Sunday, April 8, 2012

The spirit of young female ghost takes center stage on a Haunted History After Dark tour.

With warm evening mercury readings and blossoms on the trees, spring in Fort Collins is in full gear and Haunted History After Dark fans have been enjoying the mild temperatures with a night out on the town to learn the most haunted and historic tales of Old Town - like Jonathan at left. Hopefully, it looks like the nights hovering together in front of a historic brothel or on top of an ancient grave site in a snow storm are behind us. But, we definitely made some cozy acquaintances.

Speaking of cozy meetings, on the Saturday April 7th tour, a young female spirit at one of our locations decided to make her presence known to our guests in a big way. Haunted History After Dark almost always makes a stop at this location, and throughout the year our guests have had many paranormal experiences at the structure. Earlier in the week, our ghost whisperer and paranormal expert, Grace, was aware of many - possibly dozens - of ghosts decending on the group while on the tour at this site. But on this night, this one was extraordinary. It was a ghost of a young girl who possibly was a visitor to this location while she was alive. This site was a dance hall after 1917, and she may have spent much time at this place. While Grace was talking about this spirit in our presence, an overwhelming scent overtook one visitor, Deanna.  Eventually Deanna smiled and pointed to her immediate left and said, “She’s right here. I can feel her. I can smell her too.” This brave participant also said, “I recognize that smell. It’s powder. It’s perfumed. It’s what they would have used back then.”
Amazingly, other guests, completely unrelated to each other, were able to detect the same scent as well. The aroma of a sweet talcum permeated a distinct area, approximately 4 feet high (the height of a young girl) and about a foot and half in diameter. The scent would move with the crowd, get stronger, and then disappear.

Deanna’s daughter, Lisa, (at right) reacted by saying, “I used to live in an “active” house and now I can feel things like this. But, this one’s kind of freaking me out!”

Through research, Haunted History After Dark has been able to pinpoint at least one death that occurred at this location during its construction. But, according to Grace, the spirits that inhabit this very haunted place are either contemporary or those who have memories of it when it was the heart of the social environment in Fort Collins.

We want to thank all of our Haunted History After Dark guests this last week, and especially the young female phantom visitor who gave all of us a wonderful peek into the past. Enjoy the photos below.

Just as some of our spirits do, Jonathan almost disappears into the white graffiti at this haunted location on our tour. The building that he is leaning on has been here since 1891. Dad, Dan, is next to him. This is the site of an 1880's jail.

This courageous crew above was part of the Thursday tour.
At the site of one of the most famous, early brothels in Fort Collins history, the woman fourth from the left (listening intently) is a Fort Collins historian and literal encyclopedia on the brothel history of Fort Collins. Haunted History After Dark got an enthusiastic "thumbs up" from this participant, and we were so honored to have her along on our tour! 

Another enthusiastic Haunted History After Dark fan, Celia from Fort Collins (above), was not on a tour, but recognized us on the streets of Old Town Saturday and stopped for a hug! Hugs are free, and we welcome them!

Thank you so much to all the Haunted History After Dark guests! We look forward to a fun spring and summer bringing you the most haunted and historic tales of Fort Collins' history!