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The Show Stopper Holiday Shopping Experience Mon - Sat 10am - 5pm • Sun 11am - 4pm The Streets at SouthGlenn • 6851 S. Gaylord St., Suite 233 • Centennial, CO 80122 • 303.683.0372 • www.carlasacd.com VOLUME 38 • NUMBER 49 • OCTOBER 29, 2020
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The Gano residence seen here in 1931 featured prominent brick gable facades.
BY DINO G. MANIATIS
he origins of Halloween date back to the ancient Celtic Samhain fire festivals that mark the end of summer. In modern times, we celebrate this pagan holiday with costume parties, pumpkin carving, trick or treating with the kids, and watching spooky movies. But this year, Halloween activities will undoubtedly be different due to COVID-19. In light of this, the following is a lighthearted look at some local Halloween history and a poem based on historic events. There are many ghost sto-
ries about the popular haunted landmarks in Colorado these landmarks include The Brown Palace Hotel (1892), Central City Masonic Cemetery (1860s), City Cemetery/ Cheesman Park (1859/1908), Croke Patterson Campbell Mansion (1891), Colorado Prison Museum (1871), Fitzsimons Army Hospital (1918), The Hotel Colorado (1893), The Molly Brown House (1887), The Oxford Hotel (1891), Riverdale Road, Riverside Cemetery (1876), The Stanley Hotel (1909), and The Victor Hotel (1899). Did you know that Cherry Hills Village has a
few hauntings of its own? Here are a few stories about hauntings in the village. They are based on first hand accounts and newspaper articles.
The Cleary House in Old Cherry Hills Village was constructed in 1932 and known as the Village Farm for decades in what was then the Swastika Acres development. The great-great grandparents of one the early residents there were thought to be the first white settlers to visit Mesa Verde. The original well, underground pump house, chick-
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en coup, and two-story gable wood barn are still present at the site. The handwritten markings from the Colorado Electric Company’s visits there from the 1940s and after are still visible in the basement. Numerous interesting items have been dug up or discovered during renovations there including medicine bottles, belt buckles, horseshoes, paintings, license plates, and miscellaneous personal items. Many years ago, one resident reported awakening many times over the course of a few weeks at 3:09 am. One morning, at exactly the same time, he was startled by
the full body apparition of a young woman standing at the foot of his bed. Her hands were crossed and she gazed down at him with a melancholy stare. She stood there motionless and long enough for him to see that her strawberry blonde hair was neatly pulled behind her shoulders. While the home was undergoing a renovation a few years ago, one of the contractors who was working in the basement wearing his earbuds reported hearing a very loud series of knocks at the front door that were loud enough to Continued on page 11