Behind the well known glitz, glam, aprés skiing, hot cocoa sipping, white water rafting Aspen, Colorado is a small town like any other. Every small town has a ghost story, and Aspen is no exception. I walked amongst the dark side of Aspen with Dean’s Original Aspen Walking Tours to investigate further into the history and spirits that haunt our small town.
Over 140 years ago, Aspen, originally dubbed “Ute City” was home to the Ute Indians. That is, until there was a gold rush, bringing thousands of pioneers to the area. The pushing of the Indians out of the region led to the longest US military-Indian battle, lasting about a week. This dispute would eventually lead to what is now known as The Meeker Massacre, allowing the US military to use more aggressive force to remove the Ute Indians from Colorado. It was warned by the Indians that if they were forced out of the Ute Country, a curse would be left bounding anyone who comes to Aspen to stay there, or be unhappy. “Always yearn to return to the Roaring Fork Valley,” tour guide, Dean said.
In 1886, Aspen was close to being the largest silver producer in the US. About where the St. Regis Aspen Resort and CP Burger now stand, once stood a 70-foot bell tower donated by Henry Gillespie to the fire department. “They say when this bell was rung, you could hear it for seven miles throughout the entire valley.” Becoming a hotspot for locals to climb up and enjoy the view, it wouldn’t be long before someone got hurt. Eppa Straight and Ella White were enjoying the view one day when the manager of the fire department called a meeting, of course by ringing the great bell. This resulted in the death of the two ladies, plummeting toward the ground.
A few blocks over, The Red Onion carries some history of its own. Several cases have been reported including the moving of items, noises such as music and footsteps, and even brief viewings of people who aren’t there. The Red Onion allegedly holds the spirits of a man by the name of Billy who was stabbed right in the very building, as a well as a little girl.
“We’ll take the account of a girl that works here to this very day,” Dean said, “Cleans early in the morning before they open for business…One morning when she was almost done, her daughter was waiting for her so they could leave together and at that time her daughter was about four. They’re down in the basement, there’s a really big mirror down there where the bathrooms are, her daughter was having a full on conversation with the mirror, as though she was talking to one of her best friends, something she had never really done before. When it was time to leave, they’re walking out the front door and her mother said, ‘sweetie, why were you jabbering at the mirror like that?’ and she said, ‘Mommy, I was talking to that little girl, didn’t you see her?’”
Similarly, opened in 1889, the Hotel Jerome was considered just as fine of a hotel as it is now with electricity and 14 indoor bathrooms with hot and cold running water, all luxuries at that time. Years later, a swimming pool is put in that becomes “the place to see, be seen.” However, in the 1930s, the son of a family staying at the hotel drowned. There have been many cases of seeing the ghost of the young boy, still dripping water. Aspen High School Teacher, Chris Wheatley has his own experience with the ghost.
“I was chaperoning the Aspen High School prom and my job was to stand in a hall and make sure no Aspen prom goers snuck out this back emergency exit… so I was standing there, and I see this young person in a towel walking down the hall toward another door. And I yelled, and I yelled again and they just kept moving and I’m like, ‘you’re not even supposed to be in this hall,’ when this person kind of went through a wall. That kind of weirded me out, and when I went to where this– what I thought– person had been, there were just wet footprints on the carpet… he was very real,” Wheatley said.
Right down the road, the infamous serial killer Ted Bundy, once stayed in the Pitkin County Jail after a murder in Snowmass was traced back to him. Wanting to represent himself in court, Bundy was permitted to use the library to study books on law. There, he jumped out of the window, escaping from the Aspen Police.
With a very long history, Aspen has many more stories to tell, both good and bad. Next time you come across one of these areas, just remember, there may be spirits amongst you.
By Zoe Cramer
Originally published by the Skier Scribbler October 31, 2017
https://skierscribbler.com/6001/news/the-unknown-side-of-aspen-colorado/