5 urban legends that still live in Colorado
DENVER (KDVR) — If you are looking for strange happenings or a creepy story to tell around the campfire, Colorado is home to many fascinating tales that some locals swear to be true. Others, however, call them urban myths.
Whether or not you believe them, the remnants of these myths remain in the Centennial State.
The Yellow Honk House
In Chaffee County, there’s a tiny town near Salida called Maysville. It’s home to the over-100-year-old yellow house. If you do drive by, be sure to honk.
What the beep!? Colorado’s yellow honk house phenomenon
As the story goes, the original owner, Harry Miller, would sit in the chair and wave at people as they drove by. The drivers would wave back and eventually honk. Joe became the owner of the house in 2016 and was a fan of the story. He has since carried on its legacy.
People honk out of good luck, especially the drivers who are about to head up to the nearby Monarch Pass.
“Good juju!” Joe said. “No honks for [bad luck].”
On average, the owner counted 100 beeps a day.
Tommyknockers
Tommyknockers were a Cornish miners legend that was brought to Colorado. They were supposedly responsible for the strange noises in underground mines. These noises also warned miners of impending danger. The legend has stayed in Colorado to this day, with a local mining town coining a brewery after it. Tommyknocker Brewery and Pub serves locals and tourists in Idaho Springs.
Riverdale Road
Riverdale Road is located in Adams County and is an 11-mile stretch of road from Thornton to Brighton. Some people say that Riverdale Road is one of the most haunted roads in the United States, while others just call it an urban myth.
Is this Colorado road haunted?
Either way, Coloradans drive through this road every day.
The Denver Public Library says there have been stories passed down throughout the years, like the ghost jogger who taps on the sides of passing cars, a phantom Camaro with one headlight and a hitchhiker in white who disappears.
But one of the most popular stories has to do with the fire at the David Wolpert House. As legend has it, a man set his home on fire with his family inside. The family died, and the man was never seen again, according to the Denver Public Library. On further research, the library couldn’t find any reports of fatalities when the house burnt down, but a mysterious fire does make for a good ghost story.
The Lafayette Vampire
The legend dates back to the early 1900s when Theodore “Fodor” Glava died of the flu epidemic after he came to Colorado from Transylvania. But the rumors of Glava being a vampire started after his demise when a tree grew in the middle of his gravesite in the northwest corner of the Lafayette Municipal Cemetery.
Local legend has it that the tree grew from a spike that was hammered into Glava’s heart.
New horror movie exhibit to be built at Stanley Hotel in Estes Park
His gravesite has been decorated with trinkets from time to time.
The Stanley Hotel
What’s a Colorado ghost story without the mention of The Stanley Hotel? This may be Colorado’s most popular ghost story, as it’s one of the most haunted hotels in the nation.
The hotel in Estes Park is notorious for inspiring “The Shining,” but there’s more to this ghost story than a chilling horror novel by Stephen King.
From invisible piano playing at the concert hall to fourth-floor ghost sightings, the hotel has received numerous reports of ghost stories throughout the years.
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