By Robin Widmar
Type “haunted places in Black Forest” into an internet search engine, and the results show that it is one of the most haunted sites in Colorado. But is it really? Or does its history lend itself to spooky local folklore?
Cody Poole grew up in Black Forest and is now a captain with Black Forest Fire Rescue. While the dense forest can seem eerie at night, he said the overall vibe is more similar to Lothlorien than Mirkwood, referring to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. “(Tolkien’s) got some really dangerous forests, and he’s got some really benign forests. I’ve always thought this one was pretty benign.” He also thinks the forest feels less foreboding after the fire because there are fewer trees.
Black Forest’s haunted cabin
Internet search results aside, Black Forest seems to rank in the “benign” category when it comes to paranormal activity, with one exception. Perhaps the area’s most well-documented haunted house story emerged in the early 1990s when a couple bought a home among the ponderosa pines where they could raise their children.
Almost immediately, the paranormal problems began. The family experienced flickering lights, foul odors, loud noises, objects moving, the sound of chains rattling, apparitions in a mirror and what appeared to be armed soldiers prowling across the property at night. In the following years, they spent tens of thousands of dollars to document and investigate the phenomena. Psychic mediums were brought in. Crews from a popular paranormal television show investigated the home three times. A Hopi shaman said Black Forest sits on a spiritual gateway between this world and the next, which could explain the more than 20 distinct resident spirits that were identified. Other theories ranged from ghosts connected to an antique mirror to government experiments.
Unknown to the family at the time, the previous owner had experienced similar unsettling incidents but did not disclose them for fear of being ridiculed. Online sources indicate that the property has changed hands several times since, but the exact address is undisclosed for the safety and privacy of the current residents. It is unknown if the supernatural events have continued.
Hauntings or history?
Poole does not discount paranormal possibilities. “When I was young, I was all about ghost hunting and stuff,” he said. “But I’ve never really seen too much, honestly.” He wonders if many local ghost stories could simply be the result of the area’s history. Native Americans occupied the land for hundreds, if not thousands, of years before explorers, military expeditions and settlers came into the region. Poole said, “I’m sure the frontiersmen and the cattlemen moving through here probably had their own stories of things that happened here.”
In late spring 1858, U.S. Army Capt. Randolph B. Marcy led an expedition through the Pikes Peak region. According to the National Archives, Marcy’s party set up camp at the northern edge of Black Forest. Reinforcements led by Col. William W. Loring were about 6 miles ahead of them. The day started sunny and ended with a blizzard that lasted two days, killing some of the men and a large number of livestock. In Marcy’s 1859 book, “The Prairie Traveler,” he wrote:
“This is a locality which is very subject to severe storms, and it was here that I encountered the most severe snow-storm that I have ever known, on the first day of May, 1858. I would advise travelers to hasten past this spot as rapidly as possible during the winter and spring months, as a storm might prove very serious here.”
One of the men who died in that storm was Charles Michael Fagan, a teamster with the Marcy-Loring expedition. He was buried alongside the Cherokee Trail on what is now private land. According to the Geocities Archive online, a story circulated among pioneers and gold seekers that Fagan was buried alive, and some reported seeing his ghost standing guard by the grave.
In northern Black Forest, Table Rock Cemetery was a burial ground for the former community of Table Rock, which vanished because of a potato blight. Thirty-one graves are shown on the Find a Grave website, but there could be more burials than listed. This cemetery is also on private land.
Eastonville Cemetery served the town of Eastonville, which was also stricken by the potato blight. The private cemetery is still active. Online searches do not reveal any unusual occurrences at the Eastonville or Table Rock burial grounds.
Ghosts in the firehouse — or not
Black Forest’s fire stations are not immune to rumors of ghostly encounters. Alluding to firefighters’ penchant for practical jokes and tall tales, Poole said, “First, I’ll just tell you that every firehouse in the country is ‘haunted.’ They’re all built on Indian burial grounds. They all have some old captain who lives up in the roof, that kind of thing. So, haunted or not, there are stories.”
Some firehouse incidents initially attributed to restless spirits have been debunked. A loud bang in the apparatus bay was the heater kicking on. A ghostly handprint on a wall was accidentally created during interior search and rescue training. The building’s generator resets weekly, causing door locks to make unnerving noises. “In the middle of the night … the locks will click, click, click,” Poole said.
Not all weird things are so easily explained. Some firefighters avoid sleeping in one of the bedrooms because of recurring sounds that resemble shuffling footsteps or rustling fabric. “I heard it one night, and I could not figure out what it was,” Poole said. In another room, he saw what appeared to be fog swirling along the ceiling on multiple occasions. “Can’t really prove or not prove anything,” he said, acknowledging that sometimes a person’s imagination simply gets the better of them. “Some rooms you feel uncomfortable while you’re trying to sleep, like something’s watching you. Who knows if that’s a person freaking themselves out, or what?”
Whether these mysteries are evidence of hauntings or simply the echoes of the past, Black Forest’s blend of history and topography creates an intriguing backdrop for spooky stories. “I’m sure there’s a lot around here that happened that nobody knows about,” Poole said.
