Haunted Places in Colorado Springs: 8 to Visit and 5 to Leave Alone
A castle full of nuns’ voices, a courthouse with a murdered custodian, tunnels with a legend that never happened and a young woman whose coffin slid down a mountain. Here is haunted Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs, with what is true and how to visit.
Colorado Springs grew as a resort at the foot of Pikes Peak, and its ghost stories run from the grand hotels downtown and at the Broadmoor to Manitou Springs, the old spa town next door, where Miramont Castle and Emma Crawford’s legend draw the crowds. Several places on older lists are schools, private businesses or closed, so we have listed them separately with the facts. For more, head up to Cripple Creek, an hour west.
Address 9 Capitol Hill Ave, Manitou Springs, CO 80829
Where to look The chapel, the tea room, the third-floor solarium and the doll display
Reported ghosts Nuns, a headless sister, a little girl in the gift shop, a face in the mirrors
Visiting Historic house museum with self-guided visits and a tea room
Hours and season Tue to Sun 10am to 3:30pm; daily 9am to 4:30pm Memorial Day to Labor Day
Tickets Adults $15, seniors $13, children 4 to 12 $10; self-guided, about an hour
French priest Jean Baptiste Francolon built this hillside mansion in 1895 in a mix of nine styles, from Queen Anne to Moorish. After the Sisters of Mercy’s Montcalm Sanitarium burned in 1907, the sisters used the castle to nurse tuberculosis patients for about 20 years. The Manitou Springs Historical Society now runs it as a museum with 42 furnished rooms.
Staff gave The Gazette a long list in 2007: singing and piano music in the empty tea room, footsteps and slamming doors, a little girl near the dolls, a widow’s face in the mirrors, and a legend of a nun, Sister Henrietta, said to walk the halls. Visit Colorado Springs adds ghostly nuns and a man in early-1900s clothes, and staff link chapel cold spots to a replica El Greco portrait.
What investigators report
A longtime castle keeper reported singing in the tea room and doors slamming when the building was empty, and described the chapel as the one area with a less friendly presence.
Address 215 S Tejon St, Colorado Springs, CO 80903
Where to look The elevator and the old courtroom floor
Reported ghosts Custodian Eddie Beals, shot in the building in 1959
Visiting Free museum in downtown Colorado Springs
Hours and season Tue to Sat 10am to 5pm
Tickets Free; donations welcome
The granite courthouse with the domed clock tower served El Paso County from 1903 to 1973; the Pioneers Museum moved in during 1979, and admission is free. On May 29, 1959, custodian Eddie Roy Beals was shot dead in the building by a fellow custodian over a money dispute.
Staff told The Gazette in 2007 that Beals is blamed for misplaced items and an elevator that opens by itself, and the receptionist said she was sure there was a logical explanation, she just did not know what it was. The director put a cold spot near the elevator down to new air conditioning. Older lists say night guards avoid one department; we found no record of that.
Haunted Rooms tip: Admission is free, so drop in, ride the old elevator and see the restored courtroom upstairs.
Address 1005 S Hancock Ave, Colorado Springs, CO 80903
Where to look The 1910 chapel, its basement and the stairwell
Reported ghosts Dark figures in the chapel basement; a crypt door that opened on camera
Visiting City cemetery open to visitors by day; the chapel is usually locked
General William Jackson Palmer, the city’s founder, laid out this cemetery in 1874 as Mountain Home and deeded its first ten acres to Colorado Springs in 1875; it took the name Evergreen in 1877, though some graves are older. Today Evergreen covers 220 acres with more than 90,000 burials, including Palmer and the writer Helen Hunt Jackson, and it was added to the National Register in 1993. Its stone chapel was built in 1910 for services and for storing coffins in winter.
The stories center on that chapel. Workers fetching supplies have described dark figures in the basement, and a Biography Channel crew filming My Ghost Story in 2011 recorded a heavy crypt door swinging open and shut on its own. Visit Colorado Springs repeats the chapel stories; the cemetery runs history walks rather than ghost hunts.
Haunted Rooms tip: Come for one of the cemetery’s history walks, and find Helen Hunt Jackson’s grave while you are there.
Address 4 S Cascade Ave, Colorado Springs, CO 80903
Where to look The hotel bar (once Judge Baldwin's) and a back staircase
Reported ghosts A mustached man at the bar, a woman in white on the stairs, a girl from the 1970s
Visiting Working downtown hotel; the lobby and bar are open to visitors
Three Antlers hotels have stood on this spot facing Pikes Peak. The first opened in 1883 and burned on October 1, 1898; the second opened in 1901 and was torn down after its last guest left in September 1964; the third, today’s Antlers, A Wyndham Hotel, opened in 1967. Local owners bought it in 2015.
The Gazette’s 2026 history of the hotel lists three ghost stories: a mustached man who sits at one spot in the bar, once called Judge Baldwin’s, a woman in a long white gown drifting down a back staircase, and a teenage girl said to have died after a 1970s prom night, a story the paper notes is undocumented.
Haunted Rooms tip: Have a drink in the bar and ask the staff which seat the mustached man favors.
Address Gold Camp Road, west of 2150 Gold Camp Rd, Colorado Springs, CO 80906
Where to look The second tunnel and the fenced third tunnel
Reported ghosts Children's laughter and handprints, a man who pushes cars
Visiting Narrow dirt road; part of it is closed to cars and open to hikers and bikes only
Gold Camp Road follows an old railroad grade from Colorado Springs toward Cripple Creek and Victor, a narrow dirt road through North Cheyenne Canon with tunnels cut through the rock. Tunnels one and two can still be driven; tunnel three partly collapsed and is fenced, and you can only look at it after a hike or bike ride.
The legend says the third tunnel caved in on a school bus full of children, and drivers park in tunnel two in neutral, lights off, waiting to be pushed and then checking for small handprints in the dust. The Gazette notes there is no record of any bus crash, and Westword says it never happened. Police know the road as a dumping ground, so go by day.
Haunted Rooms tip: Drive or bike it in daylight for the views; never climb past the fence at the collapsed tunnel.
Address Red Mountain, south side of Manitou Springs, CO 80829 (trail to the old grave site)
Where to look The trail up Red Mountain and the old summit grave site
Reported ghosts Emma Crawford, among the trees and along the creek
Visiting Hiking trails up Red Mountain; the coffin races take over Manitou Avenue each October
Emma Crawford came to Manitou Springs with her mother for the healing springs and died of tuberculosis on December 4, 1891, engaged to William Hildebrand. As she wished, pallbearers carried her coffin up Red Mountain and buried her in loose gravel near the top. Decades of storms eroded the grave until, in 1929, her coffin slid down the mountain; boys found her skull, and she was reburied in an unmarked grave.
People say Emma still walks Red Mountain and the creek below, and the town honors her every October with the Emma Crawford Coffin Races, where teams push decorated coffins down Manitou Avenue. Trails lead up to the old grave site, and her name is everywhere in town.
Haunted Rooms tip: Time your visit for the Emma Crawford Coffin Races in late October, then hike up to the old grave site the next morning.
Where to look The Penrose Suite, the main building's halls
Reported ghosts Julie Penrose, said to walk the halls; covers pulled in the night
Visiting Luxury resort; the grounds and restaurants are open to visitors
Spencer Penrose opened his pink Italianate resort below Cheyenne Mountain on June 29, 1918, and it is a member of Historic Hotels of America. His wife Julie was his partner in running it, lived in a sixth-floor suite from about 1944 and took over the hotel after Spencer died in 1939. The swans on the lake honor her.
Some ghost lists claim Julie vanished in the woods and was found dying and confused; that story does not hold up, as The Gazette records she died of colon cancer in 1956. A local magazine repeats staff talk of cold spots, flickering lights and a woman’s figure floating down the halls, and guests who say their covers were pulled off. The hotel’s historian talks about its legends, but not ghosts.
Haunted Rooms tip: Walk around the lake at dusk and look up at the main building, then have a drink in the hotel’s historic bar.
Address North Cheyenne Canon Road, Colorado Springs, CO 80906 (Helen Hunt Falls)
Where to look Helen Hunt Falls and the canyon road at dusk
Reported ghosts A cheating gambler said to have been thrown into the canyon
Visiting Free city park; road and trails open by day
Colorado Springs bought this granite canyon west of the Broadmoor for a city park in 1885, and it joined the National Register in 2009. The road climbs past the 35-foot Helen Hunt Falls, named for the writer and activist buried at Evergreen Cemetery. A visitor center sits at the entrance, and Gold Camp Road runs along the canyon above.
Its ghost lore is thin and old. Visit Colorado Springs repeats a Native American story tied to the rock formation called the Devil’s Horns, a tale of a cheating gambler thrown from the cliffs who is said to haunt the canyon, and reports of human remains from the 1800s found here. Treat it as local folklore and come for the falls.
Haunted Rooms tip: Walk the short Columbine Trail from the visitor center up to the falls in the late afternoon.
These places appear in older lists of haunted spots. We keep them here so you know the facts before you go, but you cannot (or should not) visit them.
Briarhurst Manor, Manitou Springs
Dr. William Bell’s 1876 manor, rebuilt after a fire in 1886, was a fine-dining restaurant and event venue known for stories of the Bell children and a white figure on the grounds, and Ghost Hunters filmed there in 2009. The restaurant closed in January 2025 while its owners looked for a buyer. Check for news of a reopening before you go, and do not wander the private grounds.
Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind
A working state school, open since 1874, with stories of ghosts in the dorms, gym and basement. It does not allow visitors or trespassers.
Coronado High School pool
A story of a girl who drowned after hours in the 1970s is told about the school pool. It is a working high school with no public access, and we found no record of the drowning.
Harrison High School auditorium
Students tell of a ghost called Malcolm on the stage and catwalk. It is a working school, closed to the public.
The Arby's on Academy Boulevard
A widely shared story says a manager was shot in the parking lot in the 1990s and now haunts the restaurant. We could not confirm the shooting. It is a working fast-food restaurant; please leave the staff alone.
Changed from our older guide: Briarhurst Manor, the School for the Deaf and Blind, the two high schools and the Arby’s moved to the off-limits list. We have taken out the Avenue Hotel B&B and Garden of the Gods until we can confirm a current status and a published ghost story behind them (the Garden of the Gods ‘burial ground’ claim has no source we could find). We added Miramont Castle, Emma Crawford’s grave, the Broadmoor and the Antlers.
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We collect first-hand accounts from visitors and add the best ones to our guides, with your first name and the date of your visit. We read every story before it’s published.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most haunted place in Colorado Springs?
Miramont Castle in Manitou Springs has the longest list of ghost stories told by its own staff, from singing in the empty tea room to a little girl near the dolls. In Colorado Springs itself, the Pioneers Museum and Evergreen Cemetery’s chapel are the best known.
Is Gold Camp Road haunted?
It is the region’s most famous ghost legend: a tunnel is said to have collapsed on a school bus of children. There is no record of any such crash. The road is real and scenic, and part of it is closed to cars beyond the collapsed third tunnel.
Who was Emma Crawford?
A young woman who died of tuberculosis in Manitou Springs in 1891 and was buried on top of Red Mountain. Erosion later sent her coffin down the mountain, and Manitou honors her each October with the Emma Crawford Coffin Races.
Is the Broadmoor haunted?
Some say Julie Penrose, the founder’s wife, still walks its halls. The old tale that she vanished and was found dying in the woods is not true: she died of cancer in 1956. The hotel talks about its legends, not ghosts.
Are there ghost tours in Colorado Springs?
Miramont Castle and Evergreen Cemetery run history visits rather than ghost hunts, and Cripple Creek, an hour west, has its own ghost tour starting at the old jail. Check Visit Colorado Springs for seasonal October events.
Sources and how we research
Every place in this guide is checked against its official website, historic register listings and news coverage, and we confirm whether it is open, closed, private or gone before we list it. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and local historians tell them; we say so where records contradict a story. Each place shows how many independent sources we checked it against; our own Haunted Rooms pages are not counted.
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About the authors
The Haunted Rooms Team are paranormal researchers who write about historic haunted places across the United States. We research every place in our guides using official sites, historic registers, local archives and news coverage, and we report ghost stories as the stories they are. We review each guide regularly so you are not sent to a place that has closed, changed hands or banned visitors. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
