HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
A Durango bar built on the 1906 site where a deputy fatally shot the La Plata County sheriff — the victim's whiskey reportedly evaporates nightly.
945 Main Ave, Durango, CO 81301
Research updated June 2026
Age
21+
Cost
Free
No cover; food and drink menu priced individually
Access
Wheelchair OK
Street-level bar, flat interior
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1900 · Site of 1906 fatal law enforcement shooting · La Plata County Sheriff William Thompson death site · Downtown Durango Main Avenue Victorian corridor
On January 22, 1906, Durango Deputy Marshal Jesse Stansel shot La Plata County Sheriff William Thompson at what was then a commercial property on Main Avenue in Durango. Thompson, who had served as the county's top law officer, was fatally wounded and died from his injuries in the days following the shooting. The circumstances of the altercation between a deputy marshal and a sitting county sheriff made the incident notable in Durango's newspaper record.
The address passed through various commercial uses over the following century. El Moro Spirits and Tavern opened at 945 Main Ave in 2013, bringing a cocktail bar and restaurant to the property. The owners and staff became aware of the building's 1906 history after opening and began documenting the unexplained activity that staff members reported from the start.
Durango sits at the junction of the Animas River and the historic Denver and Rio Grande narrow-gauge railroad route, and its downtown Main Avenue corridor preserves a number of Victorian-era commercial buildings. The El Moro building's connection to the 1906 killing of Sheriff Thompson has made it one of the more historically anchored paranormal sites in La Plata County.
DGO Magazine, Durango's local arts and culture publication, documented the shooting history and the staff's paranormal experiences in a feature on the town's most haunted locations.
Sources
Since El Moro opened in 2013, staff have logged a consistent set of unexplained experiences. The most documented is the whiskey ritual: a dedicated bottle and shot glass sit on the bar for Sheriff Thompson, and employees report finding the glass emptied in the mornings without explanation. The ritual began after staff connected the building's history to the activity they were already experiencing.
Doors throughout the bar swing open and closed without contact, a phenomenon staff report frequently enough to treat as routine. Objects — bottles, glasses, utensils — are found moved from where they were left the night before. Multiple staff members have reported peripheral shadows passing doorways or moving along walls when no one else is present in that part of the building.
DGO Magazine's feature on Durango's haunted locations included firsthand accounts from El Moro staff describing the shadow movement and the swinging door phenomenon, and corroborated the building's 1906 history as the documented basis for Thompson's association with the site.
Notable Entities
Drop in to the bar where staff maintain a dedicated bottle of whiskey and shot glass on the counter for Sheriff Thompson's ghost. The staff report the shot glass empties on its own in the early morning hours. Objects move, shadows pass doorways, and doors swing without contact — all documented since El Moro opened in 2013 at this address.
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