HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
+ 2 further entries on record
Cripple Creek's first hospital, opened by Catholic Sisters of Mercy in 1898, is now a hotel where a mischievous boy named Petey, a gold miner, and a sewage-scented entity are among the named regulars
303 N 3rd St, Cripple Creek, CO 80813
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Overnight room rates vary; see website for current pricing
Access
Limited Access
Historic three-story brick building; limited accessibility due to period construction and stairs
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1898 · Cripple Creek's first general hospital · Founded by Sisters of Mercy 1898 · Served mining community during gold rush era · Converted to hotel 1995
The Sisters of Mercy arrived in Cripple Creek in 1894, drawn by the town's explosive growth following the 1890 gold strikes. The sisters initially operated out of a wooden structure. They commissioned architect John J. Huddart to design a permanent facility, and the resulting three-story brick building opened on March 12, 1898, at a construction cost of $12,000. It was equipped with electric lights, steam heat, hot and cold running water, and a fully equipped surgical department — modern amenities for a mountain mining town.
The hospital's first patient was a miner named Elijah Ayers, admitted on opening day. The Sisters of Mercy served the community's miners, families, and those requiring mental health care until 1924, when they withdrew after nearly thirty years of operation. The building then passed through private operators who continued running it as a medical facility and later a nursing home.
At some point between the nursing home era and 1995, the building sat vacant. New owners purchased it and converted the former hospital into a hotel, preserving the original brick construction and the building's layout — including the back stairways, the basement boiler room, and the patient wards that now serve as guest rooms. The hotel opened in 1995 and has operated since, maintaining its reputation as one of the more haunted destinations in a town known for such properties.
Sources
Three named entities account for most of the specific reports at Hotel St. Nicholas, each associated with particular locations in the building.
Petey is described as the ghost of a young boy, believed to have been cared for at the hospital during the Sisters of Mercy era. He manifests primarily in the Boiler Room Tavern in the basement, where cigarettes are reported hidden — moved from where guests and staff leave them — and small objects displaced from their original positions. The activity is described as playful rather than threatening; Petey's reputation at the hotel is that of a mischievous child rather than a malevolent presence.
The Miner appears on the back stairway and has been seen in the first-floor office. The figure is described as dressed in period clothing consistent with the gold rush era, when the hospital would have been treating men injured or killed in the mines. Apparitions of the Miner are brief — glimpsed and then absent — but recurring across multiple independent accounts by staff and guests.
The third entity, known informally as Stinky, is associated with a sewage-like odor that appears near the back stairs without any corresponding plumbing explanation. The smell arrives and dissipates without connecting to building systems, and multiple visitors and staff have reported it in the same location.
Beyond these three, guests report flickering lights in former patient rooms, disembodied whispers in hallways, and the general sense of being watched that pervades older medical buildings. The accounts go back to the hotel's early years and have accumulated steadily since 1995.
Notable Entities
A working hotel in the three-story brick building the Sisters of Mercy constructed in 1898 as Cripple Creek's first general hospital. Rooms occupy former patient wards and administrative spaces on all three floors. The Boiler Room Tavern in the basement — where the spirit known as Petey is reported most active — operates as an in-house bar.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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