In 1881, Anton Stark, a rancher, was so in love with the town of St. Elmo that he and his family quickly settled down. Anton became a section chief for one of the local mines and his wife, Anna, had a general store and the Home Comfort Hotel, which later became home to the post office and the telegraph office.

Anton and Anna raised three children in St. Elmo, Tony, Roy, and Annabelle, who worked at the hotel and the store. The hotel was said to be the cleanest in town, the best food and store supplies more abundant than other establishments.

The Stark family were among the elite of St. Elmo. Anna was said to be a humorless woman who severely controlled children, believing them to be better than the other villagers: miners, railwaymen, prostitutes, and tough women. Children were rarely allowed to leave the house, prohibited from attending local dances or social activities, and only accompanied each other.

The failure of numerous mines and the closure of the Alpine Tunnel in 1910 started the decline of San Telmo. But the Stark family stayed, believing that St. Elmo would prosper again, buying property with sales tax.

For many years, Roy and Tony Stark tried to influence the developers to reopen the mines, but when they were unsuccessful they turned to tourism, rented the empty cabins to vacationers, and continued to run the general store.

After Anton Stark’s death, Anna realized that tourism in St. Elmo was not providing for the family and sent Annabelle to work at the telegraph office in Salida, 20 miles south of St. Elmo.

Before long, Annabelle met a young man named Ward and in 1922 they were married. Unfortunately, the marriage did not work out and just two years later he returned to St. Elmo, where he spent the rest of his life.

The three eccentric Stark children, along with their mother, continued to run the general store and rent cabins to tourists, although the general condition of the city deteriorated. By 1930, St. Elmo’s population had dropped to just seven.

In 1934, Roy Stark passed away and his mother, Anna, died shortly thereafter. The only residents left were Annabelle and Tony, who lived in the dead city without plumbing or electricity. The store, which was said to have a “sour smell,” contained discolored cans of expired food and stale tobacco.

Although Annabell was always said to have been kind and generous to the few who still frequented the store, locals began calling her “Dirty Annie” because of her dirty clothes and tangled hair. He was also known to roam the old town, rifle in hand, to protect his property.

Finally, Tony and Annabelle were sent to a mental institution. However, after a few weeks, an understanding friend convinced the authorities that they were not hurting anyone and they were released.

Tony died shortly thereafter and Annabelle was sent to a nursing home in 1958, where she died in 1960. Her property was left in the hands of the friendly friend who had helped them.

Shortly after Annabelle’s death, the friend’s grandchildren are said to have been playing in a hotel room, when suddenly all the doors in the room slammed shut and the temperature dropped almost 20 degrees. The terrified children refused to play again in the hotel.

Another of the grandchildren, a young woman in her twenties, decided to take the hotel as a project, cleaning the rooms, making minor repairs and washing walls and floors. After cleaning for the day, she and her friends put away their cleaning tools and supplies, only to find them in the middle of the floor when they returned the next day. After this continued to happen, they began to put the items in a locked closet, but they would still be in the middle of the floor when they returned.