Avery House

Avery House stands as a notable Victorian residence in Fort Collins, Colorado, constructed in 1879 during the city's formative years as a frontier settlement in the Arkansas River valley. The structure was built as a family home for William Avery and his household during a period of significant architectural development in northern Colorado, when wealthy merchants and settlers were establishing substantial residences that reflected their social standing and economic prosperity. The house was recognized for its architectural merit and historical significance, eventually receiving designation as a National Historic Landmark, acknowledging its importance to the cultural heritage of the region and its representation of Victorian-era domestic architecture.

The household experienced devastating tragedy in the 1880s when a female member of the family, identified as Emily, perished in a catastrophic fire that engulfed portions of the residence. The circumstances surrounding Emily's death remain a point of historical interest, as the fire resulted in her becoming trapped within the upper rooms of the house, unable to escape the rapidly spreading flames. The loss marked the home with profound sorrow, as it represented the violent and sudden loss of a young life in an era when such domestic disasters were both common and catastrophically fatal. Fire, an ever-present danger in homes heated by wood and lit by open flame and candles, claimed numerous lives throughout the nineteenth century, and Emily's death joined countless others in the grim statistics of domestic tragedy.

Following Emily's tragic death, William Avery himself passed away in 1890, and the circumstances that followed added further dimensions of mystery to the property's history. His widow remarried merely twelve days after his death, an unusually swift union that prompted considerable contemporary suspicion and contributed to the house's dark reputation among neighbors and community members. The rapid remarriage raised questions about the widow's emotional state and motivations, fueling rumors and speculation that have persisted through generations, adding layers of intrigue to the property's historical narrative.

Those who have reported experiences within Avery House have described encounters consistent with the presence of distressed spiritual entities rooted in the tragedies the house witnessed. The middle bedroom located upstairs has emerged as a focal point for paranormal activity, with visitors and observers reporting the apparition of what is believed to be an unhappy child spirit, likely connected to the tragic death of Emily. Cold spots have been documented in various upstairs rooms, accompanied by unexplained sounds including footsteps, creaking floorboards, and disembodied voices that seem to originate from empty spaces. The intensity of reported activity varies, with some accounts describing vivid apparitions and sustained phenomena, while other visitors experience only subtle manifestations of presence, suggesting variation in either the strength of the entities or the sensitivity of individual visitors.

In its modern incarnation, Avery House operates as a historic house museum open to the public on Saturday and Sunday afternoons from 1 to 4 p.m., operated by Poudre Landmarks, a preservation organization dedicated to maintaining the cultural and architectural heritage of Fort Collins. The house welcomes visitors interested in both the architectural history of the Victorian era and the documented paranormal phenomena associated with the property. Documentation from docents and staff members presents varying accounts of paranormal activity, with some reporting no substantiated supernatural encounters during their tenure, while others and visiting researchers have documented unexplained phenomena in the parlor, pantry, and upper bedrooms. The house remains a subject of ongoing historical and paranormal interest within the regional community, attracting both heritage enthusiasts and paranormal investigators who seek to understand the spiritual legacy of the tragic events that unfolded within its walls.