Our favorite Weld ghost stories

Just when you think it's safe to go outside again, Halloween comes along, dragging skeletons and ghosts of the past. Here are a few of our favorite Weld County ghost stories:

* The Corn Stalker -- He haunted the cornfields southwest of Platteville a few years ago and grabbed some statewide headlines and TV coverage. Then the Corn Stalker just disappeared. Witnesses said the Corn Stalker was small and moved quickly through the corn fields, speaking with an unusual accent. The Stalker reportedly stole food, clothing and blankets from area farmhouses, but residents began locking up their possessions and the Corn Stalker faded away like a vapor in the night.

* The Hardin Phantom -- On U.S. 34, about 13 miles east of Greeley, the little town of Hardin sits quietly about a mile south of the highway. Residents through the years have reported a large man dressed in a black cape rumbling through the town from time to time. They blamed him for killing farm animals, window peeping and escaping sheriff's deputies by leaping 7-foot fences. Some residents believe he still wanders the town on nights around Halloween, but sheriff's deputies are skeptical.

* Courthouse ghosts -- Located in downtown Greeley, the Weld County Court House supposedly has its share of apparitions. The most-repeated stories are of the ghosts who appear in the courthouse clocks. Custodians claim they have seen the face of a ghostly apparition appear on other clocks scattered around the building. There also are stories of footsteps heard on dark nights in the empty corridors and even a ghostly child peeking out from behind a judge's bench on the third floor.

* Chief Theater Ghost (AKA Hotel Ghost) -- Probably the most told ghost story in Greeley, it began when employees of the old Chief Theater in downtown Greeley reported seeing the apparition of a blonde woman dressed in a white, turn-of-the-century dress, haunting the balcony. Various origins for the ghosts have been given, from an actress killed in the theater's early days and buried in the basement, to the ghost of Cora Rose, a woman shot in her downtown area home in 1916. Her murder was never solved. The theater was demolished several years ago and replaced by a parking lot. In recent years, employees of the downtown Regency hotel, 8th Avenue and 8th Street, claim to have seen a ghostly apparition on the third floor of the hotel.