Tarabino Inn

A historic Victorian inn in downtown Trinidad, one of Colorado's most atmospheric small towns along the Santa Fe Trail. The building dates to the late 1800s and was part of Trinidad's lively frontier-era commercial district.

The Tarabino Inn was built in 1907 by the Tarabino brothers, Italian merchants from northern Italy who had established the Famous Department Store on the Santa Fe Trail in Trinidad during the late nineteenth century. The elegant brick home on the hill above downtown Trinidad reflects the prosperity that the Tarabino family achieved in this southern Colorado coal mining and ranching community. Trinidad sits at the crossroads of the Santa Fe Trail and the route over Raton Pass into New Mexico, and its history encompasses Spanish explorers, mountain men, coal barons, and the infamous Ludlow Massacre of 1914 just north of town.

The inn is one of the most densely haunted locations in southern Colorado, with a psychic friend of the owners identifying at least seven distinct entities residing in the building. The most frequently seen spirit is a ghostly lady wearing a gown who appears at the bottom of the stairs, watching guests as they ascend to the upper floors. On the second floor, a woman taps people on the shoulder, and former owner Barney Tarabino himself haunts the Walnut Suite, the room he presumably occupied during his time in the house.

The library is haunted by an entity known as Hector, who announces his presence through the strong smell of cherry tobacco cigars. Children's spirits are active on the top floor, where the sound of a little girl knocking has been heard repeatedly. An elderly woman has been seen in the hallways, and the West Gable Room on the third floor is considered the most intensely haunted area of the inn. A guest who spent the night in the West Gable Room reported that a ghost sat on her bed, grabbed her shoulder, and told her to "Get out!" The paranormal activity in the closet area of the West Gable Room has been specifically noted by multiple visitors.

Phantom cigar smoke, unexplained footsteps, and the feeling of being watched pervade the building. The Tarabino Inn has been featured on paranormal websites and has attracted ghost hunters to Trinidad, a town that already carries a heavy load of history from the coal mining wars, the Santa Fe Trail, and the diverse communities that have passed through this mountain gateway for centuries.