Silver Cliff Cemetery Ghost Lights

Tucked into the remote Wet Mountain Valley, Silver Cliff Cemetery has been quietly producing unexplained phenomena since the 1880s: blue-white orbs that drift and bounce among the headstones after dark, as if someone left a lantern on for the residents. National Geographic ran a feature on them in August 1969 and still couldn't explain the lights away — scientists have lobbed theories (phosphenes, retinal quirks) but none have stuck conclusively. The town's tourism pitch leans hard into its International Dark Sky designation, so the cemetery's ghost lights play second fiddle to stargazers who don't even know what they're parked next to. It's a publicly accessible, town-owned cemetery that can't close — just show up, wait for dark, and see what you see.

The move: Drive out after sunset, kill your headlights and phone screens at the gate, and give your eyes a solid 20 minutes to adjust — that's when the floating blue smears reportedly show up low among the graves, and the debate about what you're actually seeing is half the fun.

• 📍 Westcliffe / Silver Cliff
• 💸 Free
• ⚡ Up for anything
• 🌗 Outdoors

Where: 1435 Mill Street, Silver Cliff, CO 81252

Hours: Added 2026-06-09 — confirm current hours before you go.

Plan a visit & invite your people →

Proof: source 1 · source 2 · source 3 · source 4

Verified 2026-06-09.