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| Manitou Springs and Red Mountain |
For the past twenty years, the
small Colorado town of Manitou Springs has hosted a wonderful, fun and weird
celebratory festival during the last weekend in October. This party is thrown
to honor Emma Crawford-- the town’s oldest ghost.
Healing Waters and Fresh Air
The Crawford family in the 1880s became the focus of Boston’s music elite. Madam Crawford was a graduate
of Germany’s prestigious Leipzig Academy of Music.
Inspired by her mother’s love
of music, Emma, the oldest Crawford daughter, became an accomplished concert
pianist. But tragically just after her first major concert was heralded at
Washington Square in 1887 Emma fell ill.
At the age of seven, Emma had been
diagnosed with tuberculosis and years of living in a sizeable grimy city had taken
its toll on her health.
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| Emma Crawford |
Madam Crawford following the
lead of many other easterners packed up Emma and her younger daughter and the
trio traveled to Manitou Springs Colorado.
The dry fresh alpine air and
the springs located in this town were said to do wonders for those who suffered
from TB.
The three women settled into
Crystal Cottage where Emma could convalesce.
Emma from her attic room had
a view of the summit of Red Mountain and she became enamored with the local
legends about an Indian Chief’s spirit that was said to haunt the mountain--she
secretly named this spirit Red Chief.
She became determined that
once she recovered, she would hike to the summit of Red Mountain.
The new climate did agree
with Emma, and her condition greatly improved. Out in society once more she met
a construction engineer, Wilhelm Hildebrandt who worked for the Manitou and Pike’s Peak
Cog railroad.
A Promise
The two fell in love and
Wilhelm purposed to Emma. Now engaged, Emma asked her fiancé for one promise.
Considering her health, she requested that if she died before him that he bury
her on the summit of Red Mountain.
A few months before the
pairs’ wedding Emma had a vision in which Red Chief summoned her to the top of
Red Mountain. Feeling he was her spirit guide, she climbed to the top of the
mountain.
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| View from atop Red Mountain |
Before she began her descent
back down the mountain, she tied her handkerchief to the branch of an ancient
pinion tree. * She then raced down the hillside wanting to share with all, her adventurous experience.
But her illness overtook her, and she struggled back to Crystal Cottage shivering with a high fever.
Her mother called for the
doctor but there was little he could do. As she lay dying in her mother’s arms, Emma asked her to remind Wilhelm of his promise to bury her on Red Mountain’s
summit.
Wilhelm heartbroken, followed
through on his promise but not without surmounting difficulties that
included: frozen ground, rights to the land and men who threatened to leave the
summit before Emma was buried.
* Later her handkerchief was found on this tree
making this part of the story more than a legend.
A Thrill Ride
Emma would probably still
rest in peace, but for the fact, her grave was moved and then washed down the
mountain.
In 1912, the railroad
developed the Red Mountain Incline
and constructed a powerhouse and depot--at which point Emma’s coffin was moved
to the east side of the mountain.
A concrete slab with her name
was placed over this new grave, and this railroad line started to charge
tourists one dollar to ride up to see Emma’s grave in hopes they might see her
ghost.
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| Red Mountain Incline Rail Line |
On the way back down this
rail line became a thrill ride because it was built on a steep incline with an
eighty percent grade. Riders literally screamed on the way down.
In 1927, after a few seasons
this line was shut down for safety concerns.
Shortly after this, a flood
washed Emma’s coffin down the mountain. A couple of boys found her skull and
the brass nameplate from her coffin. What could be found was buried in the
Crystal Springs Cemetery in Manitou Springs.
This was directly against
Emma’s last wish. Ironically, it was at this point that hikers actually began to
report seeing Emma’s ghost wandering the summit of Red Mountain.
She is described as a woman
with dark hair, and she is sometimes seen wearing her wedding dress, which she
was buried in.
A Benevolent Ghost
Emma’s ghost is considered to
be benevolent. Locals feel that she looks after their town from high atop her
mountain.
In 1993, the Manitou Springs
Chamber of Commerce decided to pay homage to their beloved ghost with a
festival.
Since thousands of Colorado
residents attend this whacky and fun festival held close to Halloween every
year.
This celebration includes:
coffin races, hearse parades, ghost walks and a more sedate traditional
Victorian wake for Emma held at Miramont Castle.
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| Emma Crawford Festival |
Here is a video that shows race.
