If you ask resident Gail Westwood, she will say, yes, Breckenridge is haunted. 

Westwood is known as the go-to source for all things haunting and ghost related in the mining town turned ski mecca. She knows the town’s paranormal scene like the back of her hand after clocking in over two decades of taking people on her signature ghost tours. 

For Westwood, “haunted” isn’t a bad word — it’s an intriguing one. When asked if people should be afraid of ghosts, she said no. 

“I believe that probably 95% of hauntings are innocent or harmless … The other 5% may be more aggressive or demonic, but that’s such a small percentage,” she said. 

For those seeking spooky, Westwood has some places in mind. 

The cemetery isn’t one of them. She said while it might seem like the perfect place to start, ghosts don’t stay in their graves. 

The Briggle House is one of them. The Breckenridge historical society, Breckenridge History, preserved the home built in 1896 once belonging to the Briggle Family as a historical home the public can access. 

Westwood said Katie Briggle was a leading lady in Breckenridge at the turn of the century, and she’s emerged as a bit of a leading spirit. 

Westwood recalled giving a tour of the Briggle home followed by tea and cake at the family’s dining room table from the perspective of Katie Briggle. She said Katie Briggle would leave people alone if she was in a good mood. If not, Westwood said she would do things like flashing the light above the dining room table, or moving things around. Things literally came to a head one day when Westwood didn’t clean the dishes fast enough. While Westwood was in the kitchen, she said a can was mysteriously thrown at her head. That’s when she learned to keep Katie Briggle’s kitchen clean. 

Where the Briggle House has Katie Briggle as its ghost, Ridge Street has Ms. Whitney.  

Westwood said Ms. Whitney was a “lady of the night” murdered by Capt. George Ryan at what used to be the Brown Hotel in the 1860s. She said people on her ghost tours have reported suddenly feeling ill during the stop at the Brown Hotel that features Ms. Whitney, and there’ve been people who have reported feeling like something moved through them. 

She said other spiritual entities joined Ms. Whitney over the years because more than one orb, or spirit taking the form of energy and light, started to appear. To get to the bottom of it she called a friend to perform a seance. She said the seance determined that the improper use of a Ouija board at one point in time drew “dark entities” to the area.

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Westwood also typically visits the area near the dredge boat and Ollie’s Pub and Grub, home to ghost William Goodwin, a dredge winchman who died around 1914. She said Goodwin was mangled in a bucket ladder in the dredge boat that used to be in Breckenridge, and he still hangs out in the area with other mining-era ghosts. She said Goodwin won’t present himself like some other orbs or ghost, but you’ll know he’s there based on strange activity like moving objects around even if no one else is near. 

Westwood said a bulk of the ghosts that hang around Breckenridge are from the late 1800s and early 1900s and remind us that Breckenridge wasn’t always a ski town. 

Westwood does daily tours until Oct. 31, typically. Visit BreckGhostTours.com for more information about tours or how to buy Westwood’s book, “Haunted Breckenridge, Colorado,” which includes ghost tales from across Summit County.