Bob Womack made the discovery of gold in Poverty Gulch in southern Colorado in 1890. The town of Cripple Creek grew practically overnight. The miners’ demands were met by hotels, theatres, and saloons, which pocketed their hard-earned gold.
Womack, ironically, passed away in squalor.
Cripple Creek had 25,000 people living there at its busiest, and the mines produced 600 million dollars during this time. Today, mining continues to take place between Cripple Creek and Victor.
before fires.
The town was destroyed by two fires in 1896. Six persons died as a result, there was $2,000,000 in property damage, and 5,000 people were made homeless.
The Collins Hotel began operations as the town was being rebuilt. It was renamed the New Collins Hotel at the turn of the century.
In 1905, the hotel underwent another renaming. George Long, an Englishman, became the new owner. The Imperial was the new name for the hotel.
According to legend, Long departed England because his aristocratic family were embarrassed by his “deafness.” Additionally, he wed Ursula, his first cousin, ensuring his rejection by his family.
A boy and a daughter were the children that George and his wife had. Long was a painter and architect who drank a little too much scotch. He also cherished his brand-new hotel, which prospered under his leadership.
He resided with his family in an apartment close to the hotel’s lobby. The Long family remained optimistic once the boom came to an end.
As Long’s daughter grew older, it became clear that she had a mental illness—likely as a result of the fact that the two were first cousins. The family used to lock her in their flat while she was having “fits.”
This girl followed her father to the top of the basement stairs in the 1930s following a furious disagreement with him. She killed him by hitting him over the head with an iron frying pan. After that, she was admitted to a psychiatric facility.
A milder account of George Long’s demise claims that he died after unintentionally falling down the creaky basement stairs while en route to a coal chute.
In 1946, Stephen Mackin purchased the Imperial Hotel from Long’s widow. The Long family shared an apartment with Mackin and his family. The Red Rooster Bar later occupied this location.
Mackin and his family worked to revive “theatre” in Cripple Creek; by 1953, the Imperial was staging melodramas from the turn of the century.
Several players and the theater’s director claimed to have seen George Long’s spirit. His spirit was seen by other members of the kitchen crew as well. One actor, Pat Sawyer, saw Long in the start of the 1980s.
He spotted George behind the bar one day when he was in the theatre. Sawyer characterised him as a well-dressed bald man with a fringe of hair around his head resembling that of a monk.
This fit the descriptions provided by George Long.
While still in charge of the hotel, Mackin downplayed the haunting because he didn’t want “the attention of unusual persons” doing investigations there.
When casinos opened in Cripple Creek in 1992, Mackin sold the Imperial. The hotel was rebuilt by the current owners, who brought back its Victorian splendour. New French wallpaper, crystal chandeliers, and vintage furniture have been added to the hotel.
It also has a casino and a brand-new restaurant. The Imperial Casino Hotel is now its new name.
The hotel hired Richard L. Duwe in 1994, and he stayed there until 1997. He asserts that George Long’s ghost was seen by the majority of employees who worked the graveyard and night shifts.
Slot machines at the casino are the main focus of this activity. A surveillance camera captured a slot machine dumping all of its cash after the casino had closed one evening.
This cannot happen because these devices have two fail-safes. The video-taped machine was found to be in good operating order by the Colorado Gaming Commission. George doesn’t seem to enjoy gambling at his favourite hotel, though.
Room 43.
Another day, after the casino had shut down, Duwe heard someone using and putting money into a slot machine.
He and a few others looked through the slot machines, thinking one of the customers had been left behind, but there was nobody there and none of the machines had their lights on, suggesting they had been recently played.
Duwe heard a knock and then very loud slams on the two sets of entry doors in the one secure chamber where the rolled monies are kept. Nobody was at the door or in the hallway, despite his search. After then, Duwe said, “Knock it off, George.”
The staff members have mastered this tactic to curtail George’s cheeky behaviour.
People have recently reported seeing George’s spirit pacing the hotel’s corridors. The occupied rooms are 39 and 42. He has been observed turning on the bathroom faucets and opening and closing doors.
When they go to turn off the water, their legs run into an open bathroom drawer that Long’s spirit has opened to block their entrance.
Because there are so many ghost stories associated with the town, Cripple Creek is sometimes occasionally referred to as “Creepy Creek.”
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