A Ghost At Gold Camp Road

Here is my first story, hope you all enjoy!

This is not my first encounter with the paranormal; however, it is my first sighting of an apparition. This story is true and there are several witnesses that can attest to this happening who were present during what took place.

Gold Camp Road is notorious in the Springs (Colorado Springs) for 2 main reasons:

1) Partying. It is an isolated and mostly unsupervised area and as such is frequently used as a location for teenagers to drink, smoke pot, and blare music.

2) Paranormal activity. There are many stories regarding the area ranging from an infamous "bus crash" (which never actually happened) and apparitions, as well as mildly demonic or malevolent activity. There is a history of car crashes and murders as well as people dropping off murdered bodies over the cliff into the Cheyenne Canyon area below. Taking this into consideration, many people come out of skeptical interest and curiosity of the unknown to see if the tales are true.

It was a normal Friday night and I was with my friend J (I'll call him that for the story as I don't want to release his personal info on the web out of respect). We were bored out of our minds and after the hookah we set up had died we needed something to do. We wanted to go to a party but realized we both lacked the "hook ups" to get an address- I know we're lame- and so we thought of places we could come across a get together. Gold Camp was brought up and soon after I drove us up there.

We came to a pull-off before one of the tunnels that overlooked the city and parked next to some cars that were loudly blasting music. Some college-aged kids were drinking beers, smoking, and generally chilling and we were quickly invited to join them.

At a little after midnight, the music was turned down and everyone was either in the cars or outside in a huddled group talking about life and joking around. I was in the middle of a conversation when I heard what sounded like the faint clinking of metal chains and a sort of dragging sound. As it got louder, I decided to investigate the source.

The sound grew louder near a sign by the edge of the road. As I peered over the edge I took note that it was a cliff and would be impossible to get down without serious injury so the fact that a sound was rising up was astonishing to me. My thoughts jumped to "who would be down there and how did they get there?" and even more worryingly, "did someone fall down and need help?"

Before I could say anything, a large and dark figure arose from the edge a mere 10 feet away from me. It appeared to be a tall man (like 6'5") shrouded in a white tattered cloak or sheet and wrapped in chains. At first I thought it was a guy trying to scare us and prank us because I knew of the tales of the area but one thing struck me as odd that made me keep a serious complexion: the man had NO FACE. In addition to not having a face I thought he was black at first but soon realized his body was composed of what appeared to be a shadowy mist. He looked like someone had wrapped his body in a sheet and wrapped chains around it before throwing it down the hill and downwind from this figure was a terrible stench like sweat and mild decay. I couldn't even believe my eyes.

The figure began slowly trudging towards the road dragging chains behind him and each footstep making a loud "thud" as if he was wearing boots. The group outside I had left to investigate went silent and we all watched the apparition in fascination and bewilderment as it slowly walked along the road not looking back.

I made sure everyone else was seeing what I saw and summoned the courage to follow the apparition with the intent to see if it was really what it appeared to be and not some guy dressed up being dramatic. He walked slowly but his strides were huge so I had to walk quickly to keep up with his pace. I followed him for about 30 feet when he suddenly stopped.

He slowly turned towards the edge of the road with the cliff but there were bushes and trees at this stretch of the road for about 10 feet before the edge. I loudly said "Hello!" trying to communicate with this strange man and he took two steps into the bushes and disappeared into thin air in a cloud of mist. Just like that. Gone.

I walked back and told the others what I had seen and they could hardly believe it. We all talked for another half hour about what we had seen before parting our ways.

All in all, it was an interesting night and despite the other's sobriety rendering them less credible, I was completely sober (since I was driving) and saw it clear as day. I have yet to witness another apparition as clear and real as the one I saw that night but it definitely got me further interested in the paranormal and I will always remember the man with the chains. My only wish was that I could have learned more about the apparition and its story but perhaps I'll see it again when I decide to go back up there!