Ghosthunting Colorado. Kailyn Lamb

Paranormal Research Society (RMPRS) said that due to movement of air, the tunnels can make a plethora of ghostlike sounds. They also said that, unfortunately, some of the tunnels are too dangerous to go into, and many have also been closed down or sealed. With the help of the tunnel, the Navarre became the second-best brothel in the city, after Mattie’s House of Mirrors—which, incidentally, is also considered to be haunted (see next page).

      Many of the ghosts believed to reside in The Navarre, predominantly on the second floor, are said to be those of the working girls. Bonner said that on one of RMPRS’s ghost tours, a guest allegedly saw someone pull back a curtain while the group was standing in front of The Navarre. He said it was unlikely anyone was working in the building at the time, as it is now the home of the American Museum of Western Art—the Anschutz Collection. As all of the RMPRS tours are done at night and after business hours for the museum, only security personnel should have been in the building and, according to Bonner, they never leave their posts. His theory is that the mysterious figure who pulled back the curtain may have been the ghost of a working girl.

      The building continued to be used as a brothel until the early 1900s, when it became home to a different kind of discouraged business: gambling. In fact, the building’s current name, The Navarre, came about after the building was lost in a card game. The new owner named the building for a French king. One of the building’s ghost stories is that of a man who was not gambling well one night and decided to pull his gun and shoot himself in the chest for everyone to see. It is said that visitors can hear him wandering the halls on the lower floor.

      After the city began clearing out gambling halls and brothels, the building became a fine restaurant and eventually a top jazz club in the city. It was purchased in 1997 by the Anschutz Corporation. Regardless of who owns it, however, the RMPRS leaders say it is a good idea to keep an eye on The Navarre, as it currently seems to have a lot of ghostly activity happening in it.

      MATTIE’S HOUSE OF MIRRORS

      THE HOUSE OF MIRRORS BUILDING was built by Jennie Rogers in 1889 (and is today Lodo’s Bar and Grill). Rogers’s primary objective for the brothel was to compete with Mattie Silks, another brothel owner in Denver. When the building first opened it was located on Holladay Street, which within a few years was renamed Market Street. In 1894, before Rogers opened for business, the brothels were shaking in their boots after the murders of three prostitutes on Market, which became known as Strangler’s Row as a result.

      Rogers ran the brothel until 1910. Silks then came in and the two ran the brothel together for a short time. During their ghost tour, Bonner and Baxter talk about one of the rumors, or urban legends as they refer to it, surrounding the competitive pair and how many people think Silks wanted the building so badly she challenged Rogers to a topless sword fight for ownership of it. Bonner and Baxter insist this is strictly a legend, albeit a fun one.