Wright’s Mesa has been home to countless Native American tribes, Spanish travelers and cowboys venturing through the region. After being settled by pioneers in the late 1800s, Norwood’s legends and lore tell tales of visitors who frequented the town for liquor, gambling and prostitution taking place at many of Norwood’s oldest and historic places. Today, we can only imagine the ill-behaved acts and gruesome crimes which may have contributed to Norwood’s abundant paranormal activity.
Norwood’s Most Haunted Places: The Hotel Norwood
The Hotel Norwood, originally named the Western Hotel, was built by John Davis in 1897 which also served as a boarding house. The Hotel Norwood has operated continuously since first opening as the Western Hotel, and has accommodated a number of famous guests, including Butch Cassidy and Marie Curie. The hotel has operated under a series of different owners throughout the years, and has been called the Western Hotel, the Back Narrows Inn, and most recently, the Hotel Norwood.
Throughout the hotel’s history, staff and guests alike have experienced paranormal activity within the historic part of the building. The hotel has even been sought after by paranormal experts seeking to prove its paranormal activity. Accounts of the hotel’s hauntings in particular, have been reported in rooms one, nine and twelve. Guests staying in these rooms have experienced a variety of unexplained anomalies from disheveled bedding and hand prints on bed spreads, cold spots, electronic malfunctions, drained batteries and even full bodied apparitions.
We invite you to visit the historic Hotel Norwood, tour its haunted hallways and perhaps experience the hotel’s paranormal activity, first-hand!
Haunted Tales From Wright’s Mesa
Legend tells of a story of two hunters who had gone bear hunting on Lone Cone. One evening while cooking dinner, a “frightful dark figure” appeared in the smoke from their camp fire. In a fit of rage, screaming in Spanish, the figure scattered the hunter’s coffee pot, plates and bedding. One of the hunters drew his gun and fired on the apparition with no luck.
“It came at him ‘like a whirl-wind’ and the foul odor of death and decay choked his lungs, the damp of its black cloud chilled his flesh, and its burning black eyes seared his memory. It disappeared as mysteriously as it had come, “leaving the lads wide-eyed and hugging their Winchesters until dawn.”
Excerpt from “Something in the Wind: Spirits, Spooks & Sprites of the San Juan” by MaryJoy Martin from “In The Company Of Cowboys” by Howard Greager.
The hunters later learned they had met the famous camp cook of Lone Cone, a cook who had worked with a hunting outfit in 1887. As the story goes, the cook had been killed by another man during an argument over a saddle, which lead to a campfire feud that gave way to bullets, and both men being shot and killed. The man who shot the cook was given a proper burial, while cook had been left in a shallow hole. From then on, tales tell stories of the cook kicking up a fury and dragging the scent of decay with him.
Haunted Tales From Around the San Juans
The Ghost of Ezzie Mentzer
“Miss!” the young man hollered, reaching out to grab her as she passed. However, the moment his fingers closed around her arm, an ice-cold shock sting his hand, jolted up his arm and seized his chest. Her arm was so cold that it burned. The former miner let out a yelp and collapsed into his seat next to the saloon owner, who was still clutching his own hand in shock.
The sight of the big man falling silenced the crowd, but the woman was oblivious to it, frantically looking about, needing to escape somewhere, but not knowing where. This silence was broken by the sound of the car door sliding open. Everyone turned to see the train conductor stroll into the passenger car. Upon seeing the scene before him, he froze in disbelief. “Impossible,” he breathed. “Essie? Ezzie Mentzer? How can it be? You’redead. You died.”
With these words, the young woman let out a shriek. It was a terrible sound, a cry of ineffable grief and horror, which a good number of people in that passenger car would spend many years trying to forget. And then, in the next moment, she was gone. There was a collective gasp as the beautiful woman who had caused so much commotion vanished right before their eyes, blinking out of sight as quickly and suddenly as a light going out. So went the first sighting of the ghost of Essie Mentzer, who would continue to ride the Rio Grande Southern line out of Telluride for years to come.
Excerpt from “Ghost Stories of Colorado” by Dan Asfar
Resources
You can find these books and other tales from around Wright’s Mesa at the Lone Cone Library!
- “Something in the Wind: Spirits, Spooks & Sprites of the San Juan” by MaryJoy Martin
- “In The Company Of Cowboys” by Howard Greager
- “Ghost Stories of Colorado” by Dan Asfar
- “Wild West Ghosts” by Mark and Kim Todd
