The Reveal.....

WOW! What an experience! 

Very surreal. 

If one wasn't a believer in spirits before, a ghost hunt at Miramont Castle would certainly make them a believer. 

The Ghost Hunt was led by the group The Haunted Dimensions. And yes, they used K2 meters, flir camera, and a nifty app on their pads - Ghost Radar. Ghost Radar works very much like the Ghost Box by scanning through radio frequencies quite rapidly and detects sound bytes which it then can translate into words. (a simplistic definition)

There were two groups of approx. 13 people plus at least 3 investigators. One group started at the top on the fourth floor. And the other group started in the basement. Each group worked its way through the Castle and eventually met up for coffee where we compared notes. We then split up into smaller groups to investigate our 'favorite' spot. 

While nothing like seeing an apparition or being touched by something happened to me, some of the night's attendees did speak of experiencing such things.  My night's remembrances are of flashlights. And questions being answered. The Lead Investigator would ask yes/no questions and ask for the spirit to respond by turning on the flashlight. This happened a lot! Some of the resident spirits were quite chatty. I guess you could say these were intelligent hauntings. On two occasions I volunteered to sit in one of the rooms by myself with only a flashlight, camera and recorder. I spent at least 15 minutes, maybe more, 'chatting' with a boy(?) from Europe who had been at the Castle because he was ill - perhaps ill with tuberculosis. Very surreal to hear the words on the Ghost Radar and to see this flashlight, which is positioned across the room with absolutely nothing around it, go on and off.

I had no doubt about the existence of spirits or ghosts before our trip to Miramont Castle. And what I experienced only reinforced those beliefs.

Brief History: Miramont Castle is located in Manitou Springs, Colorado and was built in 1895 as a private residence for Father Jean Baptist Francolon, a French born Catholic priest, and his mother. The Castle is an eclectic mix of architectural styles - from Byzantine to Tudor. The Sisters of  Mercy shared the property with the Father and operated a sanitarium, caring for people with a variety of illnesses who came to Manitou Springs for the 'miraculous healing waters' which flowed from the various springs. After the Father left for the East coast under a cloud of suspicion in 1900, the Sisters stayed on to run the sanitarium - tuberculosis was by now the main illness but recovering soldiers returning from the Wars would soon fill the rooms. The Castle eventually fell into disrepair but in 1976 the Manitou Springs Historical Society purchased the building and began renovation to the structure. Today Miramont Castle is on the National Historic register and serves as a museum which houses only a portion of the rich history of Colorado.

*** Note to Self : Add Daytime Tour of Miramont Castle to Roadtrip Bucket List ***