When you see a beat-up roadside billboard for a “Ghost Town” museum, only to discover that it’s located in a strip mall parking lot…you park and head on inside! My expectations were low, yet my curiosity was piqued.

This recognition is awfully specific. I also love the quotes around “Ghost Town.”

I appreciated that their deer was following Governor Polis’ mask mandate!

Admission was only 7.50 each, which in hindsight was a bargain for the experience. The Ghost Town Wild West Museum is an indoor experience, comprised of genuine artifacts and preserved buildings from Colorado’s gold rush era in the 1850’s.

The museum was very strict on Covid safety, providing plenty of hand sanitizer, limiting the capacity, and adding directional arrows on the floor to control the flow of traffic. For a majority of our visit ( it takes about 45-60 minutes to tour), we were alone with the exhibits.

We were immediately “wowed” as we entered the museum, surprised to find ourselves in the middle of a town. It was like being on the backlot of a movie studio.

We were able to enter most of the buildings, which were filled with antiques representing the nature of the business. The first stop was the general store. I love all of the old logos and packaging, some from companies that are still in business.

There are many interactive exhibits requiring quarters. If we had realized this we would have brought about ten dollars worth of quarters to check it all out. I scrounged around in the bottom of my purse and we had enough for the player piano.

The livery had some creepy mannequins and I love creepy mannequins!

The most fascinating shop was the apothecary. Medicine has come a long way and this is one of the biggest reasons that i’m grateful to be living in modern times!

Every town, especially a gold rush town, needs a bank.

and a barbers/dentist.

A boarding house, aka the precursor to AirBnB.

If we were living in the old west, Dan and I would likely have spent a lot of time at the town saloon!

In the saloon we found another player piano, a fortune teller, and several Mutoscope machines, some with scandalous movies. We ran out of quarters, otherwise we definitely would have been checking out “Gorgeous Girls Galore-Banned in Chicago.” What a tease!

The museum had several modes of transportation, including stage coaches and a turn-of-the-century Cadillac.

There was a nod to Colorado’s ranching history. We just moved to Colorado last year, and I had no idea that Colorado has such a deep history with cattle. As proud residents of our new state, we attending the Great Western Stock Show in January, taking in this apparent local tradition. We also have cows that occasionally graze in the field at the end of our street. It’s delightful.

One of my favorite exhibits was the old circus posters. I know that circus’ are mostly a thing of a bygone era and for good reason, but I have fond memories of childhood circus trips in the 80’s, when Ringling Brothers would come to Los Angeles every August. In particular, I remember being very excited to see the “Unicorn” that they heavily advertised, only to get to the show and find a sheep with a horn stuck on its head. My childhood ended that day.

The museum takes a dark twist with a separate section called the “Old Home.” We were on a mini-vacation to celebrate Dan’s birthday, so he took exception to the idea that I was taking him to an “Old Home.”

Kidding aside, the “Old Home” was a bit unsettling. It’s a glimpse into a home of the 1800’s, complete with very, very eerie mannequins and old photographs. Even being there during the daytime was an unsettling experience. Seriously, take a close look at these pictures for the stuff of horror films.

The Ghost Town Wild West Museum is both an educational and entertaining experience. I highly recommend adding it to your Colorado Springs itinerary and don’t forget to bring quarters!