Nothing like a Denver
ghost story to help ward off the damp chill of an October morning. We’ve been
talking haunts and haints for the past few weeks around here, so I guess it is
time to talk about the Big Mama of Denver haunted houses , the Peabody-Whitehead mansion at 1128 Grant Street, in Denver's Capitol Hill.
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| Peabody-Whitehead Mansion |
Built in 1889, the three-story red brick building has served
as Colorado ’s
governor’s mansion, as an apartment complex, and numerous nightclubs and bars. Whatever reason puts people in the the old house, no one ever seems to stay more than a year or two.
People who lived and work in the building say they've witnessed flying objects, disembodied voices and shadow
figures. Along with the Colorado State Capitol, the Croke-Patterson Mansion and the Lumber Baron Inn, the Peabody-Whitehead mansion is considered among Denver ’s most active
haunted properties.
First
a bit of background: The mansion, a designated Denver Historic Landmark, was
built by renowned architect Frank Edbrooke, designer of Denver landmark, the Brown Palace
Hotel. The mansion served for two years as the state’s governor’s residence
during the turbulent tenure of widely despised Colorado Governor James Peabody.
Peabody was the only governor in United States ' history to ever
dispatch the state militia against its own citizens. When Colorado miners went on strike Gov. Peabody
sent out the militia and killed 13 non-union miners. The ghosts of the miners are said to haunt the mansion to this very day.
It also was home to William Riddick Whitehead, who served as
a battlefield surgeon during the Russian Crimean War and American Civil War. Denver folklore claims that many of the spirits of those dead soldiers followed Dr.
Whitehead from New York to Denver
In the 1980s
the house was turned into one failed restaurant after another. My favorite incarnation was the aptly named “Spirits on Grant.” An old friend who
worked at the mansion when it was the Bombay Club told me that staff was often
spooked by lights and water turning off and on by itself. One story from the
mansion’s restaurant days was of a ghost who reportedly poured a bottle of beer down
the shirt of a cook who had disparaged homosexuals. A female ghost was also was a regular sight -- in the men's restroom mirror.
Indeed,
restaurant employees often told of knives, forks, pots and pans flying around
the kitchen and dining room areas. Books fell off of shelves, drinks were
poured down peoples backs all without the help of anyone living in the
vicinity. At one point an electrician was called in to repair a
"short" in a chandelier that was flickering on and off.
When the electrician got to the mansion, he informed the restaurant manager
that the chandelier was not wired or hooked up to electricity!
Key among the
spooks is the spirit of a woman, who committed suicide in the basement. Some
stories say she was a jilted bride named Ella. Others say it was a waitress
from the mansion’s nightclub days. It is said that her image has been
seen in mirrors and also in the men's restroom. Other stories
tell of a woman who was raped, murdered and buried in the basement by a
construction crew that clearly didn’t come from Angie’s List.
Any way you cut
it, the basement is a very disturbing area. In the mansion’s
restaurant/nightclub years it was used for storage and wait staff were known to
quit rather than descend the stairs.
According to
the Haunted Houses website, the owner of the Bombay Club, Greg McAllister, in
2002, reported to author Dennis Hauck that he sold drinks to spooks in the form
of cowboy types who would occasionally visit the bar. They would order a drink and
then disappear, leaving an empty glass in their wake.
Many paranormal investigators have studied the
Peabody-Whitehead mansion. Travel Channel’s Ghost Adventures sent a crew in
2012. See their findings here.
The Peabody-Whitehead
Mansion has been owned for several years now by Malbur Properties, LLC. Tenants include Commercial Mortgage Consultants Inc. and
the company website reports that staff has regularly witnessed activities such as a faint baby's cry, objects mysteriously moving or
a strong odor of cherry-tobacco. Malbur Properties offshoot Mega 1031 is
another company located in the building. Their take on the building’s haunted
history is here.
