Ghost Guide to Denver, Colorado's Most Haunted Places

Once the home of John Mouat, Denver's most prolific lumber baron, the Lumber Baron Inn is now a luxury B&B that offers more than just gourmet breakfasts and Jacuzzi tubs - it offers brushes with the afterlife.

According to the Denver Post, the bodies of two murdered girls, Cara Knoche and Marianne Weaver, were discovered in the second-floor Valentine Room in 1970. The murders were never solved, and to this day, guests report sightings of the two restless souls during their stay.

While a visit from the resident ghosts isn't guaranteed, you can always sign up for Lumber Baron Inn's Casino Murder Mystery event, where you'll spend the evening trying to solve the (thankfully temporary) murder of one of your fellow guests.

The Buckhorn Exchange, located smack dab in the middle of Denver's oldest neighborhood, is also the oldest steakhouse in the state, serving up food since 1893. It was also one of the very first fur trading posts in the area. With a long and rich past like that, it's bound to be haunted!

Visitors have reported everything from disembodied voices to phantom footsteps echoing through the building, and more than once, the waitstaff has witnessed chairs sliding away from tables on their own, as if a ghostly diner has just finished their meal.

Even if you don't run into any spirits at the Buckhorn Exchange, you can always bank on doing something really scary: trying their Rocky Mountain Oysters, a regional specialty made from bull testicles.

Located in the Rocky Mountain Foothills, most associate the incredible Red Rocks Amphitheater with memorable music acts, but as it turns out, the venue also has a reputation for being haunted.

Visitors have often seen a bearded prospector leaning over the "restricted" railings while drinking from an antique whisky bottle, but it's the headless woman that gets the real scares. Would-be vandals have reported that the decapitated lady patrols the area on horseback, wielding a bloody hatchet.

In 2009, a paranormal investigation into the amphitheater yielded some stunning evidence, including strange footage of a ball rolling uphill.

It's no surprise that the grave of Buffalo Bill himself would be home to tales of ghostly visitation, but it isn't just the legendary cowboy that's been spotted at the museum. Guests have been seeing the spirit of a woman in a dress, and those browsing the gift shop have even been startled by objects flying off the shelves.

Back in 2009, SyFy Channel's "Ghost Hunters" performed a paranormal investigation at the location, deciding that high electromagnetic fluctuations from the nearby cell phone towers might be heightening visitors' fears, so bring a tin-foil hat just in case.

When you've worked up an appetite from all that paranormal investigating, head to the Yak & Yeti, where you can chow down on some delicious Nepalese cuisine, and if you're lucky, even meet the restaurant's resident ghost.

Long before it was ever a dining establishment, a woman named Cora Van Voorhis took a deadly fall down the building's steps. Today, her ghost is still seen wandering the Yak & Yeti.

The paranormal activity has occurred so often that a team of ghost hunters was called in to investigate, verifying the claims with video footage of chairs moving on their own and recordings of disembodied voices.

Investigating haunted buildings is cool, but how about a whole haunted town? Olde Town Arvada was an old gold prospecting town in the mid-1800s, and it would seem that the ghosts of its past still linger in just about every building along its historic streets.

Speaking of history, the Arvada Historical Society provides a fantastic tour of he old downtown area, including the 1926 Arvada Flour Mill, where visitors have reported the ghostly visage of a woman in a white dress.

Surrounded by culinary hotspots and high-end shopping, the Hotel Teatro is one of the hottest luxury hotels in downtown Denver... it's also super haunted.

When major renovations began on the building back in 1997, the construction crews began to hear strange voices coming from empty rooms, and the ghostly experiences have only gotten stranger since then.

Today, guests report sightings of the "tool man", a former mechanic who once worked on railcars in the building's basement. Since his tragic death during a work-related accident, he's been spotted, tools in hand, wandering the halls of the building.

Once home to two of Denver's most prominent families, the Byers-Evans House is now a beautifully restored museum that provides a glimpse into life in the early 1900s, and if you're lucky, you might even get to meet the former residents.

While they don't publicly discuss their reputation as a haunted mansion, museum staff have long been witness to mysterious phenomena in historic building. Phantom voices, doors opening on their own, and even full-body apparitions are just a few of the things you might encounter on the $6 tour.

The Oxford Hotel officially opened the day after Prohibition ended in 1933, and it has seen countless guests check-in for nearly a century since, but it's the guests that never check out that have given the historic hotel its spooky reputation.

Tales of mysterious flickering lights, faucets running on their own, and guests locking themselves into their rooms are just a few of the unexplainable occurrences reported at the Oxford Hotel, but the most famous ghost story comes from Room 320, where Florence Montague shot and killed her lover in 1898, then turned the gun on herself.

Today, men who find themselves booked in room 320 report having their covers violently tugged away in the middle of the night.

Sweet dreams!

If you think politics are scary, you haven't seen anything yet. Visitors to the Colorado State Capitol Building often witness everything from the sounds of ghostly horses to restless spirits wandering the top floor.

Some witnesses say that a phantom nicknamed "Henry" can still be found guarding a secret stash of cash that's been reportedly hidden in the tunnels beneath the capitol.

Remember the sassy, busty lady from the Titanic, the one played by Kathy Bates in the James Cameron movie? Well, believe it or not she was a real person! Though the movie is a little shaky with the factual details of her life, it does stay true to her personality. She was independent, out-spoken and, well, loud. She was known for constantly challenging the societal norms and, after surviving the Titanic's sinking, she became a bit of a celebrity. Her house in Denver was fully restored to its former glory (after being converted for different uses) and was opened to the public as a museum, The Molly Brown House Museum... and according to some, she's still hanging out there.

The ghostly phantoms of Molly Brown and her husband have often been seen wandering the museum, complete with the unmistakable smell of cigar smoke emanating from Mr. Brown's room... even though the museum is smoke-free.

You know how the film "Poltergeist" centers on a housing development that decides to build over top of an old cemetery, angering the spirits of the dead? Well, Cheesman Park is basically the real-life equivalent.

Located in central Denver, Cheesman Park is a former cemetery rumored to be home to nearly 2,000 angry ghosts whose graves were never moved during the park's development. Even as recently as 2008, road workers doing routine maintenance discovered human bones during their repairs.

Thanks to the poor treatment of the dead, park visitors are constantly reporting frightening encounters with apparitions, the overwhelming feeling of oppression, and even disembodied voices whispering "Get out!"

If you're looking to dine with the dead, you'll be well served by visiting Lodo's Bar and Grill, a Denver staple with a second floor that might scare even the most seasoned ghost hunters.

After a suicide occurred on the second floor, the building has been host to all sorts of strange phenomena, from elevators moving up and down with no one inside, the phantom smell of women's perfume, and dark figures spotted darting down the halls.

Dudes, you might have to sit this one out. The staff have come to discover that the second floor ladies room appears to be the source of the haunting, making this paranormal investigation one best-served by females.

Founded in 1890, Fairmount Cemetery has earned a pretty great reputation with local ghost hunters as one of the most active locations in Denver, partially due to the fact that it became the new home for many of the disinterred bodies discovered at Cheesman Park.

The legendary haunt has seen dozens of paranormal investigation teams scope out the cemetery, only to find their equipment malfunctioning and their ghostly evidence erased from their recording devices. Spooky!

Reports of phantom vehicles, mysterious floating lights, and the occasional push by a pair of unseen hands are the usual tales here, but even if you don't meet a ghost, Fairmount Cemetery is worth the visit for its stunning architecture and beautiful location.

Despite the fact that it hasn't sold new plots for the better part of a decade, Riverside is one of the most-visited graveyards in Denver, a fact that's owed to its ghosts.

The oldest operating graveyard in Denver, Riverside Cemetery is the final resting place for 67,000 people, including many of the area's most fascinating citizens, like abolitionist Silas Soule and Jack the Strangler victim Kiku Oyama... and if you're lucky, you might get to meet some of them yourself.

For a special treat, visit Riverside Cemetery in October, when you can join on a guided Halloween tour that delves into the location's spookiest sightings.