One of Denver’s most beautiful places has a disturbing history that might put you off gardening for a bit.

The Denver Botanic Gardens are known for their lush landscapes of beautiful plants. Thousands of visitors come through these gardens every year, but few have any idea that they might be walking on human remains.

Up until the 1950s, the land the garden’s currently sit on was a huge Catholic cemetery. When the city and church decided to move the cemetery, workers were tasked with removing the bodies – more than 7,000 of them.

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Unfortunately, it seems that incomplete grave records or poor attention to detail led to some remains being overlooked in the moving process. Since its opening, human remains continue to be found beneath the soil in the gardens. In fact, the Botanic Gardens have an on-call forensic pathologist to make sure that any human bones discovered are actually from the old cemetery and not those of murder victims.

Since the construction of the Gardens, people have reported seeing and hearing all sorts of unexplainable happenings. From reports of ghostly figures wandering the grounds to strange lights hovering in windows and even the disembodied voices, there seems to be something about this Denver landmark that inspires chills as well as admiration.

The Denver Botanic Gardens host an annual Ghosts in the Gardens tour where visitors can hear about the haunted history of this spot from staff and walk the paths of the gardens after dark. The historic Waring House Mansion, usually closed to the public, is also open for exploration during this special tour.

You can find the Denver Botanic Gardens at 1007 York Street.

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