Entry No. 82 — the Denver file — filed under: haunted

Henry Treat Rogers Mansion Site — Where 'The Changeling' Was Born (Now Summer House Condos)

Stand at 13th & Williams and you're on the footprint of a vanished mansion that birthed a horror classic. In the late 1960s playwright Russell Hunter rented the old Henry Treat Rogers house here, supposedly because it was cheap and nobody else would, and later claimed he'd found an attic trunk with a murdered disabled boy's journal — the seed of the 1980 film 'The Changeling.' The Denver Public Library can't actually confirm Hunter ever lived there and a historian has poked holes in the $70-million-fortune backstory, which only makes the legend better. The mansion is gone, replaced by the bland Summer House Condos, so there's nothing to see but the spot — which is the whole point.

The move: Watch 'The Changeling' the night before, then walk Cheesman Park at dusk and stand on the condo site debating which parts of Hunter's story were real — a low-key ghost-story stroll with a built-in argument.

📍 Before you go The site sits at the northeast edge of Cheesman Park; park along the leafy residential streets nearby and walk to the corner of 13th & Williams. Street parking is free but tight on warm weekends. There is nothing built to see — Summer House is private housing, so view it from the public sidewalk and keep voices down out of respect for residents. Dusk sets the mood. The bigger payoff is the park itself: it was laid over the old Mount Prospect Cemetery, and an estimated 2,000 bodies were never relocated, so your ghost-story stroll has unmarked graves underfoot. The Denver Botanic Gardens hugs the park's eastern edge if you want to pair the walk.

• 📍 Cheesman Park
• 💸 Free
• ⚡ Low-key
• 🌗 Outdoors

Where: 13th Ave & Williams St, Denver (former 1739 E. 13th Ave; site now occupied by Summer House Condominiums)

Hours: Public street corner / adjacent to Cheesman Park; accessible anytime, best at dusk. Summer House Condos is private residential — view from the sidewalk only.

Plan a visit & invite your people →

Further reading: Westword · history.denverlibrary.org

last checked: 2026-06-07