A Helpful Spirit Child

This is a recent local story from Las Cruces, NM.

The mother of a toddler who died two years ago claims her daughter was caught on camera near where she is buried.

Faviola Rodriguez was only two years old when she died in September of 2018.

Ever since, her mother, Saundra Gonzales, has discovered Faviola’s toys and other personal items, that she has placed at her gravesite, missing.

Could it be her deceased daughter taking them?

Saundra, who at first thought they were stolen, now has cause to wonder.

Recently, another family visiting the Masonic Cemetery in Las Cruces captured some intriguing images on video.

Ms. Gonzalez is firmly convinced that this video shows an image of her daughter.

Many have described it as “beautiful”—for it shows a little girl escorting another family’s brother, who died recently.

Saundra believes it is her daughter’s image escorting this man up to heaven.

Here is a video that one local TV News station shared about what this video captured.

A Menacing Presence at Bonito Lake

Bonito Lake (Reservoir)

“It was a robbery that went sour . . .”

Bonito Lake is located at 7300 feet in Lincoln National Forest in New Mexico. Beautiful scenery surrounds this man-made reservoir, near Ruidoso.

The ghost story connected to this lake has its roots in 1855.

Most people today do not realize that the remains of a ghost town lie at the bottom of Bonito Lake.

Bonito City sprang up as a mining camp during the Gold Rush. In 1882, this city was just a cluster of tents, it residents a group of starry-eyed miners from states as far away as Virginia.

At its peak, in the mid-1800s, Bonito City had a schoolhouse, three general stores, a saloon, a post office, a boarding house, one blacksmith, and one lawyer.

For a brief period, Lincoln County was able to boast that it was the most populated area in New Mexico.

Bonito City Post Office

But Bonito City was about to become the site of a gruesome mass-murder.

Martin Nelson, aged 24, with dreams of becoming rich overnight, arrived in Bonito City, claiming to be a miner. But locals noted this particular young man never seemed to do any work.

A newspaper clipping
about Murders.

Nelson boarded with a local family for several weeks and then moved to the bustling Mayberry Family boarding house that was the town’s official hotel.

There had been a string of recent robberies in town, but no one had a clue as to who was doing them.

At 3 a.m. on Tuesday morning, May 5, 1885, Martin Nelson’s luck was about to run out. He entered the room of Dr. R. E. Flynn at the Mayberry. The doctor had recently arrived from Boston.

Nelson’s intent was to steal this man’s watch. But Dr. Flynn woke up and struggled with the thief. Nelson shot and killed him.

Hearing the commotion, the Mayberrys descended upon the room. Nelson, now panicked, began shooting at the Maybury family members.

John Mayberry Sr. and his two sons, John Jr., and Eddie (Robert) died instantly. Mrs. Mayberry wounded, ran down the stairs, attempting to escape, with her 14-year-old daughter, Nellie.

Nellie Mayberry after
murders was sent back
east to live with relatives.

Nelson shot Mrs. Mayberry a second time, killing her. This bullet also struck Nellie.

Nellie then pleaded for her life, and Nelson agreed not to kill her on the condition that she promised to attend his hanging. She did, and he spared her life.

Meanwhile, Pete Nelson, a neighbor (no relation to Martin), hearing the shots as he closed his saloon for the night, entered the Maybury house. Martin Nelson also shot and killed him.

By this time, a large number of people had gathered outside the boarding house. Nelson trapped, stayed hidden until 7 a.m. He then tried to escape out the back door.

The town grocer, Herman Beck, was waiting for him. Beck was killed by a single shot from Nelson’s rifle.

Nelson managed to leave town, and then a posse chased and caught up to him in Littleton Canyon and killed him.

Nelson’s victims were then buried in the town cemetery on a hilltop overlooking Bonito City. His body was placed near, but not in this cemetery.

The gold boom played out within a few short years, and eventually, Bonito City became a ghost town. The post office closed in 1911, and by 1920 all that remained was a store and eight houses.

In the late 1920s, the Southern Pacific Railroad gained permission to dam the Bonito Creek to create a reservoir that would fuel its steam engines. Workers removed what was left of the town.

By 1933 the lake was so high the water level was approaching the graves of Nelson and his victims.

Angus City Cemetery

The remains of the Mayberry family were relocated to a common grave in the Angus Cemetery—not far from the lake. Nelson’s body was reburied east of this cemetery. Today Nelson's plot is overgrown, but a gravestone still stands as a marker.

Mass grave marker for the victims.

When Nelson’s body was exhumed, it was noted he was thrown face down in a rough pine box. His green felt hat was intact, and several bullet holes were found in it.

He was buried with his body pointing west. Some feel this is why he does not rest in peace. The belief of that era was to place the dead facing up and pointing to the east. This assured the deceased could rise up to meet Christ.

People point to this fact as the reason Martin Nelson’s menacing ghost still wanders the area where he lived and died. And then there is the fact his body was disturbed.

When the Southern Pacific stopped using steam trains, they no longer needed the reservoir. Today Bonito Lake is the main water supply for several surrounding communities, including Ruidoso, New Mexico.

This is the reason swimming, wading, and boats are not allowed on the lake. The area is open for fishing but only from the shoreline.

Bonito Reservoir with the dam to the right.

Campers, mountain bikers, and rock hounds also frequent the area. Others still pan for gold along the Rio Bonito.

But some of these visitors have become so frightened they have left never to return.

It appears Nelson’s ghost has frightened many a tourist and some locals. His scary presence is felt along the shoreline. Some even say he appears to be at the bottom of the lake.

A strange circle of lights has been seen floating on the surface of the water. Eerie sounds are heard including gunshots.

Others have picked up some intriguing EVP’s at Nelson's gravesite.

Local residents warn paranormal enthusiasts that it is not a good idea to awaken this murderer, especially since his presence is felt in such a remote area.

The Violent History of Georgia O’Keeffe’s Beloved Home

Georgia O'Keeffe at Ghost Ranch

Arthur Pack, one of America’s first environmentalists, bought Ghost Ranch, 15 miles north of Abiquiu, New Mexico in 1936.

O'Keeffe's home at Ghost Ranch

Georgia O’Keeffe having visited Ghost Ranch for several summers convinced Pack to sell her, a small piece of this ranch in 1940, seven acres and a house. This became her summer home.

She bought another three acres and a crumbling adobe home (which she spent 3 years remodeling) in the village of Abiquiu where she spent her winters.

Pedernal

O’Keeffe created her Southwestern paintings while living in North Central New Mexico.

Her home at Ghost Ranch has a fascinating history.

In the 1800s the Archuleta brothers claimed 22,000 acres on the Rito del Yeso spring. This was the most reliable water source in this high arid desert.

Ghost Ranch

These brothers built cedar and adobe houses and ran horses and cattle on this ranch that became known as Rancho de Los Brujos (Ranch of the Witches).

O'Keeffe's
Ghost Ranch in Fall.

This pair began to offer “feigned hospitality” to other cattlemen that passed through the valley. But these visitors would mysteriously disappear. There were rumors of bodies in the well and men being pushed off high cliffs to their death.

The Archuleta brothers then sold the goods, horses, and cattle they stole from these victims.

These two men became prolific killers.

View from Kitchen Table
Credit: Erin Vanella

Ghost stories began to be told about the ranch. Some heard the wailing voices of the murder victims. Others spoke in whispers about ghostly apparitions.

The brothers afraid this was drawing undue attention to their criminal enterprise stated they actually started the rumors of ghosts themselves to keep people away.

Becoming greedier the Archuleta brothers grew paranoid. They even eventually became suspicious of each other.

After the younger brother sold one stolen herd, he decided to bury the gold he received in a clay pot. The older brother demanded to know where he hid this payment.

The two fought, and the older brother killed his brother. But this younger man took the secret of where the money was to his grave.

Thinking the wife of his brother must know where the gold was hidden the older brother threatened her. She wisely packed up and left with her children.

O'Keeffe's Winter Cottonwoods

The villagers seeing that the remaining brother was now alone and vulnerable took the opportunity. They rode to the ranch and hanged the older brother from a Cottonwood tree.

For years, people felt the spirit of this brother was connected to the tree he was hanged from.

This is why some feel the property is called Ghost Ranch today.

Phoebe and Arthur Pack

No one has ever found the buried gold and the Presbyterian Church has owned Ghost Ranch since Arthur Pack and his wife, Phoebe, gave it to the church in 1955.

Since this beautiful valley has been used as a retreat for people of all faiths and cultural backgrounds.

The Legend of La Llorona

Old Spanish song about La Llorona

Don’t go down to the river, child,

Don’t go there alone

For the sobbing woman, wet and wild,

Might claim you for her own

She weeps when the sun is murky red

She wails when the moon is old

She cries for her babies, still and dead,

Who drowned in the water cold

She seeks her children day and night,

Wandering, lost, and cold

She weeps and moans in dark and light,

A tortured, restless soul

Don’t go down to the river, child,

Don’t go there alone

For the sobbing woman, wet and wild,

Might claim you for her own

In another post, I talked about how children in New Mexico are very familiar with the La Llorona story. La Llorona is New Mexico’s most famous ghost. 

If you visit anywhere along the Rio Grande river in my state, you will encounter New Mexicans who will gladly relate their version of La Llorona. This story is told in other parts of the country, but the following story is one often told in New Mexico.

In the early 1700s, there was a young woman named Maria who lived in a small village along the Rio Grande. 

As Maria matured, she began to attract much attention in the village because she was lovely. Her family was impoverished, so her mother encouraged Maria to marry one of the local men. 

Maria with the firm self-belief that her beauty would someday attract a wealthy man refused.

One day a handsome young man rode into the village. He was the son of a rancher in Mexico. He wore tailored clothes and rode a well-groomed horse with a fancy saddle—all the signs of a man of wealth.

Maria started to follow him around, she tried to catch his eye, but he only noticed the better dressed young girls in the village. At night he would play his guitar for the locals, many young ladies swooned at his golden voice. Maria was sure her heart would break.

Then one day as Maria shopped the young rancher stopped near her. Maria blushed with embarrassment because she wore an old dirty, tattered dress. 

But her blush caught his eye, and for the first time, he noticed how beautiful she was. He began to court Maria. 

Within a short time, he had paid Maria’s father a large dowry so he could marry her. Knowing his family would not accept his marriage to a woman from a lower class—the couple settled along the Rio Grande.

Over the next several years Maria’s husband worked as a merchant along the El Camino Real, and Maria bore him three children. But as the years passed Maria and her wealthy husband grew apart. 

He spent less and less time at home, and he showed no interest in their children. Maria began to suspect that he was seeing another woman while he was away.

Maria’s suspicions were confirmed when she spotted her husband riding in a buggy with a beautiful young woman by his side. Her heart was broken. 

She exploded in a jealous rage. Distraught she thought that if only she did not have the children, her husband would love her once more. 

Rio Grand River

In a rage, she dragged her children one by one to the river and held their heads under the water until they drowned.

Her senses lost to reality; she approached her husband and told him what she had done for him. Horrified he ordered her out of his life. 

Numb she wandered the streets of the village for several days crying for her children. The villagers started to call her La Llorona—meaning the wailing woman.

Maria realized she had lost everything dear to her, so she went down to the river and cried for her children. 

She then flung herself into the river. Her body was never found. 

Another view of Rio Grande

People in New Mexico still see a woman dressed all in white walking along paths near water. They hear Maria’s desperate cries for her children and then she slowly fades away.

Many believe she is condemned to wander, weeping and searching for her children. Others believe that she is a harbinger of death—if you see her someone will die.

Urban Legend Gone Viral

Living in New Mexico and knowing a little bit about hauntings I was surprised to read on several sites that an abandoned school in the small town of Artesia was considered one of the most haunted places in my state. 

Atoka School

It is a classic, frightening ghost story so I will share it here.

Atoka School, built in 1949, has sat abandoned for many years. It seems this building has a long history of creepiness. Beginning with the school and then later several businesses that occupied this building--all appeared to have been driven out by a dark evil entity.

In fact, the report claims that whatever was going on was so scary that all of the tenets of the old school left quickly or “overnight” without giving any logical reason as to why.

By the 1970s the school’s scary backstory was so well known that teens would Legend Trip the site, often just driving by too scared to go in. Others who dared reported hearing: groans, footsteps and even snarls.

Hence the legend grew, the old school must be haunted.

Recently, the ArtesiaDaily Press while listing places in their town that are truly haunted took a more logical approach to the rumors that surround the Atoka School.

They noted that one group who visited the site in the 1990s, upon hearing the footsteps determined it was just “a goat,” and an entity that flashed by them was a “barn owl.”

This would explain why witnesses who were brave enough to visit the school would sometimes state the dark entity they believed lived in the old school flew out of the walls at them.

Regardless, it provides an entertaining scare.

New Mexico: Ten Thousand Waves

Ten Thousand Waves

In the 1980s, Duke Klauch bought a Japanese health spa near Santa Fe, New Mexico called, Ten Thousand Waves. He immediately brought in crews to renovate the buildings and landscape.

Soon after this work started, Klauch began to be awakened at 3:00 a.m. He heard a variety of strange sounds--including one that sounded like chains being dragged across the spa’s floors.

He looked but he never discovered what caused these sounds.

A month into the work the lady who had sold him the spa visited. She asked him abruptly if he had seen her daughter. He responded no.

It was at this point she told him that her daughter was dead. This young teen had attended a party where she became extremely upset. She then took her own life.

Her remains had been buried on the property. When Klauch arranged for new landscaping to be put in--her grave had been disturbed. It was at this point her ghost became active.

Klauch was not the only witness to this activity. One worker who was hired for the morning shift heard phantom footfalls on the stairs. He also heard someone moving from the front door into the hallway.

He checked the doors but they were locked and he was alone in the building.

As the weeks passed this activity became more assertive. The worker now heard doors slam loudly. Then one day he saw the girl’s apparition. He felt her presence before he saw her.

He watched as a white mist formed. She appeared within this mist and then disappeared as he watched.

After this sighting he became concerned and suggested that experts should be brought in. Klauch arranged for 3 priests to bless the spa.

They blessed each room as they read passages from the Bible. They also sprinkled holy water all around. Before they left they placed a crucifix on one wall.

The activity stopped after this.

A year later, a housekeeper removed this crucifix. The nocturnal noises started immediately. But when this cross was hung once more, the activity settled down.

Today, this sad ghost is still felt at Ten Thousand Waves but she does not act out like she used to.

The Grim Reaper or A Prank

This past August 2014 in my hometown, Albuquerque, New Mexico a strange sight

Various photos snapped.

literally stopped traffic along I-25 near the Gibson exit.

An old cemetery, San Jose del El Rosano was divided into separate parts with the construction of this interstate years ago. Because of this sections of this cemetery are right next to this highway. One part even sits between one of the roads’ on ramps and the overpass.

During the week of August 12^th during the supermoon people saw something they described as “weird” and “scary.” Many not only stopped their cars but then got out to take a closer look.

Several witnesses snapped photographs and one person took raw video of the dark figure that stood before them. What frightened these witnesses was a very tall figure standing at one entrance to the cemetery.

Most did not know what to make of this dark figure, dressed in black its face completely obscured by darkness. Some stated it appeared to carry a bouquet of flowers in its hands, others stated it carried something green near its midsection that was glowing.

One witness that stopped, Michelle Gonzales stated she moved to approach this figure when another witness stopped her. He felt that was an unwise decision since they did not know for certain what this figure was doing there.

Several witnesses at the cemetery and many more who viewed the photos taken afterwards felt this figure was the Grim Reaper. But most after the fact stated it was obviously just a man perpetrating a prank.

Several witnesses that saw this figure with their own eyes were not so sure this simple explanation was the right one. They stated that this was something more.

Rumors spread afterward that the “man” seen standing in this cemetery that day was arrested--the authorities were called to the scene --but there is no record anyone was arrested.

Later, a local TV news team interviewed this man when he appeared again and it was determined that he was was indeed human.