Inside a historic — and maybe haunted — Cheesman mansion
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DENVER — Standing tall at the corner of 11th Avenue and Humboldt Street, the Thompson-Henry Mansion has overlooked Cheesman Park for 120 years.
With its impressive columned facade and ornate stained glass windows, the Georgian Revival-style home is one of two dozen residences preserved in the Humboldt Street Historic District.
The house is also rumored to be haunted.
Rocky Mountain PBS toured the home with Bob and Kathleen Reginelli, who bought the home in 1991. The couple shared their knowledge of the mansion’s history and their own paranormal experiences.
After moving into the house, the Reginellis also learned about its haunted lore.
The original owner of the mansion, businessman and millionaire Alonzo Thompson, had a reputation for communing with spirits, including his late father, regarding personal and professional affairs.
Thompson openly believed in spiritualism and the validity of séances. He divorced his third wife after spirits told him she and his son were plotting to steal his estate.
“You're here, you start learning stories,” Kathleen Reginelli said. “Over the years, anyone who contacted us who said they had anything to do with the house, and was it possible that they could come in, we said yes. The more you can learn about it, even the fun ghost stories and all, I think the more interesting it is.”
Built in 1905 by Danish architects, the house has many fixtures common in upper-class residences of the time period.
Large front doors open into the foyer, featuring a chandelier, detailed wood paneling and decorative molding — accents which are present throughout the 11,000 square foot home.
To the left of the entryway is the parlor room, traditionally used to formally greet guests and host special social events.
One previous owner converted the bright, airy room into a den, covering the walls with wood paneling and installing shelves to display his car racing trophies.
The family who owned the home before the Reginellis discovered photos of the original parlor room and restored the space to its original condition, complete with wall moldings, flowery wallpaper and a marble fireplace.
The home was built with two sets of staircases — one for house staff and the other for guests and residents. The main stairwell boasts a hand-painted ceiling depicting cherubs playing instruments, a 14-foot diamond dust mirror and a large, stained glass scene of Romeo and Juliet, which is visible from the outside of the house.
Intricate stained glass pieces are present throughout the house, including on a set of retractable doors in the living room, which have their own “romantic” history.
“These are supposedly the doors where they did some Playboy centerfolds back in the 70s,” Bob Reginelli said, revealing the panels from their hiding place in the wall.
A close up on the Romeo and Juliet scene in the stained glass window. Video: Cormac McCrimmon, Rocky Mountain PBS
The house has nine bedrooms and seven — originally eight — fireplaces. One upstairs fireplace was boarded up and painted over after a fire, which the Reginellis learned after a visit from a previous resident.
“She walked over to the wall and she pointed at where the bed is now, and she said, this is where my fireplace was,” Kathleen Reginelli said.
“So we went out and looked and sure enough, there's a chimney going up the side,” her husband added.
The Reginellis believe they found the “forbidden room” — as one contemporary newspaper called it — where Alonzo Thompson held his séances. Tucked away on the third floor, the room is devoid of windows and decoration, with a low ceiling and slanted walls. The Reginellis now use it for storage.
Bob and Kathleen Reginelli are not believers, but their son Christopher Reginelli is. Growing up with his bedroom on the third floor, he said he often heard voices coming from a crawl space in the ceiling.
Kathleen Reginelli did admit to some spooky experiences. In the ballroom in the basement, she said she once felt a hand on her shoulder, only to discover no one behind her.
Whenever her husband wasn’t home at night, Kathleen Reginelli said she and her children would never go down to the basement or up to the third floor, even though the kids’ bedrooms were up there.
“One night, the dog was down on the second floor, looking up the staircase and barking, barking, barking like crazy,” Kathleen Reginelli said. “[Bob] was gone, and the dog would not go up the stairs. We wouldn't go up the stairs if the dog wasn’t going up the stairs.”
The mansion’s haunted history has earned it a stop along a Cheesman Park ghost tour led by Will Olson, owner of Denver Local Tours. The house earned its spooky reputation due to its first owner’s obsession with the occult, but its location only adds to the haunted lore.
The land that is now Cheesman Park used to be the city’s first cemetery. As Capitol Hill expanded and houses closed in on the cemetery, residents and prospective home builders complained about the location of the graveyard.
In 1890, the city received permission to turn the land into a park. The city excavated and moved bodies, though thousands remain below the surface.
Cheesman Park has a haunted history of its own. Video: Cormac McCrimmon, Rocky Mountain PBS
“There’s plenty of bodies still just right underneath the city streets, right underneath the sidewalk. Some people believe that when you’re disturbing [the bodies], then you’re disturbing the souls of others,” Olson said.
The cemetery was built on a much larger site than the present-day Cheesman Park, so the surrounding homes, including the Thompson-Henry Mansion, are built on former burial grounds.
““As the paupers’ area, no families had come to claim the people. The story is there's still bones behind our fence here,” Kathleen Reginelli said, pointing to the backyard.
The ghost stories don’t bother the Reginellis, who don’t have plans of moving anytime soon. They’re content living in a historic, parkfront mansion, even if it might be haunted.
Learn more about Cheesman Park’s storied past in "Colorado Experience: Hidden History of Cheesman Park," premiering Thursday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. on Rocky Mountain PBS and RMPBS+.
Type of story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. To read more about why you can trust the journalism of Rocky Mountain PBS, please visit our editorial standards and practices page.
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. To read more about why you can trust the journalism of Rocky Mountain PBS, please visit our editorial standards and practices page.