Explore five of Colorado’s most haunted cemeteries and the eerie stories behind them.
Cemeteries carry deep meaning and history. We visit them when we lose someone we love, often leaving flowers and spending time remembering them; they’re filled with countless stories and lives. For the most part, cemeteries are quiet places for remembrance and peace. But if you’re well-versed in Halloween movies, you know the dead don’t always rest so happily (“Hocus Pocus,” anyone?).
With so much Wild-West history woven through Colorado’s mining and ghost towns, it’s no surprise that the state is home to plenty of spooky cemeteries whose residents have made their unrest known.
If the scary movies and haunted houses aren’t doing it for you this October, here are the five most haunted cemeteries in Colorado
1. Central City Masonic Cemetery
Location: Central City, CO 80427
Central City dates back to 1859, when the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush brought thousands of hopeful miners to the area. Once known as the “Richest Square Mile on Earth,” the town eventually saw its mining fortunes fade, but found a second life as a gambling destination. Today, the town has just a small fraction of its former population, with many past residents residing at the Central City Masonic Cemetery—one of Colorado’s most haunted spots.
Visitors and paranormal investigators have reported strange sightings at the cemetery, including floating orbs and other unexplained occurrences around the gravestones. Perhaps the cemetery’s most famous ghost is the “Lady in Black.” According to local legend, a beautiful, mysterious woman dressed in a black, satin Victorian-style gown appears at the grave of John Edward Cameron every April 5 and November 1, where she leaves flowers. Some accounts tell of a group of men who gathered at his grave waiting for her appearance. When they saw her, the men tried to grab her, only for the woman to vanish before their eyes.
2. Cheesman Park
Location: 1599 E 8th Ave, Denver, CO 80218
What would you say if I told you that one of Denver’s most picturesque picnic spots and parks was actually one of the most haunted places in the city? Now known as Cheesman Park, this picture-perfect green space next to the Denver Botanic Gardens was once a cemetery, and thousands of bodies are believed to remain buried beneath its lawns.
Before becoming a park, the grounds were home to Mount Prospect Cemetery, which opened in 1858 and later became known as Denver City Cemetery. The burial ground earned nicknames like “Boot Hill” because it became the final resting place for many of Denver’s poorest residents, criminals, unidentified bodies, and people who died without family to claim them. By the late 1800s, the cemetery had fallen into disrepair, and the city eventually secured permission to turn the land into a public park. In 1893, an undertaker was hired to relocate the remaining roughly 5,000 graves, but the job was plagued by disturbing allegations of mishandled remains and incomplete removals. He was dismissed before the work was finished, leaving thousands of bodies behind. The park was renamed Cheesman Park in 1907.
Today, ghost stories surround this otherwise beautiful park. Visitors and neighbors frequently report unexplained noises, sudden cold spots, and shadowy figures wandering the park after dark. One popular legend tells of a ghostly woman roaming the park as well as children playing in the dark. But perhaps the most memorable apparition is Slackjaw, a pale, bloodied man wearing a torn hospital gown who allegedly approaches people at night asking for a cigarette and whether they have seen the people who stabbed him fifteen times. Park by day, haunted by night.
3. Silver Cliff Cemetery
Location: 1435 Mill Street, Silver Cliff, CO 81252
Silver Cliff Cemetery is known for being one of Colorado’s most historic burial grounds, but its haunting “dancing blue lights” have made it famous. Established in the early 1880s, the cemetery has reportedly been visited by these strange lights since the town’s mining days. According to local lore, a group of miners first spotted them while cutting through the graveyard as a shortcut on a dark night. Since then, people have described the lights as blue-white orbs, glowing lanterns, and tiny, colored sparks that float or dart between the headstones after sunset.
The mysterious lights caught the attention of National Geographic, which featured them in its August 1969 issue. In a more recent account for Legends of America, writer Patty Quinn described seeing the lights shift between blue, green, white, and yellow, with some growing as large as a football. She also reported that the lights seemed to follow her friend around the cemetery, dimming whenever the group approached and brightening again when they stepped away. Not everyone has witnessed the phenomenon, though. The cemetery remains in use today, and whether these dancing lights are supernatural or just a trick of the eye remains a mystery.
4. Mt. Pisgah Cemetery
Location: 997 Teller County Rd 1, Cripple Creek, CO 80813
While Mt. Pisgah Cemetery in Cripple Creek isn’t known for any official hauntings, it’s definitely not short on ghost stories. Established in 1895 during the area’s gold-rush boom, the cemetery is the final resting place of many eccentric characters from Cripple Creek’s colorful past, including miners, outlaws, and the infamous madam Pearl DeVere, owner of one of the most famed and exclusive brothels in the American Old West.
Every September, the local Gold Camp Victorian Society brings some of these former residents back to life during its annual “Mt. Pisgah Speaks” cemetery tour. During this event, you wander among the headstones and interact with costumed actors portraying the town’s dead, famous, and infamous residents. The performances are based on historical research and paint a spookily accurate picture of the once-booming Cripple Creek.
With the past being called into the present, who’s to say the living are the only ones watching? Perhaps a few real ghosts have joined the audience to see themselves portrayed.
5. Evergreen Cemetery
Location: 1005 Hancock Expy, Colorado Springs, CO 80903
Evergreen Cemetery sounds anything but spooky. Kind of nice, right? Like a stroll through Colorado’s evergreen trees. Well, a stroll through Evergreen Cemetery is bound to deliver much more than the sights and sounds of nature. You might just encounter the sights and sounds of the supernatural, too. This historic cemetery in Colorado Springs dates back to the 1870s and now holds the remains of more than 90,000 people. But among the thousands of headstones, it’s the cemetery’s old chapel that has earned a particularly eerie reputation.
Built in 1910, the chapel once served as a funeral space and a place to store caskets during the winter when the ground was too frozen to dig graves. Today, visitors and cemetery workers report hearing disturbing and unexplained noises, along with seeing dark figures flicker in doorways, particularly near the basement stairs and the old casket-lifting mechanism. During nighttime tours, visitors have even reported seeing a strange, cat-like figure, roughly five feet long, floating above the gravestones without ever touching the ground.
The cemetery’s paranormal reputation grew further when it appeared on the Biography Channel’s “My Ghost Story.” During filming, a heavy wooden crypt door in the chapel basement reportedly opened and closed on its own, despite being notoriously difficult to move.
