Ghosthunting Colorado. Kailyn Lamb
psychologically you’ve just set yourself up to ‘Yes, there’s a ghost here, and I’m going to talk to it,’ ” he said. For this reason, among others, Bonner and his team have a process of selecting which locations to actually investigate. From there they do their research on the history of the site, including interviewing people about their experiences.
Once they have a thorough background on the location—something they will sometimes spend months or even years on—they decide what equipment to bring.
“There are a lot of things claiming to be ghost meters, sensors, or cameras. It’s a marketing tool,” Bonner said. He added that it is important to have a good knowledge of how the equipment works, as none of it was originally made for ghosthunting or to properly evaluate the findings and their meaning. Both Bonner and another member of the RMPRS team, Matthew Baxter, have become certified in different kinds of equipment, from cameras, computers, and video recorders, to some more sophisticated devices such as Electromagnetic Field (EMF) readers. This is a particular favorite of Bonner’s to explain, because it is one of the pieces of equipment that television ghosthunters misuse the most. There are two kinds of readers: one finds man-made electronic items, such as wiring and televisions, and the other reads naturally occurring electronic fields.
“The only problem is it detects you, changes in the ionosphere, a thunderstorm 10 or 20 miles away. There are a lot of things that it’s not really good to use unless you’re really trained in it,” Bonner said. This means that when ghosthunters on television are carrying around EMF readers that are meant to find natural electric waves, the things they detect are not necessarily ghosts. The reader is more likely picking up the waves of the person holding the device rather than any paranormal beings.
This small example is one reason why both Bonner and Baxter have made sure to learn more about the equipment they use regularly in their investigations. Bonner also said that sometimes they have been able to resolve cases just by moving electronics to different areas so that they are not affecting people. They have a full list of other equipment that they bring depending on what the investigation requires. One item is an iPhone, or any other Apple product, for its 3-D accelerometer, which Bonner said can be used as an incredibly effective seismometer in conjunction with software for creating graphs.
Another thing to remember is not to buy into all the hype and practices of television ghosthunters. Most of what they do is for ratings. This is another thing the RMPRS can testify to firsthand, having been asked to participate in ghosthunting shows before. However, RMPRS sticks to its guns (and its science) and refuses to join in on the trend.
“When we do an investigation, it’s boring,” Baxter said of his group’s ghosthunting technique. “We go in, we set up all our equipment, and then we shut up. You see, if we make noise, it contaminates our own evidence, and then it’s worthless.”
As far as collecting evidence goes, RMPRS also tries to keep the site of an investigation in the exact condition it was in when the activity was reported. As an example of what not to do, Bonner cited television ghosthunters always turning off the lights (unless the person actually saw the ghost in the dark). The science behind ghosthunting is also key. One of the more popular claims of many television investigators is that ghosts leave cold spots. Bonner, however, disagrees and uses basic physics to explain why.
“They say that the reason that a cold spot happens is because when a ghost tries to manifest, tries to move something, does something, it extracts energy from the air to do whatever it is and that creates a cold spot,” he said. “This is a really simple physics question. I’ve asked a lot of people, and the kids get it all the time; the adults, no: anytime there’s an exchange of energy the byproduct is heat. If anything, we should be looking for hot spots.”
Ghosthunting can have a very serious side as well. One of Bonner’s biggest concerns is ghosthunting cases where people are so desperate to believe that their home is haunted that they are causing themselves psychological harm. Bonner said that, sadly, this is something most ghosthunters ignore. He added that most of the time RMPRS is not the first team the clients have called and, if that is the case, the team ends up doing damage control. Because many of the more popular ghosthunting groups are on TV—or are copying what they see on TV—they are doing things for the producers and the ratings, not necessarily for the claims they are investigating. He also mentioned cases where people have started causing physical harm to themselves or others.
These are the sorts of cases where it is probably best not to be involved. In researching a location before visiting, you may find that many of the supposedly haunted locations found on the Internet are not on public property. While some property owners may not have a problem with people looking around, there are also locations where the owners have made it quite clear they do not want people investigating any paranormal activity. In either case it is smart to check it out first, and always ask permission.
The world is full of interesting history and, with it, an occasional ghost story. With the right tools and a little bit of critical thinking, you might just strike paranormal gold. Even though the RMPRS founders are hesitant to say whether their findings have ever led to ghosts, Baxter remains somewhat positive.
“You can’t prove a negative, so we can’t say any place isn’t haunted,” Baxter said.
Please enjoy this book of haunted locations in Colorado. I hope you find the history of the state as fascinating as I do. Whether or not you find ghosts is up for debate, but I do think you will find magic of a different kind in the mountains.
Kailyn Lamb
New York, New York
April 2016
Denver Area
Denver Area
Croke-Patterson Mansion
Cheesman Park and the Denver Botanic Gardens
Molly Brown House Museum
Oxford Hotel
Denver’s Infamous Brothels
Brown Palace Hotel
Tivoli Student Union
CHAPTER 1
Croke-Patterson Mansion
DENVER
On the corner of 11th Avenue and Pennsylvania Street stands the monstrous Croke-Patterson Mansion, now more commonly known as the Patterson Inn. The large mansion is supposedly haunted by the wife of a previous owner, who may have committed suicide in the house.
CROKE-PATTERSON MANSION notoriously fits in with Capitol Hill’s most famous homes, but the house has also taken on a life of its own. Standing on the corner of 11th Avenue and Pennsylvania Street, the house fills three lots and is made of beautiful red stones most likely taken from what is now the Garden of the Gods park near Manitou Springs, Colorado. Its looks alone are enough to make passersby stare in wonder, but it is the mansion’s history as one of the most haunted houses in Colorado that makes it really amazing. With a dance card of séances, deaths, suicide, an alleged satanic carriage-house keeper, and human-shaped apparitions, it is clear why the looming red sandstone structure has an aura about it. Although many of the stories tied to the house have little to no root in truth, the house does have a colorful history that makes its red coloring very fitting.
Thomas B. Croke was a teacher from Wisconsin who came to Denver and made his fortune as a businessman. After purchasing a lot around 1890, Croke commissioned architect Isaac Hodgson Jr. to build the 14,000-square-foot mansion, which he completed in 1891. Hodgson had already built several other houses in the area and, much like his other designs, this mansion’s architecture was inspired by that of French châteaus. According to the current owner, architect Brian Higgins, it is the last remaining châteauesque house in Denver.
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