George. Charlie. Jonathan. Mr. French. They’re all common names, but these particular monikers may raise goosebumps in Northern Colorado. These folks have left the mortal coil. Well, mostly, anyway. If you ask some folks,
they aren’t physically with us anymore, but their spirits remain.
Museum of Art Fort Collins
George really likes the TV show, “Evil Killers.” Yet George, who roams the halls of the Museum of Art Fort Collins, really isn’t a mean-spirited ghost, says Elizabeth Martin, the museum’s executive director of external affairs. He just loves to watch murder shows.
“It’s so embarrassing,” Martin says. “Every time we go to do a video chat, we turn the TV on in the meeting, and ‘Evil Killers’ comes up every time. I mean, every time.”
She isn’t sure where the name George came from, but over time, the ghost has reinvented his image from spooky spirit to a beloved part of the building’s history—and future.
Employees at the Fort Collins Post Office; left to right: Edith Peggy Bair, Fanny Tenney Dowdell,
Frank Slayton, Roy Inmann and Marshall Moore. Photo courtesy of Fort Collins Museum of Discovery.
The building that houses the museum was built on a former graveyard, which served the original military fort of Fort Collins, Martin says. Once the cemetery was relocated, the original building, located at 201 S. College Ave., was finished on Halloween of 1912. It served as a post office until 1972.
One theory behind George’s origin comes from Grandview Cemetery, located at the intersection of Laporte Avenue and Taft Hill Road. There’s a gravestone there in remembrance of all the Camp Collins soldiers, and among the names is George Pridmore. Pridmore was 25 years old when he died in 1865, according to a short video about the ghost.
Martin says she’s seen other evidence of George’s antics at the museum. She’ll unlock the doors to start the day, only to find the TV on and no one else in the building.
“To me, that’s really weird,” she says. “But also, he’s gotta be bored.”
The old building was first remodeled in 1977 and has since undergone a number of additional remodels, leaving staircases, hallways and walls in a somewhat willy-nilly fashion. That enhances the spooky feeling of the building, Martin says.
“There are people who come back to visit who had been here previously, and they literally can’t figure it out,” she says. “They’re like, ‘There’s a wall here, but I used to walk this way.’ It’s a little eerie. ‘Where does that staircase lead? Where’s that door? Why does this staircase go to nowhere?’”
When asked point-blank if she believes in ghosts and, more specifically, George, Martin admits she’s a skeptic. She also admits she’s not often in the museum at night.
“But I also can’t figure out why ‘Evil Killers’ is always on,” she says.
Weld County Courthouse
The Weld County Courthouse, 901 9th Ave. in Greeley, not only has quite a history (every court case in the county has taken place there), but it’s also the alleged home of two ghosts. Construction on the current courthouse began in 1915, and the building opened a year later. However, a courthouse has stood on the site since 1883, according to Naomi Burbidge, co-owner of the ghost tour company Weld County Paranormal.
“There are stories from janitors and other workers in the old courthouse who talk to a little boy they lovingly named Jonathan,” Burbidge says. Jonathan has been known to leave toys outside the courtrooms and has even been seen inside during cases, she says.
While Jonathan seems harmless, there’s also the not-so-loving Mr. French. Rumor has it that Mr. French is W.D. French, a wealthy and ill-mannered cattle rancher who was hanged near the courthouse on Dec. 29, 1888, according to a piece published by Shairan Whitman, the 19th Judicial District Account Clerk.
The first Weld County Courthouse built in 1883, where it stood until 1915 when it was torn down and rebuilt. Photo courtesy of the City of Greeley Museums, Permanent Collection.
French supposedly shot and killed an Evans man two weeks prior, after a dispute over 600 pounds of flour escalated at French’s home. While awaiting trial, French was hanged from a tree near the courthouse by vigilantes who broke into the jail. It is the only known hanging in Greeley’s history.
Burbidge refers to Mr. French’s tale as the most famous ghost story in Greeley, noting that the noose used to hang him is on display at the Greeley History Museum.
That said, French’s ghost doesn’t appear to be overly maleficent. Some of Burbidge’s tour guests born in the ’30s say they heard stories of his haunting while they were growing up.
“He loves to flirt with the ladies, move things around and cause a ruckus,” Burbidge says. “He’s a mischievous man who likes to get a rise out of people, but not by being mean.”
Burbidge and her business partners, Jennifer Trunk and Alice Singletary, have done paranormal investigations in and around the courthouse along with tours. Most of their tours happen when the courthouse is closed, so they typically remain outside.
Last year, during an investigation inside the courthouse, they got confirmation on Jonathan.
“He really liked to answer yes or no by lighting up on the spirit balls,” Burbidge says.
She adds that they got signs of French inside, but he mostly showed up near the spot of his hanging.
“We also got some cool readings at the piece of rope when we visited,” she says.
Walrus Ice Cream
This downtown Fort Collins ice cream shop, located at 125 W. Mountain Ave., is around the corner from the art museum. However, Walrus’ ghost, Charlie, has a little more history than George.
Charlie’s story can be traced back to a specific person: Charlie Dinnebeck. Charlie used to own Dinnebeck’s Cafe, which opened in 1920 and stood where Walrus is now. There’s even a picture of Charlie and his family from 1927 hanging in the shop today.
Lisa Paugh and her then-husband bought Walrus Ice Cream from its previous owner in 1999, and she’s been running it solo since 2014. Paugh says she has almost daily interactions with Charlie.
Charlie Dinnebeck (left) and his family in front of Walrus Ice Cream in 1927, when it was Dinnebeck’s Cafe.
“He’s very friendly,” she says. “I don’t think we’d be successful if he was a bad ghost.”
That said, she’s had to keep Charlie in check.
Charlie doesn’t like change, so when renovations were made to the building over the years, he made his displeasure known. The building used to be a bank, and pulling the old teller stations out created quite a stir for him.
“That’s when he started breaking cabinets,” Paugh recalls. “A dipping cabinet fell over, and a front window shattered. My mother and her friend did a blessing by walking around the basement burning white sage and talking to Charlie. It worked.”
Ghost tours are frequent at Walrus, so frequent that Paugh heard “through the grapevine” that Charlie was unhappy when the tours ended during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I had a medium come in here randomly for some ice cream,” Paugh says. “She said, ‘Lisa, Charlie says he wants his people back in here,’ meaning the tours. Once the tours opened up, he was happy again. He likes to be recognized.”
One time, Charlie pulled the handle on the root beer keg.
“I saw the handle move,” Paugh says. “I was so mad at him. It was so sticky. What a mess that was.”
Along with the picture of Charlie that hangs on the wall, Paugh says she also put his story up. She originally had the opening date of Dinnebeck’s Cafe listed as 1921.
“It kept falling off the wall,” she says. “We corrected it to 1920, and it stopped falling down.”
Stories like this abound in Northern Colorado. Are they real, or are they just stories told to give you goosebumps? If you’re really curious, maybe a trip to an art museum, a ghost tour around a courthouse or a simple trip for some butter pecan ice cream will help you make up your mind.
