Halloween Haunting – Part Three
Today, I decided to focus on the Halloween traditions more so than haunting. My point is that Halloween isn’t just for kids anymore. Today Halloween is attracting adults in a masquerade type atmosphere, much like Mardi Gras. Maybe it’s because of COVID over the past couple of years. Their costumed antics mock, challenged and tease the dread forces of the night. The other-world becomes our world on this night of reversible possibilities and transcendence. Are they reaffirming death as a part of life in in an exhilarating celebration of magic for an evening? Or like me, just enjoying the air of celebration on a night the veil between the living and the dead is purported to be the thinnest. Or maybe just one day out of the year they want to be someone or something else.
Every year with the help of my hubby,we decorate our house to the hilt on the days leading up to the first day of October and I revel in Halloween décor the entire month!
Did you know Jack-O-Lanterns originated in Ireland? People placed lit candles inside hollowed out turnips to keep away spirits and ghosts on the Samhain (prounced Sah-ween) holiday. Boy, did we do a role reversal on that aspect of Halloween.
Most present day Halloween traditions are traceable to the ancient Celtic day of the dead. Halloween consists of mysterious customs, but each has a history, or at least a story behind it.
Take wearing costumes, and roaming from door to door demanding treats. This behavior can be traced to the Celtic period and the first few centuries of the Christian era, when it was thought that the souls of the dead were out and about, along with fairies, witches, and demons. Offerings of food and drink were left out to placate them.
As the centuries wore on, people began dressing like these creatures, performing antics in exchange for food and drink. This is where the practice of trick-or-treating began. To this day, vampires, witches, ghosts, and skeletons are month the favorite costumes. Our Halloween also retains activities from the original harvest holiday of Samhain, such as bobbing for apples and carving vegetables, (pumpkins) as well as the fruits, nuts, and spices for cider associated with the day. Although at my house, hot chocolate is pretty popular!
Well, if you’ll excuse me, it’s time to try on my vampire costume, custom fitted fangs, and check out the seating arrangements at my front door. Fill up the candy bowl which will sit on a stand beside me. Check to make sure the fog machine is working, so I can greet the little trick or treaters. Or better yet, scare the bejeebers out of the older ones with my bats hanging over head and screeching on my command. Halloween, my favorite holiday! Won’t you join me? If you celebrate, please let me know how in the comments below!! Happy Halloween!!
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Posted in My Say What Blog and tagged Celtic, Halloween, Harvest holiday, Ireland, Samhain by Tena Stetler with 3 comments.
Halloween Hauntings Cripple Creek – Part Two
With its wild and turbulent past, Cripple Creek has a history of unexplained, supernatural occurrences, no wonder it’s earned the reputation
of one of the most haunted towns in America. Tales of haunted Cripple Creek hotels, casinos, and homes flourish. What better way to celebrate Halloween than visit a haunted Cripple Creek?
The Imperial Hotel at Third Street and Bennett Avenue known originally as the Collins Hotel, was built after most the town burned to the ground in 1896. As a young man, George Long emigrated from Europe and eventually made his way to Denver. He married his first cousin and together they ran the hotel. The union produced two daughters and a son. The eldest daughter, Alice, was mentally disturbed and the parents were forced to keep her locked in their apartment next to the lobby for her safety and the safety of others. Soon after George fell to his death while negotiating the narrow stairs to the basement. Or some say Alice escaped, waited for him at the top of the stairs, struck him over the head and he crashed to his death from the stop of the stairs. It’s rumored his ghost haunts the hotel to this day.
My haunted experience at the Imperial Hotel was at the performance of Dracula by the Imperial Players in early 1990’s. The performance was excellent, but the strong feeling of someone watching, icy patches and pressure on my arm and lower back, when no one was there. The hair on the back of my neck stood straight up. After meeting the cast in the lobby for an autograph session, my family and I quickly exited the hotel and raced to the safety of our vehicle, thankful that we hadn’t booked a room. Looking back on the experience, was it the performance
of Dracula in the supposedly haunted hotel that caused my imagination to run wild, or was there really something there? I admit to having an overactive imagination, but not that time. In the years since, I’ve visited Cripple Creek on numerous occasions, to explore old buildings and
mining shacks. My husband and I drive up Hwy 67 to enjoy the turning of the Aspens in autumn, used to camp at the Lost Burro Campground but I haven’t set foot in the Imperial Hotel since that night.
** Friday, October 28, 2022, more Halloween Haunting with traditions, legends and spooky fun. You don’t want to miss it.
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Posted in My Say What Blog by Tena Stetler with 6 comments.
Halloween Haunting Cripple Creek, Colorado
Cripple Creek Mining District of Colorado is extremely rich in history and it is also touted to be one of the Most Haunted Places in the United States.
On Highway 67, at the base of Pike’s Peak, southwest of Colorado Springs, Cripple Creek sits at an elevation of 9,500 feet. 
There are mine shafts, head frames, miner’s cabins long abandoned tumbling down. A lonely stone fireplace may be all that’s left of a miners home. Standing among the rubble might cause the hair on the back of your neck to stand on end. A brief visit to one of the abandoned cabins still standing, gives you a window into what it was like back in the late 1800’s or early 1900’s. Can you imagine a more inviting place for ghost to spend Halloween?
Cripple Creek, Colorado was the land of opportunity beckoning men from across land and sea to claim their fortune in the gold fields. Most of the men came from the east where they were farmers and had little knowledge of gold mining. Pikes Peak or Bust was their battle cry, it was painted on covered wagons and carts. But the Rocky Mountains didn’t give up its gold easily, buried deep in the mountain, it was fifty years after the first wave of gold fever hit that the mountain gave up its gold.
Many prospectors lost everything they had, some even their lives in the pursuit of gold. With the tales of fires, (Cripple 
Creek burned to the ground in 1896) floods, mining accidents, general lawlessness in the beginning then bloody battles between mine owners and labor unions, it’s no wonder stories abound of ghosts haunting this historic town that once boasted one murder a day.
Hotel St. Nicolas
So let’s take a closer look at those ghosts. First up, The Hotel St. Nicholas boasts a colorful history. Today its spectacular view of Cripple Creek, 15 guest rooms, furnished with elegance of a bygone era and one restored historic miner’s cottage still includes tales of the supernatural and unexplained. Originally built as a hospital that served the flood victims in the region in the late nineteenth century, it also served as a home for the Sisters of Mercy. As time went on, the hospital served prospectors and their families and then expanded adding a ward for the mentally ill. The hospital closed in the 1970’s. St. Nicholas is rumored to be haunted by several spirits including children, former patients of the mental ward, nuns and an old cantankerous miner. For more information see Hotel St. Nicholas.
** Tomorrow we’ll take a look at more Halloween hauntings in Cripple Creek including the Imperial Hotel where I once attended a theater production of Dracula during the week of Halloween. That was a hair-raising experience I can’t wait to share with you. Until then Happy Haunting! Bawahahaha
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Posted in My Say What Blog and tagged Colorado, ghosts, Halloween, Haunting, Mountain Town, Tena Stetler by Tena Stetler with 3 comments.
Ten Most Haunted Cities in America
Ten Most Haunted Cities in America
It’s autumn the cool fall days are perfect for a walk on America’s dark side. With the approach of Halloween, it’s natural for our thoughts to conjure up ghosts, goblins, and all things that go bump in the night. Bloody battles, shady shanghaiing practices, built-over burial grounds, and natural disasters have left behind an unsettled past in towns throughout the country. What better place to start than….
Coming in at #1 Most Haunted Cities in America – Salem, MA
Salem is best known for the witch trials of 1692 where mass hysteria led to more than 200 people being accused of practicing witchcraft, and ultimately 20 innocent people were executed. The tragedy has led to Salem becoming synonymous with witches and the city has embraced their history by preserving artifacts in museums and offering tours to educate visitors. The Witch House, The Salem Witch Museum, The Bewitched Statue and Witch Trials Memorial to name a few. Yep, it’s on my bucket list to spend Halloween in Salem MA. How about you?
#2 Most Haunted Cities in America – New Orleans
Not much, it seems, separates the living from the dead in New Orleans. Because the town is below sea level, tombs sit above ground in the 42 cemeteries within city limits. Ghosts from the War of 1812 still hang around the French Quarter. And visitors to the grave of a prominent 1800s voodoo queen, Marie Laveau, continue to leave offerings and ask for help.
Baltimore
Several nation-shaping events have played out on Baltimore’s historic streets: the American Revolution, the Civil War, and the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. Hundreds of years of lost lives and the spirits that remain make the Fells Point area popular among ghost trackers. Guided tours through the maritime neighborhood take you to taverns, shops, and restaurants where things go bump in the night.
Galveston, Texas
When the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 struck, some 8,000 lives were lost—about 6,200 more fatalities than in New Orleans’ devastating Hurricane Katrina. Galveston’s was the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history, and ghost hunters say most of the town’s spirits linger in its storied harbor and Victorian mansions. If that doesn’t give you goosebump, I don’t know what will, unless of course it’s Marie Laveau, the voodoo queen.
Gettysburg, Pa.
During the most tragic battle of the Civil War, about 51,000 soldiers were killed or injured in and around Gettysburg. There was so much spilled blood on the floors of churches and schools (used as makeshift hospitals) that drainage holes had to be drilled in the floors. Baltimore Street downtown and Hospital Road in the countryside are purported hotspots for spirits with unfinished business.
Savannah, Ga.
Savannah may look like a sweet Southern belle, but she keeps a dark secret. The city was built, literally, on its dead. Homes and buildings sit atop Native American burial grounds; roads cover forgotten cemeteries of slaves and colonialists. Over the years, bloody battles, massive fires, yellow-fever epidemics, and hurricanes have taken hundreds of lives, leaving behind unsettled spirits.
Portland, Ore.
Beneath the cobblestoned streets of Portland’s Old Town lies the legend of the Shanghai Tunnels, passageways that swirl with dark tales and hauntings. As the story goes, men who came to Portland to work—sailors, loggers, cowboys, and others—were “shanghaied,” or kidnapped through trapdoors in saloons, smuggled through the tunnels to the waterfront, and sold to sea captains. Ghost Adventures on the Travel Channel explored this mysterious Portland underground.
Athens, Ohio
This Ohio University town is home to the Athens Lunatic Asylum, a mental institution open from 1874 until 1993 and known for its lobotomy practices. Now a university-owned property called The Ridges, the building has its share of haunted stories, say many amateur researchers: disembodied screams, apparitions that walk the halls, and a ghostly bloodstain on the floor. Throughout campus there are several haunted dorms, sororities, and fraternities.
Washington, D.C.
It’s an election year, and some in D.C. will be watching for the demon black cat that is rumored to show up in the U.S. Capitol Building as an omen of national tragedy or change of office. Ghost trackers say it appeared just before President Lincoln’s assassination at Ford’s Theatre (which has its own haunting stories). Abraham Lincoln, John and Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, and Andrew Jackson are among the spirits that have been sighted in the White House.
Chicago
It was here, on Valentine’s Day, 1929, that seven men were lined up against the wall of a garage at 2122 North Clark Street and gunned down by Al Capone and his Prohibition-era gangsters. Strange mists, screams, and machine gun sounds have all been experienced at the site; other local gangster hideaways and crime scenes are also said to be haunted.
San Francisco
In the 1850s, Chinese immigrants came in droves to San Francisco, seeking their fortunes in gold. But when there was no gold to be found, they couldn’t afford to return to their families in China. Most took on menial jobs and died alone with unfulfilled dreams. These souls, the wandering ghosts of America’s oldest Chinatown, are said to inhabit its alleyways today.
I would be amiss if I didn’t mention Cripple Creek, Colorado. Mining District of Colorado is extremely rich in history and it is also touted to be one of the Most Haunted Places in the United States.
On Highway 67, at the base of Pike’s Peak, southwest of Colorado Springs, Cripple Creek sits at an elevation of 9,500 feet. There are mine shafts, head frames, miner’s cabins long abandoned tumbling down. A lonely stone fireplace may be all that’s left of a miners home. Standing among the rubble might cause the hair on the back of your neck to stand on end. A brief visit to one of the abandoned cabins still standing, gives you a window into what it was like back in the late 1800’s or early 1900’s. Can you imagine a more inviting place for ghost to spend Halloween?
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Posted in My Say What Blog by Tena Stetler with comments disabled.
