The Outlaws and Lawmen Museum (formerly the old Teller County Jail) in Cripple Creek, Colorado, has long been one of my favorite haunted locations. I’ve had some fascinating experiences there in the past, leaving me in absolutely no doubt about the place being paranormally active. A few years ago, my own doppleganger was sighted on the upper cell block by fellow investigator Shaun Crusha.
However, I have never been able to spend longer than a single night there before — hardly enough time to get familiar with the place, let alone conduct a thorough investigation. Now, thanks to the graciousness of the management team there, I was permitted to spend 72 hours there. I was also fortunate enough to be accompanied by a team of prison officers from Canada, in the form of C.O.P.S. — the Correctional Officers Paranormal Society. Seasoned investigators, these three likely lads were a terrific asset to the investigation, as was museum expert Ralph.
We focused a lot of time and attention on the cell block, and were rewarded with the sound of disembodied footsteps walking through the empty hallways — and on one particularly memorable occasion, the sound of what seemed to be a loud growl…
We conducted EVP experiments on every floor of the building — not only the male cell block, but also the women’s section, and the cellar. The results of our investigation will be published next year in a book dedicated to the case.
Our adventures weren’t restricted to just the jail, however. The lads from COPS and I went 1,000 feet underground into an old gold mine (reputed to be haunted by Tommyknockers, among other things) and got an eye-opening lesson in the hazards of subterrenean work that left me with a new-found appreciation for my grandfather, who had been a coal miner drafted during the Second World War.
We didn’t live on the cell block the entire time. After all, we figured that if we spent a straight 72 hours there, we’d be pretty ripe at the end of it all. Most of us stayed at the historic and haunted Imperial Hotel. True to form, I left my hotel room one night with the lights and fan off. When I returned the following morning…
