Cripple Creek, Colorado: Famous Wild West Brothel

Cripple Creek's most palatial brothel has been preserved for connoisseurs of naughty history.

The Old Homestead was once one of the world's fanciest brothels, serving the wealthiest men in the gold boom town of Cripple Creek, Colorado.

We visited there today. It was open and for $5 (my son is 12 and he was $3 - don't judge. LOL) you got a tour of 10 (I think) rooms. The rooms downstairs and the girls' bedrooms upstairs. Well worth the stop, I thought.

On the south-western slope of "America's Mountain," Pikes Peak, sits the Cripple Creek Gold Mining District. There is a museum celebrating the "soiled doves," or prostitutes of the 1890's gold rush days. The Old Homestead is on Myers Avenue, one block from Cripple Creek's main street, Bennett Avenue and is open from Memorial Day through September.

And for some reason, Cripple Creek is one of the most haunted areas of the US. At the Palace Hotel guests regularly report seeing a woman with a candle wearing a nightgown. At the Colorado Grande casino (we have casinos here too--limited stakes gambling) security guards have reported seeing "Maggie" and a gentleman friend playing a slot machine after hours. Maggie has been taped by the security cameras. Unfortunately, the tapes have vanished, just as Maggie does when the security guards run down to the casino floor. Then there's Lily, a small girl that haunts a Bennett Avenue building. Lily likes balloons. But she only likes certain color balloons. Leave a blue balloon around and it will pop. Leave a purple balloon and it will wander around the building on its own.

From Memorial Day to Halloween, a visitor may take a Ghost Walk Tour. This tour meets in the lobby of the Palace Hotel. Tour participants then walk to various sites in downtown Cripple Creek. Visitors may also visit the Mt. Pisgah Cemetery to take a cemetery tour. After dark.

One more thing Cripple Creek has that is a bit unique -- a wandering herd of donkeys. These animals are purported to be the descendants of the donkeys that worked in the gold mines (500 mines) before electricity got here. The donkey herd wanders where they want and eat what they want, whether its your lawn, your flowers or your trash. Tourists often make the mistake of rolling down car windows and offering some sort of "goodie" to the donkeys. The next thing the poor tourists know, there are 6 donkey heads inside the car waiting for the food. Up here (9,494 feet) we call this the Cripple Creek tourist trap. (Have you ever tried to get a donkey's head out of your car after you've just fed it?) While distressing for the tourists, it's extremely entertaining for the locals.....