There’s a long history of the unique, uncanny and downright weird in Colorado Springs. The Pikes Peak region is host to plenty of legends and lore, and much of it has roots in macabre, mysterious history. Before creeping in to all the unusual things to see and do in the Pikes Peak region, let’s set the stage correctly.
Colorado’s frequent lightning strikes make the perfect backdrop as they illuminate the heights of the Front Range — like something out of classic Hollywood horror, as if Dr. Frankenstein is at work. Or maybe it’s an enigmatic mad scientist from real life history. Dropping in on Nikola Tesla makes the perfect start to our tour of unusual things to do and see in Colorado Springs.
10 Unique Things to Do and See in Colorado Springs
Nikola Tesla’s Knob Hill
It’s no wonder the eccentric real-life inventor and experimentalist Nikola Tesla focused on electricity during his brief experimental period in the Pikes Peak region. In 1899 Tesla built an experimental station in the Knob Hill neighborhood just east of downtown Colorado Springs. There he studied the use of high-voltage, high-frequency electricity in wireless transmission — and got the neighborhood booming and glowing. Tesla’s laboratory was torn down in 1904 to pay outstanding debts, but his time in the Springs was immortalized by the legendary singer and performer David Bowie in Christopher Nolan’s 2006 film The Prestige.
Today Knob Hill is home to a vibrant street art scene, which you can read about here. You can also find more fascinating history about Nikola Tesla and other Spooky Celebrities of Colorado Springs like the silent film actor and The Phantom of the Opera (1925) star Lon Chaney.
Down The Rabbit Hole
The Rabbit Hole is a popular spot for dinner and drinks in the Springs (and it’s one of our 30 Best Restaurants in Colorado Springs). The subterranean restaurant reflects Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland with fantastical paintings by local artist and painter Phil Lear. But the Rabbit Hole has a dark past. The restaurant operates within the city’s former morgue, and it hosts stories of specters claimed by servers and chefs.
Gold Camp Road
The supposed hauntings of Gold Camp Road have beckoned the curious to investigate for decades, with many urban myths surrounding the tunnels. Perhaps the best-known myth about the road relates to the partial collapse of Tunnel 3 in 1988. In reality, broken timbers caused a partial collapse in this original railroad tunnel, causing the U.S. Forest Service to close and seal it. There were no reported injuries or deaths, but urban legends have swirled ever since.
The most popular ghost story claims that a bus full of school children (or orphans) were trapped and killed in the accident, and their giggling or screaming voices can still be heard. People also claim to hear ominous laughter in or near the other tunnels along Gold Camp Road. The area is popular among hikers, bikers and sightseers exploring North Cheyenne Canon Park — or looking for a spine-tingling, historic, dark tunnel to pass through.
The Emma Crawford Coffin Races
The mystical town of Manitou Springs hosts a morbid match each year inspired by a casket that washed down a mountainside more than a century ago.
Born in 1863, Emma Crawford moved to Manitou Springs at the age of 12 with her mother and with the hope that fresh mountain air would relieve her tuberculosis. Death eventually knocked on Crawford’s door in 1891. Interred on Manitou’s Red Mountain, her burial site succumbed to decades of weathering, and her coffin fell in a landslide in 1929.
The incident eventually evolved into a tradition: The Emma Crawford Coffin Races & Festival, an annual event that packs the streets of Manitou in October. It’s one of the weirdest, most macabre and fun festivals in Colorado.
Spencer Penrose’s Glass Eye
Spencer Penrose was an American entrepreneur and philanthropist, who made his fortune from mining, ore processing and real estate. He settled in Colorado Springs, where he had a road constructed to the top of Pikes Peak — and initiated an annual motor car race to the top. He founded The Broadmoor, still a world-famous luxury resort. And in 1937, he and his wife, Julie, established the El Pomar Foundation to support activities to improve Colorado.
A college rowing accident injured Penrose’s left eye, and he was later outfitted with a glass replacement. But he also notoriously had another eye for drinking. Penrose possessed a glass eye adorned with a decorative bloodshot to keep his pair of pupils matching. He would swap it out with a capillary-free one in the morning. The bloodshot prosthetic went missing after Penrose’s passing, but later was found with an engraved cigar box and flask. It is now on display at The Broadmoor in the lobby across from Cafe Julie’s.
Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun
Spencer and Julie Penrose also commissioned the 114-foot spire standing on the side of Cheyenne Mountain above the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (also founded by Penrose). When the famous actor, philosopher and humorist Will Rogers died in a plane crash in 1935 during the Shrine’s construction, the Penroses named the sentinel in his honor. Today you can visit the Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun and visit the observation tower, commemorative chapel. — and the tomb for the remains of Spencer and Julie Penrose.
May Natural History Museum
The ‘50s saw an explosion of Atomic Age films featuring frightful massive monsters in motion pictures. This genre of creature features included “big bug” movies — with irradiated insects infesting fear into horrified humans.
Like something off the silver screen, there exists a beastly bug in Rock Creek Park just south of Colorado Springs: Herkimer, the World’s Largest Beetle. The giant statue is a memorable roadside landmark and mascot of the May Museum, an acclaimed archive and collection of ants, arachnids, butterflies and a sweeping spectrum of insect species. The May bug museum is home to more than 7,000 insects!
Black Forest Phantasms
North of the Springs, Black Forest is home to a notorious haunted house. As the story goes, Louisiana truck driver Steven Lee, his wife, Beth, and their children moved into a Colorado cabin in the early 1990s, They assumed it would be their dream home, nestled amid the dense ponderosa pines. But the Lee family almost immediately began to experience unexplained noises, caustic scents of chemicals, floating orbs, sudden drops in temperature and strange, spectral shadows. Steven, initially in denial, thought the oddities were the work of terrorizing trespassers and contacted the El Paso County Sheriff’s Department, a private investigator and eventually paranormal psychics.
The case was featured in 1995 on the paranormal television series, Sightings. In the years since, the story has been retold many times on various podcasts, YouTube channels and paranormal blogs.
Bigfoot Crossing
A year ago, on a railroad ride between Durango and Silverton, a tourist captured footage of what appeared to be bigfoot, the elusive biped cryptid. Probably simply someone in a Sasquatch suit, this is a minute in a long history of supposed bigfoot sightings in the Centennial State.
Sasquatch sightings around Pikes Peak and Pike National Forest date back to the 1800s. A bigfoot crossing sign is posted along the Pikes Peak Highway, and a wooden statue of the hairy hominid can be found near Crystal Reservoir. The tastiest way to get in touch with your inner yeti though is to drop in for a local treat at Sasquatch Cookies.
coloradosprings.gov/drivepikespeak
Manitou’s Miramont Castle
This 1895 chateau, nestled into a hillside in historic Manitou Springs, houses several claims to the paranormal. Built as a private home for Father John Baptist Francolon, a French-born priest and architect, the building is included on the National Register of Historic Places. Supposedly, many spirits come and go through the chateau, with most activity reported in the chapel. One chilling 1999 claim from a board member says she witnessed the specter of a headless woman.
More Fun Facts and Unusual Sites in and Around Colorado Springs
Here are a few more fun facts and eccentricities to explore in Colorado Springs and beyond.
Elvira, the famous “Mistress of the Dark,” was raised in Colorado Springs. And Brad Dourif, the voice behind Chucky, the murder doll in the Child’s Play movies, went to a local private school.
The Cheyenne Mountain Complex at the Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station was built in the ‘60s as the home of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Elements of the underground bunker are like a Cold War time-capsule, and the site is still a backup command center for NORAD and the U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM). It also used to be the headquarters of NORAD’s famous Santa tracker on Christmas Eve.
About an hour drive south, you can tour the Museum of Colorado Prisons in Cañon City. And near Rye is the impressive Bishop Castle. The elaborate and intricate structure has been built by one man for almost 60 years, and it has become a must-see roadside attraction in the Pikes Peak region.
Finally, for those who savor hauntings and the Halloween season, check out our Touring the Haunted History of Colorado Springs and prepare for the paranormal.
