{"id":11292,"date":"2020-02-18T15:34:19","date_gmt":"2020-02-18T22:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=11292"},"modified":"2025-05-30T20:29:01","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T02:29:01","slug":"the-witches-of-manitou-more-than-an-urban-legend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=11292","title":{"rendered":"“The Witches of Manitou”\u2014More than an Urban Legend"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"The
The old spa town of Manitou Springs, located in the foothills west of Colorado Springs. Photo by Mark Reis, ( a former newspaper co-worker of mine) from the Colorado Sun<\/em>. Click to embiggen.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Colorado Sun,<\/em> an online news site, dropped this into my inbox yesterday, giving M. and me both giggles and epic nostalgia. Back in the Eighties, we were “The Witches of Manitou” \u2014 at least two of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Witches of Manitou Springs: History, hysteria and wand-waving Wiccans behind a stubborn urban myth” <\/a>was co-authored by  Nathalie Reinstein, <\/span><\/a> Ally Kuhn<\/span><\/a>,   Danielle Breslow, <\/span><\/a>and Michael Wright.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It begins,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Manitou Springs, a picturesque mountain town nestled in the shadow of Pikes Peak, is full of whispers of witches and witchcraft.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe you\u2019ve heard it from an Uber driver on the way to an area bar or while scrolling through a travel site. It\u2019s a tale that often wanders through word of mouth. Wherever it comes from, legend has it there are witches in Manitou Springs. More, perhaps, than usual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But is there an overabundance of witches in this town at the foot of America\u2019s mountain, where at least one apothecary sells miniature broomsticks \u2014 or is it just a persistent urban legend?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

That much is true. It definitely is a persistent urban legend \u2014 I encountered it in my more youthful days, circa 1976. Everybody had heard of ceremonies in “the big cave.” Actually, it was an abandoned limestone quarry, and it definitely was a site of high-school keg parties and that sort of thing. It was demolished when an upscale housing development was built in that area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There\u2019s the horror mockumentary, \u201cThe Warning,\u201d a film by Summer Moore<\/a>, a Liberty High School graduate turned filmmaker. Filmed in Colorado Springs, \u201cThe Blair Witch Project\u201d-inspired script follows three friends as they investigate a local cult in the forest that borders the town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While promoting her film in 2015, Moore told<\/a> The Gazette<\/em> she spoke with 50 of her classmates who alluded to \u201ctrue accounts\u201d of dark happenings in Manitou. Moore went on to write, produce, and star in her film. . . .
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When Bryant T. Ragan, a history professor at Colorado College, was teaching a class<\/a> at Colorado College in 2018 titled \u201cSorcery, Magic, and Devilry: The History of Witchcraft,\u201d he wanted to bring in a practicing Wiccan from Manitou Springs to talk to his students. He ultimately couldn\u2019t track down someone willing to do it<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Read the whole thing.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n