Get ready for a fright. This cache series is not for the faint of heart. This spooky season explores some of the Colorado Springs area's most haunted locations with the Haunted Cache series.
Emma Crawford is probably the most famous ghost in Manitou Springs. Today you can participate in the fun-filled Emma Crawford Coffin Races every October in Manitou. Many people do not know the story behind Emma Crawford and her haunting.
Emma Crawford was born on March 24, 1863, in Massachusetts. She was diagnosed with tuberculosis at the age of 7 and moved to Manitou Springs with her mother in hopes that the fresh mountain air and mineral springs would cure her. At 19, she felt healthy enough to hike on Red Mountain. Many spiritualists of the time equated American Indian spirit guides with having the power to mend physical health. Emma believed that the spirit of a Native American Red Chief roamed the mountain and she was determined to meet her spirit guide. However, the hike overexerted her. She died on December 4, 1891. Her love of Red Mountain ultimately killed her but it was her wish to be buried on the mountain. Her fiance arranged for her coffin to be driven up four blocks on Ruxton Avenue. Then, a group of twelve pallbearers worked in two shifts to transport Emma’s casket to the top of Red Mountain to bury her.
There she rested for nearly 40 years. Then two extreme summer storms uplifted Emma’s shallow grave on the mountainside. She slid all the way down the mountain where her coffin was destroyed and only her skull and nameplate or coffin handle remained. Two young boys discovered what was left of her remains on Aug. 4, 1929. Her remains were kept in storage for two years until they were ultimately buried in Crystal Valley Cemetery in an unmarked grave. Now she roams the mountain, searching for the original resting place she will never find. The guilt that overwhelmed the town, as they knew Emma deserved better, created a yearly tradition to serve her memory, which is now known as the Emma Crawford Coffin Races. In 2004, Historic Manitou Springs, Inc. provided Emma with a memorial stone in the approximate vicinity of where her bones were buried all those years ago.
If you want to see Emma's spirit wandering the mountainside, take a hike up Paul Intemann Trail to the Red Mountain Incline above. Explore this haunted mountain if you dare...