Dead person runningManitou Springs, USA
Some traditions are a little stranger than others, and that’s certainly the case come October in Colorado’s Manitou Springs. The Emma Crawford Coffin Races and Parade attract 10,000 people who come to watch teams of four pushing a ‘corpse’ (really just another perfectly alive member of the team) along the street in a coffin. Why? Well, Emma, who was suffering with tuberculosis, moved to Manitou Springs in the late 1800s to take advantage of the healing waters of the local mineral springs. It didn’t work and Emma died, but not before she’d made her fiancé promise to bury her at the top of Red Mountain. In the years that followed erosion caused Emma’s coffin to become exposed and eventually it slid down the mountain. People in the town say you can sometimes see a young woman in Victorian garb looking lonely atop Red Mountain.
Emma Crawford Festival
emmacrawfordfestival.com
The festival takes place in late October each year.