September 28, 2023 • 56 mins
What is now essentially a stop to grab gas or a snack on your way into or out of the state along I-25, Trinidad Colorado is a dichotomy of wild west architecture, rural lifestyles, an edgy art scene, and an epicenter of counterculture in our state. What stories lay buried beneath it's streets and watch over the land from Simpson's rest? In this episode, we find out.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
This is an excerpt from the Chroniclein Trinidad from August twenty sixth, nineteen
fourteen. All Trinidad will extend tributeto the pioneers and spend the day at
the park. The people of LosAnimus County cannot forget what is owed to
the hardy men and noble women whosettled here years and years ago and put
(00:21):
their shoulders together to build up acity which is now one of the most
modern in Colorado. Many of theold settlers who will be present tomorrow came
over the old Santa Fe Trail andtheir youth, and have been here through
every stage of the development of thecounty. They've seen the present beautiful city
succeed the cluster of adobes that oncewas Trinidad. They've seen the prairie stretches
(00:43):
become farms, the hills tapped fortheir wealth of coal. Some of them
have seen the first railroad stretch,its ribbons of steel, and the first
streetcar. Many of them, inmore recent years, saw the laying of
the first paving, the building ofthe first public structure of any size.
What Trinidad is today is largely dueto these old pioneers. A number of
(01:07):
the Early Settlers have, in thepast twelve months since the last reunion was
held, answered the summons of theGrim Reaper. A few there are who
had a personal acquaintance and association withKit Carson. A few recall reminiscences of
the Indian encounters and of the daysof the old time gambling joint and gunmen.
A great many who are reckoned inthe membership of the Early Settlers Association
(01:32):
are not old in years, butare native sons who were born and raised
here, or who have resided heretwenty five years. They will be the
old settlers of a generation. Hencewhen only silent little monuments mark the resting
places of the pioneers of today.But it will be a big day tomorrow.
It will be worthwhile to go throughthe park and mingle with the men
(01:55):
and women whose lives have been livedin the shadow of Fisher's Peak. It
will be worth while to hear thestories which will soon be lost to history,
unless some energetic scribe preserves that history. If you've ever visited Colorado,
(02:15):
or if you're lucky enough to livehere, then you know it's an outdoor
enthusiasts playground, hiking, biking,skiing. The list goes on and on.
But there's another side to the centennialstate that most people will never see.
It's a side that's a little darker, a little more sinister, and
(02:37):
a little bit strange. Welcome toStrange Colorado. I think it's maybe the
most fascinating thing in the world toread old newspaper articles like the one I
read at the opening of this episode. To see an article from nineteen fourteen
(03:00):
where actual original settlers to our statewere still alive and holding a reunion in
the park so that they could justswap stories and relive the good old gunslinging
days is incredible to think about,and also to see the eloquent writer who
wrote that article really beautifully putting intowords the importance of capturing these stories and
(03:27):
experiencing the tellings of these stories becausehe knew that one day all that would
be left of these people is theirgraves. And now here we are in
twenty twenty three and realizing that weare now existing in the future he was
talking about. It really brings ithome to me how important it is to
(03:49):
tell these stories and to dig intothe history of our state, especially the
lesser known histories and all of thiswas kicked off by me just sort of
looking for spooky locations to cover,because it is that time of the year
after all. And when I waslooking, I came across a few places
(04:12):
in Trinidad. And given that that'smy husband's old stomping grounds, Go Hony
Farmers, that mascot still cracks meup. I was really excited to find
out more about the history of thearea, and when I was talking to
my husband about some of these locations, he was really interested in me finding
(04:34):
more on the history of some ofthe local well known places like Fisher's Peak
and Simpson's Rest. So today,instead of covering one spooky location, we're
just going to really wrap our armsaround the entire city of Trinidad. Some
great people have come out of there. I married one, I've got a
(04:56):
friend, Holly, who lives there. I Holly so st picture wise,
because there is so much information onthe history of Trinidad and so many examples
of spooky spots, it's going toseem like I'm just running down the list
of events of history. And ifthat's not your thing, just know the
(05:17):
spooky stuff is going to follow.At the end of our episode, like
it always does. If you hangon through the whole thing, though,
it'll make sense in the end,I promise. So without further ado,
let's take it way back. Thearea where Trinidad sits today has been inhabited
(05:38):
by people for at least ten thousandyears. We love to say pioneers and
settlers and who discovered what, butthe reality is, as most of us
know, people were here thriving beforeany Europeans ever showed up and took over
everything. And of course Trinidad bebeing located along a river and nestled in
(06:01):
a fertile valley right along the SantaFe Trail, which was a route for
indigenous people long before it was awagon route, is no different. The
banks of the Purgatory River that runsright through the valley that's nestled right between
the Spanish Peaks and the Sangre ToCristo Mountains was a favorite spot for setting
up encampments for indigenous people for likeI said, at least ten thousand years.
(06:27):
The location made it ideal with freshrunning water and abundant game. As
we've covered in the past, manyof the native histories are lost to us
today. What we do know isthat By the time Spanish settlers arrived to
this spot, the tribes that wereliving there were primarily the Ute, Cheyenne,
(06:47):
Arapahokiwa, and Camanche. The veryfirst Europeans in this area came along
with a Spanish soldier slash explorer namedJuan day Ulai. In seventeen oh six,
Ullabari's party came through the area andmade their way north up into Kansas.
(07:08):
On his way through, though,he claimed the area in the name
of Spain and noted that the Frenchwere already making their presence known on the
Kansas Plains. So basically, duringthis time period, most of the impact
of European settlement was just them sortof passing through. While it was a
great spot, there wasn't really anythingthat they wanted to just stake their claim
(07:31):
on and stay there with. Butthey did say that it was theirs because
they could, and because the Spanishwere the ones to claim what we know
now as Trinidad. They did notallow any trade with the French, and
if they caught anyone trading with theFrench, meaning mostly the indigenous peoples,
they would be arrested and thrown injail. But as I said, because
(07:56):
the Spanish weren't really just hanging outall the time in this area. The
French got a little squirrely, andtwo brothers named Pierre Antoine and Paul Malay
went ahead and came right through ontheir own expedition in seventeen thirty nine.
Like I said, the Spanish didn'treally have a good handle on this area,
(08:16):
and even though nobody was supposed tobe there who wasn't Spanish or Indigenous,
everybody just kind of did what theywanted. By the early eighteen hundreds,
explorers that we are familiar with likeZebulon Pike and Stephen Long and Jacob
Fowler were basically coming and going asthey pleased. We'll fast forward to eighteen
(08:37):
twenty one when Mexico wins its independencefrom Spain and what is now southern Colorado
south of the Arkansas River becomes partof Mexico, and at this time trade
between Mexico and the United States waslegalized through a treaty. During this time,
this trail became known as the SantaFe Trail, and it saw more
(09:00):
and more traffic as a form oftransporting commerce by Mexican and US tradesman.
This trail linked Missouri and Santa Fe, New Mexico, which is why it's
known as the Santa Fe Trail.The most lucrative thing to be trading was
fur so Fur trappers like Davy Crockett, if you can wrap your head around
(09:22):
an image of what a fur trapperwas, were the ones using this route,
which is why Charles and William Benterected Ben's Fort in what is now
Otero County, which is about ninetymiles northeast of Trinidad, and this fort
became the most important site of tradein the Southwest for fur Ben's Fort also
(09:46):
has a lot of other history goingon, and we'll get to that one
day too. The reason this specificarea where Trinidad is now located sprang up
initially was because it was the idealplace to stop and rest for these large
wagon trains and they needed a spotto just regroup for a few days.
(10:09):
This was, as I've said,flat, right along the fresh flowing Purgatory
River. It was shaded by largeold cottonwoods, and there was plenty of
native prairie grasses for their livestock tomunch on. The actual remnants of this
physical trail that these wagons used iswhat is now Trinidad's Commercial and West main
(10:33):
streets. In eighteen forty six,we are in the thick of the Mexican
American War, and the US Armyused this route, which wasn't necessarily easy
for wagons, but it was strategicto transport troops and supplies. Colonel Stephen
W. Kearney marched through here toget to and conquer Santa Fe, New
(10:58):
Mexico. This was probably one ofthe largest groups to ever try to traverse
this trail, so it was noteasygoing. Kearney had an army of sixteen
hundred soldiers, fifteen hundred supply wagons, fifteen thousand oxen, four thousand mules,
and they also had teamsters, drovers, and even some women in their
(11:22):
caravan. If there was a wayto go back in time and pick a
spot high up on a cliff somewhereand just watch a wagon train like this
as it moves through the plains,oh, that's an ideal Friday night for
me. This massive troop of peoplecamped in what is now Trinidad along the
(11:46):
Purgatory River for a while before theypushed further through the difficult Raton Pass into
Santa Fe. In the latter eighteensixties, the gold Rush and Colorado was
well underway. And now you're notjust seeing fur traders and army troops marching
through your seeing prospectors and more andmore and more settlers. As we know,
(12:13):
this is the time where the landscapeof Colorado completely transformed and the indigenous
people basically lost any hope that theymight have had to just be able to
live their lives in their native lands. When you start talking about fortunes being
won and lost, people kind ofstop caring about the well being and the
(12:33):
feelings of those who stand in theirway. And as we also know,
Denver was a primary example of thiseffect, and it was the center of
sort of everything happening in Colorado surroundingthe gold Rush. It was the perfect
strategic location for people who are wantingto head off into the mountains and dig
(12:56):
around in the dirt to find someprecious metals. So the next best form
of making money off of this situationwas to supply this influx of people coming
in to dig around in the dirt. As more and more people were setting
up shop to sell things to theprospectors in the Denver area, more and
(13:18):
more wagon trains and traders were comingup through the Trinidad area along the Santa
Fe Trail to support their efforts,and one of these traders was a man
named Felipe Bacca, who traveled throughthis valley not with fur, not with
gold, not with anything. Youmight first initially guess. His load that
(13:41):
he was going to sell was abig load of flour. I mean,
it makes sense if I'm going tobe digging for gold, Carbs are essential.
So as Felipe traveled through this valleythat is now Trinidad, he was
just blown away by how the valleywas situated and how perfect it would be
(14:01):
for agricultural purposes. The twenty nineyear old entrepreneur set his sights on moving
himself and his family to this areaand setting up a ranch. A few
months after his initial journey through,he and his family, along with a
whole lot of sheep, packed upand headed to the Purgatory Valley, where
(14:24):
he staked his claim on a pieceof land that would eventually become the heart
of the city of Trinidad. Andof course, there weren't many people living
here during this time eighteen sixty one, and those who did got to know
each other really quick Right across theriver from where Bacca's land was located was
a log house built by one determinedand lonely prospector named Albert w Archibald.
(14:50):
Archibald joined forces with a doctor,John Whitlock that same year in helping to
get an actual town set up inthe area. Together, they surveyed the
future streets of the town and positionedthe main and commercial streets right along the
ruts of the Santa Fe Trail.Once they completed their plat map of the
(15:13):
site, they began to wonder whatthey were going to call this new town,
and those who were kind of inand out of the area, or
who lived there on and off,proposed that a man named Gabriel Gutierrez,
who owned the only business in thisarea, and I bet you can't guess
what sort of business would do wellalong a travel route, Yeah, you
(15:35):
got it, a saloon, thathe should have the honor of naming the
settlement because he was the first oneto literally set up shop here. Gutierrez
suggested the name Trinidad, and everybodythought, great, let's do it.
Soon a second business popped up inthe new town, built by Jan Ignacio
(15:56):
Alirez, who decided that along witha saloon, the next best thing would
be a grocery store where he soldfabric, groceries and whiskey by the court.
So everybody's digging in and really establishinga community here, and it's fascinating
to think about it. Really.I mean, these people got together in
(16:18):
the middle of nowhere and just decidedwe're putting a town here. Now,
Felipe Bacca, he's establishing a massivelysuccessful branch. And because he needed irrigation
and things for his crops and hissheep, he constructed a four hundred acre
ditch to help irrigate his land.And today that ditch is known as the
(16:44):
Bocca Ditch. And if you livein Trinidad, you know what I'm talking
about. So suffice it to sayBocca was a heavy hitter in Trinidad history.
Also, in eighteen sixty eighteen sixtyone was just a happening year for
Trinidad that July Barlow, Sanderson andCompany bought the Denver Santa Fe stage line
and then from there they organized theSouthern Overland Mail and Express. This meant
(17:10):
that commerce and trade and new settlerscoming in really ramped up because access was
easier, and in fact, thisstage line that they set up became the
largest and the most important stage companyin Colorado. Period stage coaches were used
in lieu of the railroads, anda stage coach could fit a driver,
(17:36):
obviously a messenger who was carrying mailand goods or whatever else basically the postman
with his big old sack of goodieslike Santa Claus, and up to ten
passengers who could bring one hundred andten pounds of luggage each. The fair
for each person traveling on this stageline was two hundred dollars, and that
(17:59):
is a pretty penny back in thesedays. Incidentally, the term writing shotgun
actually comes from the stage coach days, when robbing stage coaches was a very
lucrative way to conduct criminal activity,and so on stage coaches such as these,
where people were shipping money and valuableswith the postmen and also bringing one
(18:23):
hundred and ten pounds of goodies alongwith them as they rode the stage line,
it was important to have some formof protection. So oftentimes the driver
would have a man next to himwith a shotgun to help with defending the
stage coach. So when you callshotgun, I hope you're prepared to handle
(18:44):
business. Another interesting tidbet is thatthe Civil War was getting going during this
era, and in eighteen sixty two, Trinidad was used by Confederate guerrillas as
sort of their center of operations.But that same year, a group known
as the Colorado Volunteers, who wereUnion soldiers, marched straight through the Raton
(19:06):
passed to New Mexico and basically wipedout all Confederate holds on the Colorado region
in the Battle of Glorieta Pass.Thanks to Felipe Bacca's thriving agricultural setup and
the stores popping up, more andmore families were moving into the area to
actually start a life there, andduring this time, those who knew the
(19:30):
game began eyeballing their surroundings and seeingthe potential for coal deposits, and in
eighteen sixty four, coal mining insouthern Colorado took off. The earliest of
these mines were located in Starkville andIngleville, which were near Trinidad, and
with coal comes big operations. Becausethese deposits were so productive, the companies
(19:56):
who were mining these areas began tobring in immigrants from Europe to help mind
the sites. Now if you rememberfrom our Ludlow episode, this was pretty
controversial because these immigrants were taken advantageof and it wasn't a great situation.
Right now, what we have inTrinidad is this mass of melting pot of
(20:18):
people from Greece, Italy. Thereare the original Hispanic settlers, Polish,
Irish, Slavic, English and Irish, just to name a few. During
this time as well, another mannamed Uncle Dick Wootton arrived to the area
and decided to build a home atthe very top of her Tone Pass.
(20:41):
Wooton was a trader and he wasknown for his fighting prowess against the Native
Americans. He was also a scoutfor John Fremont and a personal friend of
Kit Carson. Wootton saw the opportunityto make some easy money and decided to
set up a toll r over RatonPass to New Mexico. In eighteen sixty
(21:03):
five, Wootton leased the land uponwhich he built the twenty seven mile stretch
of toll Road, and he usedthe Ute natives to build this new road.
Now, as I said, thepass was very difficult to traverse,
especially with the massive heavy wagons thatthey had during this time, so these
(21:25):
ute natives got to work cutting throughthe hillsides, blasting out rock, and
even constructing bridges to make passage overthis area that much easier. Once this
toll road was completed, Wootton setup a little toll booth right in front
of his house, and he chargeda dollar fifty for one wagon or twenty
five cents for a guy on ahorse. In a surprising twist given his
(21:48):
history, he actually allowed natives toalways use this toll road completely free of
charge, and he used his personalhome along this route as a sort of
a stagecoach stop where travelers could stopand get a meal, refresh their horses,
and it was a good little moneymaking gig. If you remember Albert
(22:11):
w Archibald from previously in the story, he actually opened the first school in
Trinidad in July of eighteen sixty five. They only had about thirteen students,
but they were able to teach allof them in English and in Spanish.
Also in eighteen sixty five, aman who was a trapper and a trader
(22:33):
at the time moved into the areawith his family, and this man went
by the name George Simpson. Simpsonwould settle down into a quiet life in
the now fairly well established town,and he drove stage coaches over the Raton
Pass. He wrote articles for thelocal newspaper, served on the school board,
(22:56):
and dealt in books. Trinidad atthis time had about twelve hundred residents,
twenty five buildings, sixty adobe homes, two hotels, and five livery
barns. Also in eighteen sixty six, that same year, Los Animus County
was established, and because Trinidad wasthe largest town in this area, it
(23:19):
was selected to be the county seat, which it still is now. Like
so many other areas, some ofthe natives went along with the treaties and
the promises from the US government andsort of followed the rules that were placed
upon them because they didn't really havea choice in the matter anyways. But
(23:40):
there were still those natives who refusedto bow to manifest destiny. Around the
time of eighteen sixty five, tensionsbetween the Utes who lived near the Spanish
Peaks and the settlers were really rampingup. Conflicts especially cropped up along the
new Toll Road along the Santa FeTrail, and cattle theft increased, and
(24:03):
as a result, the band ofUtes known as the watch I hope them,
saying that right began to attack theranches and the settlements that were sort
of more isolated from the main populationof Trinidad. It was during one of
these attacks by this band of utesthat George Simpson and his daughter Isabel were
(24:26):
caught out on the plains. Withoutany real way to defend themselves and nowhere
to seek shelter, they ran fortheir lives, literally to the nearest and
highest point they could get to totry to protect themselves from these utes.
On horseback, they desperately and asquickly as they could scaled the side of
(24:48):
the tallest butte they could see,where they silently hid and waited for the
utes to pass them by, whichthey did, and George Simpson and his
daughter Isabel survived. Simpson later wenton to claim that this butte had saved
their lives and as a result,when he died, he wanted to be
buried there, and twenty years laterthe town granted his wish and this became
(25:14):
known as Simpson's Rest. You canstill see the giant obelisk at the top
that marks his grave, along witha light up sign that says Trinidad and
a big American flag, which I'msure he thinks it's all very cool.
I've actually been up here once andthe views are immaculate, and it's kind
(25:34):
of creepy at night. I alsocan't imagine trying to dig out a grave
at the top of that rocky bluff. That must have been quite the undertaking
pun intended now. Obviously, reportsof the Utes attacking the town of Trinidad
reached the US government, and ineighteen sixty five, the US cavalry arrived
(25:56):
and with the help of some localmems, they defeated this last bastion of
the Utes that were trying to stickaround in their original lands. Of course,
things like this infuriated the other Nativepopulations in Colorado, and raids would
continue in this area from other bandsof Native Americans well into eighteen sixty nine,
(26:21):
when they forced them all onto reservations. Speaking of Simpson's Rest, there
is a another similar formation that actuallyholds the title of being the highest point
of the mass that make up theBraton Formation. And if that makes no
sense to you, it's just areally tall, almost columnar mountain looking thing
(26:47):
with a flat top. It's neatto look at, and Trinidad uses its
silhouette as kind of their emblem,and for the longest time this formation was
used as a landmark or a guidefor those traveling along the Santa Fe Trail,
so that they'd know they were onthe right path. But I have
always wondered, and I'm sure I'mnot the only one, why it's called
(27:08):
Fisher's Peak. What happened? Whowas Fisher? Well? The story is
more of a legend or a myth. It's not really written down as fact
anywhere, but it goes like this, Once upon a time a US Army
major got lost. And reports differas to which war he was participating in.
(27:33):
Whether it was the Mexican American Waror the Civil War, we don't
know. But his name was MajorValdemar Fisher. He was traversing Raton Pass,
but wasn't really sure he was goingthe right way. He was supposed
to be following the previously mentioned UncleDick Wooton, but for whatever reason,
(27:56):
I mean, maybe he just wantedto climb a big rock. I know
several men in my life, myhusband and my son being amongst them,
whose first inclination when they see abig rock is the climate. So that's
not really a far out theory tome. But he ended up diverging from
where he was supposed to be going, and he and a couple other guys
(28:19):
decided to climb up to this mesaand check things out and see what they
could see get a lay of theland. Up until this point, this
formation was simply known as Raton Peak, but from the eighteen sixties forward some
local residents began referring to it asFisher's Peak, and it was used interchangeably
(28:44):
as Raton Peak and Fisher's Peak backand forth until today we just know it
as Fisher's Peak. But where dowe get this story from? From none
other than Wooten himself, And accordingto people who knew Wooton, he was
a fan of tall tales and wouldlater on say he didn't actually accompany Fisher
(29:07):
at all because the weather was bad. So who knows, But that's why
it's called Fisher's Peak. All right, Let's get into some more heavy hitters
in Trinidad history. In eighteen sixtyseven, a man named Frank Bloom rolled
into the area, and he hadactually come to Colorado that past year with
(29:30):
John and Maelon Thatcher. Thatcher's aname we know around here where they set
up and operated a store in CanyonCity. But for some reason they decided
that wasn't the move, and theyheaded down to Trinidad that very next year
and opened the Thatcher Brothers and Companystore. While out and about that year,
riding around Fisher's Peak, Bloom spottedsome coal poking out of the ground
(29:55):
and I can just imagine the cartoondollar signs popping out of his eyes.
He went on to open the firstcommercial coal mine inside Trinidad. Bloom and
the Thatcher brothers took this money,and you know what they say, diversify,
diversify. So they've got a store, they've got a coal mine.
(30:15):
Now, they decided to open acattle company. And this cattle company,
the Bloom Cattle Company, would goon to become the state's largest cattle outfit.
After crushing it in these three separateindustries, Bloom decided to slow it
down a little bit and he becamea banker in eighteen eighty two. He
(30:37):
had a lot of money. Hedecided to take this money and build a
gorgeous three story brick mansion located rightat the corner of Maine and Walnut,
which is now owned by the Stateof Colorado and operates as the Trinidad History
Museum, which is all handled bythe Colorado Historical Society. By October of
(30:59):
eighteen sixty nine, Trinidad looked awhole lot different than just twenty five buildings
in a single church. By nowthey had a flour mill, six stores,
three doctors, three lawyers, andsaloons in abundance. George Simpson was
actually the one who provided Trinidad's descriptionfor the Rocky Mountain Directory and Colorado Gazette.
(31:23):
Tier Simpson would describe how fertile theriver valley was and that it held
inexhaustible beds of coal. He wenton to state the town, with a
population of one thousand, with itsforty stores and shops, with its numberless
and slow jogging freight wagons, withits daily and tri weekly mail coaches,
(31:44):
and rapidly increasing travel, already attractsattention abroad and gives promise of a prosperous
future. In eighteen seventy three,Felipe Bacca remember him and his wife Dolores,
purchased a ranch with a large,two story Adobe style home within the
town of Trinidad. It's a beautifulbit of architecture, and unfortunately Felipe only
(32:10):
got to enjoy it for a singleyear, as he died one year later.
But the house still stands just asit did at three oh four East
Maine and is still known as theBacca House. It too, is now
a museum. In eighteen seventy six, the same year Colorado became a state,
Trinidad was also incorporated, and itbecame the center for transportation for the
(32:37):
entire regions coal mines. More andmore mines popped up, and smelters were
built, and coal was big moneyin the area, which meant lots and
lots of growth. And thanks tothis time where people's pockets were flushed with
cash from the coal industry, tonsof beautiful Victorian mansions were constructed, and
(33:01):
in eighteen seventy nine we also getthe stunning Grand Union Hotel, which is
now called the Columbian, right atthe intersection of Maine and Commercial. In
eighteen eighty, the railroad was finallybuilt right through Trinidad all the way down
into Santa Fe and the newspaper knownas the Weekly New Mexican Printed Quote and
(33:25):
the old Santa Fe trail passes intooblivion, although now it's died twenty five,
so we're still going up and downthat trail. It's just a lot
easier for us these days. Ineighteen eighty two, a man named bat
Masterson was appointed as Trinidad's city marshal. The town paid him seventy five dollars
(33:46):
a month for the job, untiljust a short time later, his buddy
Wyatt Earp paid him a visit.They were coming through Trinidad on their way
back from their infamous Vendetta ride inArizona when Wyatt asked Masterson to help prevent
the extradition of Dac Holiday from Coloradoto Arizona. So while he wasn't Holiday's
(34:09):
biggest fan, he was a truefriend to Wyatt Earp, and so he
agreed and went to Denver to dowhat he could to help save Holiday from
extradition, and he did. Mastersonwas able to persuade the governor at the
time, Frederick Pitkin, to refusethe extradition, and as we all know,
(34:30):
Daw Holiday is buried right here inColorado today. Masterson ruled Trinidad with
an iron fist, often enforcing thelaws with physical force, and things in
this wild West saloon, Dotted Townquieted down considerably. Under his reign,
Trinidad continued to grow as coal moneyas good money, and they never really
(34:55):
had a lack of it. Andin nineteen oh eight we see a modern,
thriving metropolis here in Colorado. Andduring this time culture expanded further and
the stunning West Theater, which isnow known as the Fox Theater, was
built in nineteen o eight. Ithas a large ballroom and three floors of
(35:20):
seating and it's actually the oldest continuousrunning a movie theater in our state and
it's still an operation today. Alsoworth mentioning. In nineteen oh eight,
Trinidad became famous for having the firstwoman's sports editor in a newspaper, Aina
Eloise Young. She was an expertin baseball and she was the only woman's
(35:44):
sports writer to cover the nineteen oeight World Series. Baseball really had a
moment in Trinidad during this year,and it was also home to a popular
semi professional baseball team that was coachedby Damon Runyon. If you're or Colorado
local, especially southern Colorado, youknow that name. In nineteen fourteen,
(36:06):
when World War One kicked off,the number of European immigrants to the US
saw a huge increase for obvious reasons, and the staffing at these coal mines
doubled during this period, which isinteresting if you'll remember. Initially, when
coal mines were first discovered in thisregion, they brought in European immigrants,
and here again we see the meltingpot getting a little more melty. People
(36:32):
can be greedy and cruel. Theseimmigrant workers were treated horrifically and all of
this contributed and led up to thetragic incident of the Ludlow massacre. And
again I cover that if you wantto give it a listen. As you
might imagine, the twenties and thirtieswere hard all round, and coal production
(36:54):
decreased dramatically, which meant that Trinidadas a town began to suffer. The
street cars, which had dominated Trinidadtraffic up until this time, were overrun
by the increased production of automobiles,and the street cars disappeared and by nineteen
twenty three all of the streets werepaved over with brick pavers. During the
(37:20):
twenties, a little thing known asprohibition was going strong, and it opened
up new ways to make money illegallyfor a lot of people, and one
of those who was really great atplaying this game was a man named al
Capone. You might have heard ofhim. He hung out quite a bit
(37:40):
in Los Aims County during this timeand went back and forth between Trinidad and
Aguilar. There was a strong Italianpresence in this area and he fit right
in tunnels that had been constructed underneaththe streets of downtown Trinidad really helped to
further his ambitions in this area ofsneaking alcohol to those who wanted it,
(38:04):
and the Italian families associated with themafia during this time. We're thriving when
others weren't. Did you know thatTrinidad had a strong mafia background. I
didn't. It's pretty cool. Coalmining was very expensive during this time,
and more and more of the miningoperations began to close down, and this
(38:27):
once booming little of frontier town thatsaw exponential growth began to wither. In
another weird twist of stories, inthe nineteen sixties, Trinidad became known as
the sex change capital of the worldwhen a man named doctor Stanley Biber,
a surgeon from Korea, began performingreassignment surgeries, which obviously especially given the
(38:52):
time, gained a lot of attention, so much so that going forward,
the term taking a trip to Trinidadwas a common euphemism used for those seeking
the aforementioned procedure. Not all ofthe locals were thrilled with this new association,
(39:13):
and in two thousand and three thepractice was moved to California. Also
in the sixties, a settlement knownas Drop City, which was a counterculture
artists community, set up shop ona stretch of land about four miles north
of Trinidad. Essentially, it wasjust a bunch of college student artists who
(39:35):
wanted to set up their own hippiecommune. For some reason, this also
received national attention and international attention.The homes constructed on the property of this
commune were a very unique and artsylooking dome style, and they were constructed
using panels from automobiles and other bitsand pieces of things that they could get
(40:00):
their hands on. In the nineteenseventies, the commune was abandoned, but
the domes stood as a monument tohippie culture in Trinidad until the nineteen nineties,
when the last home was finally torndown. The latest and greatest craze
for trinidad economy and culture is thatof marijuana. Trinidad now breaks in about
(40:24):
forty four million dollars annually from recreationaldrugs cells, which is about five percent
of the entire state's total sales.In twenty eighteen, High Times magazine called
the town weed Town USA. Sowhat we have today is a fascinating mix
(40:45):
of wild West architecture deeply rooted inthe story of early settlement of Colorado,
and a heavy New Age counter culturesort of vibe that exists within these Wild
West buildings thanks to the lull inTrinidad's economy when other cities such as Colorado
(41:10):
Springs in Denver were building skyscrapers andtaking off much of the original town looks
as it did way back in theday. It's almost like a perfectly preserved
time capsule of a bygone Colorado,and while many who drive through the area
are using it as it originally wasused, which is just sort of a
(41:32):
pass through or away station to refreshbefore you head out into the godforsaken stretch
of northern New Mexico. If youtake a few extra minutes to get out
of your car and explore some ofthe incredible history that this area has to
offer. It's absolutely worth your time. And of course, with such rich
(41:57):
history and preserved historical site, you'regonna get some living history in the form
of hauntings. The first spooky locationwe're going to cover is the Purgatory River
itself. It's one of the largestfeatures of the town besides Fisher's Peak,
of course, and it has ahistory all its own. But this type
(42:20):
of hunting is something I've not heardof being reported at all anywhere in Colorado.
And maybe I'm just disconnected, Idon't know, but I was really
surprised when I came across this report. Many hold the belief that the Purgatory
River is haunted by none other thanLa Yarona herself. In a specific encounter,
(42:45):
one man told the story of ridinghis bike as a ten year old
boy at the time, down JohnsonStreet in nineteen seventy five. It was
a summer evening and it was darkoutside, and as he approached the corner
of len and Johnson Streets, hehad a clear view of the highway beyond
and the Purgatory River flowing just behindthat. As he looked, he says,
(43:08):
he spotted a woman near the sideof the highway. She was dressed
all in black and was staring rightat him. He then noticed that she
didn't have any feet and seemed tojust be floating there above the ground.
As his unease grew, this ghastlyapparition began to whale, a terrifying,
(43:31):
agonized whale. Because this guy seemslike he was a pretty smart kid.
He whipped his bike around and bookedit back to his house. But as
he glanced back over his shoulder tomake sure he wasn't being pursued, the
woman or whatever she was, wasgone. The next spot we're going to
(43:53):
talk about is the Colombian Hotel,or the Grand Union as it was originally
called. It's a historic hotel locatedon Commercial Street and was built in eighteen
seventy nine. It was a luxuriousplace to stay, especially for this area
at this time, and it boasteda hundred guest rooms, a grand lobby,
(44:15):
a swanky saloon, and gaming roomsin the basement that allegedly our favorite
doc Holiday visited. He was alwaysdown to be a huckleberry. I suppose
many famous politicians, Wild West characters, and actors have stayed at the Columbium,
and in nineteen fourteen during the coalstrike, it was actually the headquarters
(44:37):
for the Colorado Militia when the violencebecame so overwhelming that men were actually being
gunned down in the streets and martiallaw had to be declared. Now only
the storefronts are usable, as therest of the hotel had been neglected for
so many years and it really isn'thabitable anymore. Plans are underway to refurbish
(44:59):
it, thankfully, but even thoughnobody's living in there now, that doesn't
mean that it's completely vacant. Peoplehave reported seeing black shadow figures, being
overwhelmed by an ominous and oppressive atmosphereon the upper floors, and frequently footsteps
when no one is up there canbe heard. During an investigation, an
(45:22):
EVP was captured after one of theinvestigators commented that the hotel was probably full
of spirits. The whispered reply fromthe voice recorder simply stated, yes,
there are three hundred. Next onthe list is the Terrabino Inn. It
repeatedly shows up on lists for mosthaunted locations in Colorado, and it sits
(45:45):
at three ten East Second Street.It was built in nineteen oh seven by
the Terrabino brothers and since then hasbeen a private residence, a funeral home,
and is now a bed and breakfast. Reports of activity at this inn
range from the apparition of a wiryhaired older woman rocking quietly in a rocking
(46:07):
chair, only to fade away assoon as you notice her, super creepy
ghostly children wander the home, anda lady in white of course, who
likes to hang out at the footof the stairs is often seen. Ghostly
footsteps, and the smell of cherrytobacco is frequently smelled coming from the library.
(46:30):
The current owner denies that there isany activity here at the inn,
and they're not really keen on promotingthe spooky history. It is a stunning
property though. It's a gorgeous redbrick structure that is over five thousand square
feet of original nineteen oh seven design, including the original carriage house that's still
(46:52):
standing on the property, and interestingly, it's currently for sale for just nine
hundred twenty five thousand dollars. Youcan own a slice of Trinidad history.
If you're in the market, gosnagget. I'd love to see someone who
embraces and leans into the spooky reputation. Take it over. Imagine what you
(47:15):
could do around Halloween with a placelike that. The next spot is the
Bacca House, which we've already mentionedwas built in eighteen seventy and is now
a museum. Felipe Bacca reportedly diedin the home and is still spotted there
today, enjoying his little slice ofColorado heaven. People have reported seeing him
(47:37):
standing and looking out of the upperfloor windows, or just wandering the halls.
In nineteen forty five, when thehome was being used as a boarding
house, however, a murder wascommitted inside the home, leaving behind a
blood stain on the floor that noone can wash off, even after attempting
(47:57):
to refinish the wood there. Itjust keeps showing back up again, and
of course, footsteps, footsteps everywhere. Now. The next location is the
Bloom House. Remember that one wetalked about it. The cattle baran slash
banker slash coal mine owner owned it, built it well. Reports in the
(48:22):
Bloom House vary from person to person, but generally speaking, most people feel
ick, eerie, oppressive, yuck. Still, more sensitive people have actually
been able to see the ghost ofBloom's young son who actually passed away in
(48:45):
the home of typhoid fever, anda ball can actually be heard rolling down
the stairs and around on the floorwhen no one is there and there is
no ball. His daughters have alsobeen spotted wandering around the property and the
home. And the concentration of thefeeling of ick is located in this home
(49:07):
in the servants quarters. And sincestuff like that wasn't really documented back then,
who knows what went down there.The A. R. Mitchell Museum
of Western Art is located in downtownTrinidad on Main Street, and it's definitely
not a place that you would lookat and assume would be haunted. It
(49:29):
houses the entire collection of paintings createdby Arthur Ray Mitchell. Aar and his
sister Ethel also known as Todd,were born and raised in Trinidad, and
while upon his death, respected andestablished museums were pursuing his collection, his
sister Tot wanted her brother's life workto be brought home to Trinidad, so
(49:51):
a space was acquired and set upand now you can visit all of these
artworks yourself, and the museum isnow a nonprofit and an absolute must see
if you're in the area most especiallythough, because aar his sister, taught,
and a young girl are frequently spottedhanging out in the building. I
(50:13):
can't imagine that you would pour yourheart and soul into so many paintings and
not follow them around in the afterlife. This last building isn't necessarily hugely haunted,
but I have to include it becauseit's my favorite type of paranormal activity.
(50:34):
The Children's Museum slash Firehouse one,which is now defunct, was built
in eighteen eighty one and originally itoperated as the city Hall, the jail,
and the firehouse until nineteen o nine. You would think a place like
this would just be oozing with angryspirits, but really, the only constantly
(50:57):
reported activity in this building has beenthe apparition of a black kitten that has
seen again and again. Adorable.Now, on a personal note, I
do have a friend who shall remainnameless that was born and raised in Trinidad
and her family home nothing superhistoric orcrazy was haunted as heck. She told
(51:23):
me stories of being harassed constantly bya group of shadow people in her room
every single night, and then weirdthings happening during the day. She learned
to ignore them, I guess,but I don't know how. It really
feels like the entire town has aspooky twist going on. The last story
(51:50):
I'm going to cover is because myhusband wanted me to look into it and
see if I could find anything abouta place he knew all too well,
having grown up in the area,and he even brought me to It's a
place known as the Devil's Playground.There are many different versions of why this
(52:12):
place is spooky or haunted or whatever, but some say that this location that's
remote out in the middle of nowhereis actually haunted by the devil himself.
It does have a cursed and forbiddingfeeling, especially when you're driving around it
at night. But I couldn't findanything anywhere about it, so I'm pretty
(52:37):
sure that it might just be afun local lore type of a situation.
And honestly, a ton of ruralareas have locations just like this one.
It's not unique. But what makesthis one special is that if there was
anywhere that would have a shot atbeing a legitimately cursed spot, it would
(53:02):
be Trinidad. The land here hasnever been quiet. It's oozing with thousands
of years of history, of people, living, dying, warring with each
other on this spot. So whilethe devil himself may not be out there,
maybe something even darker is hanging aroundout there. You know what they
(53:25):
say, where there's smoke, there'sfire, So there must be something to
this spot. But like I said, I didn't see anything when I went
out there. There are many manyhaunted locations in Trinidad, Colorado, and
I could have talked about them all, but we would have been here all
day. And this is already avery long episode. But suffice it to
(53:51):
say that for those who don't knowor appreciate this town, there is so
much to see. And just likeat the top of this podcast, when
I read the newspaper article talking abouta day when only silent monuments would mark
the resting places of the pioneers andtheir stories would be forgotten, here we
(54:14):
are. We're in that day,and so many people drive right through Trinidad
and never give it a second thought, and even more in our state have
no idea about the important contributions Trinidadmade to make in Colorado what it is
today. It's a unique, fascinatingplace and you can feel the energy shift
(54:37):
when you roll into that town.There's something special about it, and it's
completely different from anywhere else in ourstate. And yes, most of the
buildings in Trinidad are haunted, butthe entire city is haunted by its own
history. Sources for today's episode includeLegends of America, audiotour dot com,
(55:00):
Trinidad, Colorado Cole Queen of Coloradoat Kathy Wiser Alexander, Ghosts of America
dot com, History Colorado dot org, Newspapers dot com, Denver Library dot
org, World Journal Newspaper dot com, Colorado, Huntedhouses dot com, Fatmanlittletrail
(55:21):
dot com, Old Houses USA,and The Pueblo Chieftain. Thanks for listening.
Please remember to rate, review,and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.
You can also find me on Facebookand Instagram at Strange Colorado Podcast.
(55:45):
If you have a strange story ofyour own or an episode suggestion, you
can reach me at Strange Colorado Podcastat gmail dot com.
This is an excerpt from the Chroniclein Trinidad from August twenty sixth, nineteen
fourteen. All Trinidad will extend tributeto the pioneers and spend the day at
the park. The people of LosAnimus County cannot forget what is owed to
the hardy men and noble women whosettled here years and years ago and put
(00:21):
their shoulders together to build up acity which is now one of the most
modern in Colorado. Many of theold settlers who will be present tomorrow came
over the old Santa Fe Trail andtheir youth, and have been here through
every stage of the development of thecounty. They've seen the present beautiful city
succeed the cluster of adobes that oncewas Trinidad. They've seen the prairie stretches
(00:43):
become farms, the hills tapped fortheir wealth of coal. Some of them
have seen the first railroad stretch,its ribbons of steel, and the first
streetcar. Many of them, inmore recent years, saw the laying of
the first paving, the building ofthe first public structure of any size.
What Trinidad is today is largely dueto these old pioneers. A number of
(01:07):
the Early Settlers have, in thepast twelve months since the last reunion was
held, answered the summons of theGrim Reaper. A few there are who
had a personal acquaintance and association withKit Carson. A few recall reminiscences of
the Indian encounters and of the daysof the old time gambling joint and gunmen.
A great many who are reckoned inthe membership of the Early Settlers Association
(01:32):
are not old in years, butare native sons who were born and raised
here, or who have resided heretwenty five years. They will be the
old settlers of a generation. Hencewhen only silent little monuments mark the resting
places of the pioneers of today.But it will be a big day tomorrow.
It will be worthwhile to go throughthe park and mingle with the men
(01:55):
and women whose lives have been livedin the shadow of Fisher's Peak. It
will be worth while to hear thestories which will soon be lost to history,
unless some energetic scribe preserves that history. If you've ever visited Colorado,
(02:15):
or if you're lucky enough to livehere, then you know it's an outdoor
enthusiasts playground, hiking, biking,skiing. The list goes on and on.
But there's another side to the centennialstate that most people will never see.
It's a side that's a little darker, a little more sinister, and
(02:37):
a little bit strange. Welcome toStrange Colorado. I think it's maybe the
most fascinating thing in the world toread old newspaper articles like the one I
read at the opening of this episode. To see an article from nineteen fourteen
(03:00):
where actual original settlers to our statewere still alive and holding a reunion in
the park so that they could justswap stories and relive the good old gunslinging
days is incredible to think about,and also to see the eloquent writer who
wrote that article really beautifully putting intowords the importance of capturing these stories and
(03:27):
experiencing the tellings of these stories becausehe knew that one day all that would
be left of these people is theirgraves. And now here we are in
twenty twenty three and realizing that weare now existing in the future he was
talking about. It really brings ithome to me how important it is to
(03:49):
tell these stories and to dig intothe history of our state, especially the
lesser known histories and all of thiswas kicked off by me just sort of
looking for spooky locations to cover,because it is that time of the year
after all. And when I waslooking, I came across a few places
(04:12):
in Trinidad. And given that that'smy husband's old stomping grounds, Go Hony
Farmers, that mascot still cracks meup. I was really excited to find
out more about the history of thearea, and when I was talking to
my husband about some of these locations, he was really interested in me finding
(04:34):
more on the history of some ofthe local well known places like Fisher's Peak
and Simpson's Rest. So today,instead of covering one spooky location, we're
just going to really wrap our armsaround the entire city of Trinidad. Some
great people have come out of there. I married one, I've got a
(04:56):
friend, Holly, who lives there. I Holly so st picture wise,
because there is so much information onthe history of Trinidad and so many examples
of spooky spots, it's going toseem like I'm just running down the list
of events of history. And ifthat's not your thing, just know the
(05:17):
spooky stuff is going to follow.At the end of our episode, like
it always does. If you hangon through the whole thing, though,
it'll make sense in the end,I promise. So without further ado,
let's take it way back. Thearea where Trinidad sits today has been inhabited
(05:38):
by people for at least ten thousandyears. We love to say pioneers and
settlers and who discovered what, butthe reality is, as most of us
know, people were here thriving beforeany Europeans ever showed up and took over
everything. And of course Trinidad bebeing located along a river and nestled in
(06:01):
a fertile valley right along the SantaFe Trail, which was a route for
indigenous people long before it was awagon route, is no different. The
banks of the Purgatory River that runsright through the valley that's nestled right between
the Spanish Peaks and the Sangre ToCristo Mountains was a favorite spot for setting
up encampments for indigenous people for likeI said, at least ten thousand years.
(06:27):
The location made it ideal with freshrunning water and abundant game. As
we've covered in the past, manyof the native histories are lost to us
today. What we do know isthat By the time Spanish settlers arrived to
this spot, the tribes that wereliving there were primarily the Ute, Cheyenne,
(06:47):
Arapahokiwa, and Camanche. The veryfirst Europeans in this area came along
with a Spanish soldier slash explorer namedJuan day Ulai. In seventeen oh six,
Ullabari's party came through the area andmade their way north up into Kansas.
(07:08):
On his way through, though,he claimed the area in the name
of Spain and noted that the Frenchwere already making their presence known on the
Kansas Plains. So basically, duringthis time period, most of the impact
of European settlement was just them sortof passing through. While it was a
great spot, there wasn't really anythingthat they wanted to just stake their claim
(07:31):
on and stay there with. Butthey did say that it was theirs because
they could, and because the Spanishwere the ones to claim what we know
now as Trinidad. They did notallow any trade with the French, and
if they caught anyone trading with theFrench, meaning mostly the indigenous peoples,
they would be arrested and thrown injail. But as I said, because
(07:56):
the Spanish weren't really just hanging outall the time in this area. The
French got a little squirrely, andtwo brothers named Pierre Antoine and Paul Malay
went ahead and came right through ontheir own expedition in seventeen thirty nine.
Like I said, the Spanish didn'treally have a good handle on this area,
(08:16):
and even though nobody was supposed tobe there who wasn't Spanish or Indigenous,
everybody just kind of did what theywanted. By the early eighteen hundreds,
explorers that we are familiar with likeZebulon Pike and Stephen Long and Jacob
Fowler were basically coming and going asthey pleased. We'll fast forward to eighteen
(08:37):
twenty one when Mexico wins its independencefrom Spain and what is now southern Colorado
south of the Arkansas River becomes partof Mexico, and at this time trade
between Mexico and the United States waslegalized through a treaty. During this time,
this trail became known as the SantaFe Trail, and it saw more
(09:00):
and more traffic as a form oftransporting commerce by Mexican and US tradesman.
This trail linked Missouri and Santa Fe, New Mexico, which is why it's
known as the Santa Fe Trail.The most lucrative thing to be trading was
fur so Fur trappers like Davy Crockett, if you can wrap your head around
(09:22):
an image of what a fur trapperwas, were the ones using this route,
which is why Charles and William Benterected Ben's Fort in what is now
Otero County, which is about ninetymiles northeast of Trinidad, and this fort
became the most important site of tradein the Southwest for fur Ben's Fort also
(09:46):
has a lot of other history goingon, and we'll get to that one
day too. The reason this specificarea where Trinidad is now located sprang up
initially was because it was the idealplace to stop and rest for these large
wagon trains and they needed a spotto just regroup for a few days.
(10:09):
This was, as I've said,flat, right along the fresh flowing Purgatory
River. It was shaded by largeold cottonwoods, and there was plenty of
native prairie grasses for their livestock tomunch on. The actual remnants of this
physical trail that these wagons used iswhat is now Trinidad's Commercial and West main
(10:33):
streets. In eighteen forty six,we are in the thick of the Mexican
American War, and the US Armyused this route, which wasn't necessarily easy
for wagons, but it was strategicto transport troops and supplies. Colonel Stephen
W. Kearney marched through here toget to and conquer Santa Fe, New
(10:58):
Mexico. This was probably one ofthe largest groups to ever try to traverse
this trail, so it was noteasygoing. Kearney had an army of sixteen
hundred soldiers, fifteen hundred supply wagons, fifteen thousand oxen, four thousand mules,
and they also had teamsters, drovers, and even some women in their
(11:22):
caravan. If there was a wayto go back in time and pick a
spot high up on a cliff somewhereand just watch a wagon train like this
as it moves through the plains,oh, that's an ideal Friday night for
me. This massive troop of peoplecamped in what is now Trinidad along the
(11:46):
Purgatory River for a while before theypushed further through the difficult Raton Pass into
Santa Fe. In the latter eighteensixties, the gold Rush and Colorado was
well underway. And now you're notjust seeing fur traders and army troops marching
through your seeing prospectors and more andmore and more settlers. As we know,
(12:13):
this is the time where the landscapeof Colorado completely transformed and the indigenous
people basically lost any hope that theymight have had to just be able to
live their lives in their native lands. When you start talking about fortunes being
won and lost, people kind ofstop caring about the well being and the
(12:33):
feelings of those who stand in theirway. And as we also know,
Denver was a primary example of thiseffect, and it was the center of
sort of everything happening in Colorado surroundingthe gold Rush. It was the perfect
strategic location for people who are wantingto head off into the mountains and dig
(12:56):
around in the dirt to find someprecious metals. So the next best form
of making money off of this situationwas to supply this influx of people coming
in to dig around in the dirt. As more and more people were setting
up shop to sell things to theprospectors in the Denver area, more and
(13:18):
more wagon trains and traders were comingup through the Trinidad area along the Santa
Fe Trail to support their efforts,and one of these traders was a man
named Felipe Bacca, who traveled throughthis valley not with fur, not with
gold, not with anything. Youmight first initially guess. His load that
(13:41):
he was going to sell was abig load of flour. I mean,
it makes sense if I'm going tobe digging for gold, Carbs are essential.
So as Felipe traveled through this valleythat is now Trinidad, he was
just blown away by how the valleywas situated and how perfect it would be
(14:01):
for agricultural purposes. The twenty nineyear old entrepreneur set his sights on moving
himself and his family to this areaand setting up a ranch. A few
months after his initial journey through,he and his family, along with a
whole lot of sheep, packed upand headed to the Purgatory Valley, where
(14:24):
he staked his claim on a pieceof land that would eventually become the heart
of the city of Trinidad. Andof course, there weren't many people living
here during this time eighteen sixty one, and those who did got to know
each other really quick Right across theriver from where Bacca's land was located was
a log house built by one determinedand lonely prospector named Albert w Archibald.
(14:50):
Archibald joined forces with a doctor,John Whitlock that same year in helping to
get an actual town set up inthe area. Together, they surveyed the
future streets of the town and positionedthe main and commercial streets right along the
ruts of the Santa Fe Trail.Once they completed their plat map of the
(15:13):
site, they began to wonder whatthey were going to call this new town,
and those who were kind of inand out of the area, or
who lived there on and off,proposed that a man named Gabriel Gutierrez,
who owned the only business in thisarea, and I bet you can't guess
what sort of business would do wellalong a travel route, Yeah, you
(15:35):
got it, a saloon, thathe should have the honor of naming the
settlement because he was the first oneto literally set up shop here. Gutierrez
suggested the name Trinidad, and everybodythought, great, let's do it.
Soon a second business popped up inthe new town, built by Jan Ignacio
(15:56):
Alirez, who decided that along witha saloon, the next best thing would
be a grocery store where he soldfabric, groceries and whiskey by the court.
So everybody's digging in and really establishinga community here, and it's fascinating
to think about it. Really.I mean, these people got together in
(16:18):
the middle of nowhere and just decidedwe're putting a town here. Now,
Felipe Bacca, he's establishing a massivelysuccessful branch. And because he needed irrigation
and things for his crops and hissheep, he constructed a four hundred acre
ditch to help irrigate his land.And today that ditch is known as the
(16:44):
Bocca Ditch. And if you livein Trinidad, you know what I'm talking
about. So suffice it to sayBocca was a heavy hitter in Trinidad history.
Also, in eighteen sixty eighteen sixtyone was just a happening year for
Trinidad that July Barlow, Sanderson andCompany bought the Denver Santa Fe stage line
and then from there they organized theSouthern Overland Mail and Express. This meant
(17:10):
that commerce and trade and new settlerscoming in really ramped up because access was
easier, and in fact, thisstage line that they set up became the
largest and the most important stage companyin Colorado. Period stage coaches were used
in lieu of the railroads, anda stage coach could fit a driver,
(17:36):
obviously a messenger who was carrying mailand goods or whatever else basically the postman
with his big old sack of goodieslike Santa Claus, and up to ten
passengers who could bring one hundred andten pounds of luggage each. The fair
for each person traveling on this stageline was two hundred dollars, and that
(17:59):
is a pretty penny back in thesedays. Incidentally, the term writing shotgun
actually comes from the stage coach days, when robbing stage coaches was a very
lucrative way to conduct criminal activity,and so on stage coaches such as these,
where people were shipping money and valuableswith the postmen and also bringing one
(18:23):
hundred and ten pounds of goodies alongwith them as they rode the stage line,
it was important to have some formof protection. So oftentimes the driver
would have a man next to himwith a shotgun to help with defending the
stage coach. So when you callshotgun, I hope you're prepared to handle
(18:44):
business. Another interesting tidbet is thatthe Civil War was getting going during this
era, and in eighteen sixty two, Trinidad was used by Confederate guerrillas as
sort of their center of operations.But that same year, a group known
as the Colorado Volunteers, who wereUnion soldiers, marched straight through the Raton
(19:06):
passed to New Mexico and basically wipedout all Confederate holds on the Colorado region
in the Battle of Glorieta Pass.Thanks to Felipe Bacca's thriving agricultural setup and
the stores popping up, more andmore families were moving into the area to
actually start a life there, andduring this time, those who knew the
(19:30):
game began eyeballing their surroundings and seeingthe potential for coal deposits, and in
eighteen sixty four, coal mining insouthern Colorado took off. The earliest of
these mines were located in Starkville andIngleville, which were near Trinidad, and
with coal comes big operations. Becausethese deposits were so productive, the companies
(19:56):
who were mining these areas began tobring in immigrants from Europe to help mind
the sites. Now if you rememberfrom our Ludlow episode, this was pretty
controversial because these immigrants were taken advantageof and it wasn't a great situation.
Right now, what we have inTrinidad is this mass of melting pot of
(20:18):
people from Greece, Italy. Thereare the original Hispanic settlers, Polish,
Irish, Slavic, English and Irish, just to name a few. During
this time as well, another mannamed Uncle Dick Wootton arrived to the area
and decided to build a home atthe very top of her Tone Pass.
(20:41):
Wooton was a trader and he wasknown for his fighting prowess against the Native
Americans. He was also a scoutfor John Fremont and a personal friend of
Kit Carson. Wootton saw the opportunityto make some easy money and decided to
set up a toll r over RatonPass to New Mexico. In eighteen sixty
(21:03):
five, Wootton leased the land uponwhich he built the twenty seven mile stretch
of toll Road, and he usedthe Ute natives to build this new road.
Now, as I said, thepass was very difficult to traverse,
especially with the massive heavy wagons thatthey had during this time, so these
(21:25):
ute natives got to work cutting throughthe hillsides, blasting out rock, and
even constructing bridges to make passage overthis area that much easier. Once this
toll road was completed, Wootton setup a little toll booth right in front
of his house, and he chargeda dollar fifty for one wagon or twenty
five cents for a guy on ahorse. In a surprising twist given his
(21:48):
history, he actually allowed natives toalways use this toll road completely free of
charge, and he used his personalhome along this route as a sort of
a stagecoach stop where travelers could stopand get a meal, refresh their horses,
and it was a good little moneymaking gig. If you remember Albert
(22:11):
w Archibald from previously in the story, he actually opened the first school in
Trinidad in July of eighteen sixty five. They only had about thirteen students,
but they were able to teach allof them in English and in Spanish.
Also in eighteen sixty five, aman who was a trapper and a trader
(22:33):
at the time moved into the areawith his family, and this man went
by the name George Simpson. Simpsonwould settle down into a quiet life in
the now fairly well established town,and he drove stage coaches over the Raton
Pass. He wrote articles for thelocal newspaper, served on the school board,
(22:56):
and dealt in books. Trinidad atthis time had about twelve hundred residents,
twenty five buildings, sixty adobe homes, two hotels, and five livery
barns. Also in eighteen sixty six, that same year, Los Animus County
was established, and because Trinidad wasthe largest town in this area, it
(23:19):
was selected to be the county seat, which it still is now. Like
so many other areas, some ofthe natives went along with the treaties and
the promises from the US government andsort of followed the rules that were placed
upon them because they didn't really havea choice in the matter anyways. But
(23:40):
there were still those natives who refusedto bow to manifest destiny. Around the
time of eighteen sixty five, tensionsbetween the Utes who lived near the Spanish
Peaks and the settlers were really rampingup. Conflicts especially cropped up along the
new Toll Road along the Santa FeTrail, and cattle theft increased, and
(24:03):
as a result, the band ofUtes known as the watch I hope them,
saying that right began to attack theranches and the settlements that were sort
of more isolated from the main populationof Trinidad. It was during one of
these attacks by this band of utesthat George Simpson and his daughter Isabel were
(24:26):
caught out on the plains. Withoutany real way to defend themselves and nowhere
to seek shelter, they ran fortheir lives, literally to the nearest and
highest point they could get to totry to protect themselves from these utes.
On horseback, they desperately and asquickly as they could scaled the side of
(24:48):
the tallest butte they could see,where they silently hid and waited for the
utes to pass them by, whichthey did, and George Simpson and his
daughter Isabel survived. Simpson later wenton to claim that this butte had saved
their lives and as a result,when he died, he wanted to be
buried there, and twenty years laterthe town granted his wish and this became
(25:14):
known as Simpson's Rest. You canstill see the giant obelisk at the top
that marks his grave, along witha light up sign that says Trinidad and
a big American flag, which I'msure he thinks it's all very cool.
I've actually been up here once andthe views are immaculate, and it's kind
(25:34):
of creepy at night. I alsocan't imagine trying to dig out a grave
at the top of that rocky bluff. That must have been quite the undertaking
pun intended now. Obviously, reportsof the Utes attacking the town of Trinidad
reached the US government, and ineighteen sixty five, the US cavalry arrived
(25:56):
and with the help of some localmems, they defeated this last bastion of
the Utes that were trying to stickaround in their original lands. Of course,
things like this infuriated the other Nativepopulations in Colorado, and raids would
continue in this area from other bandsof Native Americans well into eighteen sixty nine,
(26:21):
when they forced them all onto reservations. Speaking of Simpson's Rest, there
is a another similar formation that actuallyholds the title of being the highest point
of the mass that make up theBraton Formation. And if that makes no
sense to you, it's just areally tall, almost columnar mountain looking thing
(26:47):
with a flat top. It's neatto look at, and Trinidad uses its
silhouette as kind of their emblem,and for the longest time this formation was
used as a landmark or a guidefor those traveling along the Santa Fe Trail,
so that they'd know they were onthe right path. But I have
always wondered, and I'm sure I'mnot the only one, why it's called
(27:08):
Fisher's Peak. What happened? Whowas Fisher? Well? The story is
more of a legend or a myth. It's not really written down as fact
anywhere, but it goes like this, Once upon a time a US Army
major got lost. And reports differas to which war he was participating in.
(27:33):
Whether it was the Mexican American Waror the Civil War, we don't
know. But his name was MajorValdemar Fisher. He was traversing Raton Pass,
but wasn't really sure he was goingthe right way. He was supposed
to be following the previously mentioned UncleDick Wooton, but for whatever reason,
(27:56):
I mean, maybe he just wantedto climb a big rock. I know
several men in my life, myhusband and my son being amongst them,
whose first inclination when they see abig rock is the climate. So that's
not really a far out theory tome. But he ended up diverging from
where he was supposed to be going, and he and a couple other guys
(28:19):
decided to climb up to this mesaand check things out and see what they
could see get a lay of theland. Up until this point, this
formation was simply known as Raton Peak, but from the eighteen sixties forward some
local residents began referring to it asFisher's Peak, and it was used interchangeably
(28:44):
as Raton Peak and Fisher's Peak backand forth until today we just know it
as Fisher's Peak. But where dowe get this story from? From none
other than Wooten himself, And accordingto people who knew Wooton, he was
a fan of tall tales and wouldlater on say he didn't actually accompany Fisher
(29:07):
at all because the weather was bad. So who knows, But that's why
it's called Fisher's Peak. All right, Let's get into some more heavy hitters
in Trinidad history. In eighteen sixtyseven, a man named Frank Bloom rolled
into the area, and he hadactually come to Colorado that past year with
(29:30):
John and Maelon Thatcher. Thatcher's aname we know around here where they set
up and operated a store in CanyonCity. But for some reason they decided
that wasn't the move, and theyheaded down to Trinidad that very next year
and opened the Thatcher Brothers and Companystore. While out and about that year,
riding around Fisher's Peak, Bloom spottedsome coal poking out of the ground
(29:55):
and I can just imagine the cartoondollar signs popping out of his eyes.
He went on to open the firstcommercial coal mine inside Trinidad. Bloom and
the Thatcher brothers took this money,and you know what they say, diversify,
diversify. So they've got a store, they've got a coal mine.
(30:15):
Now, they decided to open acattle company. And this cattle company,
the Bloom Cattle Company, would goon to become the state's largest cattle outfit.
After crushing it in these three separateindustries, Bloom decided to slow it
down a little bit and he becamea banker in eighteen eighty two. He
(30:37):
had a lot of money. Hedecided to take this money and build a
gorgeous three story brick mansion located rightat the corner of Maine and Walnut,
which is now owned by the Stateof Colorado and operates as the Trinidad History
Museum, which is all handled bythe Colorado Historical Society. By October of
(30:59):
eighteen sixty nine, Trinidad looked awhole lot different than just twenty five buildings
in a single church. By nowthey had a flour mill, six stores,
three doctors, three lawyers, andsaloons in abundance. George Simpson was
actually the one who provided Trinidad's descriptionfor the Rocky Mountain Directory and Colorado Gazette.
(31:23):
Tier Simpson would describe how fertile theriver valley was and that it held
inexhaustible beds of coal. He wenton to state the town, with a
population of one thousand, with itsforty stores and shops, with its numberless
and slow jogging freight wagons, withits daily and tri weekly mail coaches,
(31:44):
and rapidly increasing travel, already attractsattention abroad and gives promise of a prosperous
future. In eighteen seventy three,Felipe Bacca remember him and his wife Dolores,
purchased a ranch with a large,two story Adobe style home within the
town of Trinidad. It's a beautifulbit of architecture, and unfortunately Felipe only
(32:10):
got to enjoy it for a singleyear, as he died one year later.
But the house still stands just asit did at three oh four East
Maine and is still known as theBacca House. It too, is now
a museum. In eighteen seventy six, the same year Colorado became a state,
Trinidad was also incorporated, and itbecame the center for transportation for the
(32:37):
entire regions coal mines. More andmore mines popped up, and smelters were
built, and coal was big moneyin the area, which meant lots and
lots of growth. And thanks tothis time where people's pockets were flushed with
cash from the coal industry, tonsof beautiful Victorian mansions were constructed, and
(33:01):
in eighteen seventy nine we also getthe stunning Grand Union Hotel, which is
now called the Columbian, right atthe intersection of Maine and Commercial. In
eighteen eighty, the railroad was finallybuilt right through Trinidad all the way down
into Santa Fe and the newspaper knownas the Weekly New Mexican Printed Quote and
(33:25):
the old Santa Fe trail passes intooblivion, although now it's died twenty five,
so we're still going up and downthat trail. It's just a lot
easier for us these days. Ineighteen eighty two, a man named bat
Masterson was appointed as Trinidad's city marshal. The town paid him seventy five dollars
(33:46):
a month for the job, untiljust a short time later, his buddy
Wyatt Earp paid him a visit.They were coming through Trinidad on their way
back from their infamous Vendetta ride inArizona when Wyatt asked Masterson to help prevent
the extradition of Dac Holiday from Coloradoto Arizona. So while he wasn't Holiday's
(34:09):
biggest fan, he was a truefriend to Wyatt Earp, and so he
agreed and went to Denver to dowhat he could to help save Holiday from
extradition, and he did. Mastersonwas able to persuade the governor at the
time, Frederick Pitkin, to refusethe extradition, and as we all know,
(34:30):
Daw Holiday is buried right here inColorado today. Masterson ruled Trinidad with
an iron fist, often enforcing thelaws with physical force, and things in
this wild West saloon, Dotted Townquieted down considerably. Under his reign,
Trinidad continued to grow as coal moneyas good money, and they never really
(34:55):
had a lack of it. Andin nineteen oh eight we see a modern,
thriving metropolis here in Colorado. Andduring this time culture expanded further and
the stunning West Theater, which isnow known as the Fox Theater, was
built in nineteen o eight. Ithas a large ballroom and three floors of
(35:20):
seating and it's actually the oldest continuousrunning a movie theater in our state and
it's still an operation today. Alsoworth mentioning. In nineteen oh eight,
Trinidad became famous for having the firstwoman's sports editor in a newspaper, Aina
Eloise Young. She was an expertin baseball and she was the only woman's
(35:44):
sports writer to cover the nineteen oeight World Series. Baseball really had a
moment in Trinidad during this year,and it was also home to a popular
semi professional baseball team that was coachedby Damon Runyon. If you're or Colorado
local, especially southern Colorado, youknow that name. In nineteen fourteen,
(36:06):
when World War One kicked off,the number of European immigrants to the US
saw a huge increase for obvious reasons, and the staffing at these coal mines
doubled during this period, which isinteresting if you'll remember. Initially, when
coal mines were first discovered in thisregion, they brought in European immigrants,
and here again we see the meltingpot getting a little more melty. People
(36:32):
can be greedy and cruel. Theseimmigrant workers were treated horrifically and all of
this contributed and led up to thetragic incident of the Ludlow massacre. And
again I cover that if you wantto give it a listen. As you
might imagine, the twenties and thirtieswere hard all round, and coal production
(36:54):
decreased dramatically, which meant that Trinidadas a town began to suffer. The
street cars, which had dominated Trinidadtraffic up until this time, were overrun
by the increased production of automobiles,and the street cars disappeared and by nineteen
twenty three all of the streets werepaved over with brick pavers. During the
(37:20):
twenties, a little thing known asprohibition was going strong, and it opened
up new ways to make money illegallyfor a lot of people, and one
of those who was really great atplaying this game was a man named al
Capone. You might have heard ofhim. He hung out quite a bit
(37:40):
in Los Aims County during this timeand went back and forth between Trinidad and
Aguilar. There was a strong Italianpresence in this area and he fit right
in tunnels that had been constructed underneaththe streets of downtown Trinidad really helped to
further his ambitions in this area ofsneaking alcohol to those who wanted it,
(38:04):
and the Italian families associated with themafia during this time. We're thriving when
others weren't. Did you know thatTrinidad had a strong mafia background. I
didn't. It's pretty cool. Coalmining was very expensive during this time,
and more and more of the miningoperations began to close down, and this
(38:27):
once booming little of frontier town thatsaw exponential growth began to wither. In
another weird twist of stories, inthe nineteen sixties, Trinidad became known as
the sex change capital of the worldwhen a man named doctor Stanley Biber,
a surgeon from Korea, began performingreassignment surgeries, which obviously especially given the
(38:52):
time, gained a lot of attention, so much so that going forward,
the term taking a trip to Trinidadwas a common euphemism used for those seeking
the aforementioned procedure. Not all ofthe locals were thrilled with this new association,
(39:13):
and in two thousand and three thepractice was moved to California. Also
in the sixties, a settlement knownas Drop City, which was a counterculture
artists community, set up shop ona stretch of land about four miles north
of Trinidad. Essentially, it wasjust a bunch of college student artists who
(39:35):
wanted to set up their own hippiecommune. For some reason, this also
received national attention and international attention.The homes constructed on the property of this
commune were a very unique and artsylooking dome style, and they were constructed
using panels from automobiles and other bitsand pieces of things that they could get
(40:00):
their hands on. In the nineteenseventies, the commune was abandoned, but
the domes stood as a monument tohippie culture in Trinidad until the nineteen nineties,
when the last home was finally torndown. The latest and greatest craze
for trinidad economy and culture is thatof marijuana. Trinidad now breaks in about
(40:24):
forty four million dollars annually from recreationaldrugs cells, which is about five percent
of the entire state's total sales.In twenty eighteen, High Times magazine called
the town weed Town USA. Sowhat we have today is a fascinating mix
(40:45):
of wild West architecture deeply rooted inthe story of early settlement of Colorado,
and a heavy New Age counter culturesort of vibe that exists within these Wild
West buildings thanks to the lull inTrinidad's economy when other cities such as Colorado
(41:10):
Springs in Denver were building skyscrapers andtaking off much of the original town looks
as it did way back in theday. It's almost like a perfectly preserved
time capsule of a bygone Colorado,and while many who drive through the area
are using it as it originally wasused, which is just sort of a
(41:32):
pass through or away station to refreshbefore you head out into the godforsaken stretch
of northern New Mexico. If youtake a few extra minutes to get out
of your car and explore some ofthe incredible history that this area has to
offer. It's absolutely worth your time. And of course, with such rich
(41:57):
history and preserved historical site, you'regonna get some living history in the form
of hauntings. The first spooky locationwe're going to cover is the Purgatory River
itself. It's one of the largestfeatures of the town besides Fisher's Peak,
of course, and it has ahistory all its own. But this type
(42:20):
of hunting is something I've not heardof being reported at all anywhere in Colorado.
And maybe I'm just disconnected, Idon't know, but I was really
surprised when I came across this report. Many hold the belief that the Purgatory
River is haunted by none other thanLa Yarona herself. In a specific encounter,
(42:45):
one man told the story of ridinghis bike as a ten year old
boy at the time, down JohnsonStreet in nineteen seventy five. It was
a summer evening and it was darkoutside, and as he approached the corner
of len and Johnson Streets, hehad a clear view of the highway beyond
and the Purgatory River flowing just behindthat. As he looked, he says,
(43:08):
he spotted a woman near the sideof the highway. She was dressed
all in black and was staring rightat him. He then noticed that she
didn't have any feet and seemed tojust be floating there above the ground.
As his unease grew, this ghastlyapparition began to whale, a terrifying,
(43:31):
agonized whale. Because this guy seemslike he was a pretty smart kid.
He whipped his bike around and bookedit back to his house. But as
he glanced back over his shoulder tomake sure he wasn't being pursued, the
woman or whatever she was, wasgone. The next spot we're going to
(43:53):
talk about is the Colombian Hotel,or the Grand Union as it was originally
called. It's a historic hotel locatedon Commercial Street and was built in eighteen
seventy nine. It was a luxuriousplace to stay, especially for this area
at this time, and it boasteda hundred guest rooms, a grand lobby,
(44:15):
a swanky saloon, and gaming roomsin the basement that allegedly our favorite
doc Holiday visited. He was alwaysdown to be a huckleberry. I suppose
many famous politicians, Wild West characters, and actors have stayed at the Columbium,
and in nineteen fourteen during the coalstrike, it was actually the headquarters
(44:37):
for the Colorado Militia when the violencebecame so overwhelming that men were actually being
gunned down in the streets and martiallaw had to be declared. Now only
the storefronts are usable, as therest of the hotel had been neglected for
so many years and it really isn'thabitable anymore. Plans are underway to refurbish
(44:59):
it, thankfully, but even thoughnobody's living in there now, that doesn't
mean that it's completely vacant. Peoplehave reported seeing black shadow figures, being
overwhelmed by an ominous and oppressive atmosphereon the upper floors, and frequently footsteps
when no one is up there canbe heard. During an investigation, an
(45:22):
EVP was captured after one of theinvestigators commented that the hotel was probably full
of spirits. The whispered reply fromthe voice recorder simply stated, yes,
there are three hundred. Next onthe list is the Terrabino Inn. It
repeatedly shows up on lists for mosthaunted locations in Colorado, and it sits
(45:45):
at three ten East Second Street.It was built in nineteen oh seven by
the Terrabino brothers and since then hasbeen a private residence, a funeral home,
and is now a bed and breakfast. Reports of activity at this inn
range from the apparition of a wiryhaired older woman rocking quietly in a rocking
(46:07):
chair, only to fade away assoon as you notice her, super creepy
ghostly children wander the home, anda lady in white of course, who
likes to hang out at the footof the stairs is often seen. Ghostly
footsteps, and the smell of cherrytobacco is frequently smelled coming from the library.
(46:30):
The current owner denies that there isany activity here at the inn,
and they're not really keen on promotingthe spooky history. It is a stunning
property though. It's a gorgeous redbrick structure that is over five thousand square
feet of original nineteen oh seven design, including the original carriage house that's still
(46:52):
standing on the property, and interestingly, it's currently for sale for just nine
hundred twenty five thousand dollars. Youcan own a slice of Trinidad history.
If you're in the market, gosnagget. I'd love to see someone who
embraces and leans into the spooky reputation. Take it over. Imagine what you
(47:15):
could do around Halloween with a placelike that. The next spot is the
Bacca House, which we've already mentionedwas built in eighteen seventy and is now
a museum. Felipe Bacca reportedly diedin the home and is still spotted there
today, enjoying his little slice ofColorado heaven. People have reported seeing him
(47:37):
standing and looking out of the upperfloor windows, or just wandering the halls.
In nineteen forty five, when thehome was being used as a boarding
house, however, a murder wascommitted inside the home, leaving behind a
blood stain on the floor that noone can wash off, even after attempting
(47:57):
to refinish the wood there. Itjust keeps showing back up again, and
of course, footsteps, footsteps everywhere. Now. The next location is the
Bloom House. Remember that one wetalked about it. The cattle baran slash
banker slash coal mine owner owned it, built it well. Reports in the
(48:22):
Bloom House vary from person to person, but generally speaking, most people feel
ick, eerie, oppressive, yuck. Still, more sensitive people have actually
been able to see the ghost ofBloom's young son who actually passed away in
(48:45):
the home of typhoid fever, anda ball can actually be heard rolling down
the stairs and around on the floorwhen no one is there and there is
no ball. His daughters have alsobeen spotted wandering around the property and the
home. And the concentration of thefeeling of ick is located in this home
(49:07):
in the servants quarters. And sincestuff like that wasn't really documented back then,
who knows what went down there.The A. R. Mitchell Museum
of Western Art is located in downtownTrinidad on Main Street, and it's definitely
not a place that you would lookat and assume would be haunted. It
(49:29):
houses the entire collection of paintings createdby Arthur Ray Mitchell. Aar and his
sister Ethel also known as Todd,were born and raised in Trinidad, and
while upon his death, respected andestablished museums were pursuing his collection, his
sister Tot wanted her brother's life workto be brought home to Trinidad, so
(49:51):
a space was acquired and set upand now you can visit all of these
artworks yourself, and the museum isnow a nonprofit and an absolute must see
if you're in the area most especiallythough, because aar his sister, taught,
and a young girl are frequently spottedhanging out in the building. I
(50:13):
can't imagine that you would pour yourheart and soul into so many paintings and
not follow them around in the afterlife. This last building isn't necessarily hugely haunted,
but I have to include it becauseit's my favorite type of paranormal activity.
(50:34):
The Children's Museum slash Firehouse one,which is now defunct, was built
in eighteen eighty one and originally itoperated as the city Hall, the jail,
and the firehouse until nineteen o nine. You would think a place like
this would just be oozing with angryspirits, but really, the only constantly
(50:57):
reported activity in this building has beenthe apparition of a black kitten that has
seen again and again. Adorable.Now, on a personal note, I
do have a friend who shall remainnameless that was born and raised in Trinidad
and her family home nothing superhistoric orcrazy was haunted as heck. She told
(51:23):
me stories of being harassed constantly bya group of shadow people in her room
every single night, and then weirdthings happening during the day. She learned
to ignore them, I guess,but I don't know how. It really
feels like the entire town has aspooky twist going on. The last story
(51:50):
I'm going to cover is because myhusband wanted me to look into it and
see if I could find anything abouta place he knew all too well,
having grown up in the area,and he even brought me to It's a
place known as the Devil's Playground.There are many different versions of why this
(52:12):
place is spooky or haunted or whatever, but some say that this location that's
remote out in the middle of nowhereis actually haunted by the devil himself.
It does have a cursed and forbiddingfeeling, especially when you're driving around it
at night. But I couldn't findanything anywhere about it, so I'm pretty
(52:37):
sure that it might just be afun local lore type of a situation.
And honestly, a ton of ruralareas have locations just like this one.
It's not unique. But what makesthis one special is that if there was
anywhere that would have a shot atbeing a legitimately cursed spot, it would
(53:02):
be Trinidad. The land here hasnever been quiet. It's oozing with thousands
of years of history, of people, living, dying, warring with each
other on this spot. So whilethe devil himself may not be out there,
maybe something even darker is hanging aroundout there. You know what they
(53:25):
say, where there's smoke, there'sfire, So there must be something to
this spot. But like I said, I didn't see anything when I went
out there. There are many manyhaunted locations in Trinidad, Colorado, and
I could have talked about them all, but we would have been here all
day. And this is already avery long episode. But suffice it to
(53:51):
say that for those who don't knowor appreciate this town, there is so
much to see. And just likeat the top of this podcast, when
I read the newspaper article talking abouta day when only silent monuments would mark
the resting places of the pioneers andtheir stories would be forgotten, here we
(54:14):
are. We're in that day,and so many people drive right through Trinidad
and never give it a second thought, and even more in our state have
no idea about the important contributions Trinidadmade to make in Colorado what it is
today. It's a unique, fascinatingplace and you can feel the energy shift
(54:37):
when you roll into that town.There's something special about it, and it's
completely different from anywhere else in ourstate. And yes, most of the
buildings in Trinidad are haunted, butthe entire city is haunted by its own
history. Sources for today's episode includeLegends of America, audiotour dot com,
(55:00):
Trinidad, Colorado Cole Queen of Coloradoat Kathy Wiser Alexander, Ghosts of America
dot com, History Colorado dot org, Newspapers dot com, Denver Library dot
org, World Journal Newspaper dot com, Colorado, Huntedhouses dot com, Fatmanlittletrail
(55:21):
dot com, Old Houses USA,and The Pueblo Chieftain. Thanks for listening.
Please remember to rate, review,and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.
You can also find me on Facebookand Instagram at Strange Colorado Podcast.
(55:45):
If you have a strange story ofyour own or an episode suggestion, you
can reach me at Strange Colorado Podcastat gmail dot com.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.