That's right. On October 26, 2019, the 25th Annual Emma Crawford Coffin Races and Festival will be held in Manitou Springs, Colorado.
From the website:
"Of all things, why coffin racing?
Emma Crawford came to Manitou Springs in 1889 searching for a cure for her tuberculosis in the the area’s famed cold-water mineral springs. She fell in love with the charming mountain town and her dying wish was to be buried on top of Red Mountain. Unfortunately, Emma succumbed to her illness in 1891. Her lover, a civil engineer on the Pikes Peak Cog Railway named William Hildebrand, honored her wishes. With the help of eleven other townspeople, William carried Emma’s coffin up the 7,200 foot slope and buried her near the summit of Red Mountain.
In 1929, after years of harsh winters and spring rains, Emma and her coffin came racing down the mountainside. The young children who happened upon her remains found only the casket handles, a nameplate, and a few bones.
Some say she still haunts Red Mountain today, but the only sure way to see Emma is to come to Manitou Springs and to the Coffin Races and Festival bearing her name."
Yes, that's right. In honor of Emma Crawford, a "coffin race" is held, with costumed racers, where prizes are awarded to the best "Emma" and the 4 "mourners" who push the coffin.
On the website, under "More > History", is a page about Who is Emma Crawford? This tells her story and her family background. Under the History section is also a page on her sister, Alice Crawford Snow.
So what do I do? Of course, I check WikiTree to see if a profile exists on Emma Crawford. Alas, it did not exist.
Then I thought.... Well, then surely there's nothing on her sister, Alice, right? It was late last night and I knew I should stop going down the rabbit hole.
To my utter surprise and shock, there actually exists a WikiTree profile for Alice Gertrude (Crawford) Snow, and all the data matched! And she's already connected to the global tree through her husband, Theodore Snow.
So then I couldn't help myself. This problem had to be rectified. I just had to create a WikiTree profile for the esteemed Emma L. Crawford, the namesake of this wonderfully weird festival, in which people race coffins, in wonderfully weird Manitou Springs, Colorado every October near Halloween.
