In 1889, 26-year-old Emma Crawford moved from Massachusetts to the mountain shadows of Manitou. She sought Colorado’s clear air and dry climate for relief of tuberculosis. For two years she was diverted by music, a local engineer and neighboring Red Mountain. When Crawford died in 1891, she “wished to be carried high to sunshine and pure air,” according to her obituary. She was buried at Red Mountain’s crest by her fiance.
It was hardly her final resting place. In 1912, construction required her burial site to be moved. After years of exposure, her casket washed into Ruxton Canyon 17 years later.
Her restless remains — along with ghostly legends — inspired an annual tradition bearing her name: the Emma Crawford Coffin Races and Festival in Manitou Springs. Since 1995, people have gathered on the Saturday before Halloween to watch teams of five race makeshift coffins down Manitou Avenue. The fastest times are awarded, along with best costumes and coffin. (The fire department boasts its own traveling trophy.)
Almost a full decade after the first coffin race, Emma Crawford got a permanent gravestone in Crystal Valley Cemetery where it remains to this day.
By the Numbers
7,375 Elevation in feet of her original burial site.
1995 The first year the annual October coffin race took place.
585 Approximate length in feet of the coffin racecourse.
12 Pallbearers who transported Crawford’s coffin to the top of Red Mountain.
4 “Pallbearers” per team who transport “Emma” in the coffin race.
More Halloween Fun in Colorado Springs
Think you’ve got what it takes to pilot a winning coffin in the Emma Crawford Coffin Races? Get some tips from our archives in How to Win the Emma Crawford Coffin Races.
Emma Crawford isn’t the only famous person with ties to Halloween. Find more in Spooky Celebrities of Colorado Springs.
And you can always find a full list of Halloween festivities in Your Ultimate Guide to Halloween in Colorado Springs.
