Interactive Ghost Hunting At Denver’s Scariest Park

START OCTOBER WITH A HAUNTING EXPERIENCE

October is in full swing, and it seems that everyone is very much in the spirit of fall.

After all, Halloween is not only about dressing up and eating candy: history has preserved the integrity of this holiday. But before diving into the creepies and crawlies of Denver’s infamous haunts–and literal hauntings–brief background is needed.

Denver has a rich past, specifically Capitol Hill’s very own gem: Cheeseman Park. Unknown to most, the favorite tranquil spot of many Denverites used to be a cemetery. During the late 19th century, this 80-acre plot was known as the Prospect Hill cemetery (which also includes some of the land that the Denver Botanic Garden currently inhabits).

The Prospect Hill cemetery was inaugurated in 1858, and its very first corpse resident became housed there the next year. The cemetery held spaces for many denominations and organizations like the Odd Fellows, the Society of Masons. Part of the land was maintained by familiar descendants while other plots festered into decay. Indeed, over the years, the land was passed to many owners. In the late 1800s, the cemetery was unused and, ironically, rather decrepit. It had become known as the eyesore of one of the most abundant parts of the Denver metropolis.

In 1907 the cemetery, which was then relatively vacant, was converted into what is now Cheeseman Park. The families who had their dead buried there were given about two months to re-locate the bodies that were buried on the land. Those who could afford the uprooting had little issue with the matter, but many families were forced to leave their dearly departed where they were originally laid to rest. An unknown number of these bodies are still buried there today. So, where better to host an interactive ghost hunt on the very first day October?

Capitol Hill Ghost Tours hosted an interactive tour of Cheesman park for any and all who would like to potentially experience some genuine spectral contact. The evening also included the scarce opportunity to experience this ghostly night with members of the Ghost Box Paranormal Society team, Chris Moon, Mamma Moon, and many other members of the troupe.

The crew ran actual ghost hunting equipment stations throughout the expanse of Cheesman Park in an attempt to communicate with the many spirits that inhabit the former cemetery. There was a nervous energy connecting everyone throughout the night; that feeling of undeniable intrigue of things that aren’t completely without this realm but simultaneously experiencing an extraordinary fear. It was almost like a theater full of people about to see a horror movie (except for the slight chance that this might actually become one), not to mention the knowledge that workers digging trenches for the park’s irrigation system had unearthed four skeletons the previous week.

Participants were invited to talk about loved ones they had lost that they may like to have the chance to speak with one last time. Others simply enjoyed (or dreaded) the adrenaline-fueled evening. Perhaps it was just the milieu of the night, but the eerie presences normally sensed throughout the park were especially noticeable.

People confirmed their few but very real experiences of seeing ghosts at Cheeseman during the night. Individuals walking through the park at night experienced deathly cold spots that mysteriously vanished. Continuing along the path, many heard an eerie whistling blowing through the trees, but that may have been due to the fact that Cheesman Park is both a notorious cemetery and a well-known hook-up spot, which certainly added some much needed comic relief to the evening.

The members of the Ghost Box Paranormal Society all come from an array of backgrounds but all have one thing in common: a keen interest in the paranormal. The team strives to share their findings and research with the public as well as educate any and all who are interested.

Each person has a certain willingness or sensitivity to spectral forms, and others are merely unwilling to embrace it. Regardless of whether people believe in spirits or not the Capitol Hill Ghost Tours and the Ghost Box Paranormal society offer an exhilarating way to start off the eerie month of October.