Spooky Things Happen in Colorado

Molly Brown’s house can be found in the fashionable Capitol Hill area in Denver. It is a lovely 1889 Victorian three story house with an attic and basement. This house is famous because Molly and her husband James Joseph Brown bought it in 1894. Then Margaret Tobin Brown, i.e. Molly Brown was on the Titanic in 1912 when it hit the iceberg and she lived to tell about it. After she was saved she began to take care of the survivors in every way possible. Molly became a national heroine, which inspired a Broadway show in the 1960s called "The Unsinkable Molly Brown". People in Denver therefore saved her home from being destroyed.

On the first floor of the house was a former parlor, dining room and sunroom as well as a family parlor and library. The house also had a large, very modern kitchen with both a butler’s pantry and a cook’s pantry. On the second floor each member of the Brown family had their own room. There was even a room for Molly’s parents. On the third floor were rooms for the female maids while the male servants’ quarters were on the 2nd floor of the carriage house. During the time Molly and her husband J.J. lived there many renovations were done to the house.

Margaret Tobin Brown married J. J. Brown in 1886. At that time they lived in a two room log cabin in Leadville, Colorado near the lead mine at which J.J. worked. By 1889 they had two children. J.J. made good money working for the Ibex Mining Company. The purchase of the Little Johnny Mine changed their lives. A large gold vein was discovered in the mine. By October 29, 1893 the Little Johnny Mine was shipping 135 tons of gold per day.

At this time the Brown family moved to Denver and purchased the 1889 Victorian mansion which was built by architect William Lang. In 1898 J.J. transferred the title of the house into Margaret’s name. Molly and J.J. divorced in 1909 and Molly became active in social causes. Molly started spending less time in Denver and rented out the house to various families until the Great Depression when she turned the house into a boarding facility. By the time Molly died in 1932 the house had become run down. The owners that followed divided it into 12 separate units for renters.

Then in 1958 Art Leisenring bought the house and ran a gentleman’s boarding house for two years. Afterwards in 1960 leasing it to the city of Denver for a home for wayward girls. By 1970 the house was to have a date with the wrecking ball. However Leisenring knew of Margaret "Molly" Brown because she was being immortalized on stage and screen in the "Unsinkable Molly Brown". He and a group of concerned citizens incorporated on December 11, 1970 to form the Historic Denver, Inc. They raised funds and were able to purchase the house and renovate it afterwards opening it as a museum.

The entities of Molly Brown and J.J. are still going about their business in their house. The staff and guests of the museum have smelled pipe and cigar smoke an indication that J.J. is around since no smoking is allowed in the museum. Cold spots have been felt in Molly’s room and her apparition has been seen. There is also a female entity dressed in a Victorian dress who likes to sit at the dining room table and allows the living to take pictures of her. She also likes to rearrange the chairs around the dining room table.

Molly and J.J. had a daughter named Catherine Ellen who died young of some disease. In her room the window blinds raise and lower by themselves. Molly’s mother Johanna stayed in Catherine Ellen’s old room and her image has been seen at that room’s window. The entity of a grumpy male servant has been seen in the mirror hanging near the stairs on the first floor.

The Grant Humphreys Mansion is located in Central Denver in the area of Cheesman Park. It is a 3 story, 1902, 30 room mansion created in Beaux-Arts style. The mansion was built for one of Colorado’s wealthiest men, James Grant. Outside of the mansion there are beautiful picturesque gardens.

Inside the mansion there is even a 2-lane bowling alley and at present the mansion is used for office space, public space and rented out for weddings, receptions and special events.

James Benton Grant was born in 1848 in Alabama on a plantation. In the 1870s he studied mining in Germany then in 1877 he moved to Leadville and started the Omaha and Grant Smelting Company. He got married in 1881 to one of the five granddaughters of Illinois governor Joel Matteson – Mary Matteson Goodell. Then in 1882 he relocated his company to the state’s capital Denver and was elected third governor of the state, from 1883-1885.

Many great receptions took place at the mansion. James Benton Grant died in 1911 and Mary sold the mansion to entrepreneur Albert E. Humphreys and his wife Alice Boyd Humphreys in 1917. The Grant’s son and daughter-in-law, Ira Boyd and his wife, Lucille lived with them.

On the third floor of the mansion Albert E. Humphreys, who was a great shooter died in a suspicious shooting accident. Near the mansion is Cheesman Park, which was built on top of Mount Prospect Graveyard or Boot Hill, founded in 1858. There are still 2000 people buried there. In 1873 elected officials renamed the cemetery – City Cemetery and it was a place where epidemic victims, transients and criminals were buried. When they decided to make the cemetery into a park the city officials gave 90 days for bodies to be removed and placed elsewhere. However only the Catholic and Jewish sections were taken care of by church and temple members leaving lots of graves unmoved. Incompetence came next – graves were looted, bodies unprofessionally removed and mixed up. As a result disturbed spirits roamed the nearby houses and buildings showing up in mirrors. The entire mess was then plowed under and Cheesman Park built on top.

The mansion has at least 5 ghosts. Albert E. Humphreys has never left his home and restlessly roams about. The other spirits may have wandered in from the nearby park area or may possibly be some family members. When Radio Station KNUS in Denver held a séance in the mansion, they actually contacted several entities. Ghost lectures are held there every October because of known paranormal activity.