#ManitouSprings

[ilovemanitou]

September snow. ❄️💙

[rainyfestivalsweets]

11/19/22

NSV

65 min on stair mill.

630 calories

1220 feet climbed

1960 total steps

120 floors climbed

I am sweating like a maniac for sure. Mostly stayed on level 2. Intervals for 5 and 6 for 1-2 mins. But my heart rate was still pretty high at level 2 so I didn't push it too much.

Manitou better get ready for me!!!

Pic before the 5 min cool down

[husheduphistory]

Horrors to Honors: The Mountain and Memorials of Emma Crawford

Consisting of three peaks in the San Juan Mountain range of western Colorado, Red Mountain is a sight to behold. Towering approximately 13,000 feet above the earth below, the rock here is rich with iron ore creating a natural color palette ranging from reds and yellow to occasional hues of purple. The mountains and the nearby mineral springs have been important destinations for centuries. The land was originally sacred to the Native American population who used the natural mineral spring water and saw the bubbling as the breath of the Great Spirit and when the town was founded in 1872 by General William Jackson Palmer and Dr. William Abraham Bell it was intended to be a health resort attracting all manner of people aiming to maintain (or gain) their health with the mineral waters, high altitudes, and clean, fresh mountain air. The mountains played an important role in thousands of lives and were cherished by many, but few claimed as deep of a connection with them as Emma.

Red Mountain as seen from  seen from Imogene Pass, San Juan Mountains of Colorado. Image via Wikimedia Commons user Adam Barhan https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Red_Mountain_from_Imogene_Pass.jpg.

Emma Crawford was in her twenties when she moved from Massachusetts to the mountainous region of Colorado. Traveling with her was her mother, a music teacher and pianist that impressed the value of music on Emma at a very young age. By the time she was three years old she preferred listening to her mother playing the works of the old masters on piano to playing with toys and at the age of twelve she was playing in recitals while teaching lessons of her own. As a teenager she played the piano alongside renowned violin and cello players while absorbing the notes and melodies of Chopin, Wagner, and her favorite, Beethoven. When she was not playing piano she took up other instruments with the same stunning level of skill and she quickly became a master at violin, mandolin, cello, and viola.

Emma’s future in music seemed bright but the move nearly across the country was not to enhance her career as a musician, it was intended to heal her. Manitou Springs was founded as a health resort and by the time Emma and her mother started renting their two-story home she had already been suffering from what is suspected to have been tuberculosis for many years. Thousands of people came to the mountains for the springs and air that promised good health, and the Crawfords were among them, uprooting their lives hoping to extend them for many more years.

If music was Emma’s first love it was followed closely by her love of nature and Manitou Spring’s mountains may have seemed like a paradise. She was particularly fond of Red Mountain and claimed she had a spiritual guide, a Native American man “from the spirit world” that protected the family and also beckoned her to climb to the top of her beloved mountain. She of course fully intended on following through with this, but when she informed her mother, her friends, and her fiancé William Hildebrand of her plan they pleaded with her not to go through with it. She was in Manitou Springs because she was ill, the last thing she should be doing is climbing a mountain…but that did not stop her.

It was very late in the evening when Emma returned home and when her mother and Hildebrand asked where she had been she told them the truth. While her mother was teaching a piano lesson she saw her opportunity to sneak out undetected and she made her way to the mountain that called her name. It was difficult for anyone to believe she made it to the top but she insisted she did and that there was proof saying “I did so climb it…and I tied my scarf to a little pinon pine tree on the summit, and I have decided that I will be buried beneath that tree.”

The next day one of Emma’s friends climbed the peak and sure enough, they found her red scarf tied to the tree just as she said and her footprints were still visible marking her journey there and back. Her request to be buried on the mountain was not new, it was something she had stated previously to her family members and although it might have sounded like a morbid form of motivation for the climb, it was not something that came out of nowhere. Emma arrived in Manitou Springs seeking a cure for her illness, but she was having little success. She loved nature, being outdoors in the fresh air, and feeling the sunshine. This combined with the fact that she absolutely abhorred cemeteries made her decision seem obvious and unfortunately, it had to be carried out soon thereafter.

Emma Crawford. Image via http://www.emmacrawfordfestival.com/who-was-emma-crawford.html.

Emma Crawford died on December 4th 1891 at approximately 10:30pm and her obituary stated: “The few who knew her here remarked her calm, unruffled mood, and though her life was such that intimates were few, she was known by nearly all as a musician of rare power and skill.” The funeral services on December 8th were well attended by an eclectic group of people from many different parts of her life. Her mother performed multiple piano pieces of “peculiarly sweet melody and weird harmony” and the Reverend A. R. Kieffer of Grace Episcopal Church led the service, basing his remarks on a poem. Among the attendees were members of the Spiritualist Movement that the Crawford family took part in and one account of her funeral stated that everyone present to pay their respects were “intimate friends and votaries of the faith to which the deceased was an adherent.” When the services were over the next step would have obviously been committing the deceased to their eternal place of rest, but this was no simple task.

When Emma returned from climbing Red Mountain that day she made her wishes very clear. She tied a scarf to a tree and that is where she wanted to be buried, where she could forever remain surrounded by the natural wonder of her favorite place. Knowing this, and knowing Emma’s feelings on cemeteries, the next step was obvious to her fiancé and family. It was going to be difficult, but Emma was going up the mountain. Her casket was taken by hearse to Red Mountain and then twelve pallbearers worked in shifts, carrying it up the peak and to the top where she was finally laid to rest beneath her selected tree, covered by a layer of rocks.

This should have been the end to the story of Emma Crawford, a young woman who died too soon and was buried in her favorite spot due to feats of strength and the tenacity of her pallbearers. But, in 1912 an issue arose when construction to install a power station on the mountain put her final resting place squarely in the path of the work. Her body was exhumed and her remains were re-buried on another side of her beloved mountain. Unfortunately, this was still not the end for Emma. When the 2nd grave was dug it was done so haphazardly and her coffin was put inside covered with lose dirt, any and all rocks, and left with little thought given to the burial being “proper” or safe.

In August 1929 two boys playing on Red Mountain had the shock of their lives when they found a human skull sitting among the rocks. They went to the authorities who searched the area and found more bones and a metal handle. The boys were questioned about their findings but everything became clear when a metal nameplate was found etched with the familiar name “Emma L. Crawford.” She adored the mountain, it was her favorite place, but after she was buried the 2nd time the remains of Emma became a victim of her environment and after years of rain and erosion her coffin…and she herself…became dislodged and slid their way down the mountain.

By the time the pieces of Emma were discovered and gathered up there was no living family to come claim her remains that were moved to City Hall. It was there that they sat for over two years until one of her former pallbearers finally took responsibility for burying her for the third time. When it finally happened she was committed not to Red Mountain again, but to an unmarked grave in the nearby Crystal Valley Cemetery.

The pieces of Emma Crawford lay in rest for nearly seventy years before her name started to be a frequent topic of conversation yet again. The Chamber of Commerce of Manitou Springs were looking for ideas to boost tourism to their town and with a story as unusual as Emma’s they decided they needed to make her and her tale more well known. In 1995 the city launched their new event. Dedicated to Emma and set to take place every October, the event has grown enormously in popularity and people travel far and wide for their chance to take part and to purchase a newly designed commemorative t-shirt.

The event is Manitou Spring’s annual Emma Crawford Coffin Races.

Every year participants in this festival build their own highly decorated “coffin” carts, dress up in costumes, and gather at Manitou Avenue. When the time comes teams of 4-6 people (4-5 people pushing and pulling the coffin-cart with someone dressed as an Emma inside of it) race down the avenue and up a hill to victory. Groups are judged for different categories including Best Entourage, Best Coffin, Best “Emma,” and fastest time. The race, along with the festival and parade of hearses in the name of Emma Crawford has become one of the area’s most treasured Halloween traditions.

In 2004 Historic Manitou Springs, Inc. granted Emma a memorial “gravestone” placed on Red Mountain in the region where it is believed her final wish was initially honored. But, like her multiple burials, Emma also has multiple memorials and in 2023 another marker was placed to honor Emma on Manitou Avenue, the same stretch of road where thousands of people gather every year to honor her and her story with their handmade coffins.

Image of the Emma Crawford marker on Red Mountain. Image via Wikimedia Commons user ForgottenColorado https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Emma_Crawford_Headstone_in_Crystal_Valley_Cemetery_in_Manitou_Springs.jpg

To see images and video from previous Emma Crawford Coffin Races please click here

*******************************************

Sources

“Emma Crawford Coffin Races & Festival: Manitou Springs, Colorado.” Manitou Springs, October 24, 2024. https://manitousprings.org/emma-crawford-coffin-races/.

Hazel, Jess. “The Spirit of Manitou Springs Is Alive with the Emma Crawford Coffin Races.” Colorado Public Radio, October 27, 2023. https://www.cpr.org/2023/10/27/manitou-springs-emma-crawford-coffin-races/.

Washburn, Kim. “RIP: Rest in Peace Emma Crawford.” Springsmag Colorado Springs, October 31, 2023. https://springsmag.com/rip-rest-inpace-emma-crawford/.

“Who Was Emma Crawford?” Emma Crawford Coffin Races & Festival, n.d. http://www.emmacrawfordfestival.com/who-was-emma-crawford.html.

[droppedculture]

Dan, Brock and Tyson each pick their favorite year for movies in the '80s and square off in an extreme death match full of unfettered rage and nigh unfathomable levels of brutality! ....Or the whole thing's rather amiable. Join the guys as they each make the case for why their year is the best and draw your own conclusion. Have an opinion, join the melee on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or our website: www.droppedculture.com !!! Thanks for listening! You can help out the show by rating and reviewing it on your pod caster of choice!

[phantomearthcreation]

“People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things.” – Edmund Hillary Manitou Incline 📶🌄🌲📷✨️ I'm now selling glossy metal prints and vinyl stickers of my photography on my etsy shop! Check it out! 🥰 https://www.etsy.com/shop/PhantomEarthCreation #art #artwork #manitouincline #photography #nature #colorado #manitousprings #coloradohikes #coloradonative #naturephotography #mountains #photographylovers #photooftheday #landscapephotography #coloradophotography #wildernessphotography #coloradophotographer #mountainphotography #homedecor #wallart #forestdecor #mountaindecor #walldecor #metalprints #photographyprints #photographyforsale #etsyshop #vinylstickers #Coloradostickers #naturesticker https://www.instagram.com/p/CpvqdxkP8rZ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[dank-sinatra420]

Tell me how it is.

[cherpretzel]

#frontrange #manitousprings #gardenofthegods

[verusanimus]

Manitou Springs! • 📍 Place: Manitou Springs, Colorado 🎞 Camera: iPhone 11 Pro Max 👁‍🗨 Valid Tag: #ColoradoExperiences • ▪️ • 🔳 • ▫️ • ================================= #FueledByWanderlust #GravityHurts #NoTime2Sleep #wanderlust #adventure #Verus_Animus #wanderfolk #colorado #verusanimus #sunwaterspa #manitouspringsco #coloradosprings #cosprings #whoislcn #colorfulcolorado #manitou #coloradospringsgems #Elica #coloradospringscolorado #destinationcolorado #frontrange #casiiiano #truespirit #verusanimusapocalypse #manitousprings #manitouspringscolorado #verusanimushighlights #jocael #wecantify ================================= (at Manitou Springs, Colorado) https://www.instagram.com/p/CmpA_5ovNHb/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[wordsmatter09]

The Incline, Manitou Springs, Colorado.

[ilovemanitou]

Sunrise at the summit of the Manitou Incline this morning. 💙

#ManitouSprings #ManitouIncline

#Colorado #coloradospringd #beautiful #hike #love #photography

[aboutoriginality]

[emperor-olsen]

Took my ex to the top of Pikes Peak on the famed cog railway in Colorado Springs. The weather was cold and windy but he got the Colorado experience seeing the top of Pikes peak.

[droppedculture]

THX 1138, the film that was way ahead of it's time. George Lucas turned a short award winning student film and expanded it into a disturbing vision of the future. Robot policemen, heavy doses of state prescribed pills, machines that master your alone time, and a jail that is encased in pure white show us where we could be headed. Or are we already there?

[phantomearthcreation]

"The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams." Oprah Winfrey Manitou Incline 📶🌄🌲📷✨️ I'm now selling glossy metal prints and vinyl stickers of my photography on my etsy shop! Check it out! 🥰 https://www.etsy.com/shop/PhantomEarthCreation #art #artwork #manitouincline #photography #nature #colorado #manitousprings #coloradohikes #coloradonative #naturephotography #mountains #photographylovers #photooftheday #landscapephotography #coloradophotography #wildernessphotography #coloradophotographer #mountainphotography #homedecor #wallart #forestdecor #mountaindecor #walldecor #metalprints #photographyprints #photographyforsale #etsyshop #vinylstickers #Coloradostickers #naturesticker https://www.instagram.com/p/CpvqMlgvN-D/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[thecoeo]

Beautiful Chamomile! We can't wait to harvest another round for herbal beauty and wellness self care. Happy Friday! #thecoeo #herbalife #flowertea #botanicalbeauty #ecobeauty #brenham #coloradosprings #manitousprings #unsdg (at Colorado Springs, Colorado) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTFwKXFHilN/?utm_medium=tumblr

[chloesspace]

𝚓𝚞𝚕𝚒𝚊 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚗𝚎 — 𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚢 | 𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚒𝚡 🎵

pre-corona manitou springs

прекарантинный любимый маниту спрингс 🖤