The tale of the “Bloody Espinosas” started in San Luis Valley and ended with two decapitated heads supposedly haunting the halls of the Colorado State Capitol — one of several chilling tales that will be told this month in a series of free tours of Denver’s golden-domed building.

The Espinosas were brothers, Felipe and Vivian. Angry they were being pushed off land in territorial Colorado and usurped by white settlers, they killed perhaps dozens of people in the 1860s. After Vivian was killed by a posse in 1863, nephew José joined the spree.

Felipe and José were eventually caught and killed by fur trapper Thomas Tate Tobin — and evidence they’d been slain may have been worth some money. So, as the story goes, Tobin took two gruesome trophies, which eventually ended up in the state capitol

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