The Story of Elitch Gardens & Theatre

What do you think of when you hear the word “Elitch?” Elitch Gardens is part of the fabric of Colorado. It's a summer rite of passage. Standing too long in the line for a ride, the bland food, the nodding lifeguards in the waterpark, if you know--you know. But the story behind the REAL gardens and the woman who spent her life fighting to keep the gates open is an inspirational tale many of those who have lived here their whole lives in this state have never even heard, until now.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I sometimes think that never blows sored. The rose is where some buried
Caesar bled that every hyacinth the gardenwares dropped in her lap from some once
lovely head, And this reviving herb, whose tender green fledges the river lip
on which we lean, ah leanupon it lightly, for who knows from

(00:24):
what one's lovely lip it springs unseen? Ah, my beloved, fill the
cup that clears to day of pastregret and future fears. Tomorrow, Why
to morrow I may be myself withyesterday's seven thousand years. For some we
loved, the loveliest and the bestthat from his vintage rolling time has pressed,

(00:50):
have drunk their cup around or twobefore, and one by one crept
silently to rest. An excerpt fromRubaiyat of Omar Kayam. If you've ever

(01:10):
visited Colorado, or if you're luckyenough to live here, then you know
it's an outdoor enthusiasts playground, hiking, biking, skiing. The list goes
on and on. But there's anotherside to the centennial state that most people
will never see. It's a sidethat's a little darker, a little more

(01:32):
sinister, and a little bit strange. Welcome to Strange Colorado. Hello,
friends, old and new. It'sbeen a minute, but I am officially

(01:52):
back from my summer hiatus. Thissummer was really busy with my kids and
traveling and going to see all ofthe spooky things that Colorado has to offer,
my favorite pastime. But even thoughI was on hiatus, it seems
like many of you were still listeningand reaching out and providing me with some

(02:17):
really great episode ideas, and Ijust want to say thank you. I
get so excited when I get thosemessages. And I have a ton of
new stories that I am just dyingto dig into and research and bring to
you guys, So keep them coming. And here we go with a new

(02:38):
season. In this episode, Iwanted to keep it kind of light.
The last episode that I put outwas the Sand Creek Massacre, which was
really big and important and full oflots of disturbing information and it really drained

(02:59):
me. So I needed a breakand I wanted to start off on a
more fun, light note. Sotoday we are going to be digging into
the past of Elitch Gardens. Iwas just there this past weekend with my
family, and when you're there inEilitch Gardens. History doesn't necessarily come to

(03:24):
the forefront of your mind, atleast not mine. What was on my
mind was that it was hot,and the lines were long, and being
distracted over and over again by thesignage that I always end up reading incorrectly
as not to see Denver Elitches isnot to see, which of course isn't

(03:47):
what it says. The phrase isnot to see Elitches is not to see
Denver. And it's a very historicplaque on a very historic ferris wheel.
I know that now, but forthe longest time I just sort of assumed
Elitch Gardens was a product of SixFlags, And after researching this episode,

(04:12):
I can tell you that I'm embarrassedI ever thought that Elitch Gardens holds a
very important place in the history ofDenver and Colorado. But to paint that
full picture for you, we're goingto take it all the way back to
eighteen seventy two. Two young people, both from pioneering families living in Elviso,

(04:34):
California, met and fell in loveat their local church. Mary Elizabeth
Hawke was only sixteen years old atthis time. She traveled with her family
to California from Philadelphia, where theyset up their lives as fruit farmers.
From what I've seen in pictures,Mary was a stunner, and obviously she

(04:58):
caught John Elitch Junior's I see wherewe're going here. John was twenty two,
which I know times are different,but a sixteen year old and a
twenty two year old anyway. Johnhad also come to California with his pioneering
parents who had established a coffee saloon, which sounds like Starbucks to me,

(05:24):
like a pioneer town Starbucks. Idon't know. He worked with his dad
in this restaurant slash pioneer Starbs andgot pretty darn good at the restaurant business.
On the day that he first reallynoticed Mary Hawk in church, he
didn't waste any time in beginning topursue her. He began sending her notes

(05:46):
every day via her little brother.Finally, one of his notes stated,
I'm going to San Francisco for ajob. Will you marry me when I
come for you? Mary sent areturn letter back to John via the little
Brother express that simply read yes.Mary's parents and specifically her father, were

(06:10):
not into the idea of Mary andJohn being together because they agree with me.
She was only sixteen and ick,so in May of eighteen seventy two,
they eloped. She moved with Johnto San Francisco, where he got
a new job managing the restaurant insidethe California Theater. This job afforded them

(06:32):
a modest but comfortable life and anexciting one. John took Mary to see
her first play there, called TheStreets of New York, and from then
on she was hooked. Through theirtime spent at the theater, they became
acquainted with the performers who came andwent, and their passion for the arts

(06:53):
and the world of theater really beganto take off. As I was reading
about these two, there's some extinformation, but from what I gathered,
especially reading about John, he strikesme as a Hugh Jackman in the Greatest
Showman, representing the P. T. Barnum character in real life. P.

(07:14):
T. Barnum was not so whimsicaland lovely, But it really seems
like John Elitch was. He wasoutgoing and gregarious and a risk taker,
and Mary was head over heels.She said that she just couldn't resist his
dark, curly hair and his tall, lean frame. They sound truly adorable.

(07:39):
He and Mary were enthralled by theidea of some day being in the
performing arts themselves, maybe owning atheater or a zoo or something along those
lines, which might seem like anodd dream to have or not if you're
like me, but you've got toremember that back then, seeing a lion

(08:01):
in person was right up there withgetting tickets to Hamilton. Back in twenty
eighteen, it's a big deal.And John was an entrepreneur. He wanted
to own a big, successful restaurant. He wanted to open up a resort
that had everything, a zoo,a theater, gardens, you name it.

(08:24):
He wanted to have it. Butthey were in California, and by
eighteen eighty California was already kind ofa hopping place, and for John,
who was just managing a restaurant,it wasn't going to be exactly easy to
open up a resort. He didn'thave that kind of cash. So,

(08:45):
as so many men did back inthe day, John set his sights on
an area of the country that wasstill up and coming and was definitely lacking
in culture, and this area wasright for just the kind of thing John
wanted to get going. Where didhe set his sights on you might ask,

(09:05):
if you guessed Denver, you arecorrect. At this time, Denver
was rapidly growing into a major citywith lots of people who had lots of
money to be spent and not alot of arts available for them to spend
it on. It was perfect.But as I said, John didn't have
the money to get anything going justyet, so he and Mary decided to

(09:30):
head to Colorado and start working towardstheir dream. John initially arrived in Denver
and found work in a friend's restaurant, and as he saved up his money
from that job, Mary ran asuccessful little boarding house out of their home,
and she saved all of the moneyfrom that venture. A year after
arriving in Denver, spent working hard, John hiked across the Cane Host Range

(09:54):
to get to Durango. He hikedto Durango from Denver. That always blows
my mind. Once in Durango,he opened his own restaurant. Finally.
This was the time when the railwayswere finally making their way to this area
of the state and more and morepeople were setting up shop in the area.

(10:15):
So obviously John got into the rightplace at the right time. The
restaurant was a huge success, andafter a while they were able to sell
it for a nice profit. Theythen returned to Denver in eighteen eighty four,
where they opened yet another restaurant atfifteen forty one A. Rapaho Street,
and they called it the Elitsch PalaceDining Room. They poured everything they

(10:39):
had into this restaurant, and atthe time it was the largest dining room
in Denver, able to accommodate twohundred people at once. This restaurant was
so successful that before long the who'swho of Denver society knew John and Mary
by name. In fact, throughthe connections that he made opening this restaurant,

(11:03):
John ended up being invited to beone of the founding members of the
Denver Athletic Club, along with theother social elite and politicians in the area
at the time. In no timeat all, they were firmly established into
Denver society. Mary even made afriend in none other than who I just
talked about, P. T.Barnum. This friendship between P. T.

(11:28):
Barnum and Mary and John is reallywhat catapulted them into the next phase
of their journey into history. Thecouple did not have children, and so
Mary spent all of her free timesupporting the arts as president of the Denver
Art Club and adopting and caring forany and all stray animals. She came

(11:48):
across my kind of gal. Aftereight years of saving, they finally were
able to find and purchase sixteen acresof land that had been known as the
Chilcoll Farm. It was in appleand cherry orchard, and if you remember,
Mary's parents were fruit farmers, soshe was in her element here.

(12:09):
They moved in and before long theyadded vegetable gardens to supply their restaurant with
the best freshest produce, and Maryspared no expense in creating beautiful floral gardens
on the property. Her buddy P. T. Barnum would gift Mary with
baby animals from his circus that winterednear the Elitch's farm. Mary soon had

(12:31):
bears, lions, monkeys, andostrich you name it, she had it.
She's literally living my dream. Ineighteen eighty eight, the stage was
set, so they took another chanceand they sold their very successful restaurant and
they took all of the profits fromthat and readied their private oasis to host

(12:54):
the families of the Denver area.On the opening day of Elitch's Zoological Gardens
on May first of eighteen ninety.The property boasted a zoo, the gardens
themselves, live music, and atheater tent. Barnum, of course,
was in attendance, as well asthe current mayor, Wolf Londoner. The

(13:16):
morning of their opening day, itwas pouring rain. We all know how
may goes here in Colorado, andas they opened the gates, Mary and
John anxiously stood by the entrance waitingto see if anybody was going to show
up, and much to their surprise, people began streaming in. Besides the

(13:37):
zoo and the garden, there wasalso, of course, a restaurant on
site, a soda fountain, asweet shop, a big playground for kids,
goat pulled cart rides and pony ridesfor all of the child guests.
The who's who of the entertainment industry, from stage actors to singers, to

(13:58):
bands to magicians, you name it, and they were there. Mary had
even managed to train one of herbears to waltz with her, and the
ostrich I mentioned would pull her aroundin a little cart that she sat in
and drove behind it. All ofthe visitors were so charmed and everybody had

(14:18):
a blast. Colorado had nothing likethis at the time. The trolley cars
didn't reach as far as their farm, but John got to work immediately negotiating
the expansion of the line so thatmore people could get to them easier where
they were at thirty eighth and TennysonStreet. By the end of their very
first season, the Elitches had grossedthirty five thousand dollars, which is about

(14:45):
one point two million dollars today,not too shabby. They closed the gates
on Labor Day and immediately got towork planning the next season. Over that
winter, though, John, everthe lover of farming arts, decided to
put together his own minstrel troup,and they toured around Colorado and were a

(15:05):
great success, and afterwards they headedout to the West coast. All the
while Mary was diligently working on makingthe next season bigger and better than the
last. John was the dreamer andMary was the practical, business minded one.
With the future looking so bright andexciting for this couple, it was

(15:28):
only a matter of time before tragedystruck. In March of eighteen ninety one,
John came down with pneumonia when hewas traveling with his minstrel group through
San Francisco. Of course, whenMary heard, she rushed to be by
his side and was there on Marchtenth, when John finally succumbed to the
illness. Mary was obviously heartbroken,but she was determined to keep John's dream

(15:54):
alive through their Zoological Park and Gardens. A thirty five year old widow,
Mary returned to Denver and continued withthe plans for opening the gardens that second
year in memory of John. Unfortunately, when John passed, it left Mary
a little bit tight on funds.She was forced to sell the majority of

(16:15):
her stocks in the gardens to agroup of Denver capitalists. Initially, they
forced her to take a back seatin the park operations, and for the
next few seasons she was sort ofmostly in a clerical role. But by
eighteen ninety four they realized what theyhad on their hands in Mary, and
she was able to take back completecontrol of the gardens operations. Go girl,

(16:41):
especially in eighteen ninety four. That'sa huge go girl. One of
the good things about these new investors, though, was that the second season
the park was open after John hadpassed away, a bigger and better theater
was constructed on the site in eighteenninety two, and this was called the
Eli Theater. John had drawn upplans for the theater, but he was

(17:03):
never able, obviously, to seeit built. His dream was to have
a theater that was modeled after theGlobe Theater, which is Shakespeare's theater in
London. It's sort of along thesame lines, but John had never really
seen that theater, so it wasmore his best guess at what the Globe
Theater looked like. Either way,it's still a nice design, and thanks

(17:26):
to Mary and John's friendship of thestars of the performing arts in the US,
this theater saw some of the mostfamous people ever to grace a stage.
The first year of its operations,a fourteen year old boy showed up
at theater asking for a job justsweeping the stage or whatever he could do.

(17:47):
He just wanted to be in thetheater, in that atmosphere, so
Mary hired him. Years later,this boy would return to perform on that
very stage, and his name wasDouglas Fairbay, who we know now to
be an early Hollywood legend. Thefamous actor and director Cecil B. DeMille
even referred to the elite theater asthe cradle of American theater. The gardens

(18:11):
and the theater were a huge successunder Mary's management. The entertainment and the
attractions got bigger and better every year. She added more plants and features to
the gardens, and she began toinclude free days every Tuesday for children.
The child attendees numbered about three thousandeach week. That's a lot of kids,

(18:37):
and Mary made sure that they hadgames, contests, arts and crafts,
dance classes, and of course accessto the gardens and the animals.
She even hired extra help to keepan eye on all of the children who
attended to make sure that they weresafe. Like I said, Mary had
no children of her own, butshe adored them and the feeling was definitely

(19:02):
mutual. She was often described asbeing swarmed by children as she greeted each
one by name in the gardens everyday. On Wednesdays, she offered free
admission to the residence of the DenverOld Ladies Home. What a descriptive name,
and she also employed members of theUte tribe to teach attendees about their

(19:25):
culture on Tuesdays. She also hostedchildren at her own private home and educated
them on manners and deportment. Shepartnered with the Colorado PTA to create Parent
Teacher Day at the Gardens, andeach spring, all of the Denver schools
ptas would converge on the park forthe event. All of the proceeds from

(19:45):
this day went right back to Denverarea schools. Mary was generous and caring
and an impactful philanthropist in the Denvercommunity, and she became known locally as
the Lady of the Gardens. Manywho saw her in person recalled seeing her
as a constant presence wandering through thegardens she loved so much, in a

(20:08):
big, elegant white hat and aglowing white dress, greeting everybody that she
passed. But her incredible reputation stretchedeven further than Colorado because at that time,
she was the only woman in theworld to own and manage a successful

(20:30):
summer resort. In nineteen hundred,Mary remarried a man named Thomas Long,
who was one of her business managersfor the gardens. She was forty four
at the time. Unfortunately, itdoesn't seem like it was really a love
match, or at least nothing comparedto what she'd had with John. After
just a few years, they endedup separating and Thomas went and lived in

(20:53):
Colorado Springs, where he ran afloral business, and Mary, of course
kept wearing herself into Elitches and theDenver community she loved so much. By
nineteen sixteen, Mary was in hersixties and the ever expanding park was becoming
too much for her to manage,especially financially. Elites was in debt,

(21:18):
and Mary was being pressured by herfrustrated stockholders to sell the park she loved
so much to a circus that wantedto close down the park and use it
to winter their circus animals. Mythought here, besides the sad situation,
is why the heck was Colorado sucha huge draw for wintering circus animals.

(21:41):
This isn't the place I would thinkyou'd want to put up an elephant in
the winter. There had to bewarmer, cheaper places to hang out.
It's very confusing. Anyways, thecommunity got wind of Mary's predicament and showed
up in a big way to tryto help her. They organized raisers to
help keep Elitches open. Unfortunately,it just wasn't enough, and it looked

(22:04):
like Mary was going to have tosay goodbye to her and John's dream.
That was until A man named JohnMulvihill approached Mary in nineteen sixteen with an
offer to purchase the park and keepit running as Elitsch Gardens. In the
sale agreement, the park name wouldremain Elitches, and Mary would be allowed

(22:25):
to continue living in a cottage onthe property and receiving fifty dollars a week
in allowance, And in addition tothis, the two lower boxes in the
Elitch's theater would always be reserved specificallyfor Mary's use. She signed the agreement
and spent the next sixteen years tendingher personal gardens and pets on the property,

(22:47):
wandering through the park and chatting withvisitors, often stopping to quote poetry
to them from her favorite volume shealways carried with her that had been a
gift from her first love, Johnon their wedding day, which is where
the poem came from that I readat the beginning of this episode. In
nineteen thirty two, at the ageof seventy six, her health finally forced

(23:08):
her to move from her beloved parkin with family that lived nearby. She
lived with her sister in law untilnineteen thirty six, when she suffered a
massive stroke. Mary Elitch long passedaway four days later at the age of
eighty. Her theater boxes were drapedin black in a show of grief from
the staff at the Elitch Theater.She's buried at the Fairmont Cemetery, next

(23:33):
to her beloved John. In nineteenninety six, she was inducted into the
Colorado Woman's Hall of Fame for herbusiness savvy and trail blazing leadership. Elitsch
Gardens would continue on and expand asthe years passed. In nineteen ninety four,
after a hundred and four years inits original location on the sixteen acres

(23:55):
her and John had purchased, thegates were closed for the last time at
the gardens and a new, moremodern park was constructed in downtown Denver in
the central Platte River Valley, whereit still exists today. In nineteen ninety
eight, it was acquired by SixFlags and existed under their management until two
thousand and six, when Six Flagsbegan struggling financially and sold the park to

(24:19):
new ownership. It is cool tosee that the original ferris wheel that was
constructed in nineteen thirty six for theoriginal park did get moved over to the
new location, and that's the bigone that you see right when you walk
in the future holds even more changefor the gardens. Plans to relocate the

(24:41):
park yet again, further outside themetro area and closer to the airport are
under way. The current site issupposed to be torn down and high rise
apartments are going to be constructed inits place do help meet our ever growing
population. The South Platt River isalready being raised in preparation, and the

(25:03):
Elitches that we know right now's daysare numbered. The original historic Elitch Theater
that Mary loved so much, thankfully, is still right where it all began
in the eighteen nineties. In nineteenseventy six it was added to the National
Register of Historic Places. Over theyears leading up to the seventies, it
really began to struggle. The introductionof movies, being a much cheaper and

(25:30):
accessible form of entertainment for people,forced the theater into a huge financial pickle,
and attendance and performances dwindled. Innineteen eighty seven, the theater finally
closed its doors. In nineteen ninetyfive, the Denverse City Council designated the
theater as a Historic landmark, andin two thousand and three the Historic Elitch

(25:52):
Gardens Theater Foundation was formed to beginbreathing new life back into this land mark
after it had sat from more thana decade completely vacant, surviving fires and
vandalism and all sorts of other thingseven beyond the grave. Mary's will and
love for keeping that dream alive keptthe theater standing. Huge efforts through volunteer

(26:19):
cleanups and fundraising for the restoration allowedfor the doors to reopen sort of once
again in twenty twelve. It's stillundergoing restorations to this day. Right now,
they're raising funds for Stage four ofthe restoration, which includes upgrading the
lighting, sound, and rigging sothey can once again host more modern theatrical

(26:42):
events. Stage five is going tobe restoring the historic balcony that still holds
the chairs from eighteen ninety one andis a little bit too rickety for anybody
to venture up into right now.If you go to their website, host
tours every first Friday of the month, and they've even introduced a movie or

(27:06):
two back into the mix. Ifyou want to schedule a tour, or
donate or go see a movie,you can do all of that at Historic
Elitch Theater dot Org and that's theaterwith an R at the end, not
an ER. Now, if you'rejust here for the history that we love
so much here on this podcast,then fair warning, we're going to take

(27:30):
a turn into the paranormal because that'swhat I'm into, and I have the
microphone. If you're also a fanof spooky things, then you probably already
know that theaters are notoriously more hauntedthan any other type of location. I
chalk it up to the fact thattheaters hold concentrated emotions of so many people

(27:55):
that are constantly played out over andover and over again, as people are
moved to tears or laughter by thethings that they're seeing performed and the energy
that the performers are putting into theirwork. Basically, it's a recipe for
at least energy being imprinted in thelocation residual hauntings. The people who love

(28:18):
to attend, those who lovingly carefor these buildings, and those who pour
their artistic hearts and souls into aperformance tend even in death, to keep
coming back to these spots, andthe Elitch Theater is no different. Knowing
what we know about Mary Elitch andhow much she loved her gardens, and

(28:40):
especially this theater. It's no wondershe still likes to spend some of her
afterlife here. As far back asthe nineteen sixties, performers have reported witnessing
Mary sitting in one of her boxeswatching the show, which is I think
a huge compliment if she's showing upto watch you perform. Was quite the

(29:00):
connoisseur of the arts. She's alsobeen spotted up in the balcony wandering around
in her full length turn of thecentury style gown and a feather boa.
Amazing. I don't think I couldlike this woman anymore. One anecdote comes
from none other than the actress ShelleyWinters. She reportedly stopped in the middle

(29:23):
of rehearsing a performance on the stageat the theater and asked, who is
the B word in the boa,pointing up into the balcony when she spotted
Mary's apparition. Hopefully Mary forgave theimpertinent remark, I mean, honestly not
cool, Shelley. Further More,common reports of disembodied voices and conversations,

(29:49):
things being moved around, and tearingdoors open and clothes have been reported.
One woman who is in the theaterhelping with the restorations. One day reported
walking up one of the aisles andrunning into a warm, solid mass of
air, as if somebody was standingin front of her, and she bumped

(30:10):
into this person. In a moment, the mass of air was gone and
she was able to continue on herway, And it wasn't until later that
she'd realized she'd been standing underneath Mary'stheater box when this occurred. Another historic
inspirational woman is also said to sometimeskeep Mary company in the theater. Helen

(30:32):
Bonfils was an actress, heiress,producer, a newspaper executive, and a
philanthropist. The daughter of the famousor infamous, depending on how you feel
about his methods of doing business,Frederick Bonfils, who made the Denver Post
one of the largest newspapers in thecountry in Denver's early years. After his

(30:56):
death, Helen took over the paperin nineteen thirty three. So again a
woman successfully rocking the socks off ofa traditionally male role in a time when
that just didn't happen. Thanks toher skills as a businesswoman and her heart
for Denver, she was also inductedinto the Colorado Woman's Hall of Fame in

(31:18):
nineteen eighty five. She managed severaltheater productions in and around Denver and helped
establish a lot of the performing artscenters and organizations that we still have today.
She's responsible for keeping Mary's Dream aliveafter her death, which is probably
why people still see her occasionally inand around the Lash Theater today. I'd

(31:44):
like to imagine that her and Maryrun into each other sometimes and have a
conversation about all of the incredible thingsthat they did during their lives. I
would pay big money to sit inand just listen to the two of them
talk. Those who have in thepast been allowed in to actually investigate the

(32:04):
location don't ever really report any terrifyingspooky ghosts encounters. It's just not that
kind of a place. And ifyou believe like I do, that there
are still ghosts that grace the seatsin the ancient balcony or the original wooden
floorboards of the iconic stage, thereare ghosts of some of the most aspirational

(32:29):
women and successful performers in Colorado history. And hopefully these spirits are very excited
about the restorations that are happening tothe theater today. You have to imagine
that they want to see the performingarts return to the location just as bad
as we do, and with morepeople entering the theater, the more encounters

(32:53):
we might get from the spookier sideof things. Whether you believe in the
ghosts or not, the real spiritof Elitch Theater and the Gardens is the
legacy that the location has of puttingColorado on the cultural map of the US.
It was known in its heyday asone of the best and only attractions

(33:15):
of the kind in the Western UnitedStates, and the gardens and Mary's generous
spirit are what helped our state inits infancy really thrive. If you want
to check the theater out, butmaybe don't have the time or the extra
money to physically go, there's aYouTube video that I found called Historic Elitch

(33:39):
Gardens Theater Tour two thousand and threefor an inside look. Trust me,
you won't be disappointed. It's wortha watch. Sources for today's episode include
fifty two eighty dot com, Carouselof Chaos dot com, CEO Great Women

(34:00):
dot org, Historic Elitchtheater dot org, West Egg dot com, Pamela Noac
dot com, which is a blogby Pamela Noac that's phenomenal. She writes
all about powerful historic Colorado women,Native Americans, basically everything we're interested here,

(34:22):
so definitely if you like blogs,go check her out. Wikipedia of
course and Rocky Mountain Paranormal dot Comanother really good site. On another note,
I've been getting a lot of reallyfun stories from some of you who
are gracious enough to type up anemail or an Instagram message and send it

(34:43):
to me, and I just wantedto say I enjoy reading them so much
that if you have a personal ghostlyencounter or experience somewhere, or a fun
historic anecdote maybe you ran into Bigfooton a hiking trip, if you feel
like sending it in to me.I'm going to start saving these stories,

(35:05):
and if I get enough of them, I think I might start reading them
to you because they're worth sharing.Thanks for hanging around, guys. I
appreciate every single one of you,and I'm excited for this season. Thanks

(35:27):
for listening. Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen
to podcasts. You can also findme on Facebook and Instagram at Strange Colorado
Podcast. If you have a Strangestory of your own or an episode suggestion,
you can reach me at Strange ColoradoPodcast at gmail dot com.