I recently had the opportunity to visit Keota, CO. It’s a ghost town that was founded in 1880 by two sisters, Mary and Eva Beardsley.
It’s said that the name Keota means either “gone to visit” or “fire has gone out” in Native American. I was unable to find out which tribe used that term.
In 1888, the sisters sold Keota to the Lincoln Land and Cattle Company, after which a plat was filed for the town of Keota.
Keota thrived when the railroad came through. The Colorado-Wyoming Division of the Burlington-Missouri Railroad stopped at the local station, which soon gained the name “Old Prairie Dog Express.”
During its heyday, the town had a hotel, restaurant, and other services for visitors and railroad crews.
In the late 1800s, a depression hit, causing a decline in the population of Keota. The post office closed in 1890.
When a new wave of homesteaders surged into Colorado from the Midwest in 1908, the Keota Post Office reopened a year later. Following the Dust Bowl days earlier, the rains of 1911 caused crops to grow and land prices to soar for both farming and cattle. With that, wells were dug, a newspaper started, a church was built, and a School was built. However, the remote location and difficulty securing a steady water source caused the town’s decline. The school closed in 1951, and the post office closed its doors in 1974. The final straw occurred with the moving of the railroad tracks.
Keota became a ghost town. And what a ghost town it became!
My Wife (Christi), my youngest daughter (Koti), and I arrived in Keota on a partly sunny Sunday afternoon. We drove down what appeared to be the main street of the town’s former glory days! We stopped at the first house, abandoned and decayed with age. As we approached the house, I noted the wear the years had taken on the home. My daughter stepped into the house while my wife and I stood outside. Usually, I don’t find anything particularly surprising. But today would be different.
My wife was holding our EMF Detector when it suddenly started emitting a high-pitched squeal. I thought, “What the heck?”
Normally, our EMF detector is relatively quiet, but not today. There was a presence. There were no electrical devices, electronics, or power—just pure energy from a Spirit Lingering at home.
I took photos of the EMF device and then started asking questions of the spirit. “The next time we visit here,” I thought, “I’m bringing a video camera.”
The next 45 minutes were more interesting than any investigation I’ve ever done. I'll be back with the next installment in two days!
