Ghost Stories In Fort Collins, Paul’s Top Five [PHOTOS, AUDIO]

There are no shortage of ghost stories in Fort Collins. From the time I first visited the Vault on College Avenue I heard about strange goings on in the women's bathroom, but since I never had the pleasure, I never experienced anything for myself. Fort Collins is smack dab in the middle of the old 'Wild West'.

Click 'CAPTION' on the photo gallery to fully experience this blog

This area was far beyond the reach of civilized society in the late 1800's, and as such, there were plenty of rough characters to populate a very colorful history. Ghosts in Fort Collins are probably spirits who had such terrible lives they cannot find peace in death. The real people are where the ghost stories come from. It is said that at one point, before alcohol was outlawed in Fort Collins (yes, the beer mecca was dry from the 1890's to 1969), there were 800 people, 15 bars and 8 brothels. The people had plenty of opportunity to indulge their more salacious sides.

I recorded much of the tour and put together an audio piece that gives an idea of what the experience was like. It features some of the most frightening moments in Fort Collins ghost story and real history, such as one of the only lynchings that ever happened here:

Right at 8 o'clock, all the lights to Fort Collins were cut. Not a single light on in Fort Collins, they were cut at the main. A group of masked men, a mob, came down this alleyway, broke into the jail, held the sheriff at gunpoint...

Enjoy this audio piece that has the rest of that story and many others.

Our thanks, again, go out to Lori Juszak and the folks at Haunted Fort Collins, for taking us on a very enjoyable tour. They offer other tours as well, which I'm certain you will see blogs about from me in the future.

Here are the top 5 Ghost Stories in Fort Collins (in no particular order)...

5. Prostitute Ghost Haunts Nature's Own, the Old Linden Hotel

This apparition can apparently only be seen by children, or those adults that are very in tune with the paranormal. If  you are in Nature's Own and your child begins to describe a woman at the top of the stairs in a long blue dress and you look up and don't see her...

4. Jack Cassidy, Legendary Gambler Dies
in Solitary Confinement below Happy Lucky's Tea House

Reports have him as slightly less pleasant than when he was alive...which is not an improvement.

3. John Entwhistle, Former Bass Player For the Who Spends Afterlife in Fort Collins

Happy Jack? Well, we don't have reports of him being a mean specter. In fact, he seems to be swinging his scarf like he did when the World's Loudest Rock Band was in its heyday. The story is that John's best friend owned an art gallery (in the same building as Suehiro on Linden)here, and John has come back to visit him. This information comes from a medium.

2. Beneath the Rio and Walrus is Fort Collins former Mausoleum and Morgue...A 'Portal' Is Thought To Be There

I think the current businesses are so much more pleasant than what those buildings used to house. But the past still remains, and a potential portal to another dimension can sometimes be felt. There is also a mysterious underground river with an unknown source, and recent sightings of apparitions have been seen by the owners of Haunted Fort Collins.

1. James and Eva Howe - Murder And A Lynching, Not Surprising There Is Spiritual Unrest

This story is not pretty. Nor, it is said, is James' ghost, that haunts the Armadillo restaurant, the location of their former home. The events culminated in one of Larimer County's only lynchings, which coincided with a full blackout of Fort Collins and no subsequent arrests, indicating possible government involvement in the vengeful act.

Also, a great follow up movie if you care to further scare yourself...INDIDIOUS. Horror, to me, is the most difficult genre. It's just too easy for it to become either ludicrous or gratuitous slashing. As for INSIDIOUS, I thought it was a great story, and that story was told at an almost perfect pace. Plus, as of this morning, I was still creeped out by it when I was awake alone...I don't know why I do it to myself!