The tale of the “Bloody Espinosas” started in San Luis Valley and ended with two decapitated heads supposedly haunting the halls of the Colorado State Capitol — one of several chilling tales that will be told this month in a series of free tours of Denver’s golden-domed building.
The Espinosas were brothers, Felipe and Vivian. Angry they were being pushed off land in territorial Colorado and usurped by white settlers, they killed perhaps dozens of people in the 1860s. After Vivian was killed by a posse in 1863, nephew José joined the spree.
Felipe and José were eventually caught and killed by fur trapper Thomas Tate Tobin — and evidence they’d been slain may have been worth some money. So, as the story goes, Tobin took two gruesome trophies, which eventually ended up in the state capitol building.
That was the start of a chain of events leading to strange noises that, legend has it, are heard in the building to this day. It’s one of the stories, myths and legends highlighted in the new “Spooky Capitol Tour” that begins this week. Read on for more details.
Headless horsemen and a Victorian ghost:
The most famous version of the “Bloody Espinosas” story says Tobin took the heads to the military outpost Fort Garland. Tobin was reportedly refused his bounty, so he eventually brought them to the state treasurer’s office at the Colorado State Capitol, which was built decades later.
“A lot of folks will say that the heads remained here in the treasurer's office for quite some time,” said Mac Jordan, a tour guide at the capitol, during a recent preview of the ghostly tour. “Some say that they were displayed in other areas of the building, but eventually the heads were taken down to the tunnels here in the capitol, where they were stored for many, many years. And eventually they were put into the incinerator.”
That wasn’t the end of it, however. “Some say that when it's quiet in the building, you can hear the hoof beats in the rotunda – where the headless brothers are riding their horses, still looking for their heads,” Jordan said.
Besides the story about the Espinosa brothers, Jordan’s repertoire of ghostly and haunting legends includes the story of a man who jumped from an upper floor to his death, leaving a crack in the marble step at the bottom of the first floor staircase. There’s also the one about the ghost who appears in the form of a woman wearing a Victorian dress, roaming the halls near the senate offices.
Some stories like the one about the Espinosas are tied to historical information, but others like the ghostly woman aren’t tied to known events or historical figures.
“No one has really been able to have any type of interaction with her other than seeing her,” Jordan said. “I couldn't find any kind of origin story for her – they've just allegedly been seen by people in and around the building.”
If you go:
The free tour will be held Oct. 16, 17, 30 and 31 at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. To take the tour, meet at the visitor’s center on the first floor.
