Embrace the Halloween hoopla with haunted hangars, spooky shows, trunk or treats in Pueblo
As Halloween approaches and the veil thins, opportunities arise for Puebloans to be scared, intrigued, or educated about the ghosts of Pueblo's past.
There's also plenty of opportunities for fun, family-friendly activities in the buildup to All Hallows' Eve, including trunk or treats, costume contests, and the annual Haunted Rides at City Park.
Here is a non-exhaustive list of things to do in Pueblo to celebrate this spooky season.
Pueblo Weisbrod Museum ghost tour
The Weisbrod Aircraft Museum, featuring military and civilian aircraft from over 100 years of history, is hosting ghost tours every Saturday in October from 8 to 10 p.m.
While these tours are held year-round on the first Saturday of each month, interest rises in October, said Rick Sandidge, a spokesperson for Weisbrod.
During the event, guests are given electromagnetic frequency detectors and blacklight — tools used to detect paranormal activity — and access to the museum's two hangars, with interior access to some of the aircraft.
These include the H-21 "Flying Banana" helicopter, a C-131 "Samaritan" transport aircraft, and a Sikorsky "Sea Bat" helicopter, all of which saw frontline service in Vietnam.
Sandidge said nothing about the ghost tours is staged, and results can vary. "Sometimes our ghosts like to come out and say hello, sometimes they don't," he said.
However, the three vehicles, particularly the Flying Banana and Samaritan, are very active, Sandidge said.
"I had a very paranormally sensitive friend walk into the C-131, and they had to turn around," said Sandidge. "It wasn't bad feelings, exactly, just very intense."
Around the hangars, both guests and staff say they've experienced a wide range of paranormal behavior, from sounds to touches to 1940s music to full manifestations of a flight crew wearing Vietnam-era uniforms, Sandidge said.
"Recently, we actually had a wedding party in one of the hangars. Not knowing anything about the ghost tours, some of the guests asked, "Do you guys know anything about any ghosts around here?"
From his own experience, Sandidge reported hearing disembodied voices, and hearing the sound of a book dropped in an empty hangar.
While it may bother some to work in a haunted hangar, Sandidge said, the ghosts have never shown any intention to hurt guests or staff. "They're all former veterans that were killed in action," he said. "They were all good people — they are all good people."
Adult tickets are $24.95 a person, and children under 12, veterans, and senior citizens 60 years and up can get in for $14.95.
Tickets can be purchased puebloghosttour.org.
Pueblo Historical Ghost Walk
While no actual ghosts can be seen on this tour, historical ghost walks starting at El Pueblo History Museum leave every 15 minutes while stopping along the Historic Union Avenue and the Riverwalk District to hear from ghosts of Pueblo's historical past, according to the event website.
The walking tour concludes at the Heritage Museum on the corner of B Street and Victoria.
Along the path of this year's tour, actors will portray ghosts and tell stories about every neighborhood of Pueblo throughout the city's history.
The walking tour takes between one and a half to two hours, according to the Ghost Walk Facebook page.
Below is a list of the "ghosts" and the actors who play them, according to the Pueblo Ghost Walk organization:
Swallows Cemetery: Nellie Wallace (Sally Sprafka) tells of the rise and fall of Swallows Township.
Goat Hill: Vincenzo Bacino (Connor Bond on Oct. 6, 7, 13 and Craig Allen on Oct. 14) travels to Pueblo from Sicily in the late 1800s, settling eventually on Goat Hill in the tight-knit Italian community.
Dog Patch: Juan Madrid (Mike Reininger on Oct. 6-7 and Braulio Valenzuela on Oct. 13-14) keeps kids busy with La Gente League sports out of Dog Patch.
Salt Creek: Dona Bernarda Mejia Velazquez (Jamilee Romero) delivered over 3,000 babies in her lifetime. She came to Pueblo, Salt Creek, in 1912 from her homeland in Mexico. She was skilled as a midwife, curandera, and bootlegger as well as mother and wife and survived the Great Flood of 1912.
Aberdeen: Bob Jackson (Tommy Farrell) finds success and unwanted adventure while raising his family in Aberdeen.
Pepper Sauce Bottoms: John J. Thomas (John Grabarczyk) heats up Pepper Sauce Bottoms with his spicy sauce straight off his farm.
Bessemer: George W. Washington (Muriel Blacksher-Martinez and Ray Brown) finds himself in Bessemer while being a leading member of the African-American community in Pueblo.
Eilers Town: Pepa Glavich (Ken Thompson) opens Eiler’s Bar serving the Slovenian population in Pueblo. The bar and family are still serving Pueblo today.
Union District: A young prostitute (Esperanza Martinez) finds herself making ends meet in the gritty Union District.
The 2023 Pueblo Historical Ghost Walk supports the Pueblo Domestic Violence Community Task Force (DVTF) in creating awareness and eradicating domestic violence, intimate partner violence, and domestic abuse in our community with support and education, according to the Pueblo Ghost Walk event page.
Tickets are $10 online and $15 at the door.
'Night Terrors' at Rosemount Museum
At the Rosemount History Museum, scenes of Victorian horror will play out before guest's eyes, performed by actors with Artists Anonymous.
"'Night Terrors' is environmental theater, where guests can purchase tickets to come and get four stories on their tour," said Rosemount Museum Director Deb Darrow.
"We have professional actors that we work with through Artists Anonymous, they bring in the actors, and the actors act out different stories."
There are four different stories in different parts of the museum, which guests will be guided between, said Darrow. Three of those stories are titled "Bluebeard," "Whistle and I'll come to you my lad," and "The giant Wysteria."
The fourth story, Darrow said, is a "binaural" story played on headphones. "There are things going on in your headphones that make you feel like you're in that story," she said. "It's a whole different kind of vibe for that particular story."
"My favorite is probably 'Whistle and I will come to you my lad,' Darrow said. "It's kind of a creepy, folklorish story, and the actress who acts that one out is quite the seasoned actress, who does a really good job with it, so this year that's probably my favorite."
This year, tickets to the shows, which are put on for two weekends, are already 60% sold out, Darrow said.
Funds raised by the shows will be split between the Rosemount History Museum and Artists Anonymous. For Rosemount's part, the profits go to the maintenance of the house, which is over 130 years old and "needs a lot of attention," Darrow said.
Shows are Oct. 12-14 and Oct. 19-21 from 6-9 p.m.
Pueblo police trunk or treat
The Pueblo Police Department will be holding a "trunk or treat" on Oct. 31. from 4-7 p.m. at 200 South Main Street. "Usually, we have about 20 to 30 police officers participate, plus other agencies, such as state patrol, fire, AMR, and other community members," said Sgt. Frank Ortega, a spokesperson for Pueblo PD.
"We mostly pass out candy and little toys but occasionally a trunk will have things like school supplies," Ortega said.
"We’ve been doing trunk or treat since 2018 and we worked with the health department during COVID to continue by making it a drive-thru event," Ortega said. "In 2020 we were about the only public event in town. This year is our sixth."
Pueblo West Metro drive-thru Halloween bash
The Pueblo West Metropolitan District will hold its own event on Oct. 31, from 4-6 p.m. in the parking lot of Lovell Park.
Events will include contests for the funniest, most creative, scariest, and most original costumes, with trophies given as prizes.
"We do one about every 30 minutes," said Carol Cosby, Parks and Recreation director for Pueblo West. "Sometimes we run out before the end of the event."
Each child will also get a goody bag with candy and toys.
"I'm not sure what we're going to do for our special thing: every year, we try to put something special in the bags. Sometimes it's popcorn balls, in the past, we've done cotton candy. Something that's unique, but we're not sure yet what we're going to do this time," Cosby said.
The event has run for 28 years, with the drive-thru format being adopted after the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. About 800 kids tend to come through the event every year.
Haunted Rides at City Park
Pueblo City Park will be hosting its annual Haunted Rides at City Park event on Friday, Oct. 13, and Saturday, Oct. 14, from 4-8 p.m. both days. The event, sponsored on Friday by Minnequa Works Credit Union and Saturday by Hoodlums Car Club & The Buzz radio, will include hayrides, free candy while supplies last, and a trunk or treat on Saturday. Guests are encouraged to wear their Halloween costumes.
Hayrides run all night long, taking usually about 10-15 minutes to ride around the park, said Tamara Moore, recreation supervisor for Pueblo Parks and Recreation, before unloading and taking on the next load of guests.
The trunk or treat is run by the Hoodlums Car Club, said Moore. While they usually bring between 10 and 15 cars, it depends on how many members the car club can bring.
Children are also given candy as they leave each ride, said Moore. Beyond the hayride, the parks and recreation department runs 10 rides, including a carousel, bumper cars, a Ferris wheel, a rollercoaster, helicopters, and "the rocket," Moore said.
She noted that the rides run all summer long, from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
Tickets for rides are 25 cents each, with one ticket per child per ride and two for adults. There is also a $5 all-inclusive wristband, but lines for the event can be long, Moore said, making pay-per-ride a more attractive option.
"If people have tickets from previous years, they are also welcome to use them at the Haunted Rides event," Moore said.
YMCA Halloween extravaganza
The YMCA will hold its second Halloween extravaganza on Oct. 31, from 5-7 p.m. The event, held at the Pueblo YMCA located at 3200 E Spaulding Ave., is free to the public. "Families will be able to safely trick-or-treat and enjoy a variety of family-friendly activities, including face painting, bouncy castle, ghost races, Halloween ring toss, ghost darts, zombie bowling, spider web maze, costume contest and more," according to the YMCA Facebook event page.
Questions, comments or story tips? Contact Justin at jreutterma@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @jayreutter1.
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Here's how you can celebrate Halloween in Pueblo
