Briarhurst Manor

Dr. William Bell co-founded Manitou Springs and built this Tudor estate in 1874 as a summer getaway. Ghost Hunters came through in 2009. These days it hosts dinners and events on five wooded acres.

Briarhurst Manor was built in 1874 by Dr. William Abraham Bell, the co-founder of Manitou Springs and a partner with General William J. Palmer in building the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. Born in Ireland to an English family of physicians, Bell came to the United States in 1867 and fell in love with the mineral springs at the foot of Pikes Peak, envisioning a health resort to rival the great spas of Europe. His Tudor-style manor on the banks of Fountain Creek became the social center of Manitou Springs, hosting dignitaries and railroad executives. Disaster struck in the winter of 1886 when the house was completely destroyed by fire, though the family escaped safely. Bell rebuilt an even grander manor on the same site in 1887, and it is this building that stands today. He died on June 6, 1921, at the age of eighty-five, but the Bell family's presence at Briarhurst appears to have continued well beyond his passing.

The most frequently encountered spirit is thought to be Hyacinth Bell, a young girl from the Bell family, who has been seen near the creek and within the manor itself. Children's footsteps are heard running back and forth in the attic, where the Bell children once had a playroom and would spend rainy days playing ball and racing through the space. The sounds are so clear and persistent that staff and guests have gone to investigate, only to find the attic empty. Other documented phenomena include levitating vases, electrical equipment switching on and off, motion detectors triggering without any visible cause, and mysterious footprints with pointed toes appearing on floors. A water valve behind a locked door has been found shut off on its own, and the sound of a child's ball bouncing in an empty room has been reported by multiple witnesses.

The paranormal activity at Briarhurst was significant enough to attract the attention of TAPS, the Atlantic Paranormal Society from the SyFy Channel's Ghost Hunters, who investigated the property and featured it in a 2009 episode. The investigation yielded enough content to make for compelling television, and the episode brought national attention to the manor's haunted reputation. Today Briarhurst Manor operates as an upscale restaurant and event venue, where diners enjoy fine cuisine in elegant Victorian rooms that Dr. Bell would recognize, accompanied by the occasional footstep from an attic playroom where the Bell children are still at play.