Est. 1907 · Italian Coal Mining Immigration History · Southern Colorado Victorian Architecture · Trinidad Funeral Home Heritage
Trinidad, Colorado sits at the foot of Raton Pass along what was once the Santa Fe Trail, and its late-19th and early-20th-century prosperity was built largely on coal. Italian immigrants arrived in large numbers to work the mines, and the Tarabino brothers were among them. In 1907 they built the Victorian Italianate house at 310 E 2nd St — an ambitious structure that signaled their success in the new country.
The home served as a private residence for several decades before being converted to a funeral home, a use it maintained for many years. That transition — from family home to a place where the dead were prepared and laid out — is the detail that local accounts most often cite when explaining the building's reputation. A paranormal assessor who visited the property reportedly identified at least seven distinct entities in residence.
The building was eventually converted to a bed and breakfast, the Tarabino Inn, and has operated in that capacity with its haunted history as an acknowledged part of its identity. The World Journal, Trinidad's local newspaper, has covered the inn as one of the town's notable haunted venues.
Sources
- https://www.hauntedcolorado.net/Trinidad.html
- https://worldjournalnewspaper.com/haunted-trinidad-if-you-had-a-nickel-for-every-ghost-2/
Apparition of woman in gown on staircaseCigar smoke aromas with no physical sourceChildren's voices and movement on top floorCold spotsObjects displaced
The Tarabino Inn's paranormal reputation rests on a combination of staff experience and formal assessment. Kevin Vila, who has been associated with the inn, described a range of unexplained experiences including cold spots, objects out of place, and the sense of being watched in certain rooms. A paranormal assessor who evaluated the property produced a count of at least seven distinct presences — an unusually specific figure that circulated in regional paranormal publications.
The most often-cited entity is called Hector, described as a cigar-smoking male presence most strongly felt in the library. A woman in a formal gown has been reported on the staircase. Children's voices and movement on the top floor round out the accounts documented in the regional haunting record.
The building's years as a funeral home form the backdrop most visitors bring to the experience, though the specific hauntings are not tied by any documented source to deaths that occurred on the premises during that period. The 'All About Ghosts' newsletter covered the Tarabino as a notable Colorado haunted site.
Notable Entities
Hector (reported cigar-smoking presence in library)Unidentified woman in gown