Greeley Ghost Tours explores the spooky side of the city’s history

Amanda Adams uses an electromagnetic field reader to detect the supernatural. Photo by Dan England.

By Dan England

Amanda Adams would count herself as a skeptic of the supernatural, even if she’s the one hosting ghost tours in downtown Greeley.

But she’s also learned not to discount the beeps and boops of the electromagnetic field readers, called EMF readers by ghost hunters who use them, to detect spiritual visits. 

“Energy is energy,” Adams said. “When you admit you don’t know what’s going on, that opens up a curiosity you may not have had since childhood.”

Adams began the tours on Memorial Day weekend in a partnership with The Strange and Unusual, 906 9th Ave., a business that specializes in, well, the title is self-explanatory and accurate. Adams, 41, also reads tarot cards for her. Adams takes a dozen people at a time during two time slots on Friday and Saturday nights. Sometimes the tours are empty, and other times they are booked solid.

Corri Mehan opened the Strange and Unusual in February. She and her husband loved checking out oddity shops during their travels and picked up some tips along the way. She sells bones, furs, true crime memorabilia and other oddities, but the store leans on fun, even elegant items instead of the macabre: Her three kids, aged 3, 4 and 8, regularly roam the place. 

“We like to sell things that are creepy and pretty at the same time,” Mehan said. 

Because she’s a skeptic, Adams heavily seasons her tours with Greeley’s history because she finds that as fascinating as the spicy stories. She grew up here and attended the old UNC lab school that later became University Schools. She now lives in Timnith with her husband, Jim. Jim’s grandfather ran Adams Pharmacy, a downtown business that operated from 1906-71. Most of those who attended her tours are women aged 20-50, she said, and most of them are true believers. Most of the men tend to be skeptics. 

“I’ve had some say they were skeptical,” she said, “but they liked the history.”

Adams avoids Greeley’s most painful stories, such as the child victims of the bus crash that supposedly haunt the Armory. 

“I’m a mother,” Adams said. “There are people still alive here who remember that horrible time.” 

Still, some of her stories are spooky, in dark, scary places, and are topical: One active spot in Girl Talk’s basement, a business next door, could be haunted by a former witch and one of the state’s first female doctors who believed in family planning when family planning wasn’t common. Adams visits other downtown businesses, including HD Escape Rooms, 810 9th St., and spots by the courthouse and its bevy of ghost stories. One area near the courthouse outside, where a man was lynched, always picks up a signal, she said. 

Adams gave up a job that paid $170,000 a year as an IT manager to do the tours and (heh) ghostwrite for Forbes. She was burned out at her job. Now, even though she’s a skeptic, she’s enjoying her new profession a lot more. 

“I just love to watch people have fun,” she said. 

For more

Go to https://greeleyghosts.tours/ to book a tour and for more information on special events.