Caching, Sightseeing & Hauntings 6/17/2010

We started out the day doing a few caches then went sightseeing and saw what are supposed to be a few haunted houses and finished the day off by going to a cute little restaurant with some strange tales about it. We started out with 5 traditional NRV caches and then we did another cache in Pauper's Cemetery. It was a small cemetery near the side of the road at an intersection that only had 7 burial sites. It was the burial site for smallpox victims who were patients in what was called Pest House, a smallpox hospital run by the county from the early 1900s through the 1920s. The Pest House and the county's Poor Farm occupied the southeast corner of Rio Grande and 21st streets, where the county parks headquarters is today. The Poor Farm operated into the 1970s as a home for the indigent, became a temporary shelter until it closed in 1984 and was demolished. Very strange. Then we did an Earthcache where we had to visit a rock fromation and gather some information about the particular rocks (see pictures). That was it for the caching for today so we headed for Manitou Springs to walk the streets and do some sightseeing.


We walked around the downtown area looking and stopping in the shops to look around. We saw several old churches and 3 more mineral springs. We have seen all seven of the springs in the town now so we feel some history is needed about them. The Native Americans who traveled in this region long ago considered the land around the springs sacred. The bubbles, or natural carbonation in the water, represented to them the breath of the Great Spirit "Manitou". With the westward spread of early settlements and the foresight of individuals like the town’s founder Dr. William A. Bell, Manitou Springs developed around the mineral springs, becoming a destination resort for people desiring a health vacation in the "Saratoga of the West". Visitors arrived with doctors’ prescriptions to drink specific waters as a cure for their ills.
The 1930’s saw a change in medical treatment. The drinking of mineral waters was replaced with drugs, synthetic vitamins and minerals. The country’s economy was also under severe stress. Priorities changed, and the mineral springs and spas took a back seat to more pressing concerns of the day. Numerous attempts at restoration have been made over the years, but lack of continued upkeep and the natural toll that Mother Nature took on the springs left them in disrepair time and again.
In the mid 1980’s another movement to restore the springs began to take shape. The year of Manitou Springs’ one hundred tenth birthday, 1986 to be exact, saw the establishment of a city fund for mineral springs restoration. In 1987 this effort evolved into the Save The Springs program; predecessor to the Mineral springs Foundation of today.
During the 1990s the resurgence of the health and spa culture has been strong. It is believed that mineral rich waters provide a natural link to healing ailments of the body and soul. Many local organizations and individuals utilize the waters for the mineral springs in their health regimens.
To date, the Mineral Springs Foundation, in cooperation with the City of Manitou Springs, private individuals and numerous organizations have restored a number of the springs to their original splendor. The waters are available free to the public. People fill cups or jugs from their favorite spring. We tasted a few of the springs and boy oh boy was the water terrible and we were surprised to hear that people actually drank the water.

We saw a lot of quaint restaurants and even saw 2 baby birds poking there heads out of a nest in a bird house in front of one of the shops. We stopped in Mushroom Monday's a shop that is supposed to be haunted. The story goes that reports of a spirit of an old man has been see in the shop. Both employees and customers have seen him. He stands near a small fountain, but appears to be standing on a surface below the shop's floor as he comes out of the ground at the knees. He only appears briefly then is gone.

The other place we saw was the Miramont Castle Museum. This story goes that numerous cold spots and numerous people not wanting to go into the the gift shop (which was the tuberculosis unit when it was a sanitarium) are said to be common here.
Miramont Castle was built for Father Jean Baptiste Francolon, a priest who came from a family of wealthy French aristocrats. He moved to Manitou Springs, Colorado in 1892 and built a home there. In 1895 he donated that first home to be used as a sanatarium for tuberculosis patients. Manitou Springs was a popular place for those suffering the effects of tuberculosis. It was believed that the local mineral springs and the fresh mountain air would restore health and lessen the effects of the disease. The springs are also what brought Father Francolon to the area. The priest suffered from a stomach ailment that he hoped might be lessened by the alleged curative powers of the city's springs.
Upon giving up his first Manitou Springs home, Father Francolon ordered the construction of a castle that would share the same property as the sanatarium. Miramont Castle was finished in 1896. The priest and his mother lived there until 1900, when they moved away.
In 1895, Father Francolon managed to get the Religious Order of the Sisters of Mercy to open a Sanatarium in his former home. Within 7 months, the Sisters of Mercy were already having to expand the sanatarium to compensate for the large number of tuberculosis patients they were receiving. In 1904, the Sisters of Mercy acquired Miramont Castle, which had lain empty since the Francolons' departure. The move was necessitated by a fire that destroyed the furnace room of the original sanatarium.
The sanatarium employed the holistic medicines of Father Sebastian Kneipp. Kneipp believed that drinking large quantities of the local spring water and bathing in it would cure tuberculosis. Some of Kneipp's practices are still used by practitioners of Naturopathic medicine.
The castle's name was changed to Montcalme and continued to function as a sanatarium until 1928 when advances in surgery and pharmacology eliminated a need for tuberculosis sanatariums. The castle then served as a retreat for nuns until its sale in 1946. The castle was turned into an apartment building and continued in that function until 1975, when the building became condemned. The following year it was purchased by the Manitou Springs Historical Society, who began restoring it. The castle was eventually (mostly) restored to its original appearance and name. It is once again Miramont Castle.
The castle now serves as a museum dedicated to the Victorian era. Each room is an example of life during the era in which Father Francolon built the castle. Visitors can witness first hand the eccentric and extravagant architecture. Rooms are rarely square in the castle, with one room having 16 walls. There is also a secret passageway that runs the entire length of the second floor. The castle was built into the side of a mountain and slopes with it. The front entrance is located on the first floor and the rear entrance is on the fourth floor. There is also a chimney from one of the fireplaces (the largest sandstone fireplace in the US) that burrows through the mountain itself.
Miramont Castle also has the Queens Parlour Tea Room. The Tea Room serves food and drink of the Victorian era and offers a "High Tea" in the afternoon on certain days of the week. Reservations must be made in advance in order to partake in the High Tea. There is a chapel in the castle that can be reserved for weddings. Lastly, the castle has a gift shop offering Victorian dolls and other items associated with that era.
There are multiple witness accounts of ghost sightings in Miramount Castle. Both staff and visitors to the castle have been witness to unexplained phenomena. Accounts include apparitions of men, women and children in Victorian attire wandering about the castle. A Victorian woman has been said to appear at times in mirrors that people gaze into. The ghost a little girl with a doll has been spotted on occasion in the "Christmas Room." Another witness account has a woman with no visible head walking into the same room.
There have been other visitors who have experienced feelings of unease in the Christmas Room. Disembodied voices are heard throughout the castle. There are also tales of objects being moved by unseen hands and a cold spot in the chapel.
The most likely time to spot a ghost in the castle is during the afternoon...right around the time for High Tea.
Annually, the city of Manitou Springs is host to the Emma Craford Festival (see Emma Crawford Festival and Memorial Coffin Race). The festival commemorates an incident in Manitou Springs in 1929, when the coffin of a young woman buried at the top of Red Mountain in 1891 was uncovered by erosion and washed down the side of the mountain. The festival takes place the weekend prior to Halloween. It involves a coffin race and other activities, such as ghost walks. The night before the race, Miramont Castle plays host to an annual wake for Emma. It is perhaps fitting that a place that once served as sanatarium for tuberculosis patients should also hold a yearly tribute to a young lady who died from it. It puts a face on the many TB victims who came to live (and die) in the city before medical science improved.
The Emma Crawford Wake allows participants to step back in time to attend a fictitious wake the deceased. There is a buffet of Victorian food for dinner and costumed actors portray people of the era and interact with the guests. Actors portray Father Francolon and his mother as they host the wake in their home. An astonishing feat, as the priest arrived in Manitou Springs months after Emma's death and the castle didn't exist until a few years later. However, this event is not about historical accuracy in that sense. It is about capturing a feel for the time period and paying tribute to a woman whose misfortune is the basis for the festival.
Emma's coffin (not the actual one) is lain out for "mourners" to pay their respects. Also on hand are actors portraying famous individuals of the time, including "Wild" Bill Hickock and his wife "Diamond Lil." Perhaps there may be a few actual mourners in attendance as well, unseen by the living and paying tribute to one of their own...or perhaps they just find it charming to see a common event of their time re-enacted in modern times. The Emma Crawford Wake was featured on the Fine Living Network's Freakiest Festivals television special in 2010.

We then drove out to see Seven Falls which is located in South Cheyenne Canyon, and cascades 181 feet in seven distinct steps down a solid cliff of pikes peak granite. Crystal clear water from the southern most edges of the Pikes Peak watershed have, over the ages, carved this unique scenic masterpiece in an easily accessed location.
Next to the Falls, a 224-step stairway leads to a system of trails that will take you to “Midnight Falls” and then onto Inspiration Point with a breath-taking view of Colorado Springs and the great plains beyond. Wildlife is everywhere, including hummingbirds, rainbow trout and the rare, waterfall nesting- American Dipper. Blasted 14 stories straight up through solid granite, a mountain elevator safely transports all who venture here to the “Eagles Nest” platform. We decided not to go in as the charged 10.00 per person to get in and an additional charge for the elevator but we did get some great pictures of the cliffs and rocks at the entrance to the falls.



Well that was it for the afternoon and we went back to the coach till it was time to go out to dinner. We found a place in Old Colorado City called Meadow Muffins which had great burgers and sandwiches so off we went. It was in the Waycott Building which was built in the late 1800's and was once the cultural center of Old CO City. The building had been the home of the Idle Hour Theater on the first floor, the Waycott Opera House on the second and Mack's Ice Cream in the basement.
Rumor has it that Meadow Muffins is frequented by the spirits of past characters of the area, yes real live ghosts. On the north wall is a painting of the matriarch of the restaurant Miss Muffin and she can be seen in the one of the pictures I posted. They have hanging from the ceiling 2 buckboards used in the movie Gone With the Wind, Fans above the bar used in Casablanca, in the back room an Egyptian boat used to carry Moses down the Nile River in the movie The Ten Commandants, a dragon shaped torpedo used to blow up an enemy ship on the Wild West Show and a jukebox which was last seen on the set of Lost In Space.
Laura Bell McDaniel, who came to Colorado City in 1888, is this area's most famous prostitute -- a successful madam in the mold of the "whore with the heart of gold" was one of these so called real live ghosts to haunt Meadow Muffins. Supposedly her house of ill repute was in the basement through a tunnel under the saloon.

Well that's about all from here for today so until tomorrow we love and miss you all. Mom & Dad Dori & Dick