DENVER — Every town has its secrets, and in Denver, some of those secrets seem unwilling to stay buried. Deep in the heart of the Mile High City, historic buildings still carry the echoes of their Wild West past.
Now, a group of spiritual investigators is hoping to separate fact from folklore — and turn their findings into a television series. This week, they’ve set their sights, and their equipment, on one of Denver’s most storied venues: Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox, housed inside the Airedale building.
A Haunted History
For more than a century, the Airedale Building has stood at 20th and Lawrence. Since it was built in 1889, it’s been home to a rotating list of tenants. According to paranormal investigators — and some current staff — not all those tenants have left.
“There are two types of people in this world,” says investigator Arthur Schmidt. “It's either you 100% believe…or you want to believe, but you're terrified of what's on the other side.”
Schmidt knows the skepticism well.
“No one would believe me, my parents, my family, my friends, nothing,” he says of his own childhood experiences. “I felt constantly dismissed, and so I just figured, you know, this is going to be my life.”
His search for proof has fueled decades of investigation — and now, a new TV project called Awakened: Haunted Wild West. The series explores ghost stories tied to historic sites across the western U.S.
“We're cracking open the history books and shedding the light into the dark corners of our history and the Wild West,” Schmidt says.
Spirits at work
According to Ophelia’s managers, strange things have been happening inside the former saloon and hotel for years — some of it playful, some unexplainable.
“There’s definitely been…there’s someone here. There’s probably a few people here,” says general manager Rachel Noble.
General Manager Rachel Noble recalls one encounter in the women’s restroom:
“I'm in one stall, and the receptacle falls off of the wall in the stall next to me. So I'm like, oh, not a big deal…Well, that shot out of the stall. And I said, ‘Okay, I figured there was spirits here. I'm here to work, not here to bother you…we can be friends.’” The staff has even given their unseen resident a name: Ophelia. Noble describes the presence as “feminine and always very supportive of me and the other feminine leadership that we’ve had in this building. Men just don’t do well in this building.”
From lights flickering to music volumes mysteriously shifting during live sets, they’ve learned to work around their ghostly guest. One thing they agree on: “We’ve never felt that here [the spirit] is negative. It’s always been safe,” says Noble.
Seeking proof
The Awakened crew isn’t just after jump scares. They’re using history, storytelling, and advanced paranormal tools to collect evidence. They've also paired up with Dark Side of Denver Ghost Tours and a psychic medium, Carol Whitebear.
“Even as a skeptic, I feel like it's still hard to deny,” says investigator James Doyle.
For Schmidt, the mission is as much about empathy as it is about the unexplained.
“If you have gone through this, we've got your back. We're right there with you. And for the skeptics out there, there's no fake in the funk,” he says.
The work can also be personal for those who live or work in haunted spaces.
“Some people that work here…have even said, like, 'I don’t even want to come back,'” Schmidt admits. That’s why he and his team try to “calm people down” while collecting evidence.
More than a ghost story
Both the investigators and the managers of Ophelia’s see the value in telling these stories — not just for entertainment, but for preserving history.
“As we look into the history of these places, these people were here before us,” Noble says. “We’re here because of them,” Flynn added.
For Schmidt, it’s also about pushing viewers out of their comfort zones:
“It’s to open the light a little bit, open your eyes, your minds and hearts and souls, to really, what is there?” he said.
Awakened: Haunted Wild West aims to give audiences more than campfire ghost tales. As Schmidt puts it: “This show is not to scare you, even though my crew and I will get into some very terrifying situations… Let’s give voices to people who have gone through stuff like I did… and open up skeptics’ minds.”
If you want to catch the Awakened crew in action, Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox will be the star of their next investigation — and maybe, whatever still resides inside, will make themselves known on camera.
The show is still in production, so keep an eye out for updates on Awakened's social media accounts.
