Hundreds witness “Spirits” in Masonic Cemetery
Annual “Cemetery Crawl”
It took no special ghost hunting skills or equipment to spot spirits roaming the Masonic Cemetery on Saturday afternoon. It was the Gilpin Historical Society’s annual Cemetery Crawl. Each year, for the past 22 years, the Society has featured one of Gilpin’s cemeteries and the people of the past who lie at rest inside them. Re-enactors, referred to as “Spirits,” are members of the Society dressed in period costume and stationed throughout the cemetery. In familiar first-person language, they tell about “their” lives, speaking to small groups led by period-costumed guides to “their” headstones.
What the “Spirits” say is historically accurate, painting a picture for visitors of what life was like for the real people of Gilpin’s history. The months prior to the Crawl are spent in researching the time period, surroundings, professions, daily activities and the families of the folks from the past to be portrayed. The family part of that research plays a big part in bringing their characters back to life. Society members contact descendants to learn as much as they can about personality and personal history. In many cases, the families are pleased to have their loved ones remembered and their lives honored. Some descendants have even made it a point to attend the Crawl, demonstrating in their presence, the continuity of family (and Gilpin) history.
Throughout the many Crawls of past years, Society members have portrayed prominent former citizens as well as the men and women who built this community with their work in the mines, shops, farms, churches, society, etc. This year, in addition to the individuals portrayed, the Robert Russell, Stroehle, Cameron and Kruse families were represented, names well known in Gilpin County. The Kruse family once owned the Victorian-style home across from Red Dolly Casino, now painted white with maroon trim. Currently unoccupied, it is known locally as the “Kruse Mansion,” but to Hunter, Tianna and Tuck Helmick, the very young “Spirits” representing that family, “It was our house.” These three, portraying the Kruse family members now buried in the Masonic Cemetery, were re-enactors with panache. Holding a basket of biscuits, sister (Tianna) was flanked by brothers (in today’s and yesterday’s worlds). As the three took turns telling their stories, they paused. “Give it back,” said the big sister to her youngest brother. He sheepishly produced the biscuits he had swiped and hidden in his pockets. “And the other one,” she added, sternly. (This one’s under his hat.)
This year’s Crawl drew hundreds of visitors, most from outside Gilpin’s boundaries. Shuttle buses brought folks up from the Opera House parking lot where they gathered at the gate to the cemetery until the Gatekeepers (Gilpin County Commissioner Buddy Schmalz and Central City Mayor Ron Engels) finished an introduction about the cemetery and area around it. Then eleven guides each gathered up about 25 people per group and led them through the tombstone-lined path to each “Spirit.”
Although it occurs at a one year interval, rather than a hundred years, the effect is much like that of “Brigadoon.” The remote locations of Gilpin’s cemeteries, with wildflowers and grasses growing tall, the tombstones of all sizes and formations, some leaning or broken, the period costumes and, sometimes, even the weather (overcast at times this year – fog a few years back) all lend a mysterious enchantment to the event- a sense of entering a forgotten place and time.
The Crawl was partnered with two other events, this year. At their option, ticket-holders could begin with a tour of the old Register-Call print shop, now owned by the Masons, and/or finish at the opening of the 2010 Members Only Show of the Gilpin County Arts Association Gallery in the old City Hall building.