The story of Emma Crawford and the original coffin race

MANITOU SPRINGS, Colo. (KXRM) — Manitou Springs will celebrate the 30th annual Emma Crawford Coffin Races & Festival on Saturday, Oct. 26., in which teams of four "pallbearers" will race coffin-themed carts down Manitou Avenue, each carrying an "Emma Crawford" to the finish line.

The day starts with a hearse parade featuring 12 to 24 vehicles making their way down Manitou Avenue, accompanied by people dressed in their Halloween best. Following the parade, up to 60 teams compete in the coffin races, vying for the fastest times and best-dressed racers.

The event is unique to Manitou Springs and has drawn international attention, having been featured on many shows, including the Travel Channel and a European broadcast.

The Halloween-themed celebration honors a woman whose life remains largely unknown, but whose adventures after death bring around 10,000 people to the mountain town every year.

The life of Emma Crawford (1863-1891)

Emma Crawford, a very accomplished concert pianist from the East Coast contracted tuberculosis in her mid-twenties.

"Like a lot of tuberculosis patients at the time, they moved out here to the Pikes Peak Region for the purpose of recuperating from that dreaded disease," said Michael Maio, President of the Manitou Springs Heritage Center and Museum. "And so she moved out here in 1888 with her mother and sister, took up residence, and gave lessons. And the fees she generated from these lessons were used to help support her family."

Wilhelm Hildenbrand, a well-known engineer and designer of suspension bridges, who later worked on the Brooklyn Bridge and Cincinnati’s Roebling Bridge, came to the area in 1889 as a consulting engineer for the Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway.

"He meets a very young woman who's about 20 years his junior, by the name of Emma Crawford," said Maio. "At the time they met, Emma was 28 years old, and Wilhelm Hildenbrand was 48, a very accomplished businessman and career engineer. So they started taking walks together throughout the surrounding mountainsides here in Manitou Springs, and on one occasion, they went to the top of Red Mountain."

While at the top of Red Mountain, Emma expressed her wish to be buried on the mountain. One story says that she claimed to be inspired by a Native American spirit who told her where her burial site should be.

When she died on Dec. 4, 1891, Hildenbrand fulfilled her wishes by gathering 12 pallbearers to carry her casket to the top of the mountain, where she was buried on the north end of the summit, overlooking the town. She remained there for several years.

The afterlife of Emma Crawford (1891-Present)

In 1911, investors from the Louisville & Nashville Railroad started the construction of the Red Mountain Incline Railway as a tourist attraction.

"This railroad was under construction when, lo and behold, they discovered the existence of a gravesite belonging to Emma Crawford," said Maio. "Initially they didn't know what to do with this gravesite, and there was no cemetery deed, so... [the] Red Mountain Incline operation decided to relocate the grave to the south end of the summit."

Her burial site was moved and became a tourist attraction, but financial issues forced the railway's closure in 1928.

"The grades on this railway were upwards to 65%, and so it was very steep and very rickety," said Maio. "The ride to the top and back again was so terrifying that guests never took a second ride."

In 1929, a major rainstorm dislodged Emma's coffin, sending her remains and fragments of the coffin about 10 to 20 feet down the mountain. On Aug. 4 that year, two boys hiking the mountain discovered her skull, some bone fragments, parts of the coffin, and the nameplate, which helped identify her. The boys brought her remains to the constable of Manitou Springs.

"The Constable didn't know what to do with these remains," said Maio. "And so he placed the remains in the basement of city hall, where they stayed until 1932."

Her remains were then reinterred in 1932 at Crystal Vally Cemetery in Manitou Springs.

"So Emma Crawford was not buried in one or two different places, but three different places here in Manitou Springs," said Maio. "And to honor her memory, and perhaps to address any grievances her family might have, we honor her memory with this coffin race that is held each year in Manitou Springs."

The Manitou Springs Heritage Center and Museum, located at 517 Manitou Ave., offers tours that recount Emma Crawford's story along with other tales and legends from the town's history. For more information, click the link to their website above.