Haunted Hotels in Colorado: 15 Historic Places to Stay with a Ghost Story
Silver barons, gold camps and grand mountain resorts left Colorado with a remarkable set of historic hotels, and many of them come with a ghost story you can sleep beside.
Colorado’s haunted hotels range from the most famous haunted hotel in America, the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, to small miners’ lodgings in Victor, Fairplay and Nederland where the old ground was too frozen to bury the dead until spring. We have checked every hotel below against its own website, historic records and recent press, kept the stories that guests and staff actually tell, and flagged where records disagree with the legend. For the city in depth, see our guide to haunted hotels in Denver.
$$$ · Over $300Haunted room bookableGhost tours or eventsHotel embraces its ghosts
Address 333 E Wonderview Ave, Estes Park, CO 80517
Where to look Room 217, the fourth floor, the Concert Hall, the Music Room piano, the grand staircase and the old staff tunnels
Reported ghosts Head housekeeper Elizabeth Wilson, F.O. and Flora Stanley, Paul and Lucy in the Concert Hall, children on the fourth floor
Booking the haunted room Book Room 217 online as the Room 217 Spirited Grand King, or choose one of the fourth-floor Spirited rooms.
The Stanley opened on July 4, 1909, and is the hotel that gave Stephen King the idea for The Shining after he and his wife spent a night here in 1974, in or near Room 217. It is the most famous haunted hotel in the country, and it leans into the reputation: several rooms are sold as “Spirited” rooms, and its own guides run nightly ghost tours.
Guests describe Flora Stanley’s piano playing itself, a former housekeeper who unpacks suitcases in Room 217, children laughing on the empty fourth floor, and a night watchman called Paul who tells people to get out of the Concert Hall after curfew. Book Room 217 as far ahead as you can; dates open about a year in advance and October goes first.
Haunted Rooms tip: Room 217 can be booked online as the Room 217 Spirited Grand King. Dates are released roughly a year ahead, so set a reminder.
$$ · $150 to $300Haunted room bookableHotel embraces its ghosts
Address 526 Pine St, Glenwood Springs, CO 81601
Where to look Tower suite 661, the fifth floor, the basement, the dining room and the elevators
Reported ghosts "Walter" and his cigar smoke, a nurse called Bobbie, a girl with a ball, a woman in a floral dress
Booking the haunted room Ask for tower suite 661 when you book; the hotel cannot guarantee a room number.
Silver magnate Walter Devereux opened this Italianate resort, modeled on Rome’s Villa Medici, in June 1893. Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft made long stays, earning it the nickname “the little White House of the West”, and in World War II the Navy ran it as a hospital, with the basement used as a morgue.
The hotel shares its own ghost stories. Guests smell cigar smoke credited to “Walter”, catch gardenia perfume near the dining room linked to a nurse called Bobbie, and describe a woman in a floral dress standing over the bed in tower suite 661. Most activity is said to come between 2 and 4 a.m.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask for tower suite 661 or a fifth-floor room, and walk the basement corridor where the hotel says a houseman saw an old woman at the window.
$$ · $150 to $300Ghost tours or eventsHotel embraces its ghosts
Address 321 17th St, Denver, CO 80202
Where to look Suite 904, Ellyngton's dining room, the Churchill Bar, the Ship Tavern and the tenth floor
Reported ghosts Socialite Louise Crawford Hill, a phantom string quartet, a man dressed as a train conductor, founder Henry C. Brown
Denver’s triangular sandstone landmark opened in 1892, designed by Frank Edbrooke around one of the first hotel atriums in the country. Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower and Molly Brown all stayed here, and since 2012 it has been part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection. In 1911 Frank Henwood shot two men in its Marble Bar, one of Denver’s most notorious crimes.
The ghost story everyone tells is Suite 904, home of society queen Louise Crawford Hill. When tours began telling her story, the switchboard took static-filled calls from her stripped, phone-less suite until the story was dropped. Staff also describe a ghostly string quartet in the dining room and a man in a conductor’s uniform. Each October the hotel runs its own haunted tours.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book an October haunted tour of the hotel; they include hidden passageways and sell out.
$ · Under $150Haunted room bookableHotel embraces its ghosts
Address 321 Victor Ave, Victor, CO 80860
Where to look Room 301, the birdcage elevator, the fourth floor, the basement and the kitchen
Reported ghosts Eddie the miner, unnamed figures on the old morgue floor
Booking the haunted room Request Room 301 when you book; it is a request, not a separate rate.
Built in brick and stone by the Woods brothers after the great fire of 1899, this was the Bank Block, home to the First National Bank of Victor. In hard winters, when the ground was too frozen to dig graves, bodies were carried up the elevator and kept on the fourth floor until spring. It became a 20-room hotel in 1992 and is on the National Register.
The hotel tells its own ghost stories. The best known is Eddie, a miner said to have fallen down the elevator shaft, and the original birdcage elevator is reported to run by itself, often around 3 a.m. Guests in Room 301, said to be his room, report footsteps and noises, and kitchen staff describe flying utensils.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask for Room 301 when you book; ghost hunters request it so often that it goes early on weekends.
$$ · $150 to $300Haunted room bookableHotel embraces its ghostsPet friendly
Address 1600 17th St, Denver, CO 80202
Where to look Room 320, the third floor and the Cruise Room bar
Reported ghosts Florence Montague and her lover, a postal worker who orders a beer
Booking the haunted room Room 320 is sold as the Stay with the Spirits package on the hotel's website, usually around Halloween; at other times ask the hotel for it.
Denver’s oldest hotel opened in 1891 near Union Station, designed by Frank Edbrooke, who later designed the Brown Palace. Its Art Deco Cruise Room bar opened the day Prohibition ended and still pours martinis. The hotel was restored and reopened in 1983 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Oxford’s ghost story is Room 320, where, legend says, Florence Montague shot her lover and then herself in 1898. Men staying alone in the room describe sheets being pulled off and a tug on the arm. In the bar, a postal worker who froze to death in the 1930s is said to order a beer and leave it untouched. The hotel sells a Stay with the Spirits package in Room 320.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book the Stay with the Spirits package to get Room 320 itself, with a Cruise Room credit and late checkout.
Where to look The suite where the 1970 victims were found, the first staircase landing, the ballroom and the upstairs halls
Reported ghosts Marianne Weaver and Cara Knoche, a butler on the landing, a soldier called Ben, John and Amelia Mouat
Lumber magnate John Mouat built this Queen Anne mansion in the Highland neighborhood in 1890, using wood from his own mills. It later became apartments and fell into decline, and in October 1970 two young women, Marianne Weaver and Cara Knoche, were murdered here. The case has never been solved. Restored as a bed and breakfast, it now has five guest suites, a ballroom and gardens.
It is one of Denver’s most investigated houses and featured in Netflix’s 28 Days Haunted. The owners describe a butler on the first landing, boot steps upstairs and a motherly presence with views on housekeeping. The inn went on the market in 2025 but has kept taking guests, so check direct before you plan around it.
Haunted Rooms tip: Treat it as a home, not an attraction: the owners ask guests not to taunt or yell at the spirits.
Where to look Rooms 302, 304 and 306, the original Otis elevator, the fifth floor
Reported ghosts A woman in white, Honey Bee Lennartz, a woman in a Victorian gown
Booking the haunted room Request Room 302 or 304 in the original building when you book directly; it is a request, not a guarantee.
Boulder’s grand hotel opened on New Year’s Day 1909, built by a company of local citizens who wanted a first-class hotel for their growing town. The five-story brick building at 13th and Spruce still has its stained-glass lobby ceiling and the original Otis elevator, and it has been a Boulder landmark since the 1970s.
The City of Boulder itself lists rooms 302 and 304 as rumored to be haunted, with electrical problems, voices and a woman in white, tied to a story of a double suicide. A longtime staff member told The Denver Post about a TV switching itself on and a clock whose hands spun. Other stories name Honey Bee Lennartz, a regular whose portrait hangs on the fifth floor.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask for Room 302 or 304 in the historic building, and ride the 1908 Otis elevator rather than taking the stairs.
Where to look Room 310, the third floor, the Library bar and the garden terrace where the old pool was
Reported ghosts The "water boy", maid Katie Kerrigan, heartbroken miner Henry O'Callister
Silver investor Jerome B. Wheeler, a former president of Macy’s, opened this brick hotel on Main Street in 1889, and it has been Aspen’s grand old address ever since. Its parlors served as a morgue during the 1918 flu epidemic, Hunter S. Thompson used the J-Bar as an office, and today it is a luxury Auberge Collection hotel with 94 rooms.
Its best-known ghost is the “water boy”, a soaking wet child said to appear near Room 310, which sits over the site of the original pool. Local guides admit there is no record of a drowning, which is part of the fun. Staff also tell of a maid named Katie who turns down beds before the housekeepers get there.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask for a third-floor room near 310 when you book, and have a drink in the Library, where a bartender says he has seen a woman walk into a closet and vanish.
Where to look The carriage house, the main staircase and the upper floors
Reported ghosts Thomas Patterson, Kate Patterson, an Irish caretaker in the carriage house
This red sandstone chateau in Capitol Hill was built around 1890 for Thomas B. Croke, who legend says spent one night there and never came back. It became the home of Senator and newspaper owner Thomas M. Patterson, then a radio station and offices. Known as the Croke-Patterson Mansion, it is now a nine-suite inn for adults.
The stories go back to the 1970s renovation, when workers found the previous day’s work undone and two guard dogs left overnight were found dead below a third-floor window. Guests describe footsteps, knocking and a baby crying. Others say Kate Patterson appears to visitors and an Irish caretaker still keeps the carriage house.
Haunted Rooms tip: It is an 18-plus property, so it suits a couples’ haunted weekend rather than a family trip.
The Delaware Block opened in October 1886 at the height of Leadville’s silver boom, with shops at street level and about fifty rooms and offices upstairs. It is now a 36-room hotel with a restaurant and bar on Harrison Avenue, more than 10,000 feet above sea level. Legend links Doc Holliday to Room 16, though primary records of famous guests are thin.
Its ghost is Mary Coffey, shot by her jealous husband in 1899. Accounts disagree on the year and on whether she died inside the hotel or just outside, but local guides say she still walks the upper corridors. The hotel was put up for sale in 2026 and was still taking reservations.
Haunted Rooms tip: Leadville sits at over 10,000 feet: drink water, go easy on the first night, and pair your stay with a town ghost walk.
Where to look The Tesla room and its corner window, the Black Annis room
Reported ghosts A woman at the corner window, sounds of a phantom party downstairs
Rebuilt after Victor’s 1899 fire as the Monarch, this two-story block was a saloon, casino and brothel in the gold rush. It sat empty for years until a new owner reopened it in 2019 as the Black Monarch, a deliberately macabre seven-room hotel with rooms themed on dark history and folklore. It has since been listed for sale but is still operating as a hotel, gift shop and coffee shop.
For years locals reported a woman standing in the corner window over Victor Avenue and 3rd Street, sometimes calling police to an empty building. That window is now in the Tesla room, where guests say they hear a party downstairs, with laughter, glasses and a piano, when no one is there.
Haunted Rooms tip: The decor is dark by design; check the room themes before you book if you are traveling with anyone squeamish.
Where to look Grandma Hand's room and the 11 themed guest rooms
Reported ghosts Jessie "Grandma" Hand, the builders' family
Jake and Jessie Hand built this log hotel in Fairplay in 1931 and opened it to guests in 1932. Jessie, known around town as Grandma Hand, ran it with their children until the 1960s. Today it is an 11-room bed and breakfast on Front Street, with rooms named after South Park characters and the Outpost Cafe downstairs.
Every room here has its own ghost story, according to local press, and paranormal groups visit often. The most repeated tale is that Grandma Hand never really left: guests in the room named for her say her rocking chair moves on its own. Pet-friendly rooms make it an easy stop on the way to Breckenridge.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book the room named for Grandma Hand, and ask the staff which other rooms have stories.
Where to look The dining room and the lower-level restaurant, now the St. Elmo Tavern
Reported ghosts Unnamed: furniture heard moving at night, objects that go missing
Kittie Heit, who already ran the popular Bon Ton restaurant, built this small brick hotel on Ouray’s Main Street in 1898 and charged miners a dollar a night. It is listed on the National Register as part of the Ouray Historic District, and new owners took over in 2025, kept the Victorian wallpaper, and turned the old Bon Ton space into the St. Elmo Tavern.
The ghost stories here are low key and come mostly from staff and guests. Night-shift workers have described hearing furniture being moved around the dining room, then finding nothing out of place, and a guest wrote that her camera vanished overnight and called the basement restaurant haunted. Nobody has put a name to the ghost.
Haunted Rooms tip: Have dinner in the St. Elmo Tavern, the old Bon Ton space, and ask the staff what the night shift has heard.
Where to look The hallways and the lower levels of the old Tramway Building
Reported ghosts The "tool man", a tramway mechanic
Hotel Teatro fills the 1911 Denver Tramway Building, an eight-story office tower designed by William and Arthur Fisher for the company whose trolleys ran downtown until 1950. Work to convert it began in 1997, and it opened in 1999 as a 110-room boutique hotel, billed as Denver’s original boutique hotel, across the street from the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.
Reports began during the conversion, when construction workers heard voices in empty parts of the building. Guests and staff since have described a man in work clothes carrying tools who walks the corridors and vanishes when spoken to. He is known as the “tool man”, thought by some to be a tramway mechanic. The hotel itself does not talk about him.
Haunted Rooms tip: It is the best-placed haunted hotel for a theater night: the performing arts complex is across 14th Street.
Where to look The upstairs bedrooms and the basement plumbing
Reported ghosts An unnamed female presence
Built over the winter of 1897 to 1898 so miners and prospectors had somewhere to sleep, the Goldminer opened with 13 small upstairs rooms and a dining room below. A log social room was added in 1934, and today it has five bedrooms. It is on the National Register and is the centerpiece of the Eldora Historic District, the old mining camp just west of Nederland.
Its stories are small and personal. One guest said she felt a woman watching her as she got ready for bed and lit candles to lead the presence out. A plumber who did not believe in ghosts found the water he had shut off running again three times, and finally told the walls he believed and just wanted to finish.
Haunted Rooms tip: With only five bedrooms and seasonal opening, it books up fast; check the hotel’s own availability calendar early.
Removed from this guide: The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. Our old entry said Julie Penrose vanished in the woods and died soon after, but she lived on the hotel’s sixth floor from about 1944 and died in Colorado Springs in 1956, and we could not find a credible published account of a haunting at the resort. If the hotel or its staff share one, we will add it back.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the most haunted hotel in Colorado?
The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, which inspired Stephen King’s The Shining. Room 217 and the fourth floor have the most reports, and the hotel sells Spirited rooms and nightly ghost tours.
Can you stay in Room 217 at the Stanley Hotel?
Yes. It is sold online as the Room 217 Spirited Grand King, with dates opening about a year ahead. October sells out first.
Which Colorado hotels let you book the haunted room?
The Stanley sells Room 217 and its Spirited rooms by name, and the Oxford Hotel in Denver sells Room 320 as its Stay with the Spirits package. At the Victor Hotel and Hotel Colorado you can request Room 301 or tower suite 661.
Are there haunted hotels in Denver?
Yes: the Brown Palace, the Oxford, Hotel Teatro, the Patterson Inn and the Lumber Baron Inn. See our Denver guide for details.
Which haunted Colorado hotels run ghost tours?
The Stanley runs ghost tours every night after dark ($35, ages 8 and up), and the Brown Palace runs haunted hotel tours each October.
Why do so many Colorado mining towns have haunted hotels?
Boom towns like Victor, Leadville and Aspen built grand hotels fast, saw fires, epidemics and violent deaths, and in winter sometimes stored bodies inside until the ground thawed. Those buildings are still standing and still taking guests.
Sources and how we research
Every hotel in this guide is checked against the hotel’s own website, historic register listings and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as the hotels, guests and local historians tell them; we note where a story can’t be confirmed. Read how we rate haunted hotels.
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About the authors
The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every hotel in our guides using hotel histories, local archives, news coverage and the accounts of guests and staff, and we review each guide regularly so you are not booking a hotel that has closed or changed its name. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
Booking links on this page are affiliate links. If you book through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It never affects which hotels we include or how we score them.
