Over the years there have been many reports of encounters with a male presence at the Millsite. Maybe a glimpse from the corner of your eye...even a tap on the shoulder or a knocking sound.
One Sunday night Scott found himself, as he had hundreds of nights before, alone in the dark with the doors locked, counting the money. Carol was elsewhere in the building. All at once, the unmistakable feeling that someone was watching him came over him. He spun around and found himself face to face with an old man looking at him with an astonished expression through a hole cut into a door to the kitchen. He pushed the door open, calling for Carol, thinking he was about to be robbed! There was nobody there.
Scott's education is in the field of engineering, his imagination runs toward numbers, not ghosts. He refused to believe the man was not there. He and Carol searched the entire building from the upstairs to the dirt floor basement. They found nobody but themselves and all the doors remained locked. He finally gave up, telling Carol that he 'had goosebumps the size of Long's Peak and he was going home!'.
On a quiet evening not long after Scott's encounter with the mysterious old man, the subject of ghosts came up and Scott told his friends what he had seen. One of the listeners was Mr. Bill Weaver. Mr. Weaver, or Billy, as he preferred to be called, had a story of his own to add.
He believed he knew the identity of the ghost in the doorway.
Born locally, Billy grew up in the mountain town of Gold Hill. What follows is the story he told us that evening.
When Billy was a young boy, in 19** the Millsite, known at the time as The Aspen Grove Inn, was built by two brothers, Joe and Carl Walter. There was a terrrible falling out between the two brothers. Joe even had a headstone made with his brother's name engraved on it. He left blank the date of his passing, however. Carl was still living at the time.
Billy told us that Joe was a big, husky man while Carl was shorter with a slighter build. His description of the Carl he knew and Scott's description of the man he saw were ironically similar, down to the tan dungarees, suspenders and plaid shirt. His sunken cheeks and scruffy iron grey hair were also a match.
To date it is unknown what became of the brothers, but the author continues to research the subject. It is the contention of the author's mother that the Millsite discover Carl's birthday and celebrate it.
With him.
Stay tuned!
BOO
On the evening of 11/10/2010, the Boulder County Paranormal Research Society was invited to the Millsite Inn to investigate the possible existance of the ghost we like to call Carl.
The Boulder County Paranormal Research Society is comprised of a group of people who share a common interest in the paranormal. They are as professional in their approach to their investigations as they are in their working lives.
When they arrived at 10:00, their first task was to acquire EMF readings throughout the building. This is to avoid confusing or conflicting results should an entity provide similar readings.
Then we began to talk to him. We asked questions such as 'Is your name Carl?' and 'What became of your brother?'
While asking these questions we were being recorded by equipment so sensitive it could pick up the tiniest of sounds-and record frequencies outside our range of hearing.
The astounding results of this question and answer period willl soon become available on the BCPRS website. www.bouldercountyparanormal.org
As Carl did answer some of the questions we were able to identify him with certainty. His name is Carl Walter, born in Ward, Colorado on June the 10th in 1983. He married to Marie Gladys Williams from Riverside California on October the 21st. in1929. The couple then returned to Ward in 1940. Mrs Walter passed away in 1960, followed by her husband in 1973.
One interesting note: Carl Walter's obituary indicates he was survived by his brother, Joe. Yet when asked about Joe, Carl answered that he was dead. Perhaps they made up their differences in the afterlife.
Encouraged by these fascinating results, the BCPRS will be returning very soon for a follow up investiagaion.
Again I say...stay tuned!
The mission statement of the BCPRS is as follows:
"The Boulder Coulty Paranormal Resesrch Society is dedicated to the scientific, objective investigation into claims of alleged paranormal phenomena."
There is never a charge for their investigations.
