The Haunted Byers-Evans House Museum

Posted: 11.27.2024 | Updated: 11.27.2024

The Byers-Evans House Museum has been an iconic mansion in Denver for nearly 140 years. A block from Civic Center Park, the Italianate-style home housed two of Denver’s most important early families: the Byers and Evans. 

While influential, each family had their own dark secrets that dragged their names through the mud, and it seems their spirits may not have been happy with simply moving on.

Is the Byers-Evans House Museum Haunted?

Visitors and staff at the present-day museum have experienced enigmatic encounters with things not from this world, from outlines of apparitions to detached voices filling up rooms with their laughter. 

Are these the spirits of the Byers and Evans families? According to one investigator, the well of spirits may go far deeper than these Colorado tycoons. If you want to see the haunted homes of other early Coloradoan aristocrats, like the famous unsinkable Molly Brown, book a ghost tour with Denver Terrors today.  

The Owners of the Byers-Evans House

The Byers-Evans House was named after the two men who owned the mansion before it was donated to the city: William Byers and William Gray Evans. 

While each was instrumental in the development of Denver as a city, they also had quite a few skeletons in their closet that came to haunt them later in life. 

William Byers 

William Byers first moved to the fledgling town of Denver, Colorado, in April 1859, just a few months after the city was officially founded. Byers had a dream of opening the town’s first newspaper, which he did just a week later. Titled the Rocky Mountain News, the newspaper quickly became a lifeline for the Denver people.

Despite no prior experience as a journalist, Byers had a knack for writing enticing, persuasive content about the wonders Colorado offered the settlers who moved there. Detailing everything about the splendors of gold mining and the prosperity of agriculture, Byers proved to be a major proponent in convincing Americans to move out West. 

In his effort to make the most successful newspaper possible, Byers decided that he needed to print daily editions. However, he didn’t have enough local news to fill the pages. He needed access to the news happening across the country. Unfortunately, the closest post office was a week’s ride away, so he was always behind. 

This issue was the catalyst for Byers to push for Denver’s very first post office. Byers’s campaign was successful — and he was even chosen as Denver’s postmaster in 1864. 

As his success rose, he wanted to build a house that reflected his status. In 1883, his mansion at the corner of West Thirteenth Avenue and Bannock Street was completed. 

An important figure in Denver’s development and growth, Byers was adored by the Denver people — until a scandal later in his life nearly killed him. 

William Byer’s spurned lover

When he was nearly 60, Byers’s life took an unexpected turn. While on a walk with his wife Elizabeth in 1889, Byers was shot at in broad daylight. The bullet barely missed Byers and almost struck his wife. 

The shooter? Byers’s estranged mistress Hattie Sandcomb. The ensuing drama and trauma from the incident led the Byers family to sell the mansion they had built in the heart of Denver and move to southern Denver, away from the hustle and bustle of the downtown.

Byers sold his estate to his business partner, William Gray Evans.  

William Gray Evans

The son of the second governor of the Colorado Territory, William Gray Evans was an influential figure in Denver early in life. 

In 1885, at 30 years old, Evans joined a group of businessmen, including William Byers, in founding the Denver Electric and Cable Company. The company would later become the Denver Tramway Company, which pushed out smaller competitors to become the only streetcar option in the city. 

After buying the mansion from Byers in 1889, Evans’s star continued to rise. As he ascended to the role of president at the Denver Tramway Company, Evans was also elected president of the board of trustees of the University of Denver. Evans spearheaded the strategy that pulled the university out of financial ruin, and many consider Evans the school’s greatest benefactor. 

The downfall of Evans

Just like Byers, Evans dealt with rumors about immoral behavior. In his case, there were whisperings that Evans helped steal an election and embezzled funds. 

The pressure of the legal proceedings, as well as his own business dealings, led to Evans having a mental breakdown in 1913. He resigned from his high-ranking position and shifted his focus to giving back to the community and city of Denver. 

Evans died in 1924 in the home he loved on the corner of Thirteenth and Bannock Streets.

The Byers-Evans House today

After William Gray Evans’s death, his wife, sister, and daughters continued to live in the estate. In 1981, the Evans family donated the property to the Colorado Historical Society. 

Today, the house operates as the Center for Colorado Women’s History and is restored to what it looked like from 1912 to 1924. 

Who haunts the Byers-Evans House Museum?

Many apparitions have been spotted throughout the Byers-Evans house by visitors touring the home and staff who take care of the residence. 

A common encounter is hearing the sound of children’s laughter when none are around. Some speculate these are the voices of the Byers or Evans children, playing together long after growing up. 

Others hear the voices of adults calling from walls or sealed rooms. Sometimes, those rooms’ doors will open and close on their own, startling anyone walking past. 

Full-body phantoms have also been spotted throughout the home, though their identity isn’t immediately clear. Could it be William Byers himself? Or William Gray Evans? 

Since 90% of the artifacts in the museum belonged to the two families, people believe their spirits could easily be attached to the family treasures. 

One psychic, however, has another theory of who haunts the now-museum. 

A portal to another world

With so many reports of unusual occurrences, a psychic decided to visit the Byers-Evans home to investigate. Their report was anything but ordinary. 

After a thorough investigation, the psychic determined that not only is otherworldly activity present, but that there is a portal to another world present in the home. 

This portal allows any spirit to be transported into the home, even if they had no connection to the place in their lifetime. This means that the ghosts lurking around the Byers-Evans House Museum may be from anywhere and from any time. 

Haunted Denver

The Byers-Evans House resides in a neighborhood of beautiful homes known for their spiritually charged reputations. A few blocks away is the Molly Brown House, the residence of the famous philanthropist and survivor of the Titanic disaster. Ms. Brown is said to still walk the halls of her home to this day. 

Just a few roads over is also the Croke-Patterson-Campbell House. Now a hotel, guests regularly spot apparitions and experience strange phenomena while staying at the inn. 

To see these haunted sites for yourself and experience a darker side of Denver, book a ghost tour with Denver Terrors tonight. 

Curious to hear more Colorado ghost stories? Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, and keep reading our blog for more mysterious and murderous tales from the early days of the wild, wild west. 

Sources:

https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/byers-evans-house

https://www.historycolorado.org/location/byers-evans-house

https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/william-n-byers

https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-territory

https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/william-gray-evans

https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/byers-evans-house

https://www.historycolorado.org/center-colorado-womens-history

https://kdvr.com/denver-guide/fall/here-are-some-of-the-most-haunted-homes-in-denver

https://maps.roadtrippers.com/trips/11826281

https://kdvr.com/denver-guide/fall/here-are-some-of-the-most-haunted-homes-in-denver