The Whispering Painting of theTeller House - Central City, Colorado

In the late 1800s, Central City, Colorado was a bustling business center being the world's largest supplier of gold in the world with its local gold mines.   In 1872, lawyer Henry Teller and his brother built the Teller House which was known as one of the finest hotels west of the Mississippi River.  

The 'Face on the Barroom Floor' painting on the floor of the Teller House Central City, Colorado

There is an unsigned painting on the floor of the hotel's barroom dubbed by many as the "Face on the Barroom Floor."  In 1934 the opera house commissioned artist Herndon Davis to do a series of paintings to help revive the cultural mecca.  During his stay in Central City, Davis stayed in the nearby Teller House.  Some claim that the painting is the work of Davis.  Supposedly he scratched out a painting of his wife on the barroom floor in a drunken stupor after being fired from the opera house.  Whether true or not, it is said that he kept this a secret and was only revealed in his will after his death in 1962.

The Teller House in Central City, Colorado

  However, popular legends state that a miner in a distraught state after his wife passed away, sprawled on the floor and painted a picture of her, whispering and speaking softly to the painting as he worked through the night and into the early morning and on for days as if he were having a conversation with his wife.  After completing the painting, he fell unconscious never to wake again.  They say that to this day on the anniversary of his death, you can hear the whispered conversation between he and his wife coming from the painting on the barroom floor.

The 'Face on the Barroom Floor' painting on the floor of the Teller House Central City, Colorado

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