Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre is known world-wide as a stunning one-of-a-kind concert venue, featuring natural beauty and world-class inherent acoustics. A lesser-known detail of the venue, however, is that it’s allegedly haunted by a hatchet-wielding ghost.

Although there are several variations of the story, most agree that the ‘hatchet lady’ allegedly lurks around the area and is not friendly to those she considers trespassers. According to Denver Horror, her hatchet “may be getting dull, but she swings it with surprising force.” The hatchet lady supposedly appears to rowdy children and passionate lovers.

The eerie apparition is said to appear as an old hag – dirty, ragged, and with a nest of gray hair. Denver Horror reports that she moves with “astonishing” speed and strength, making her sound like some sort of animal as she swings her hatchet and bares her yellow teeth. Although she’s said to have chased visitors, everyone to meet her has supposedly escaped with their life.

The hatchet lady’s backstory is quite despondent, stemming from a poor couple that resided outside Morrison sometime during the mid-twentieth century. The husband was sick, and Denver Horror says that the wife was “mean and already a little crazy.” The couple struggled to get by, and when the husband died, the wife lost their house and moved into a small cave that sits along a section of Dakota Ridge.

As her mind deteriorated, she’s said to have started wandering the edges of the town with a hatchet, talking to herself while gathering firewood. She became more violent and unhinged, snarling at those she saw, sometimes even charging them unprovoked. Despite the rumors, she managed to escape authorities each time.

The woman eventually became a menacing presence around the iconic red sandstone formations along the banks of Bear Creek – especially when darkness fell. It’s said that even death didn’t stop her from tormenting those who explored Bear Creek at night.

In another version of the story, some claim the hatchet lady lurks under the Morrison bridge, kidnapping people and chopping them up. According to Colorado Stories, this part of the legend got plenty of notoriety with the death of a member of the prominent Coors family in 1960 at a location close to the alleged hauntings.

The next time you’re enjoying a concert at Red Rocks or hiking nearby trails, beware of a vengeful hatchet-wielding ghost who might be lurking in the shadows in wait.