Stories Abound About Colorado's Haunted Capitol

DENVER (AP) - Apparitions and hoof beats have led some people to believe the Colorado Capitol is haunted, but the official line is that it's a goblin-free zone.

Volunteer tour guide George Cole says some people have reported hearing hoof beats on the marble grand staircase, while others have reported strange ghost-like visions on the top floor of the Capitol.

According to the Pueblo Chieftain, Cole and others say they have seen an apparition they believe is the ghost of a jealous senator's wife.

"Sometimes in the late afternoon from the third floor you can see a white vapor that rises from the Senate and forms itself into a Victorian lady and will float to the right or left from the entrance of the Senate," he says. "I've seen it. At least a half dozen tour guides I've spoken to have seen it."

Cole says tour guides are encouraged not to tell any of the strange things they see.

Believers say the roaming spirits can be traced to violent events.

One of them originated in Southern Colorado with the famed Espinosa brothers, Felipe and Jose.

The Espinosas, upset with squatters, reportedly killed about two dozen people in the early 1860s.

Tracker Tom Tobin and a handful of soldiers killed the Espinosas during a shootout in 1863, and their heads reportedly were delivered to the Capitol.

Cole says the heads were stored briefly in the treasurer's office and later in a storage area in the basement of the Capitol for decades before being disposed of in a furnace. Cole says the hoof beats supposedly come from the Espinosa brothers' ghosts on horseback looking for their heads.

There have also been reports of doors opening and lights going on at night when nobody else is there.

Others who have spent ample time at the Capitol at night have never observed anything out of the ordinary after the politicians have left for the evening.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)