If only Sheri Atencio-Church had more time for the ghosts that are said to haunt her mountainside hotel, Brook Forest Inn, near Evergreen. "I'm running five businesses here ... the hotel, the restaurant, the bar, the special events and the spa," she said. "I don't have a whole lot of time. ... But I may be missing a huge market on this paranormal stuff."
Atencio-Church counts at least five purported ghosts in the century-old inn that her parents bought in 1996 and turned over to her last year.
There's a little boy who died of influenza who is said to romp through the hallway on the third floor. A girl, who may have been run over by a carriage in front of the inn, is said to run with him.
There's Carl, the stable hand who strangled Jessica, the chambermaid, then killed himself. And then there's Carl the bartender, who died in 1997, yet he's still seen roaming the hotel.
A couple once complained that a man had rudely blocked their path as they walked up the stairs.
"We had a picture of Carl at the bar, and they pointed and said, 'That's the man,"' Atencio-Church said.
Ghosts check in, but they never check out. There are also tales about the Ute Indians, who may have used the land as ceremonial grounds; the outlaw Jesse James, who is said to have buried loot nearby; and Nazis who once gathered at the hotel before America entered World War II.
But one of the oddest things about the inn is it's composition. Its walls are made of white and rose-colored quartz boulders, ripped from a nearby quarry. Atencio-Church claims this crystalline rock conducts unseen energies: "We've become some kind of portal."
Steep gabled roofs, rickety old beams, twisting staircases and creaking hallways fill any gaps in the imagination.
Bryan Bonner of the Rocky Mountain Paranormal Research Society said most places he investigates are not really haunted. He's usually able to find explanations. But Brook Forest? Not yet.
Bonner said he's heard the ghostly footsteps and voices, watched his electromagnetic field meter trip through unexplained energies and felt someone - or something - lie on the bed beside him.
It's not proof, mind you. But it was enough to give even a guy like Bonner the willies.
"A lot of this stuff boils down to personal experience," he said. "People (investigating hauntings) will say, 'We've actually proved there's a ghost in this location.' No, they haven't. There's never 'proof."'
Atencio-Church didn't have time to give me a tour of her inn Monday. She told me I could have the run of the place, though, going into any room I pleased.
So I did. Each room was small and eclectically decorated. Some rooms had claw-foot tubs; others had Jacuzzis. The uneven floors were draped in that flowery carpet typically found in Victorian haunts. And it all felt so cozy ...
Until I reached the staircase between the second and third floors. Somehow, I got that creepy feeling you get when you are sure someone is right behind you. I turned, and there was nobody there.
I was sure I heard someone walking the hall just above me. But when I reached the top of the stairs - nobody. I inspected every room - still, nobody.
I later asked the chambermaid if she had been on the third floor. She said no and told me that some of her associates have been so spooked on the third floor that they will never go back up there. I went back up and looked again. Nada.
Perhaps I was mistaken and the footsteps came from somewhere else in the hotel. Or maybe Carl was just trying to be rude again - I'll never know.
One thing I do know is that places like these love to market their ghosts - particularly for Halloween.
"A haunted inn is a traveler's interest point," said Bonner. "Why do people go to the Stanley (in Estes Park)? It's not the nicest hotel in world. They go there because Stephen King said it was haunted."
Atencio-Church told me she once lost a wedding booking when customers heard about the ghosts. But for every scaredy-cat, there are plenty of thrill-seekers.
This Halloween, Atencio- Church is offering a "Haunted Night Package" that includes a tour with a team from the American Association of Paranormal Investigators and a séance in the basement.
But don't be disappointed if nothing happens. Atencio- Church told me nothing has ever happened to her.
"I really believe in it," she said, "and that's why it's so disturbing that nothing has officially happened to me."
Brook Forest Inn Haunted
Brook Forest Inn Haunted