Haunted houses in Colorado Springs and historic homes in Monument, Colorado, a local realtor's guide for fall 2026.

Every September, searches for haunted houses in Colorado Springs climb straight up, and I understand why. The Pikes Peak region has one of the darkest, best documented histories in Colorado, from the tuberculosis years in Manitou Springs to the gold rush jails in Cripple Creek to the old railroad stops at Palmer Lake and Monument. If you are looking for haunted places in Colorado Springs this fall, or you are house hunting in Monument, Palmer Lake, or Peyton and you have started to wonder what actually happened inside a hundred year old home, this guide covers both. The ghost stories, and the very practical, very unromantic things I look for as a former mortgage underwriter when a house has a past.

I will be honest with you up front. I am not the realtor who believes the house is haunted. I am the realtor who believes the crawlspace is a problem. But I have shown enough old homes in this region to know that both conversations come up, usually in the same afternoon.

The Most Haunted Places in Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak Region

These are the sites that show up again and again in local accounts, and most of them are places you can actually go visit.

Walking through the most haunted house I have ever shown in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Evergreen Cemetery. Burials here date to the 1860s, before Colorado Springs was formally founded in 1871. The stories center less on the cemetery itself and more on the small chapel built in 1910 to hold caskets and services. Cemetery staff working in the basement have reported dark figures. The chapel was later restored and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Gold Camp Road tunnels. The old railroad grade west of town, with tunnels cut in the 1800s. The legends range from workers who died during construction to a school bus accident that may or may not have happened. The tradition is to stop in the second tunnel, put the car in park, and wait. Take the third tunnel on foot instead of by car.

The City Auditorium. Built in 1923, and the site of the unsolved 1936 murder of caretaker John Evans. His is the presence people still report.

The Broadmoor and the old Antlers Hotel. Two of the grand hotels, both with long lists of accounts. The original Antlers hosted Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft before it burned and was rebuilt.

Old Colorado City. The oldest part of town, founded before Colorado Springs itself, and the section with the highest concentration of nineteenth century buildings still standing. Most of the walking ghost tours in the area start here for a reason.

Manitou Springs Is Where the Stories Actually Live

If you only have one evening, spend it in Manitou.

Miramont Castle, built in 1895, is the anchor. It served as a sanatorium run by the Sisters of Mercy during the tuberculosis years, and the accounts follow that history closely: figures in nun habits on the second floor, footsteps in empty halls, and a persistent cold spot in the chapel that visitors describe even when the room is warm.

Briarhurst Manor was built in 1874 as the summer home of Dr. William Bell, one of the founders of Manitou Springs, and stayed in the family until 1922. It is a restaurant now. The paranormal activity there was significant enough that the Ghost Hunters team filmed an episode at the property in 2009.

Emma Crawford. The best known story in the region, and the saddest one. Emma came to Manitou Springs for the mineral springs and the mountain air, hoping to recover from tuberculosis, and died at nineteen. Her fiance and eleven other men carried her to the summit of Red Mountain for burial, which was her wish. Years of storms eventually washed her remains down the mountainside. Manitou has honored her every October since 1995 with the Emma Crawford Coffin Races, and the 32nd running is set for Saturday, October 24, 2026 on Manitou Avenue.

If you want the actual haunted house experience rather than the historical one, Hellscream on North Hancock in Colorado Springs opens its eighteenth season on September 25, 2026, with tickets starting around $26. Check their calendar before you drive down, because they are not open every night.

Palmer Lake and Monument Have Their Own History

Haunted places to visit in Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs, and Palmer Lake, Colorado this October.

This is the part most of the haunted Colorado Springs lists skip, and it is the part I care about most, because it is my own backyard.

General William Jackson Palmer bought the land known as Monument Farms and Lake Property, and it became the town of Palmer Lake. By 1872 the lake was a working railroad stop, because steam engines climbing to the Palmer Divide summit had to take on water before heading back down. That is not scenery, that is why the town exists. The Palmer Lake Historical Society keeps records of the saloon era that came with it.

Local accounts around Palmer Lake center on the Town Hall Arts Center, a 1920s building that once housed the town offices and the jail, where furniture reportedly moves and people have reported hearing music and laughter after dark. The lake itself has the oldest story: a mist that rises on stormy nights, and the sound of the ones who did not make it out.

Monument's historic downtown is a shorter walk but a good one, and it is the reason the Tri Lakes Chamber's Safe Trick or Treat event works so well. Businesses along Second Street hand out candy on Halloween evening, usually a two hour window in the late afternoon, with parking at Limbach Park and the Lewis Palmer administration building. Confirm the 2026 date and time with the Tri Lakes Chamber before you plan around it.

What I Actually Look For in a Historic Home

Here is where the underwriter takes over from the tour guide.

Old homes in this region are genuinely wonderful, and I have sold several. But the character you are paying for comes attached to a specific list of things, and I would rather you know the list before you write the offer than after.

Knob and tube wiring. This was the standard from roughly 1880 to 1950, so it is common in anything Victorian era in the Old North End or Manitou. It has no ground, the insulation gets brittle with age, and it overheats when someone blows modern attic insulation on top of it. The real issue is not always safety, it is insurance. A number of carriers will not write a policy on an active knob and tube system, or they will write it at a premium that changes your monthly payment math. Find out during inspection, not during underwriting.

Galvanized supply lines and cast iron drains. Both have a lifespan and both were installed a long time ago. A sewer scope on a pre 1960 house is about two hundred dollars and it is the cheapest insurance in the transaction.

Foundation and drainage. Our clay soils move. On an older home the foundation has had eighty or a hundred years to tell you how it feels about that. Read the crawlspace.

Local historic designation. If a property sits in a designated district, exterior changes can require review. That is not a reason to walk away, it is a reason to know before you plan the windows.

Original single pane windows at 7,000 feet. Beautiful. Expensive to heat. Budget accordingly.

None of that is a warning against buying an old house. It is the checklist that lets you buy one with your eyes open and negotiate from a position of information.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a seller in Colorado have to disclose that someone died in the house?

No. Under Colorado Revised Statutes 38-35.5-101, circumstances that could psychologically impact or stigmatize a property are specifically not material facts requiring disclosure. The statute names homicide, other felonies, and suicide directly, and it protects brokers from a cause of action for not disclosing them. That said, the Colorado Real Estate Commission encourages brokers to get a seller’s consent to share that information voluntarily, and if you ask me a direct question about a property, I am going to tell you what I know.

Can I find out on my own?

Usually, yes. County records, old newspaper archives, and the local historical societies are all open to you. If it matters to you, ask early and ask me to help you look.

Does a stigmatized history affect the value of a home?

Sometimes, and it is very local. A widely publicized event can soften a price. A quiet death of natural causes in a hundred year old house almost never does, because it has probably happened more than once in a hundred years. I price it the way I price anything else: against what comparable homes actually closed for.

What are the most haunted places in Colorado Springs I can visit this year?

Miramont Castle and Briarhurst Manor in Manitou Springs are the two easiest, because both are open to the public. Old Colorado City is the best walking option. Evergreen Cemetery and the Gold Camp Road tunnels are free.

Are there older historic homes in Monument and Palmer Lake?

Yes, though far fewer than in Colorado Springs and Manitou. Monument and Palmer Lake have small pockets of original town housing near the historic cores, and then the inventory jumps forward several decades. Most of what sells in 80132 today is newer. The typical home value in Monument was $753,563 as of the most recent full month of data, with Palmer Lake at $519,147. If a genuine historic property is what you want, the Colorado Springs side and Manitou will give you far more to choose from.

Let's Talk About Your Move

I am Karie McLain, a top producing real estate agent serving Monument, Colorado Springs, Peyton, Palmer Lake, Larkspur, and the surrounding Pikes Peak region. Before real estate I was a mortgage fraud investigator and a mortgage loan underwriter, which means I spent years reading files looking for the thing nobody wanted me to find. That is still how I read a house.

If you are shopping for a historic home in Colorado Springs or Manitou, or you are relocating to Monument and want to know what you are really buying, send me a message. I will walk the crawlspace with you and tell you the truth about what is down there.

Comment MONUMENT and I will send you my Monument relocation guide.

Warm Regards,
Karie

WWW.KMCLAINHOMES.COM