The Hotel St. Nicholas in Cripple Creek is rumored to be haunted by multiple spirits, including children, patients from the former mental ward, nuns, and an old miner. The hotel was originally a hospital built in the late 1890s, which later served as a home for prospectors and their families and housed patients with mental illnesses before closing in the 1970s. Guests and staff have reported a variety of supernatural encounters, contributing to the hotel's spooky history. The hotel's origin as a hospital and later a ward for the mentally ill contributes to its haunted reputation, with spirits of former patients and staff believed to linger there. Specific spirits reportedly include children, nuns, and a grumpy miner. Guests have reported various phenomena, contributing to the "spooky history" and "ghostly encounters" associated with the location. The building's past as a hospital for flood victims and its later expansion to include a mental ward created an environment where a sense of suffering and lingering presence might have developed. The town of Cripple Creek itself has a history of lawlessness and tragedy, with many people dying under violent circumstances during the Gold Rush era, adding to the region's overall reputation for hauntings.