{"id":92196,"date":"2019-10-14T23:42:10","date_gmt":"2019-10-14T23:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/tour-a-cemetery-with-ghost-walk-durango\/"},"modified":"2019-10-14T23:42:10","modified_gmt":"2019-10-14T23:42:10","slug":"tour-a-cemetery-with-ghost-walk-durango","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/tour-a-cemetery-with-ghost-walk-durango\/","title":{"rendered":"Tour a cemetery with Ghost Walk Durango"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"\"
du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

For the third year,<\/p>\n

Like what Nelson saw the first year of the tour.<\/p>\n

It happened while he was going over the rules of the tour to the evening\u2019s group. Unbeknownst to him, while he was talking, his phone was recording. It wasn\u2019t until he got back from the tour that he saw what the phone had caught.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have had things happen, I mean, we\u2019ve got orbs,\u201d he said. \u201cThere were these three gold lights and they were going around a family plot. It wasn\u2019t like somebody that died a violent death, somebody that was a life-long criminal, or died in a shootout or anything like that. It was just a regular mom, a half a dozen kids. I used to think that orbs were nonsense until I saw them. You can see them going behind \u2013 it was below freezing, so there weren\u2019t bugs, it wasn\u2019t dust. It was pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nelson said he has also seen things he can\u2019t explain while doing the Ghost Walk.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always start off by saying I\u2019m not one of these people that is trying to communicate with the spirits and I can walk in your house and tell you that your Great Aunt Tootie wants you to paint your kitchen cabinets blue or anything like that,\u201d he said during a tour in 2017. \u201cI just saw some stuff that I didn\u2019t even realize that there was something weird about it until after.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nelson said the cemetery tour is pretty much a continuation of the Ghost Walk \u2013 the majority of the people he talks about ultimately ended up in the cemetery. And, along with ordinary residents of the time who died and were buried in the cemetery (the name of which we\u2019re not giving away), there are some of the bad actors Old West towns like Durango are known for buried there, too. \u201cDurango\u2019s only legal hanging, he\u2019s buried there. (The hanging happened on Ninth Street and Main Avenue),\u201d he said. \u201cPlus, Ike Stockton, our most famous Western outlaw.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are also lots of children and approximately 25 veterans, most from the Civil War, Nelson said, adding that the cemetery \u2013 and cemeteries in general \u2013 are a vital to keep in touch with a community\u2019s past.<\/p>\n

\u201cGraveyards are important to almost every culture. I think a lot of the people that founded Durango \u2013 it\u2019s fun to talk about the people that rode up and down Main Street shooting pistols in the air \u2013 that Wild West kind of deal \u2013 and then you can go there and there\u2019s a physical link, this is where they all ended up. That\u2019s why I think it\u2019s important,\u201d he said. \u201cPlus, all the founders of Durango, the county\u2019s first four judges are buried there, including one fellow \u2013 he was an immigrant from Italy, came over here, couldn\u2019t speak the language, worked on the railroad, settled in Durango, became a county judge. And then he passed away and is buried next to his wife. They only had enough money for one gravestone, and he had a beautiful gravestone put over his wife, and he\u2019s just next to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI use that as an example of not everybody there is a deviant \u2013 who am I to judge people from 130 years ago anyway? We\u2019re trying to point out people that built this community,\u201d Nelson said.<\/p>\n

Set aside about two hours for the Halloween Cemetery Tour. Participants are asked to meet at the usual meeting place for the Ghost Walk (on the steps of the Durango 9-R Administration Building, 201 E. 12th St.). When everyone is together, Nelson will go over the rules of the tour, which includes: No smoking; no drinking \u2013 you\u2019re free to bring a plastic water bottle, but you must take it out of the cemetery; no sitting on the gravestones; and no children younger than 15.<\/p>\n

After the introduction, tour-goers will all get in their cars and drive to the cemetery, so everyone must have their own ride.<\/p>\n

And if an evening stroll through a cemetery isn\u2019t your thing but you\u2019re still hankering for some spooky tales, Nelson is still giving his Ghost Walks in downtown Durango now through Halloween.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is as much about history as it is about ghosts, including the graveyard,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t believe in ghosts, you can still have fun on this tour. Again, it\u2019s the history of this community, and I think it\u2019s important.\u201d<\/p>\n

katie@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

If you go<\/h4>\n

What:<\/strong>
\n Halloween Cemetery Tour.
\n When:<\/strong>
\n 7 p.m. Oct. 25, 26 and 31.
\n Where:<\/strong>
\n Tour will meet at 201 E. 12th St. After a brief discussion, the group will drive to the tour location. Participants must have transportation for everyone in their group.
\n Tickets:<\/strong>
\n $50 per person. Includes a flashlight and either a Ghost Walk T-shirt or umbrella. To book tickets, visit
\n shorturl.at\/rETWY<\/a>
\n .
\n More information:<\/strong>
\n Visit
\n www.ghostwalkdurango.com<\/a>
\n .
\n Note:<\/strong>
\n Tour is for those 15 years and older (children younger than 18 must be accompanied by an adult).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

the mood for Halloween with walks on the paranormal side<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":92197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5961,5845,5843,5847],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-92196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-entertainment","category-headlines-living","category-living","category-newsletter-living","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92196"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=92196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}