AMERICAN HAUNTINGS GHOST HUNTS

NIGHT AT THE OLD TELLER COUNTY JAIL

THE OUTLAWS AND LAWMEN MUSEUM

NIGHT AT THE OLD TELLER COUNTY JAIL
OUTLAWS AND LAWMEN JAIL MUSEUM
CRIPPLE CREEK, COLORADO

NEXT AVAILABLE DATE:
7:00 PM TO 12:00 AM
$48 PER PERSON

Footsteps that can’t be explained.
Strange figures behind bars.
Cell doors that slam open and shut.
Faces peering into windows.

Join American Hauntings and author Erin Taylor in Cripple Creek at the Outlaws and Lawmen Museum, a place dedicated to both the shadier side of life in what was known as the “World’s Greatest Gold Camp” and the lives of the men who kept the peace during the wild times in town. But the museum got its start as a different kind of place – the old Teller County jail.

Thousands came to Cripple Creek to make their fortunes in the mines, but the town also attracted its share of outlaws and criminals. Those who broke the law were locked up in the jail while they awaited their fate – killers, thieves, incorrigible children, and soiled doves. And even though the jail has been closed for more than 90 years, many of those troubled souls have never left.  

This is your chance to encounter them face-to-face for yourself.

CRIPPLE CREEK

In October 1890, Robert Miller Womack discovered gold in the waters of a stream called Cripple Creek. It wasn’t long before word of the discovery spread and by April 1891, the Cripple Creek Mining District had sprung to life. After a horde of real estate developers followed the miners, suppliers, gamblers, saloon owners, and prostitutes, a town began to grow. Miners in the area were making so money that the promoters began calling the place “The Greatest Gold Camp on Earth.”

Since the growth of the town brought outlaws and bandits along with the miners and investors, the authorities realized they needed a sturdy local jail. In 1901, a new county courthouse had been built on Bennett Avenue, the town’s main street, and the Teller County Jail was also constructed nearby. With six inmates in a cell and one chamber pot in each, it was somehow one of the most sanitary places in the mining district.

The two-story brick structure was built to last. The front of the building was the receiving area and office, constructed with wood. A staircase leads up to the second floor on the left side of the entry, where a bedroom for a female guard was located. She oversaw the women prisoners housed on the second floor.

Entering the cell block means walking toward a colorless steel chamber with 14 jail cells. The two levels of cells are stacked one atop the other, with a stairwell that is situated as far as possible from the windows and security door. Thanks to its modern design, the jail only ever had a handful of escapes. Each cell had bunks, heat, and a chamber pot. In the beginning, four to six men were assigned to each cell. As the years passed and regulations forbid poor treatment of prisoners, only one person was assigned to each small steel cell.

The one flaw in the cellblock design was the catwalk located at the top of the steel stairway on the second level. The only death in the jail occurred when a prisoner jumped – or was pushed -- over the railing, which was only a single horizontal bar.

The jail itself was useful for ordinary prisoners but not so much for some of the “special cases” that came through – like the criminally insane who were on their way to the State Lunatic Asylum in Canon City. The desperation of those awaiting trial or waiting to be taken away to suffer the consequences of their crimes at the Wyoming Frontier Prison was the source of many fights, stabbings, beatings, and close calls at the jail.

It’s no surprise that this jail – like so many other jails and prisons across the country – has gotten a reputation for being haunted. Prisoners from the past – as well as some of the guards – have lingered behind at this place. It’s said that even some of those executed for their crimes elsewhere have returned to the old jail. The reasons for the haunting are many -- fear of the next world, guilt for their actions, trapped energies, and more – and scores of visitors to the museum and staff members have reported bizarre happenings inside and around the jail museum.

EXPERIENCE THE HAUNTED JAIL FOR YOURSELF

Over the years, experiences at the jail have included full-bodied apparitions, phantom footsteps, to disembodied voices. A jail guard still makes his rounds, the inmates make themselves known, and there is a little boy who just wants to be noticed. No two nights are ever the same in the darkness of the cell blocks.

So, join us in Cripple Creek, walk the cell blocks, and see what life was like on the inside. Discover the past history of the building through displays about mining crimes, murders, and other events and then stay throughout the nighttime hours in a search for the resident spirits.

But be warned – many leave the old Teller County Jail with more questions than answers. Were those footsteps you heard those of a former guard? Was that strange voice a prisoner crying out in the past?

Who knows? Find out for yourself!

This event is for attendees 18 and over only, thanks!