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🎙️ This episode, we delve into a dark and unsettling chapter of Colorado history — the era when the Ku Klux Klan created a shadow government that infiltrated Denver’s City Hall and eventually reached the State Capitol.

We explore the societal and economic conditions that made it possible for a secret terrorist group of the 1870s to be born again in 1916 as a fraternity— and how, by the 1920s, they seized power with the aid of Freemasons, Woodsmen, and other fraternal organizations

But the so-called Invisible Empire wasn’t invincible. We break down how internal corruption, scandals, and rising public opposition brought the Klan’s Colorado reign to a swift and dramatic end.

Discretion Advised: sensitive topics

#WesternHistory #ColoradoHistory #DenverHistory
#BenjaminStapleton #JohnGalenLocke #BrownPalaceHotel #TabletopMountain
#PhilipVanCise #PhilHGoodstein #LindaGordon

Sources:

The second coming of the KKK : the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s and the American political tradition

By Linda Gordon

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34082146-the-second-coming-of-the-kkk

In The Shadow of the Klan: When the KKK Ruled Denver 1920-1926

Phil H. Goodstein

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2158055

Stapleton accused of paying off history museum to remove family’s KKK past from exhibit

By: Madeleine Schmidt

https://coloradotimesrecorder.com/2018/04/stapleton-kkk-past-paying-off-history-museum/8585/

“Murder Wasn’t Very Pretty”: The Rise and Fall of D.C. Stephenson

By Abbott Kahler

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/murder-wasnt-very-pretty-the-rise-and-fall-of-dc-stephenson-18935042/

Woodrow Wilson: “It is like writing history with lightning.” Quote or No Quote?

By: Joe Coohill/Professor Buzzkill

https://professorbuzzkill.com/2017/08/30/qnq-29/

Colorado Under the Klan

By James H. Davis

https://www.historycolorado.org/story/2023/12/06/colorado-under-klan

The Klan in Charge: They Said It Couldn't Happen Here, but It Did

By Alan Prendergast

https://www.westword.com/news/gangbuster-kkk-klan-denver-mayor-da-van-cise-stapleton-16438675

Ben Stapleton Joined Ku Klux Klan for Political Power, Historian Says

By Conor McCormick-Cavanagh

https://www.westword.com/news/ben-stapleton-used-kkk-to-gain-power-in-denver-11727640

Episode photo from Westward

Thanks so much for listening!!!!!

Like, subscribe, leave a review, wherever you can!!!

Check us out with pictures on YouTube.com @ FalseSummitPodcast and like and subscribe !!!

We would love to hear from you!
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Feel free to send an email to falsesummitspod@gmail.com

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In this episode, we’re taking a break from murderous outlaws and lawmen to bring you along to three strange roadside attractions in the West! 🛣️✨

📍 Marcelo gives us the spooky scoop on the Museum of the Weird in Austin, Texas 🦎🔮
📍 Mason explores the quirky Desert View Tower in Jacumba, California 🏜️🌬️
📍 Jess ties it all together with the eerie tale of the infamous Clown Motel in Tonopah, Nevada 🤡🏨

We hope you’ll join us and enjoy the strange ride! 🚗💨

If you like what you hear, don’t forget to leave a review ⭐ or a like ❤️ — preferably both! It helps us a lot! 🙌

#DesertViewTower #MuseumOfWeird #ClownMotel #RoadsideAttractions #OffbeatMuseums #WesternHistory 🧭🎧

Thanks so much for listening!!!!!

Like, subscribe, leave a review, wherever you can!!!

Check us out with pictures on YouTube.com @ FalseSummitPodcast and like and subscribe !!!

We would love to hear from you!
Follow us on Instagram and bluesky @ false_summits_pod
Feel free to send an email to falsesummitspod@gmail.com

Music Provided by
https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

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In Part 2 of our two-part deep dive, we follow Tom Horn in the final violent years of his life—the killing of 14-year-old Willie Nickell and the subsequent trial that sealed Horn’s fate. Was he truly guilty, or the victim of a setup fueled by fear, politics, and the powerful cattle barons he once served? We examine facts, the confessions, and the myths that still spark debate over a century later. This episode dives into Horn’s final days, the public spectacle of his execution, and how his story became one of the West’s most enduring legends.

Whether you see him as a ruthless enforcer or a scapegoat of a corrupt justice system, Tom Horn remains one of the most enigmatic figures of the Old West.

🪓 Justice or Injustice? You decide.

#TomHorn #TrueCrimeHistory #OldWest #AmericanHistory #WildWestLegends
#FrontierJustice #CowboysAndDetectives #HistoryPodcast #TrueWest
#HistoricalFigures #WesternLore #Part2 #OutlawJustice #WesternMystery #PodcastNotes

Sources

Tom Horn in Life and Legend

Larry D. Ball

Tom Horn: Blood on the Moon : Dark History of the Murderous Cattle Detective

by Chip Carlson

Life of Tom Horn: Government Scout and Interpreter

by Tom Horn

The Crime Buffs Guide to the Rockies

By Ron Franscell

Outlaw Tales of Utah

Michael Rutter

Thanks so much for listening!!!!!

Like, subscribe, leave a review, wherever you can!!!

Check us out with pictures on YouTube.com @ FalseSummitPodcast and like and subscribe !!!

We would love to hear from you!
Follow us on Instagram and bluesky @ false_summits_pod
Feel free to send an email to falsesummitspod@gmail.com

Music Provided by
https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/