Red Rocks Amphitheatre

A world-famous outdoor amphitheatre built into a natural rock formation in Jefferson County, 10 miles west of Denver. The venue sits at 6,450 feet elevation between two 300-foot red sandstone monoliths and has hosted concerts since 1906.

Red Rocks Amphitheatre sits within a 738-acre park of towering sandstone formations near Morrison, Colorado, geological structures that are roughly 300 million years old. The site has been used for concerts and gatherings since the early 1900s, when entrepreneur John Brisbane Walker began hosting events on a temporary platform he called the Garden of the Titans. The Civilian Conservation Corps constructed the permanent amphitheatre between 1936 and 1941, creating one of the most famous outdoor music venues in the world. But long before the first concert echoed off the red rocks, the area was sacred to the Ute, Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Navajo peoples, and some believe their spiritual presence still lingers among the formations.

The most famous ghost at Red Rocks is the Hatchet Lady, a terrifying apparition who has been reported for decades near the rocks above the amphitheatre. In every version of the story, she is identified as Old Mrs. Johnson, a former Morrison resident, though the details vary. One account, provided by former concession stand worker Cill Carle, describes Johnson as a cranky woman who carried a hatchet and pulled her jacket up over her head to frighten neighborhood children. Another version says she chased away all of her daughter's suitors with the hatchet, which is why she appears most often to young couples. The Rocky Mountain Paranormal Society offers an alternative explanation: the Hatchet Lady may be the ghost of a homeless woman who lived in a secluded cave in the rocks and died there in the 1950s. The apparition is described as an old woman -- dirty, ragged, with a nest of gray hair -- who appears at the highest points of the rock formations. She sometimes appears headless, and witnesses say she swings her hatchet with surprising force despite her spectral nature.

A lesser-known ghost is an old miner, described as roughly five feet five inches tall with a long white beard, carrying a bottle. He appears in off-limits areas near the stage and is said to be grouchy and territorial. Given the area's extensive mining history and the many workers who died in Colorado's mines, his presence connects Red Rocks to the broader frontier heritage of the region. Apparitions in Native American ceremonial dress have also been reported among the rock formations.

The Red Rocks Trading Post, a historical gift shop near the amphitheatre, has generated its own collection of paranormal reports from employees. Workers have heard scratching sounds like dogs clawing at doorways, and one employee reported a male voice whispering her name directly in her ear when she was alone. Personalized coffee mugs have been found smashed on the floor after closing when no one was in the building. In the boiler room, staff have documented door handles shaking on their own, locks unfastening themselves, and boxes flying off shelves. Colorado Haunted History Tours operates guided paranormal tours of the Red Rocks area, exploring both the amphitheatre grounds and the surrounding rock formations where the Hatchet Lady and other spirits have been sighted.