Owners say the history and hauntings are what make the Lumber Baron Inn home

DENVER — Whispering, laughter and footsteps are heard when no one else is home. For some, that may sound like the beginning of a scary movie, but for the owners of the Lumber Baron Inn & Gardens, it’s just another day at work. 

Joel Bryant and Elaine Britten Bryant have called the 130-year-old Lumber Baron Inn located in northwest Denver home for the last eight years. 

“I love the vibe that the house has, it definitely has a personality of its own,” Elaine said. 

Before the pair took over the B&B, they’d heard all about its history. “I’ve been very skeptical of that stuff. Her, not so much,” Joel said. 

“I wasn’t worried about it as far as what we would interact with. I was more worried about the size of the place and who was going to clean it,” Elaine said. 

Here, the hauntings are just a part of the home. “You definitely know they’re here but it’s not scary,” Joel said. 

The mansion’s story started more than 130 years ago.

“So the story of the Lumber Baron Inn actually begins in the 1860s when Scottish Coloradans, people who were first-generation Scottish folks settled the north Denver neighborhood we know as the Highlands,” said Rachael Storm, head of curatorial services with History Colorado. “In the early part of the 1880s, John and Amelia Mouat who are Scottish themselves come to Denver and Mouat starts a lumber company.”

Storm said Mouat’s business quickly took off, thriving as the Denver area grew. He decided to build a home for his family that would be a tribute to his lumber empire.

“And he really wants to use his house not just as a home for his wife and their children but also as a way to show off his business, to show what he can do maybe to get other people to have him build their homes, too,” Storm said. 

As their plans for a grand new home take off, tragedy strikes. 

“A grocer who seems to probably have had some sort of mental illness stabs their 10-year-old son and kills him,” Storm said. The pair paused their plans to grieve their child before returning to Denver society. 

“They’re in the home, they start finally opening themselves back up to the social scene and now, tragedy strikes the family again. This time in the form of a nationwide financial panic,” Storm said. 

The panic of 1893 sent the markets crashing and with it, Mouat’s lumber empire was whittled down to the bare bones.   Storm said soon after, the mansion was sold and later, divided into 23 apartments. 

“And it stays that way for quite some time. And in 1970, a young woman named Cara Lee Knoche (noke) moves into one of the rooms,” Storm said. “Tragedy strikes in the home, in her home, her little room when she is murdered. She is sexually assaulted and strangled and at some point, most likely either during her strangulation or just shortly after, her friend Marianne Weaver shows up, knocks on the door and walks in, walks into this tragic scene. And Marianne is then shot.”

“They were friends, they were acquaintances and the murderer was never found, unfortunately, yeah. So it was horrible,” Joel said. 

The case went cold. But Joel and Elaine believe the girls are still here.

They’re the primary spirits that have kind of made themselves known to us. Joel’s heard them whispering one time when we were in there,” Elaine said. 

“I love it, I love it when they interact with me and say hi to us, things like that,” Joel said. 

When they first moved in, Joel said not every spirit in the home was as friendly as the girls. 

“But when we took over, in the ballroom there was somebody that did not like me. I felt really uncomfortable up there, I felt like somebody was wanting to push me down the stairs or out the window. That’s changed now, which is great. I’ve heard from other mediums that person is still here, he just likes me now,” Joel said. 

Over time and as they’ve cared for and improved the house, that’s changed.

“So it’s not scary now. I’m used to it. But I also know that they’re reaching out, saying, ‘Hello’ or saying, “Thank you,’ or whatever and it’s cool. It always puts a smile on my face,” Joel said. “I walked in one day, nobody was in the hotel and I could hear all this whispering. And it wasn’t whispering like ‘Get out,’ crazy, creepy stuff. It was like ‘Hey, he’s here.’ You know, I couldn’t hear those voices but that’s what it felt like. And I was like, ‘Hi house, hi everybody!’ and you just go about your day.”

Joel and Elaine feel it’s the hauntings and the history that make the mansion home.

“A lot of people think that they expect something very scary or they’re going to have a scary experience. And there are different experiences that happen but it’s really, it’s very sweet what’s here,” Elaine said. “We really honor the spirits that are here and we don’t do things that are intrusive to them. We just very peacefully coexist with them and do things that honor the spirits, especially the girls that lost their lives here back in 1970.”

Both Joel and Elaine said they’re both pretty protective of the home. They’ll turn down paranormal investigators if they feel they’re disrespectful to the spirits left behind here.

But, both stressed they believe the home seems capable of protecting itself from bad energy all on its own.

“There’s so much more than what we can see,” Elaine said. 

For more information, visit the Lumber Baron Inn website.