Brown Palace Hotel Halloween Tours

The Brown Palace Hotel is a Denver, Colorado landmark. These October tours are a great chance to see the interior and hear some mysterious tales from its illustrious past

The Brown Palace is the grand dame of downtown Denver hotels. It's also one of my favorite places to stay in the Southwest. If you've never seen the inside of this Denver landmark at 17th Street and Broadway, take advantage of the special Halloween tours running through the month of October.

The tours are free and take place Tuesdays through Saturdays at 1pm. You'll need to make reservations, though, as tour numbers are limited each day. To reserve your place, call (303) 297-3111, extension 3104.

The hotel opened in 1892, and with more than a century of history behind it, it's not surprising it has collected a few ghosts along the way. I took a Brown Palace tour a few years ago and I've never forgotten the spooky tale of room 904.

Now it's a gorgeous stateroom with art-deco furniture and all mod cons. But from 1937 until 1986, the 8th and 9th floors of the hotel were converted into apartments. For 15 of those years, room 904 was home to Mrs. Louise Crawford Hill, a leading lady in Denver society.

During the hotel's renovation in the late 1980's, the Brown Palace historian led tours which featured tales of the former apartment residents, including Mrs. Hill and her unhappy love life. Calls from room 904 began lighting up the switchboard, a bizarre phenomenon since the room had been gutted and had no telephones. When the calls were answered, there was only static on the line. The story of Mrs. Hill was deleted from the tour, and the calls stopped.

Her story has been revived for this special Halloween tour. Also on offer is a Halloween Monster Brunch at Ellyngton's restaurant on Sunday, October 28.

For more about this wonderful hotel, see my articles on the Brown Palace and Denver Spas.