Emma Crawford Coffin Festival

By: © Nelson Taylor 2008

Festival Location: Manitou Springs, CO, USA

Festival State: Colorado Festivals

Festival Type: Bizarre Festivals

Like many festivals across the nation, the story behind this one is rooted in local lore. In the late 1800s, the young Emma Crawford moved to Manitou Springs for the fresh mountain air and crisp, clean water. The town was a haven for health seekers during that time, and Emma came seeking a cure for her tuberculosis. She fell in love with the town and its surrounding mountains and soon her fiance, Mr. Hildebrand, joined her there. But Emma's fight with the disease was short-lived and she died before she could marry. Respecting her last wish, Hildebrand and twelve men carried Emma's coffin to the top of the 7,200-foot Red Mountain, where she wanted to be buried. Emma rested peacefully there until the early 1900s, when the heavy summer rains washed her coffin down the mountain and into the canyon below. Now every weekend prior to Halloween, the town of Manitou Springs hosts some morbid events in her memory.

The headliner of the celebration is the annual coffin race. Each team builds their own coffin and mounts them on tires that are less than six inches in diameter. One "Emma" rides in the coffin while four others push their craft down a 250-yard stretch of main street. Besides speed, teams are also judged on the creative flair of their coffin design.