#jan mackell collins

[windofderange]

This is actually true of a lot of western states - Arizona went through a similar fight and was eventually granted statehood in February 1912 with a constitution that included women's suffrage, eight years before the federal approval.

The reason for that, in turn, had a whole lot to do with sex work: most of the wealthiest people in western states were sex workers. The land owners who owned the ranches and the investors who owned the mines didn't move from their eastern locations - they just owned and governed from afar. But women came out west and became sex workers, and were able to become fabulously wealthy. They also helped build a lot of western towns that had previously been little more than work camps.

Check out Jan Mackell Collins' books for more info!!

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[hauntedhistorycolorado]

RedStone Castle and Red Mountain

RedStone Castle, courtesy of Southwestern Ghosts and Hauntings

Historical background

Like many stories from Manitou’s past, this one starts with a man named Isaac Davis. Dr. Isaac Davis was one of the original movers and shakers in Manitou Springs, first helping to found the town before acting in various points throughout the town’s earliest history as the first physician, druggist, undertaker, county coroner, town trustee, justice of the peace, president of the school board, and mayor. In between fathering 15 children. Issac is the star of several haunting stories in Manitou’s history, but he’s not the star of this one. This story is about the Crawford sisters, but if anyone is the true star – it’s a place, not a person. 

(Other mentions of Isaac here)

RedStone Castle was built on land formerly owned by Isaac Davis, near the summit of Iron Mountain, on the site of what was originally Manitou’s pioneer cemetery, off Pawnee avenue. Davis sold the land when his health began failing to the up-and-coming Davis brothers (no relation), with the phrase “BUYER BEWARE” printed across the bottom of the land purchase – a warning to the brothers that all graves that had been interred on the land would need to be move to the current Crystal Valley Cemetery. The Davis brothers planned on turning the land into an exclusive community of castle homes for Manitou’s wealthy elite. RedStone Castle was the first and only they built. It was constructed in 1890. 

Digging up and moving the gravesites by hand was exhausting work and collecting all the bodies was near impossible – many of the original graves were unmarked, or marked with wooden crosses that had since decayed. It is speculated that while the majority were moved, many were left behind. Locals began to tell stories of the land being haunted, and the Davis brothers eventually gave up on the project, leaving RedStone Castle to rot. It sat vacant until the Hawkins family moved in a few years later.

Almost immediately after moving in, the children began hearing voices in the house and seeing strange apparitions. The family dog was constantly nervous, and would occasionally bring home “strange bones.” Local legend says that one morning the children found a white dog lying dead on the property and buried it behind the the garden shed. The next day, the same white dog was seen again, this time attacking his wife before being shot by Mr. Hawkins. The Hawkins family moved out the very next morning. The castle sat vacant until 1905.

The Crawfords

In order to understand what happened next we need to go back in time, to the years just after Manitou’s founding. As many of you are probably aware, Colorado Springs and subsequently Manitou were popular destinations in the Victorian era for tuberculosis patients as it was believed the thin mountain air and “300 days of sunshine”, as well as the Manitou spring waters, had healing properties. It was for this reason that the Crawfords came to Manitou in the late 1880s – Emma, a tuberculosis patient, and her mother as a caretaker.

Emma Crawford, date unknown, photo on display at the Manitou Springs Heritage Center

Emma is, of course, probably the most famous figure from Manitou Springs history – she’s the reason we have the Coffin Races today. The Crawfords caused a stir in Manitou even then. Spiritualism and an interest in the occult was wildly popular during the Victorian era, and the Crawford women were professed psychics in addition to being talented musicians and performers. As Emma’s story goes, one day in 1890 (the same year that RedStone Castle was built, its original gravesites being moved), Emma famously climbed Red Mountain by herself, despite her illness. She claimed to have a spiritual experience at the top, saying she had been visited by the spirit of a Native American chief who was her spirit guide. She tied her scarf round a tree at the summit to prove her visit – legend says that the scarf was red, giving us the name of the mountain today. She died shortly after, just before her wedding. It was speculated that the exhaustion from her hike is what led to her death. Despite being an apparent spiritualist, she had a hatred of cemeteries and asked to be buried at the summit of Red Mountain. Two teams of men took turns carrying her casket to the top. It’s well known that a few years following the internment, a heavy rainfall caused Emma’s casket to rise to the surface before being washed down the side of the mountain and into town. She now rests in Crystal Valley Cemetery, though nobody knows exactly where – the placement of her monument is apparently arbitrary.

(Other mentions of Emma here)

Emma’s posthumous journey to the summit, 1891, photo currently on display at the Manitou Springs Heritage Center

Emma’s mother remained in Manitou following her death, to remain close to Emma’s spirit, which she claimed to make contact with several times. In 1905, she began renting out the dilapidated RedStone Castle in the summers to hold séances. A Colorado Springs Gazette headline from December 28, 1909 reads “DEAD DAUGHTER PLAYS THE PIANO, SAYS MADAME: ACCOMPLISHED MUSICIAN DECLARES GIRL BURIED YEARS AGO MAKES NIGHTLY VISITS TO FORMER HOME AT FOOT OF ROCKIES” She was eventually joined by Emma’s sister, Alice, in 1910.

Pamphlet credited to Rufus Porter, date unknown, courtesy of Jan MacKell Collins

Alice, an actress, came to Colorado to audition for the role of Lady MacBeth in Denver, and moved into RedStone Castle alone to practice the role ahead of time. She rarely left the castle, instead having essentials delivered every week. After a few weeks, it is said that she was so serious about the role that she began wearing only period costume, speaking in iambic pentameter and asking the delivery boys to call her Lady MacBeth. The locals were so unnerved by this, they stopped making deliveries. Shortly after, Alice herself became convinced that the castle was haunted. On Valentine’s day in 1910, frightened by apparitions, Alice took a revolver from her nightstand and took a shot at one, before attempting to light another on fire. Alice was unsuccessful at driving away the spirits – resulting only in shooting herself, in the kneecap, and setting her own bedclothes alight. The Castle was nearly destroyed. She was rescued that evening to much public disgrace and left Colorado after recovering.

Contemporary hauntings

Alternately throughout the years, RedStone Castle has sat empty, served as a bed & breakfast, and been privately owned and used as a residence, as it is now. People have continued to tell stories of strange goings-on. The white dog was seen as recently as the 1980s, and Alice’s voice reciting lines from MacBeth was often heard by those lodging when the castle was a B&B. Piano music was also said to be heard during the B&B years, and is sometimes heard at the summit of Red Mountain as well, where Emma’s spirit continues to be seen by hikers into the present day. It’s likely that we would still be hearing stories about hauntings at RedStone Castle today, were it not a private residence, as it has been for many years. The house is shut off from the public – the driveway gated and locked. Having dealt with trespassers and theft over the years, mostly teenagers on dares and paranormal enthusiasts, the current owners have made an effort to distance themselves from the castle’s haunted reputation. They ask that you respect their privacy by observing the “no trespassing” sign at the foot of their drive.

RedStone Castle, courtesy of Pintrest (photographer unknown)

Reflective commentary

I see RedStone Castle in the distance every time I drive back into Manitou from the city, on my way home, and pined for it even before I knew its haunted history. Though my connections at the Manitou Springs Historical Society, I was even able to discover the current owners - though they have yet to make a special exception for me, and allow me to visit their home. Because I have never been able to visit the estate, having only gotten as close as the gate at the end of the drive, my reflection on this site is incomplete. 

I have, however, hiked to the summit of Red Mountain at picnicked at Emma’s original gravesite. I didn’t experience any paranormal activity there, though retracing Emma’s steps is somewhat of a spiritual experience in itself, since her story is so widespread among locals. The hike to the summit of Red Mountain isn’t an easy one, especially for an invalid, but the view from the summit is, in fact, one worth seeing forever. 

This story is a unique one, in the way that it ties together so many well-known figures from Manitou Springs history - Dr. Davis, Emma and Alice, RedStone Castle itself, and two of our closest and most popular mountains. In this story, we see both the inner space and outer space as liminal areas, through the “haunted house” and “haunted wilderness,” as well as the tropes of “desecrated graves”/”haunted cemetery.” We see the trope, very common in Colorado hauntings, of Native American spirits. And, most exciting to me, we get the trope of psychic women. Many has been said about the relationship between spiritualism and feminism, and the woman’s body as a liminal space more prone to psychic connection than men’s. The house itself is, in horror theory, recognized in this context - as a domestic space, and as something that is cavernous and both shelters and consumes, the house is a feminine space. All of these combined in one tale can lead to interesting speculation as to what we in Manitou Springs fear, then and now. Even the efforts on the part of the current owners to distance themselves from their home’s haunted past can tell us something valuable - as it provides a commentary as to how current citizens of Manitou interact with the town’s history.

Iron Mountain and Red Mountain as pointed out by hiking guide Colorado Guy

CLICK HERE FOR ALL FIELD NOTES AND SOURCES FOR REDSTONE CASTLE

CLICK HERE FOR ALL FIELD NOTES AND SOURCES FOR EMMA CRAWFORD