Western Wednesday: Ghost Towns: Saint Elmo

The Old West abounds with eerie hauntings and spooky happenings. Tales of apparitions of Indians on horse, whooping and careening across the Plains, Outlaws who met an untimely demise returning from the grave to terrorize the living, and butchered settlers coming back from the dead in various stages of decomposition to roam the dusty streets of ghost towns and the our imaginations.

Ghost towns have always held a particular fascination for me. The reason why such places became ghost towns are numerous and varied. Sometimes mines dried up, sometimes the railroad didn’t come their way and they simply dwindled into history as folks moved on. Sometimes tragic events seemingly cursed the town into abandonment—but were they really abandoned? Or do the spirits of the slain, the shades of the bitter and disillusioned, remain behind, forever roaming dusty streets, drifting among the tumbling tumbleweeds?

One such town is Saint Elmo, Colorado. Built in 1878, deep in a forested area, it was originally named, appropriately enough, Forrest City. After enough houses, shops and hotels sprang up a new name, Saint Elmo, was incorporated in 1880. Initially, the town was a highly proper place but as the population swelled to over 2000, primarily male, due to silver and gold discoveries, numerous dance halls, saloons and cathouses arose and the town began to put the Wild into West. It was the scene of many a raunchy Saturday night binges.

The Stark family, the town’s elite, was responsible for much of its prosperity and survival. Remnants of the family remained years after the town fell into abandonment. According to legend Annabelle Stark, who died lonely after a failed marriage, still haunts the town.

With the failure of many of its mines, the town began to fall into decline. Sometime around 1922 the last residents rode out on the train and never returned. Tracks were torn up four years later.

Saint Elmo is unique amongst ghost towns, as it has been preserved instead of restored. Twenty-four buildings remain, including a mercantile, saloon, jail and private homes. Tourists can visit and apparently chipmunk feeding is a big deal. And if you listen carefully, when the October moon is high and brittle leaves skitter across the empty main street, you just might hear the tinkle of a honky tonk piano or the giggles of bargirls floating out from the saloon…