Outlaws and Lawmen Jail Museum

The former Teller County Jail, built during the gold rush era to hold the rough characters drawn to the mining district. Now a museum showcasing the wild history of law enforcement in the Old West mining camps.

The Outlaws and Lawmen Jail Museum occupies the former Teller County Jail, constructed in 1901 as a state-of-the-art detention facility for the booming Cripple Creek Mining District. Gold was discovered in Cripple Creek in October 1890, and by 1891 the district was attracting not only miners but also the thieves, con artists, and outlaws who followed wealth. The initial small temporary jail proved inadequate, and Teller County built this imposing structure on West Bennett Avenue to house the district's growing criminal population. The jail operated continuously from 1901 until 1991, when it was closed for lacking a modern exercise yard as required by state regulations. After ninety years of incarcerating everyone from drunken miners to violent criminals, the building was converted into a museum.

The jail is said to be haunted by former inmates and guards who never left. The most unsettling activity centers on the catwalk, which is the site of the only recorded death in the jail. Visitors and staff report heavy breathing and cold spots in this area, as if someone is standing just behind them. The sound of footsteps echoes up and down the staircase, believed to belong to a former guard still making his eternal rounds through the cellblock. The apparition of Rosie, a former jailer, has been sighted in her sleeping quarters, suggesting she still watches over the premises even in death.

Dark shadows move inexplicably in the last two cells of the first floor, and visitors have reported being touched, pushed, and grabbed by unseen hands in the narrow corridors between cells. An angry male presence, believed to be a former prisoner, has made his displeasure known to investigators through EVP recordings and physical sensations of hostility. Haunted Rooms America operates structured ghost hunts at the museum, and the old Teller County Jail has been featured on the Ghost Adventures television series. The museum is located at 136 West Bennett Avenue in Cripple Creek and is open year-round, offering visitors the chance to explore the cells, the catwalk, and the quarters where both the lawmen and the outlaws spent their days and nights.