A 40-acre Gold Rush burial ground where madam Pearl De Vere and the town's most notorious dead were laid to rest
Carr Ave, Cripple Creek, CO 80813
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Cemetery open to the public at no charge; annual Gold Camp Victorian Society cemetery walks may require tickets
Access
Limited Access
Sloped hillside terrain on the eastern face of Mount Pisgah; unpaved paths between grave sections
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1895 · Gold Rush era cemetery · Pearl De Vere burial site · Annual living-history cemetery walks
Gold was discovered in the Cripple Creek district in 1890, and within five years the population had exceeded 30,000. Mt. Pisgah Cemetery became the final destination for miners, merchants, madams, and outlaws at a rate that reflected both the boom and the violence that accompanied it.
The land was formally donated in 1895 by Horace W. Bennett and Julius A. Myers, two Denver investors who had profited from the district's growth. The cemetery occupies 40 acres on the eastern slope of Mount Pisgah, with sight lines to the east over the town. The earliest documented burial predates this formalization: James Gozad was interred there on May 11, 1892.
The cemetery's most visited graves belong to figures who represent different aspects of Cripple Creek's character. Pearl De Vere, who operated the Old Homestead brothel on Myers Avenue and charged $250 per night, died on June 5, 1897, from what was ruled an accidental morphine overdose. Her funeral, paid for by a wealthy admirer who requested she be buried in an expensive Parisian gown he had given her, drew one of the largest crowds in Cripple Creek's history. The original wooden headstone is now displayed at the Cripple Creek District Museum; the grave has since been marked with a marble stone.
The Gold Camp Victorian Society has operated the annual Mt. Pisgah Speaks cemetery walk for more than two decades, bringing costumed interpreters to the graves of notable figures each September. The event is considered one of the more carefully researched living-history cemetery programs in Colorado.
Sources
Tom McBride's story is the cemetery's most specific ghost legend. In the fall of 1894, McBride was caught stealing wine from the Altman and Flatow saloon in Cripple Creek. When an officer attempted to arrest him, McBride resisted and was killed in the struggle. According to local accounts that circulated in the years that followed, his apparition rose from the grave days after burial and drifted back into Cripple Creek to confront the officer responsible for his death.
Pearl De Vere's grave draws a different kind of attention. She died on June 5, 1897, under circumstances that mixed the prosaic—an accidental morphine overdose—with the theatrical. Her funeral procession included a band and was attended by more people than almost any other event in Cripple Creek's short history. Visitors to her grave site report a persistent sensation of being watched, and the spot appears in regional ghost tour itineraries as one of the district's more reliably atmospheric locations.
The cemetery's size and age—more than 40 acres of Gold Rush-era burials—give it a reputation that extends beyond specific ghost stories. The annual Mt. Pisgah Speaks walk draws on this atmosphere deliberately, placing costumed interpreters at grave sites to let the dead tell their own histories.
Notable Entities
Walk the 40-acre cemetery on the eastern slope of Mount Pisgah, with access to notable graves including Pearl De Vere and other figures from Cripple Creek's mining era. The earliest recorded burial dates to May 1892, predating the formal land donation in 1895.
Each September the Gold Camp Victorian Society hosts a living-history cemetery walk where costumed interpreters speak as the deceased from their grave sites. Pearl De Vere, Doc Susie Anderson, and Digger O'Dell are among the recurring characters. The event has run annually for more than 20 years.
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