The Dank and Dark Side: Denver Welcomes First Cannabis Bus Ghost Tour

Two firsts are rolled up together, the nation’s first cannabis-licensed consumption bus, and a local ghost tour. That’s right, you can smoke on the bus during your ghost tour.

Presented by The Cannabis Experience and Dark Side of Denver Ghost Tours,  The Dark & Dank Side of Denver is an hour and a half cannabis-friendly bus tour with stops and stories about the haunted side of Denver.

I was lucky enough to be one of the pioneers of this experiment during a press bus tour, and may or may not have enjoyed the full experience. The bus is cozy with psychedelic neon flower lights, which distract from the covered-up windows, a requirement with public cannabis consumption. By the end of the tour, over laughs and shared joints, the short bus felt super cozy. 

Tour guides! – photo by Zoe Jennings

Naturally every tour stops at Native Roots Cannabis Co. first for exclusive deals. With new goodies to hot box the bus even more, the bus rolled on to the first haunted stop: Union Station. Rachel Beckemeyer, the guide for the Dark & Dank tours and a guide and manager for the Dark Side of Denver, handled her slow and easily distracted tour participants with grace. 

“It seems like such a fun combination,” Beckemeyer said. “It’s a full experience that you can’t really get anywhere else because it’s the first licensed bus tour with a ghost tour. It’s the perfect time for it. I think it’s going to be fun.”

I asked her if she expects her cannabis tours to have a different response to the spooky stories than the traditional tours.

“I think people will definitely be more scared,” Beckemeyer said. “I think people could even be more in tune with the spiritual realm, especially with the whole group in the altered state. It’s kind of an experiment.” 

The tour explored the underground tunnels under Union Station with stories about shadow people and a little girl’s spirit reportedly left behind from the 1894 fire.

Oxford Hotel ghost tour – Photo by Zoe Jennings

Our second, and last, haunted stop was the Oxford Hotel. Due to our long visit to the dispensary and general slowness, we weren’t able to hit all the stops on the tour, but no one seemed to mind. The Oxford Hotel has its share of ghosts with personality from cowboy ghosts who still think the hotel’s basement is a barber shop to a vengeful wronged lover who notoriously haunts single men who stay at the hotel.

Tours are scheduled every Wednesday in October, with prompt start times at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Tickets are $65 per person and include exclusive dispensary discounts.