Creepy Stuff Has Happened in Denver’s Peabody-Whitehead Mansion

The unassuming brick home located at 1128 Grant Street in Denver looks like many of the other historic houses on the block, but the Peabody-Whitehead Mansion is way more notorious than its downtown neighbors – it has a reputation of being one of the most haunted homes in town.

The home first belonged to Dr. William Riddick Whitehead, a local surgeon, who built the residence in 1889 and lived there until his death in 1902.

Following Whitehead's passing, Denver's governor at the time, James Peabody, moved in for a short while. Then, during the 1960s and 70s, several bars and restaurants took up space inside the mansion on Grant Street.

The paranormal activity first began taking place in the home when Whitehead lived there. The story has it, that the spirits were actually brought into the residence by Whitehead himself, and they were thought to be the souls of soldiers that had died under the surgeon's care during the deadly Crimean War. Some of the reported poltergeist happenings that occurred while the Whitehead family lived in the mansion were things like pictures falling off the walls, flying books, and extreme disturbances during the night. Whitehead believed he had failed his former patients and their spirits had followed and continued to haunt him because of that.

After Whitehead died inside the home, the hauntings seemed to calm down for a period of time, which validated the theory that the spirits were somehow attached to the surgeon...but that didn't last long.

Stories of paranormal activity started coming from the mansion once again after bars and restaurants set up shop within its quarters. Employees documented unexplained issues happening with electrical equipment, objects moving on their own, and bookings flying off the shelves - similar to what Whitehead had experienced years prior. Another eerie occurrence was that multiple visitors heard the sounds of a baby crying throughout the mansion, and of course, no infant was actually on the premises any of these times. More reports from restaurant staff detailed glasses frequently crashing to the ground or breaking while just sitting on top of the bar, as well as a chandelier that flickered, even though all of its power sources were cut off  – can you say creepy?

The ghost stories that have come from the Peabody-Whitehead Mansion were enough to attract the well-known team from Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures to investigate deeper.

Paranormal investigators estimate that at least twelve different spirits live inside the mansion. Besides the ghosts of soldiers and Dr. Whitehead, it's believed that Governor Peabody's aggressive and extreme energy may be the cause of some of the hauntings in the home. Ghost hunters think another spirit by the name of either Eloise or Ella lingers on the second floor and that the ghost of a female waitress who committed suicide inside the home haunts the basement. Investigations also revealed an older man who is said to haunt the first floor, near the women's bathroom, where witnesses have reported a strong odor of cherry-scented pipe in the area. The apparition of another female, who died in the mansion while waiting for her fiancé, has been seen by numerous people peeking out of windows.

Nowadays, the Peabody-Whitehead Mansion sits vacant, with a metal gate blocking the public from getting too close. It's possible that in the future, the building's new life could cause the ghosts to stir and make themselves known yet again.

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