Contemplating Crawford | Acknowledging the history and community behind the races
Oct. 24, 2024
“Emma Crawford Headstone in Crystal Valley Cemetery in Manitou Springs.jpg” by ForgottenColorado is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, Cropped into square for use as cover photo on blog feed
This is part 2 of the “Contemplating Crawford” series. Part 1, which talks more about this year’s event (happening Oct. 26), explores how the competition works and acknowledges its upcoming anniversary, can be read here. All the written sources mentioned in this article are cited beneath it for those who want to explore them more.
The Emma Crawford Coffin Races and Festival only happen one day a year, but decades of community dedication and history-rich stories surrounding Crawford’s life make its annual reappearance possible.
The event’s upcoming 30th anniversary means a time of reflection for Manitou Springs and a chance to get acquainted with Crawford’s story and the community members who bring it to life.
Crawford’s life story
Crawford was born in Massachusetts in 1863 to Nathan and Jeannette Crawford, and she had two younger sisters, Minnie and Alice Crawford.
Emma Crawford’s childhood mostly consisted of time spent with her mother and sisters. According to The Manitou Springs Heritage Center’s publication “Emma Crawford, Her Life and Legacy,” information on Nathan Crawford is limited, with his name missing from the 1870 census and only appearing on a Civil War draft muster roll and his daughter’s birth records.
Jeannette Crawford was a music teacher, who held multiple music-related jobs across the United States throughout her life, and she likely taught all of her daughters how to play piano.
In the Manitou Springs Heritage Center’s publication, it is said that Emma Crawford loved listening to her mother play; Jeannette Crawford wrote in one of Emma Crawford’s obituaries that she had a gift for piano and could perfectly play the compositions of masters.
“Emma Crawford, Her Life and Legacy,” notes that the Crawfords were also known Spiritualists who believed they could communicate with the dead. The Heritage Center’s publication and a clip from The Colorado City Iris suggest Jeannette Crawford held frequent Spiritualism lectures during her time in Colorado.
Emma Crawford’s obituary in the Colorado City Iris states that her musical success was said to be “due to the work of spirit instruction,” not any sort of mortal teacher.
According to the Manitou Heritage Center’s publication, Emma Crawford had Tuberculosis from the age of seven years old on. In 1889, she, her mother and Alice Crawford moved to Manitou, which at the time was known for its health benefits. The illustration below, made around the same time as the Crawford family’s relocation, shows some of Manitou’s health resorts and supposedly health-bringing mineral water sources.
“Image from page 29 of The health resorts of Colorado Springs and Manitou,” by Samuel Edwin Solly and Simeon J. Dunbar, 1883, Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, licensed under public domain.
The Crawfords moved into a house “opposite” of William S. Crosby and his wife. In a 1967 oral history interview he participated in, Crosby noted that he also relocated to Manitou Springs due to an illness, which he said was largely remedied by the move.
Crosby recounted Emma Crawford’s motivation to reach the top of Red Mountain, attributing it to Spiritualism. “She cooked up this story that if she could get on top of Red Mountain she could commune with an Indian brave spirit,” he said.
After Crawford completed her ascent, Crosby said she tied her scarf to a Pinyon Tree and near the mountain’s summit later declared her desire to be buried there.
“The next day, we went up there and found it, and it had her initial on it and she was so tired that night that she said, ‘When I die, I want to be buried beneath that tree on Red Mountain,’” Crosby said.
While in Manitou Springs, Emma Crawford met her alleged lover, Wilhelm Hildenbrand. In “Emma Crawford, Her Life and Legacy,” It is said that how they met is not clear, but it is mentioned that he was also a musician and documented as present for a meeting that involved a medium.
Hildenbrand was born in 1843 and immigrated to New York from Germany to be an engineer. The Manitou Springs Heritage Center’s publication noted that he worked on the Brooklyn Bridge and later helped construct the Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway.
In 1891, Emma Crawford died, and 12 pallbearers carried her to her initial resting place on Red Mountain. In the Manitou Springs Heritage Center’s publication, Crosby is quoted as saying he noticed Hildenbrand “stood like a stricken man” during the burial.
The years after
In 1912, the Red Mountain Scenic Incline Railway, a tourist attraction, was under construction, and Crosby recalled that Hildenbrand was approached about moving Emma Crawford; he did not own the deed to the land she was buried on, so Emma Crawford was reburied under a concrete slab on another part of the mountain. The railway was shut down after 13 years.
Crosby and an article from the Colorado Springs Gazette published in 1950 noted that Emma Crawford’s second grave site attracted a lot of attention.
The article’s headline reads “Scar on mountain reminder of ill-fated Red Peak Incline,” and it notes that the railway was used to bring tourists to Crawford’s grave and provided “something to do” at the top of the mountain while in service.
Crosby shared that Alice and Jeannette Crawford left Manitou Springs and returned in 1909; they lived in Red Stone Castle, and their day-to-day activity gave it a haunted reputation.
“She rigged up some contraption there that you could hear beating and batting around up the hill for miles, and they would get together there and jump the table up and down, and I think that is where it got the name of Ghost House. Because it sounded like it was full of them,” Crosby said.
According to the Manitou Springs Heritage Center’s publication, Red Stone Castle was where Jeannette Crawford said her daughter spoke with the family every night and performed piano recitals for them during special seances.
According to “Emma Crawford, Her Life and Legacy,” 1929 was the year Crawford’s remains slid down Red Mountain. Manitou residents think this was possible because of erosion; trees often slide down nearby mountains following periods of heavy precipitation.
The Heritage Center’s publication shares two of many instances in which people found human remains during the summer of 1929. One instance involved two boys, who found a human skull and got caught trying to send it to their home in Texas. Marshal David S. Banks found a bundle of human bones and the casket’s plates and handles behind a boarding house days later.
Crosby said he was the police commissioner when Crawford’s skull was brought to city hall, and after two years of trying to find living relatives, he buried Crawford’s remains a final time in 1931.
Crosby buried Crawford in an unmarked grave, but the city established a memorial stone for her in Crystal Valley Cemetery in 2004.
Manitou Springs has also hosted Ghost Tours since 1994, where Crawford and Hildenbrand are honored through actor portrayals.
Crawford’s modern influence
Photo taken by Amy Mogck
According to the Manitou Springs Heritage Center’s publication, the Emma Crawford Coffin Races began in 1995. The Manitou Springs Chamber of Commerce was seeking new ways to attract visitors, and a chamber employee named John Tschannen came up with the idea by pulling inspiration from Crawford’s story.
Since the Coffin Races began, they have been featured in numerous publications. According to an article from the Colorado Springs Gazette in 2008, they even made an appearance in the 2009 edition of Ripley’s Believe It or Not.
Jenna Gallas, the events manager for Visit Manitou Springs, said this tradition has reached many people, even relatives of Hildenbrand, and created a community of enthusiasts.
One particular enthusiast has competed with her family in the Coffin Races for 15 years. Shellie Finn, a member of the team Emma’s Wake, is their Emma Crawford and has won “Best Emma” twice.
Photos provided by Shellie Finn
In addition to riding in the coffin, Finn is the team’s organizer and is heavily involved in their preparation process for racing day.
Emma’s Wake uses the same coffin every year, which is taken out of storage a week before the races and inspected. On the day of the race, Finn and her team start applying their makeup and putting on Victorian garb at 5 a.m., aiming to complete the process in two hours. She noted this usually gives the team time to check in early and mingle before the festivities begin.
Finn said the enjoyable racing experiences are what make her team want to enter the races every year. “It is a day of hanging with friends and family, meeting new people, taking pictures with strangers and embracing the spirit of Halloween that we love,” Finn said.
Throughout its 30 years of existence, the Emma Crawford Coffin Races and Festival has expanded beyond Manitou. Gallas shared that the winning team each year races against the winner of the Frozen Dead Guy Days Coffin Race for the Coffin Cup.
Gallas also noted that there will be a “Brewer’s Cup” for the first time this year, where teams representing local bars can compete. “Breweries [and] bars coming together and building a coffin and racing each other for victory just between themselves and the small population of Brewer racer teams,” she said.
Gallas expressed that the Coffin Races has been a joyful event for attendees, and seeing it come together and create so much joy every year is her main reason for working on it. She credited volunteers, her team and the event’s supporters for making it possible every year.
“When people cross the finish line where they place, which is so cool to see the joy, and the excitement, and the happiness and in a world where sometimes that's hard to come by. This is that day in this town where everybody's full of elation.” Gallas said.
Sources
“Emma L. Crawford Obituary,” Colorado City Iris, December 12, 1891. Pikes Peak Library District
“Free lecture in Woodman Hall,” Colorado City Iris, August 26, 1891. Pikes Peak Library District
William S. Bill Crosby, part 1, Oral History Interview. Pikes Peak Library District, OH-IV-9_sideA
“Scar on mountain reminder of ill-fated Red Peak Incline,” Colorado Springs Gazette, March 26, 1950. Pikes Peak Library District
“Manitou coffin race scores spot in ripley’s,” Colorado Springs Gazette, August 19, 2008. Pikes Peak Library District
