Elizabeth Anglin

As you might imagine, in my line of work I meet ghosts from time to time.  Earthbound spirits who have a bone to pick with God, or can't forgive themselves enough to believe anyone else ever would, or in life became so obsessed by something (gold miners at Alta, for example)  that the "forgot themselves" in the process of seeking after earthly material goods.  Out of all of these ghosts - murderers, alcoholics, gamblers, prostitutes, gold-obsessed miners... the most frightening one of all is... ... ...

The bitter old lady who ran the boarding house at Ironton, CO..... when she was alive.

I mean, literally - her house was falling down and a bunch of modern day volunteers got together and fixed it up so tourists could see what life in Ironton was like when people actually lived there - and she has absolutely NO GRATITUDE WHATSOEVER.   Now, the fixed up shell of this little home invites the unaware visitor to explore it... to step inside and step back in time, while the aware visitor finds not just a nicely repaired house of historical interest - but a grey haired lady in a calico dress standing on the door step screaming.  "Don't you come in here.  This is my house. This is my place. Mine!"   She holds a broom in one hand (because she was very clean and tidy in life, not because she was witch.) and looks as though she is willing to crack one over the head with it if they step through the door. 

The sensation created by this screaming bitter ghost woman for the clairvoyant, clairaudient and clairsentient spirit medium is a bit like going on one of those centrifugal rides at the carnival...  (remember the one where the ride spins around so fast that you get plastered to the metal wall behind you and then the bottom drops out?)  ...

It's not very nice.

And for that reason, I rank the bitter old woman of Ironton the scariest ghost I know.  If you are out on Red Mountain Pass this evening trick-or-treating... beware of her doorway, and her astral broom.