Old Gold Camp Road Tunnels

Several of the nine tunnels set into the hills of Colorado Springs’ Bear Creek Park are said to be severely haunted, and while this is just superstition, the threatening claws of the fence guarding one of the tunnels aren’t doing anything to discourage the stories.

Many of the locals in the Colorado Springs area are familiar with the legends surrounding the arched Gold Camp rail tunnels. Originally there were nine of the passageways dug into the hills, but as railroad travel in the area dwindled, three of the tunnels succumbed to age and vandalism and collapsed.  

According to the most prevalent folktale, one of the remaining tunnels collapsed while a school bus full of waifs was driving through it killing the driver and the entire complement of kids. leaving their unquiet little spirits to linger around the tunnels. People have reported everything from tiny hand prints in the dust on their cars to being scratched and groped by unseen spirits.

The story is likely apocryphal as the tunnel collapsed in 1988 and no news reports of deaths caused by the tunnel collapse can be found.  Other tunnels in the area are said to be haunted by the spririts of workers killed during construction, however.

In reality, three of the nine tunnels did collapse, and today these collapses have cause a major detour for automobile traffic. The collapsed tunnel above Helen Hunt Falls has been blocked off with a black steel fence adorned with ominous “Keep Out” signs that look like they are just begging someone to fabricate an outlandish horror story about the site. Anyone brave enough can still cross through the remaining tunnels, and listen for the ghostly giggles of the (probably not) dead.