Glenwood Ghostwalk Brings Frontier History to Life in Linwood Cemetery

Glenwood Springs —The sun drops behind the granite cliffs, dragging shadows across the rocky path. The air turns cold as the lamplight flickers on. Then, in the dark, they start to move.

The Glenwood Springs Historical Society is running its 26th annual Historic Ghostwalk along the Doc Holliday Trail to Linwood Cemetery. It’s a guided tour from grave to grave, punctuated by encounters with volunteer actors playing the dead. You walk in, you listen, and you walk back down for free apple cider and cookies.

The cast includes John “Doc” Holliday, Kate Bender, Caroline Clark Barlow, Ella Sellar, Ed Hughes, and Ida Lee Alburn. But the roster changes every year. Sharon Morris is back this season, playing Annie Ward opposite Jamie LaRue’s Jasper Ward.

Morris is a librarian who moved to Glenwood Springs five years ago. She and LaRue played Louisa Schwarz and her husband Jacob last year. The audience liked it, so the Historical Society asked them to return as the Wards.

“We met with the great-great-great-granddaughters of the Wards to listen and learn about the history of their family,” Morris said. “We also read diaries of people who had been around the Wards of that time.”

Jasper Ward was friends with Ute Tribe Leader Colorow. He learned from him. The two were trying to build up the community of New Castle when a local sheriff instigated violence between the Utes and the settlers. The 1870s to 1890s were a brutal transition from Ute territory to the Old West.

The violence cost Jasper Ward his life. He was killed in New Castle and buried there before his remains were moved to Linwood Cemetery. Annie Ward died a couple of years later, shortly after giving birth to their second child. She had been living at 10,000 feet until the family came to New Castle for a warmer climate. Their two daughters went on to live with Jasper’s brother. The family stayed in the area.

Morris said the actors aim for historical accuracy, but they add what they think the figures might have been like.

“You get a new experience every time you go because it varies from night to night,” Morris said. “We’re portraying historical figures, but we add what we think they might’ve been like.”

The Historical Society’s goal is simple. They want people to appreciate how the area was built and the specific moment in time that created it.

The event relies on volunteers to bring these stories alive. It’s not a museum exhibit behind glass. It’s a walk through the dark, past the headstones of people who actually lived and died on this ground.

The tour moves from gravesite to gravesite. The actors speak in character. The guides keep the group moving. When you reach Linwood Cemetery, the stories end with a return walk down the trail. The cider is free. The cookies are free. The history isn’t.

Morris said the experience matters to her because she lives here now. Connecting with the past is a way of anchoring herself in a place that has a violent, complicated foundation. The Wards were part of that foundation. Their story is one of community building and sudden, violent loss.

The roster for the 26th annual event is set. The actors have done their research. They’ve read diaries and talked to descendants. They know the facts, but they’re also improvising the human element — the fear, the hope, the daily grind of life in a frontier town.

You don’t need to be a history buff to go. You just need shoes that can handle the rocky path and a tolerance for the cold. The sun sets, the lights come on, and the ghosts start talking.

The Historical Society isn’t trying to scare you. They’re trying to ground you. In a town that grows fast and changes quickly, the dead are the only constant. They’re still here. They’re just waiting for you to walk by their graves and listen.

The cider will be cold. The cookies will be plain. The stories will be different every night you go.

That’s the point.