Cheesman Park

( Cheesman Pavillion with the open land behind it that was destined to become the Denver Botanic Gardens)

When I look back on growing up and living in Denver I see that I spent most of my life there in the Capital Hill section of the city. I've lived on Gilpin Street between 14th Ave. and Colfax. On 16th Ave just off Lafayette Street. At the corner of 12th Ave and Humbolt Street. On Pearl Street between 13th and 14th Avenues- south of the Safeway store. On Lincoln Street between 11th and 12th Avenues. On 14th Avenue between Ogden Street and Emerson Street, almost catycorner from Morey Junior High School. In an apartment building at the corner of Colfax and Vine Street. On Elizabeth Street twice; one between 11th and 12th Avenues, right behind Stevens Elementary School, and once south of 11th Ave right next to the reservoir that backs up to Congress Park.

All but one of these points is within ten blocks of Cheesman Park. When my family lived on Elizabeth Street behind Stevens I walked through the park both to and from Morey Junior High when I was a student there. I've played in the children's playground at the west side of the park near 11th Avenue and climbed the trees surrounding that playground. I've ridden my bike and jogged around the park. I've rested in and climbed on the roof of the wooden gazebo at the north end of the park. I've been to picnics there several times. I've been in the park in Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring. And I've know there were bodies buried on its grounds since I was a kid.

Cheesman Park began as Denver's first city cemetery. By the 1890's it had become so rundown and neglected the city decide to turn it into a park. People were told to remove their dead and the remaining unclaimed bodies were removed by an undertaker hired by the city to do so. Only the man they hired did not do a good job of it. Heck, he did wost than a bad job of it and anywhere from 2,000 to 4,200 bodies were left behind when the leveling of the grounds was completed in 1907. In the years since the park was officially opened there have been stories told about the ghosts of the people left behind walking the park at night and a feeling of sadness and despair blanketing sections of the park during the day. It is also said that at night during a full moon you can sometimes seen the outline of the unmarked graves in the open space near the south end of the park.

My supernatural encounter in the park happen when I was around 13 or 14 years old. I was hanging out in the Pavilion one summer day when I decided to wander into the pine trees that line the eastern edge of the park . On the other side of those trees is the Denver Botanic Gardens and separating the Gardens from the park is a tall wrought iron fence. What I did not know at the time is there is a gate in that fence right where the Japanese garden is now. That day I stepped out of the trees right in front of the gate. (This was within a year of the completion of the Conservatory and the laying out of the gardens was still being implemented.) When I looked through the gate I saw the Conservatory rising in the near distance above ground that was covered in tall grass and weeds. I thought it was kind of interesting since I had never had the opportunity to see the Gardens from this angle before and stood there enjoying the view.

Then I started feeling uncomfortable. Something was wrong but I was not sure just what. I looked over my shoulder and could see the white pillars of the Pavilion through the trees. The air was heavy and seemed to press down on me. The longer I stood their the more uncomfortable I got. What was wrong? I listened and then realized I could not hear a thing. I was surrounded by an eerie "dead" quiet. It was as if I was standing inside a glass box and cut off from the sounds around me. This scared me so much I turned and quickly bolted back through the trees and on to the park lawn that lay just on the other side them. I stood there, my heart racing from adrenaline. The air here was lighter and I could hear wind in the trees, car engines, and the voices of people playing volleyball over in the open area. I turned around and looked back through the trees at the fence. There was no way I was going back in there again.

Now, what I did not know at the time is that Cheesman Park is not the only piece of land that is part of the original cemetery, the Botanic Gardens, Congress Park, and the reservoir are also part of it.

(More ghost stories about the park here.)