MORE GHOSTLY GOINGS-ON

by Pam North

Ghost stories never seem to end in Central City.

In 1886 the Sauer-McShane Mercantile Company built a warehouse on Spring
Street to store the food supplies, glassware, tobacco, cigars, high
explosives, fuses, caps and mining candles, hay and grain for their grocery
and general supply store on Main Street.  A second story was added to the 
warehouse in 1896.  Angelo di Benedetto, an artist of world-renown
stature (whose work can be seen in an amazing mural at the Colorado
State Judicial Building), purchased the building in the 1940s, restoring
it for use as a studio and residence, and living there until his death
in 1992.

Bob Lewerke, whose business (One Stop Printing) presently occupies the
historic warehouse, has begun to entertain the possibility that di Benedetto's
presence may still be around. About three years ago, Lewerke moved his
presses in on the main floor of the building, tranferring a couch and two
recliners up to the second floor; Upstairs, he arranged the furniture
around three sides of a 10' by 10' piece of carpet.  A few days later,when
he returned to the upper floor, he found that each piece of furniture had
been relocated to a separate far corner of the building.  He repositioned
them in their original places on the carpet, but a few days later discovered
that they had again traveled to the corners of the building.  Three
months later, when he again checked out the second floor, Lewerke found
another surprise; lying in the middle of the carpet was a 3' by 3' piece of 
cardboard with di Benedetto's signature scrawled three times upon its surface 
(it would seem that di Benedetto was a man of both humor and ego).  Last
summer Lewerke posed with visiting relatives for a photograph in front
of the building.  After the photo had been developed, it revealed a ghostly 
face looking down upon those having their picture taken.  Lewerke says he 
often feels a presence in the old warehouse; perhaps di Benedetto has a 
lasting fondness for his old Central City home, and ay not have strayed far 
after his demise.

The Belvidere Theatre on Nevada Street was completed in 1875 as an opera
house, but its inadequate seating capacity (450) led to it being replaced
by a new opera house on Eureka Street in 1878.  The Belvidere was
purchased by L.S. Beaman in 1878 for his Central Bottling Works to produce
beer, soda, cider, ginger ale, and a much-touted health tonic.  Later, the
structure served various uses throughout the years as an armory, garage,
basketball gym, recreation center, dinner theater, movie theater, dance
hall and community center, and is currently undergoing much-needed renovation.
Bob Harvey, director of the restoration effort, has a photograph taken
of an old piano located on the building's stage.  Seated at the instrument
is the shadowy outline of a figure that appears to be a woman in a long
skirt, arms extended and hands over the keyboard.  Harvey is researching
the history of the piano, as it was part of the University of Wyoming's
music department long ago.  A female music student was murdered there,
and Harvey wonders if there is a connection between her death and the old
piano.  Harvey also recounts an incident that took place in the Belvidere
some months ago.  A small group was taking  a tour of the building,
and one young man was joking about ghosts.  As he walked along, his
arms were suddenly gripped by unseen hands, visibly indenting the sleeves
of his down-filled jacket, and he was lurched to the side.  Shaken
by the encounter, he continued on the tour with no more quips about the
spirit world.  Harvey says that experience was recorded on videotape,
and he also mentions a ghostly voice that was recorded on tape at another
time when he and some friends were in the building.  The Belvidere has been 
the scene of other ghostly sightings in past years, when a previous owner 
and his daughter occasionally witnessed a woman's face mistily floating
in front of one of the building's structural columns as the sun was setting.

Central City, possibly because of its dramatic emergence as a feisty mining 
town populated by a variety of strong characters who often died in tragic 
circumstances, seems to be a magnetic center for spirits.  Accounts of bizarre 
encounters of ghosts by intelligent, reliable, and often skeptical people are 
fascinating, and their inexplicability poses intriguing possibilities to 
ponder.




Note:  The Gilpin County Historical Society has been collecting
the ghost stories of Central City (and also those of Black Hawk and Gilpin
County) for upcoming publication in a book.