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Manitou Springs coffin races recall Emma's cryptic ride
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The City of Manitou Springs revisits the accidental exhuming of Emma Crawford which sent her casket and remains tumbling down the side of Red Mountain. The Emma Crawford festival is held annually on the weekend before Halloween with a coffin race headlining the events. Teams of five are judged on costuming, vehicle design and swiftness as they race through the streets of town. Assuredly many of the spectators from this artistically rich community will also be adorned in flavorful costumes. The 15th annual Emma Crawford festival gets underway Saturday October 24th with the parade of hearses down Manitou Avenue beginning at 12:15 pm. The coffin races run immediately after the parade with a post race celebration in Soda Springs Park sponsored by the Manitou Springs Educational Foundation. The party is a fund raiser for the foundation with a 5 dollar per person admission for live music, children's activities and costume contests. Food will be available as well as beer and wine for adults.
Miramont Castle also hosts the annual Emma Crawford Victorian Wake for a limited number of guests the night before the festival. "Emma" will be laid out in the splendid attire of her time with performers playing the roles of her contemporaries including Father Jean Baptist Francolon, master of the fabulous castle. Viewings begin at 6:00 pm Friday October 23rd with a buffet dinner in the Great Hall.
Emma Crawford moved to Manitou Springs in 1889 seeking a cure for tuberculosis in the natural spring water that flows abundantly from several sources throughout town. Sadly she died at age 19 on December 4, 1891before her planned marriage to railroad engineer William Hildebrand. Emma requested a burial on the top of Red Mountain. Her finance and a dozen sturdy pallbearers spent two days carrying her coffin up the mountain to make that dying wish come true. Years of weather absorbed into the porous rocks causing cracks with each freezing that eventually unearthed Emma's coffin and sent it cascading down the mountainside. One story featured on thecabinet dot com tells of Emma's grave being relocated by railroad engineers to make way for a rail line over the site. The rail project was eventually abandoned and the grave relocation crew blamed for the eventual slide of Emma's coffin.
Now Emma is remembered every year by the eclectic residents of this enchanting town for her unfortunate posthumous events. Although the Threemendous art exhibit begins at 5 pm on the same day; it's certain many racers will remain in town and in costume as they celebrate the events of the day in surrounding watering holes. We have to wonder if Emma would be honored by a festival that remembers her in such manner, or would she just be creeped out by it all.
- John McCarthy - Examiner.com
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