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Emma Crawford and the Coffin Race
One hundred and thirty years after her death, Emma is the life of the party
There is a charming Colorado mountain town with beautiful views, famous mineral springs, fantastic art galleries, and a wildly popular coffin race.
For the past 28 years, on the Saturday before Halloween, the town of Manitou Springs honors a former resident in a spectacular, unique, and slightly morbid way — with a coffin race.
Emma Crawford
Emma Crawford, born and raised on the East Coast, was a talented musician who struggled with poor health since childhood. In 1889, at the age of twenty-six, she moved to the small town of Manitou Springs with her mother in hopes of being healed from tuberculosis.
In the late 1800s, people suffering from tuberculosis flocked to Manitou Springs for the dry air, abundant sunshine, and cool mineral springs that were believed to have curative powers.
Sadly, Emma died from the disease in 1891, two years after arriving in Colorado.
During her brief time living in the area, Emma was fond of hiking Red Mountain, just south of Manitou Springs, and allegedly requested to be buried on the summit. According to the town’s heritage center, it took twelve pallbearers, working in…
