says. “The legend probably grew out of someone witnessing a dog jump out of a fi rst-fl oor window instead.” One of RMPRS’s most notable stories of the Croke-Patterson isn’t even paranormal. “When we were doing an investigation, we found a whole freezer full of dead cats,” Lewis recalls. “It was just the current owner — a veterinarian — who was keeping the cats preserved until they could be given a proper burial, apparently, but the discovery of that certainly made it one of our weirdest experi- ences, even if it wasn’t paranormal.” Today the place has a new owner, who’s turned it into a marijuana-friendly hotel. Denver Press Club 1330 Glenarm Place The Denver Press Club as an organization predates Colorado statehood by nearly a decade; the building itself turns a century old this year. And aside from some unex- plainable sounds here and there, some doors shutting and things moving of their own apparent accord, the Denver landmark of journalism has some other, more specifi c stories. The most striking comes from longtime DPC member and photographer Dick Nosbisch, who took a photo in front of the hearth at the Press Club — only to see the fl owered dress of a ghostly woman standing in the photo where she hadn’t been when he took it. Nosbisch told KMGH in 2018 that he found out only later on that a paranor- mal group had been on-site and confi rmed that there were actu- ally three ladies who lingered at the DPC, one of whom “liked to party a lot” and “wore a fl owered dress.” Spectral photography — capturing ghosts on fi lm — is one of the gold standards of para- normal research. But this is no myth: Women weren’t allowed to join the Denver Press Club until the ‘70s. Riverdale Road From 120th Avenue northeast to State Highway 7 Starting in Thornton and continuing up to Brighton, an eleven-mile stretch of road is the focus of many paranormal stories. “It seems to collect just about every urban legend there is,” says Lewis. “Ghostly dogs, Native Ameri- can spirits, a ghostly lady in white, a phantom Camaro. Even the gates of hell are supposed to be there, and it’s often on national lists of the most haunted places in the country.” But most of these stories have more to do with how folklore travels, according to Lewis. “These are local versions of other tales told all over the U.S. and even the world,” he says. “We think it may have all stemmed from a 1975 fi re in which the Wolpert House on that same road burned down.” Children’s Hospital Once stood at East 19th Avenue and Down- ing Street The fi rst Children’s Hospital opened in 1909 at 2221 Downing, but quickly outgrew the 29 beds it offered. It then moved to a much larger facility at 19th and Downing for the next ninety years, where it treated tens of thousands of kids — some of whom seem not to have wanted to leave. The fi rst chapter of RMPRS’s third volume of Case Studies features the many legends associated with Children’s Hospital, including several having to do with some unverifi able untimely deaths (either murder or suicide) of the nurses who not only worked on the premises, but also were trained and housed at neighboring Tammen Hall (1056 East 19th Avenue), now an independent living center for seniors. The most famous ghost at Children’s Hospital was a young boy named Shane, said to haunt Room 562, where he’d died in the 1950s. Despite the fact that Shane wasn’t always kind — he was reported to sit on the chests of living children attempting to convalesce there — the staff at Children’s said goodbye to his spirit by name Culture continued from page 13 continued on page 16 A forensic study of Cheesman Park remains. RMPRS A creepy hallway in the abandoned Children’s Hospital. RMPRS
