Picnic in a park where roughly two thousand bodies are still buried
The graves were never moved
A large, handsome lawn park east of downtown with a neoclassical marble pavilion, mature trees, and a couple of thousand human bodies still under the grass.
Why it's unique
It was the city cemetery. In 1893 Denver contracted the removal of the graves, the contractor was paid per body, and what followed was a scandal — remains were reportedly divided between coffins to increase the count, the contract was terminated, and a great many burials were simply never moved.
The park was laid out on top. Remains still surface during utility work, which is the detail that makes it real rather than a ghost story.
Before you go
Nothing on site tells you any of this. There is no marker, no plaque, and no indication beyond an unusual absence of development.
It is free and open, and it is a genuinely pleasant park, which is precisely what makes knowing the history worth having.