Brown Palace tours

To commemorate 109 years of Halloweens at the Brown Palace, historian Julia Kanellos will conduct specially themed Ghost Tours from October 2nd through November 3rd. These historical tours will be offered to the public for free with advance reservations by calling (303) 297-3111 ext. 3104.

As Halloween approaches, the Brown Palace suggests that mortal guests celebrate by combining a Ghost Tour with lunch at one of the hotel’s three restaurants, or with Afternoon Tea in the atrium lobby (for an additional charge). The tours will be conducted Tuesdays through Saturdays beginning at 1:00pm, so that patrons can enjoy both lunch and a tour.

The historian has researched the hotel’s archives to collect the ghost tales that will be told on the 45-minute tour. Many of the 'sightings’ have been by current and former employees of Denver’s grand dame.

Take the musicians who used to play in Ellyngton’s restaurant. They come back from time-to-time to play a few tunes according to the houseman who heard sounds in the restaurant and confronted the trio in the wee hours of the morning. After he told them they couldn’t play there, they told him not to worry. "We live here."

Recent sightings by hotel employees have also involved a spirit in uniform. He has been seen outside the Brown Palace Club dressed in his conductor’s uniform. The hotel originally housed the ticket office for the Rock Island Railroad, so it seems plausible that a mortal conductor might have once walked these halls. When sighted, this spirit merely disappears through the wall.

Once founder Henry Brown opened the hotel in August 1892, the Brown Palace has never closed, not even for a day. It has played host to presidents, princesses and international visitors for more than a century. Some of its guests, such as the ones referred to earlier, have never bothered to "check out."

A luxury landmark located in the heart of downtown Denver, the Brown Palace is a charter member of Preferred Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, as well as National Trust Historic Hotels of America. It is managed by Quorum Hotels & Resorts, a full service management company headquartered in Dallas.