Description Of Place: Situated in the shadow of Mount Epworth and within walking distance of Deadman Lake, Deadman Manor is a former residence converted into a guest house for families seeking to vacation in the idyllic mountain scenery of the Colorado Rockies. It is a two-story log mansion house with a barn-style roof filled wood furnishings and American modern furniture with five bedrooms, spacious living quarters and a backyard veranda including a modern hot tub. Named for the lake, the reference refers to the large boulders or "dead weight" excavated from here to build the old abandoned Moffat Tunnel nearby, a railroad access tunnel.   

Ghostly Manifestations: Over the years, Paranormal TV-shows have ranged from the sublime to the notorious. Long before the field became acceptable on "Ghost Hunters" and "Unsolved Mysteries," the paranormal was being documented in TV documentaries like "In Search Of" trying to condense whole examinations down to thirty minutes or was being watered down into entertainment for shows like "One Step Beyond." Unfortunately, there were also TV shows like Alan Brady’s short-lived 1983 series, “Ghost Stories,” which despite its high production values was pretty much adapted for the former TV comedian to roll his eyes and mug to the camera as serious individuals described their inexplicable encounters. Even worse, Manhattan's Attic House Production Company created  “True and Real Ghost Stories of the Supernatural” for the Ghost Network (now the Chiller Network) which purposely took obscure haunted locations to blatantly exploit in the name of entertainment. Production values were low, and it was not unusual for actors in recreations to have lines shouted to them from off-camera, special effects people to appear on camera and for sets to collapse or fall down around actors. Even worse, it was also not unusual for the creators to materialize fake research and dub fake lines onto unsuspecting and unwitting participants. Some of their so-called allegations still pop-up in the websites of lazy paranormal aficionados. 

Deadman Manor in the remote Colorado Rockies possibly suffered more indignity at the hands of Attic House Productions than it did from the curiosity-seekers who visited the quiet mansion or the Tandamount Studios production team who rented the structure to create the pilot for "Scary House," a sadistic and vicious would-be game show that terrorized unsuspected guests with faked haunted house stereotypes created through the use of special effects. However, if it wasn't for "Scary House," it would not have been possible to look into the original stories of the mansion buried under urban myths of missing tourists and murdered campers.

"As far as we can tell," Steve Barnette of the Collinsport Ghost Society team testifies. "There was no such person as Commodore Elijah T. Deadman who ever lived at much less built Deadman Mansion, and if there was, I'm not sure why a steamship captain would travel this far west just to retire on the shore of a land-locked freshwater lake. There's also no records that anyone has ever died here. In fact, I'm pretty sure that if there was ever a number of campers or tourists murdered here as "Scary House" claimed that there would be a record of it somewhere in the Grand County Historical Archives.

While long-term residents of nearby Winter Park swear voraciously and determinedly that Deadman House "never has been haunted and never will be haunted," there are one or two old-timers whose families came here during the first Gold Rush here who do seem to recall vague stories of strange activity in the remote structure. Otis Mendler, a retired assayer, knew of a haunted lodge deep in the woods of  James Peak Forest Preserve, but he wasn't sure it was the Deadman House. However, Philip Kramer of the Grand County Historical Archives in Hot Sulphur Springs has credible evidence of stories about the structure that date to the Early 1900s.

"Originally," He begins. "It seems like it could just be a work of fiction, but when you compare the layout described in the account, the distance from Boulder, the names and dates and other clues, it just all fits together.

"At the turn of the century," He continues. "The structure was known as the Old Post House, possibly because it once was an old trading post and possibly a gambling hall and house of ill repute at some time. It stood empty for a long time, and in that time, hunters in these parts used it as a informal local hunting lodge. Supposedly, they came out of the house feeling as if they were being watched, and writer Peyton Oswalt wrote a story for the newspaper one Halloween about hearing heavy footsteps coming up the stairs as he tried watching for deer from an upstairs window. Another story from the area concerns a group of hikers who said they were watched by a female presence from the front porch, and yet another concerns the place ablaze with lights and loud music at a time when the place didn't have electricity. Now, there's no indications that these stories actually occurred here, I mean, they could have been transplanted here from anywhere, but the details in these accounts match the Deadman house." 

Standing at the top of a small hill at the end of a long drive, the rental home is surrounded by acres of pastoral woodland and rolling countryside. It is not unusual to see deer or even a random bear wandering the grounds, but since 1998, many strange occurrences have been reported happening here.

"Around 1973 or 1975," Kramer reveals. "It was going to be offices for the local forestry service, and the local ranger was going to live there with the house as his post. He had a guard dog there with him, and one day, he went out and came back and found the dog missing. The structure was all locked up except for an upstairs window over the front of the house which had been clawed up as if the dog was trying to escape. It was eventually found a few yards away with two broken front legs. No one knows exactly what had happened, but it looked as if the dog had jumped out of the house trying to get out of the place."

One-time visitors have also described hearing the sounds of antique pool balls clinking as if someone was playing pool. This was a unique sound because modern pool balls are made from plastic. Others have reported hearing the uncontrollable crying of a baby coming from somewhere in the residence, but no one knows who this could be.

"We have no records of children living here before the 1950s." Kramer shares his records of the building's history with the CGS. "According to the account, the structure was built by Quincy Baker, a traveling merchant who traveled the area and set up shop in a cabin on the site. Over time, the cabin grew in size to its present location, but just two years later, it was sold to Theodore Perry, whose family ran the trading post and sold rooms upstairs for several years. Over the next several years, the building served many purposes, a boarding house, a church, bordello and a speakeasy in the Thirties when it was shut down. When it was converted into a hunting lodge, construction crews began to experience a number of strange occurrences.

"After a long days work, they would often return the next day to find that the tasks they had completed the day before had been "undone.” Stains returned to walls, furniture pushed to the walls and covered up were returned to their original spots, tools were piled away in closets, doors left open inside were found closed and other things happened. After this had occurred several times, guard dogs were left to protect the property from what the workmen thought might be intruders. However, the next day they found the two Bulldogs trapped and cowering in a closet with a chair against the door. Once the renovation to a hunting lodge was complete, guests started reported hearing they heard furniture moving around, drawers opening and closing and the sound of an old Bell phone ringing somewhere in the location. One person claimed they saw someone wandering the upstairs with a lighted candelabra from the upstairs windows, but there wasn't a person attached to the end of the arm holding it.

"In 1958," Kramer reveals a 1961 article from the former Boulder Gazette. "A séance was held to determine who was haunting the building, and they reportedly made contact with the spirit of a little girl whose body was supposedly entombed in the cellar. However, when the basement was searched, they found a hidden chamber filled with sand behind the west wall, but no remains of a little girl."

According to the TV series, "Ghost Stories" by Alan Brady, a ghostly image has often been sighted gliding up and down the main floor stairway and otherworldly voices have been heard here as well. Frank Dolley, the former owner of the home, is said to have been spied numerous times roaming the veranda between the mansion and path to the lake. However, since there are no know photos of Theodore Perry, such an identification is speculatory.

When the location still served as a hunting lodge, occupants on the lower levels were known to complain about sounds of nonexistent wild parties taking place on the second floor level, but when these parties were investigated, they would be met with only silent emptiness. Other specters are claimed to be present within the walls of the cavernous structure. Reports of knocks, bangs, footsteps and an infant’s cry are the most commonly reported. There have also been several sightings of a gentleman in period garb walking between the house and the remains of an old carriage house. This is believed to be the spirit of Perry.

Though it has been altered to accommodate each wave of tenants, there has been special care taken to preserve the unique attributes of the mansion. The fireplace retains the original stone tile surrounds and mantles. The stained glass of the kitchen is strikingly beautiful and intact. From these windows, a guest with his family noted seeing a strange woman open the window and peek out before slowly closing the window again. The man was a father with three children from Boulder, but upon charging through the back door, he found the kitchen empty.

The stately mahogany trim and paneling of the main floor parlor is the first thing that greets guests who rent the structure. The prestige and workmanship has left many wanting to own a home with such furnishings, but others have reported footsteps coming up and down the stairs at night from the soft patter of an invisible child to the echoing thunderous approach of a male intruder, who if you believe the writing staff at "Scary House," is coming up to slaughter the living.

"There has never been a real-life case of ghosts murdering the living." Steve Barnette of the CGS is quick to point out. "But gullible uneducated people force-fed this sort of Hollywood movie propaganda still believe it occurs. It makes me think the people who don't believe in ghosts are the only ones not being poisoned by this ridiculous dogma."

"On July 15, 2012," Barnette continues. ""Scary House" debuted on Comedy Central, and had the Duncan family from Denver involved not been desperate to get on TV after being humiliated with objects moved by fish line, an out-of-work TV host and computer-generated effects projected in the parlor, I would have expected them to move on and sue the show's creators. However, smelling the stink of a potential cash mine from this awful exploitation of not just a family but a genuine but obscure haunted location, they tried the stunt again with the Rooney family of Stevens Point, Wisconsin. However, this time, they got more than they expected.

"First off, their wireless feed to the house went down and they lost visual activity with the family so they tried running it blind. Uncertain where the family was, they ran through all their assorted carnival tricks, doors and drawers opening and closing, spooky laughter from the upstairs, a fireplace going on and off... it must have seemed like a poltergeist attack, and the Rooney family jumped into their car and tore down the road to the highway, nearly running over host Willard Carmichael in the process. Unlike the Duncans, the family wanted to sue the show, but it got settled out of court and the series quickly changed location to the Byron Plantation in Kentucky to try and recoup their loss after the Deadman location became outed in the press.

"The odd thing about this revelation..." Barnette reveals. "...Is that in their deposition, the Rooneys listed all the stunts the show pulled on them including a supposed presence that came down the steps behind them and vanished through the closed basement door. Problem is... that wasn't one of their effects."

History: According to records pieced together from various sources, Deadman Manor was originally a trading post that rented rooms upstairs and then a meeting hall for an unnamed miner community in the 1890s before it was restored as a hunting lodge in the 1930s. The grounds were absorbed with the out-laying communities into the city of Winter Park in 1932. Along with several other cabins acquired by the Deadman Lake Campgrounds, it was taken over as a guest house in 1995, rented out to guests and tourists through the Central Woodland Cabin Association.

Identity of Ghosts: Officially, no one knows who or what is haunting the mansion. Theodore Perry has long been touted as the identity of the figure haunting the grounds, but there are no clues to the figure of the woman having been reported. The likely theory is the activity is haunted by the place memories linked to the location by its past.  

Source/Comments: Good Luck Charlie (Episode: "Baby's First Vacation") - Activity and phenomenon based on the Grant-Humphreys Mansion and the Croke-Patterson-Campbell Mansion in Denver, Colorado, the Congden Mansion and Griggs Mansion in St. Paul, Minnesota, Summerwind from Land O'Lakes, Wisconsin, the Covewood Lodge in Covewood, New York and the Kreischer Mansion on New York City's Staten Island. 

• Alan Brady from "The Dick Van Dyke Show" (1961 - 1966)
• Rooney family from "Liv & Maddie" (2013 - Recent)
• "True and Real Ghost Stories of the Supernatural" from "How I Met Your Mother" (2005 - 2014)
• Tandamount Studios from "Arrested Development" (2003 - 2014)