Ghosts, Spirits, Hauntings In The Enchanted Circle
By Judy Collier, Features Writer
For it’s size, Taos is one of the most haunted small towns with a traumatic and dark past. Even though Taos appears to be a sleepy little town, things are not as they appear. There are numerous rumors about hauntings, ghosts, and paranormal activity.
The town of Taos was established in 1615, so there is bound to be some really old ghosts lurking about! Taos Pueblo was established somewhere between 1000-1450 AD. Lots of ghosts there too! In the 1600’s there were many clashes between the native peoples and the intruders. By 1660, the native people killed the resident priest, and destroyed the church! It was rebuilt and destroyed again in 1680, killing two priests that time! The grounds of the cemetery is loaded with paranormal events!
Kit Carson is buried in a cemetery with 3 unmarked graves, reported to belong to brujas, witches, of Taos. Their graves are paved over so their powers are supposedly sealed in! The Kit Carson Home and Museum, built around 1825, purchased by Carson himself as a wedding gift for his third wife, is where many visitors say they feel the presence of Kit Carson himself.
The Taos Inn is next to a home where a deviant person was found beheaded! Close by is a 400 year old restaurant, The Alley Cantina. It is where guests experience very odd behavior. Items move on their own, while service people watch, candles light on their own, and female customers tell of ghostly arms wrapping round their bodies in the ladies restroom! I would have to hold it, if I dared to eat there!
Additional haunting sites include the KiMo Theatre in Duke City, where a young boy ghost plays tricks on the performers there. In Albuquerque, the Hotel Parq Central was once a psychiatric hospital! Need I say more? La Fonda, in Santa Fe, has it’s share of ghosts too, including a judge, a slain bride, and a cowboy. People say that multiple spirits roam the hotel and it’s restaurant.
The Drury Plaza Hotel was once the Old Saint Vincent Hospital and is supposedly super creepy. Patrons say that blood appears on the basement walls. What are they doing in the basement? Also they claim that on the 3rd floor you can hear the crying of a spirit baby! Yikes, that is not on my bucket list!
Elizabethtown may not really be haunted, but it was home to serial killer, Charles Kennedy, in the 1800’s where he robbed and murdered weary travelers of the rest stop. It was said that he buried the bodies under the floor of the rest stop! Surely a ghost or two lurks there!
The St. James Hotel in Cimarron, not only housed famous guests of the past, but also 26 people who died there, and not all were natural causes! The room, 18, is indefinitely closed off to other guests, because a spirit, T. J. Wright lives there, and does not like to share his private space! The Shuler Theater in Raton, opened in 1915, where people have reported hearing weird noises and walking into cold spots that send shivers up their spines.
While these are just some of the local hot spots for a ghost or two to appear, you also take haunting tours in New Mexico by just googling what and where you want to go. Do not expect to see me however. Watching them on tv in the comfort of my recliner is the extend of my haunting adventures!