Entry No. 50 — the Durango file — filed under: haunted

Hinsdale County Museum

Somewhere in this volunteer-run building at the corner of 2nd and Silver is a skull fragment from one of the five men Alferd Packer ate in the winter of 1874 — and it's just sitting there in a display case. The shackles they locked him in after his arrest are here too, alongside buttons cut from the victims' clothes and a dollhouse Packer built with his hands while waiting in jail. It is, without any real competition, the densest concentration of American cannibalism artifacts in the world, in a county museum that smells like old carpet and good intentions.

The move: Drive up from Durango on a summer morning, spend an hour getting genuinely unsettled at the museum, then eat lunch in Lake City before the self-guided drive south on CO-149 to the massacre site.

📍 Before you go One block west of Hwy 149 at the corner of 2nd and Silver; street parking on Silver St. Open Memorial Day through Labor Day with reduced or call-ahead hours off-season.

• 📍 Lake City
• 💸 $
• ⚡ Up for anything
• 🌗 Indoors

Where: 130 N. Silver St., Lake City, CO 81235

Hours: Added 2026-06-21 — confirm current hours before you go.

⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.

Plan a visit & invite your people →

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

last checked: 2026-06-21