It’s the season of spooks, and Halloween hounds are looking for a good scare to get in the spirit.
A bar might not spring to mind as the place to get a ghostly thrill — bars are where we go to relax, after all — but more than a few Colorado taverns have rumors of paranormal activity attached to them.
Belly up to the bar at these places and keep an open mind — one of the longtime regulars may want to pay a visit.
The Gin and Sin Speakeasy (3862 High St.) is proud of its sketchy past. The building has been home to saloons for decades, and the story goes that the second floor was once a brothel. Earlier this year, a previous tenant reopened the bar as Jezebel’s Juke Joint and Brothel, fully embracing the building’s shady history. Jezebel’s folded within months, but new owners have taken up the cause under the new name.
The building’s possible ghosts are completely welcome to mingle with the customers, although the Gin and Sin’s website jokingly warns that they’ll charge extra if a specter appears. When the Gin and Sin is lively, it seems impossible that a ghost will drift through. It’s on quiet nights that the old brick structure feels like it might really be haunted. The streets are empty. A lonely horn wails from the nearby rail yards. Is that a creak in the floorboards upstairs?
LoDo has its own possibly haunted saloon in the Blake Street Vault (1526 Blake St.). A woman’s ghost, dubbed Lydia by visiting ghost hunters, supposedly prowls the Vault at odd times, her high heels clicking on the wooden floor.
The Vault’s building, built in 1863, possibly holds other spirits too, but Lydia has become a mascot of sorts. A likeness of her sits above the entrance, watching the street below.
If you’re lucky enough to get a tour of the basement — it’s worth asking — prepare for some strange sights. There’s evidence of tunnels that used to run under Blake Street, possibly to hide brothel workers and their patrons. Old booze bottles found during renovation are everywhere, and the old vault itself sits open, formerly hidden by a brick wall and trap door.
The Boulderado Hotel (2115 13th St., Boulder) happily offers “Spook Tours” throughout October, bringing in ghost-story fans for a shiver or two. One of the hotel’s bars, however, appears to be the year-round home of the resident phantoms: The Catacombs.
A maze of rooms underneath the hotel, the Catacombs is typically a happy hangout for partying drinkers. But before the fun begins, the Catacombs is dark and quiet.
Wandering through the labyrinth, it’s easy to imagine shadowy figures hunched over the tables. What’s around the next corner? Clutch that beer a little tighter and keep walking.
But keep in mind that drinking alcohol probably isn’t the best way to experience a visit from the other side. Have a couple drinks, and you’re a little too chilled out to notice the bumps in the night. Have a couple too many, and you’ll be seeing ghosts everywhere — and will wake up haunted in a different way the next morning.
Dancing dead.
Can’t get enough of zombies? How about hot zombies? Catch a glimpse of some scary-sexy creatures at BurlyCute Burlesque’s “Zombielesque” show at Bender’s Tavern (314 E. 13th Ave.) on Thursday.
The show features local burlesque stars Cora Vette, Vivienne VaVoom, La Petite Mort and more in Halloween hijinks, with an afterparty. “Zombielesque” starts at 8 p.m. Thursday. Tickets are $12 at the door.
