April Winner ~ Tell Us Your Boulderado Story

One of the components of the Boulderado's 100 year anniversary is the Tell Us Your Boulderado Story campagn, which is a collection of memories and narratives from the last century about the Boulderado. The goal is to collect 100 stories which will be compiled into a coffee table book. Our staff selects a monthly favorite, and April's winner is -- me, I'm embarassed to say. I hope you enjoy reading my Boulderado story, "Halloween Night."

"I started working at the Hotel Boulderado in December of 2007. Within my first few weeks, I heard that there were alleged 'ghosts' occupying our hotel, but decided to keep an open mind on the subject. Sometimes odd things will happen in our office – a door will open by itself, a bell will ring for no reason, or sometimes I hear someone else in here when I am completely alone. But the most interesting ghost experience I’ve had here – so far – happened on Halloween of 2008.

I had made plans to stay at the hotel with my boyfriend, Justin, and we were fortunate enough to be upgraded to one of the poshest suites in our inventory. Justin and his young son happened to stop by while I was still at work that day, taking a break from the Munchkin Masquerade on Pearl Street. I took them up to the suite to show them the room, and Justin’s son had fun exploring the room – climbing all over the bed, looking out every window, even testing out the television.

We returned to the room later that evening, after the dinner-hour, to freshen up before we went out to Pearl Street. Justin made a phone call home to say good-night to his son, and I laid down to take a brief nap. He was in the suite’s living room, and I was in the bedroom. There is a heavy door separating the two rooms, and while I was laying down, I saw this door shut very suddenly and firmly. I assumed Justin shut it to have more privacy on his phone call, and thought nothing of it at the time.

I returned to the living room a short time later, and asked Justin how his son was. 'Fine,' he replied. 'Sorry if I was too loud, I didn’t mean to disturb you while you were sleeping. I felt bad when you shut the door.'

'I didn’t shut it, I thought you did,' I answered.

'No, I was on the couch the whole time I was on the phone.

The rest of the night was peppered with 'Are you sure you didn’t shut the door?' from each of us, until finally we both accepted that the other hadn’t touched the door. Later, I remembered that according to the hotel’s history, a former manager had lived in the suite with his small son while his wife and daughter shared a similar set-up a few floors below. I wonder now if by bringing in Justin's son, and the phone call Justin made to him, stirred up some energy already heightened by the holiday. Or maybe I’ve just seen too many of those ghost shows on cable. Regardless, that Halloween night proved a memorable one for me."