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.

Haunted New Mexico: St. Vincent Hospital, Part ll

When St. Vincent’s hospital in Santa Fe moved to its new location on St. Michael’s Drive in 1983 the old building then was used for several years as a nursing home called by the locals, La Residencia.

Renovated from hospital to Drury
Plaza Hotel

The nursing staff at this facility are aware of the building’s reputation for being haunted. In fact, they initiate new staff members by escorting them at night to the basement on the elevator--leaving them there. They then direct them to find the staircase and meet them back up on the 3^rd floor.

The employees that used this as a “rite of passage” for the newbies on the staff openly admitted they would not go to the basement alone even if they were offered money.

The basement had a history of people seeing apparitions, hearing disembodied voices, loud banging noises, and being touched by unseen hands. As I mentioned in Part l, many feel that the spirits of restless Native Americans haunt the various rooms and hallways in this area.

One evening, the nursing home’s Nurse Coordinator was assigned to escort the new nurse’s aide down the elevator to the basement. When the elevator stopped, she wished her ‘good luck” and reminded this young lady to meet her back upstairs via the staircase.

Time passed, and the nurse’s aide did not come back upstairs. The coordinator and another nurse agreed hesitantly to go down the elevator to find the aide.

As they reached the basement, the coordinator went in search of the young woman while the other nurse kept the elevator doors open. The only light besides what came from the elevator was the Exit signs and the flashlight the coordinator held.

She called out the aide’s name and heard a faint reply. She found the younger woman huddled in the corner of one storage room. The woman was grateful to see her. 

She told the coordinator she had gotten lost and then heard some weird noises. The coordinator called out to the other nurse that everything was okay.

As they left the room, her flashlight picked up something shiny on one wall. She reached out and touched it with her fingers--it was wet. She didn’t have a handkerchief, and she didn’t want to wipe it on her uniform, so she just let her fingers dry.

When they entered the elevator, she looked down at her hand. Her fingers appeared to be covered in blood. She smelled them and picked up the distinct iron scent of hemoglobin. 

Now in a panic, she yelled at the other nurse, “Press the button, press the button.”

Afterward, one workman who had been an employee when the building was used as a hospital told her that this storage room had once held a small furnace. 

The hospital had used this furnace to cremate amputated limbs and organs removed during surgeries.

After this, the nursing home staff no longer used the basement to initiate new employees.

While the building was still St. Vincent Hospital, Room 311 on the 3^rd floor was not used for patients unless absolutely necessary.

During one Christmas holiday a new employee, a nurse’s aide experienced something on the 3^rd floor she will never forget.

She was helping a patient get into bed one evening when she heard crying coming from down the hall. She went to investigate and stopped at Room 311, she listened to the crying once more.

She opened the door and went inside, but the room was empty. She then checked other rooms, but all the patients were asleep. As she walked toward the nurse’s station, she heard the crying once more.

She backtracked and heard the sound as she stopped outside Room 311. This time when she entered she turned on the lights and checked under the beds--perhaps a stray cat had gotten into the room-- but nothing was there.

Later that night, she heard the crying once more. She ran down the hall to 311, but the sound stopped as she entered the room. The following evening she described what she had heard to several nurses.

They informed her that everyone heard crying--that worked on the 3^rd floor, especially during the winter months. They advised her just to ignore it. 

The next time she heard the crying, it was Christmas Eve. She felt it must be a baby--she had worked with babies in an intensive care unit in another hospital, and this crying sounded very similar to what she had heard in the past.

She listened as she heard the crying stop, and then gasping sounds followed. She had heard similar sounds as she had held babies that were dying.

The next week she mentioned the “crying baby” to a group of fellow employees having dinner. 

One woman told her that many years before, she had been on duty on the 3^rd floor on Christmas Eve.

There had been a fatal 2-car accident on I-25 and the driver in one car, a father, had been instantly killed. His young son had been brought in with internal bleeding. 

This baby remained in critical condition and sadly died. The nurse stated she still remembered him gasping for breath as he struggled to live.

The aide asked what room this had been, she replied Room 311.

New hotel

The nursing home left the building after 7 years. The old St. Vincent hospital building has recently been renovated by Drury Hotels. This summer--2014--the Drury Plaza Hotel is having its grand opening. 

Here is Part l of this post where I share another eyewitness account and why the building is thought to be haunted.

* Excerpts taken from New Mexico Ghost Stories, by Antonio Garcez

Haunted New Mexico: St. Vincent Hospital, Part l

At the corner of Paseo de Peralta and Palace Museum in Santa Fe sits a building that is one of New Mexico’s most haunted.

St. Vincent Hospital

This site has been reincarnated as various hospitals since 1865. The present-day building was built in 1977 to house St. Vincent Hospital, which served Santa Fe and northern New Mexico until 1983. 

This facility gained a reputation as being haunted.

The building’s basement and third floor are where most of the ghostly activity occurs.

One legend involves a hospital worker who one night was riding on one of the elevators. He was taken to this lower floor even though he had pressed the 3rd-floor button. 

Once in the basement, he tried to close the elevator doors, but despite pressing every button on the panel, they would not close--even after several minutes passed.

Frustrated, he finally just stepped out into the basement at which point the doors closed, and the elevator went back up. He usually avoided this part of the building because he had heard the rumors. 

In the darkness, he debated whether to wait for the elevator or try to find the stairs when he felt something behind him.

He looked around and didn’t see anything, so he decided to wait for the elevator. But the feeling of being watched overtook him, and he started to search for the stairs. 

He now saw a shadow along the wall that seemed to be following him. He panicked and ran. He tripped over a large packing crate, bumped his head and was knocked out cold.

This basement is large and has many rooms and hallways that even during the day are dark and gloomy.

The above is a local story that is told to inspire “Legend Trippers” to explore the building’s basement. I have heard of more than one incident where teens broke in a basement window to do just this.

Some believe the building is haunted because of what is stored in crates in one hallway in the basement. The St. Vincent is located next to the New Mexico State Museum offices, and for years they stored boxes containing Native American artifacts in this basement.

These items include pottery, stone tools, and grinding stones, etc. all taken from burial sites. 

One rumor often mentioned is that some of these crates even contain human bones. Many believe these rooms are haunted by the spirits of restless Native Americans.

Several nurses, nurse’s aides, and many other hospital staff over the years have encountered strange and ghostly activity in this building. Reliable witnesses tell the following three stories, so they are considered true.

The Game of Chase *

During the time the building was still used as a hospital, one nurse, Maryclare Henebry, worked nights on the 3^rd floor in the adult psychiatric unit. This floor had both secured and unsecured areas.

It was 2:00 a.m., and Henebry was unlocking the heavy double doors to make her hourly round. She felt a presence standing next to her, so she turned. 

A Hispanic man quickly drew his hand back--he had been about to tap her shoulder.

At first, Henebry thought he was a patient, then she realized she had never seen him before. She noted his old style clothing:

“He was wearing dark pants that were crudely stitched and made of heavy fabric. His white shirt was buttoned at the neck and had a wide old-fashioned collar. He wore black leather boots.”

Henebry, who is 5’3” inches in height, was surprised to see that he was much shorter. Henebry asked him who he was, but he did not respond, he instead just stared at her.

To her amazement, she saw him start to disappear where he stood. His head and feet slowly faded at the same time--then his midsection disappeared as well.

Herebry understandably shaken up had trouble relocking the door.

An hour later, at 3:00 a.m., she hesitated when it was time to do her rounds again. She approached the heavy doors and looked through a window down the hall into the secure unit.

To her surprise, she spotted the short Hispanic man again as he rounded a corner out of her view. She then saw a female figure run passed where she stood. This female was taller than the man, wore a white gown, and had long flowing hair.

She couldn’t make out her features for she wore a mantilla or veil over her face. As she passed, Herebry noted she had no feet. Instead, she appeared to be floating three inches above the floor.

Before Herebry could react, the Hispanic man rushed by her, apparently chasing the female spirit as she floated down the hall.

Herebry wondered why this man was chasing the woman, was it a game, or was it something more deadly. She never found out, and she never saw these two apparitions again.

In Part ll of this post, I share two more true witness accounts. The first is about a wall covered in blood in the basement, witnessed by two nurses, and the second is about a nurse who hears a baby crying on the third floor during the holidays.

* Excerpts taken from New Mexico Ghost Stories, by Antonio Garcez

Santa Fe: The Ghost of Julia Staab

Living in New Mexico, I have heard about Julia Staab’s ghost for many years. Her husband Abraham Staab made his fortune supplying goods to the U.S Army during the Civil War. He then moved to Santa Fe and was a very successful merchant. 

Abraham in a search for a Jewish wife, arranged for Julia to leave her home in Germany and come to New Mexico territory in the 1870s. 

In 1882 he had an elegant three-story brick mansion--in the French Second Empire style-built on Palace Avenue in Santa Fe for his wife.

The couple was very happy at first. They had seven children and Julia enjoyed showing off her beautiful European furnished home. The mansion’s third story ballroom became the center for Santa Fe’s social elite. It is stated Julia loved her home so much that she remained even after death.

Julia’s life changed with the birth of her eighth child. This baby died shortly afterward, and Julia fell into a deep depression. It was around this same time she discovered Abraham was having an affair. 

With this added stress it is said her hair turned white overnight. She suffered through several miscarriages and finally descended into madness. 

She spent her last remaining years in her bedchamber. She died in 1896 of an apparent suicide. Her surviving children all grew up in the mansion. Their father Abraham died in 1913. The third-floor ballroom burnt down around 1919.

In the 1930s, the Nason family bought the home and the six-acre surrounding estate with the intention of turning it into a hotel. They built a series of Revival-style adobe casitas around the existing Staab mansion and carriage house. 

The original entrance, to the 19th-century mansion, can be seen off the lobby to the right near the hotel’s restaurant. As people walk up the staircase there is a sense of otherworldliness in the area. 

The second-floor guestrooms--originally the Staab family bedrooms still have many of their original furnishings. Julia’s large bedroom is now a favorite guestroom, #256.

The Nason’s called their new hotel La Posada, which in Spanish means “inn” or “resting place.” Their hotel quickly became a popular gathering place for Santa Fe’s art colony. 

It was during the 1970s that Julia’s ghost first began to appear to guests and employees at the hotel.

Her misty apparition wearing black was first seen in the hotel’s lobby and on the staircase that leads to the second floor. 

One compelling encounter occurred when the hotel’s furnace went out. Employees tried to enter this room but the door became mysteriously jammed shut. The phone rang in the hotel lobby from Julia’s bedchamber --no one was staying in this room at the time. A woman’s voice stated:

“This is my house. Why isn’t the furnace working? I’ll get it fixed.”

Ten minutes later the furnace room door was open and it was working. 

Julia’s ghost is often encountered in her bedchamber. While alive, she loved to take long baths. Guests that have stayed in her room report hearing the bathtub running in the middle of the night. 

Many guests have heard Julia’ voice and heavy breathing in the room as well. 

One couple checked out early because the husband saw Julia's ghost at the foot of the bed. 

A hotel employee who was giving a tour of the second floor, knocked on Julia’s bedchamber door forgetting that no guest was staying in the room at that time. He was surprised to hear a woman’s voice state, “Don’t come in, I am dressing.” He quickly moved the group along.

After the hotel was renovated in the 1990s, Julia’s ghost was seen in many other areas of the hotel.

A bartender setting up for service saw Julia’s ghost quietly sitting nearby. He and other witnesses that night saw several glasses fly off the bar. 

One experienced waiter kept dropping his tray of drinks. He told the bartender later that something kept hitting his tray out of his hands. 

A female guest using the downstairs restroom placed her purse on the counter upright. Within seconds all of her make-up flew out of her purse and scattered across the floor.

Two of the cleaning staff also encountered Julia’s ghost. A maid cleaning a male guest restroom spotted Julia’s image in a mirror staring at her. When she turned around no one was there. 

A janitor mopping a floor looked up and saw Julia's brown eyes staring intently at him. He was so unnerved he quit. 

Several of the kitchen staff report pots and pans fly off their hooks and the lights in the room often flicker. The sink taps often turn on and off, the plumbing has been checked but no apparent reason has been discovered.

Today the Posada de Santa Fe Resort and Spa is one of the cities finest hotels. Elegant gardens and fountains surround the building. It is located just two blocks east of the historic Santa Fe Plaza.

The following is a segment that Unsolved Mysteries did about Julia Staab's ghost. 

Santa Fe’s Zozobra

Every September for 89 years Santa Fe, New Mexico has burned a huge effigy called Zozobra. Santa Fe, known as the city different hosts this event during its Fiestas de Santa Fe, which celebrates the 1692 reconquest of the city by Spanish Colonists. * Thousands of people watch each year as “Old Man Gloom” is engulfed in flames. This colorful event gives everyone a chance to burn his or her troubles and worries away, literally.

Zozobra is a Spanish word meaning roughly “anxiety” or “anguish” or "gloom". This traditional scapegoat ritual * was started in 1924 by Santa Fe artist Will Schuster. ** 

When New Mexicans burn this 50 foot tall wood and cloth clown dressed in a tuxedo it represents the releasing or burning of people’s woes or bad memories from the year before. This large marionette puppet is stuffed with thousands of bits of paper etc. that have people’s troubles or worries written on them. Some examples: paid off mortgages or eviction notices, an unworn wedding dress or divorce papers.

One of the original Zozobras

The crowds at this event become impatient and start to chant, “burn him, burn him”. All the while Old Man Gloom moans in protest--an actor portrays these sounds over a loudspeaker. His jaws flap; his head twists, and his red glowing eyes dart back and forth. One downside to this ritual is it sometimes scares young children. 

As Zozobra continues to protest a possession of ghost or gloom children prance at his feet. They are then chased away by a Fire Spirit Dancer who taunts Zozobra in a blur of red.

Finally, as his groans reach a fever pitch *** and the crowd heckles and whoops Zozobra’s long flowing skirt is torched by the Fire Spirit Dancer. The crowd cheers as the flames engulf him and their problems--doom and gloom--go up in smoke. 

Fireworks and smoke effects are used throughout especially as he burns to the ground. This sublime spectacle provides satisfaction--even if it is just for a moment. I have included a video of the 2013 celebration below.

* Will Schuster was inspired by a ritual practice in Mexico by the Yaqui people known as the “Burning of Judas”. Paper-Mache sculptures are made called, cartonenia. These represent Judas and the villains who were crucified on Good Friday. These sculptures are burned on Easter Sunday.

**  Scapegoat rituals are where the blame for a perceived evil is laid upon a single source. Many cultures over the years have used effigies-- Zozobra is a modern version. The North Indian Festival of Navatri uses effigies. The Druids of Gaul used effigies called “Wicked Man” to house human sacrifices in order to appease their Gods. In the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia they burn or drowned a female effigy named Marzanna who is the Slavic goddess of death. 

In England, Guy Hawkes Night is where effigies of this anarchic hero are burned in bonfires to celebrate his failure to blow up the British Parliament House. In Nevada the “Burning of Man Festival” is another modern version. The school campus ritual of burning items in a bonfire before a football game to gain victory is yet another modern variant.

*** For years both of Zozobra's hands gave the crowd the finger. They have disguised this recently. The construction of Zozobra takes over 3,500 volunteer hours. This event is run by the Kiwanis Club of Santa Fe and is used as a fund-raiser for local charities.

* Here is an update for the 2014 burning the decision this year was to move the burning up to the Friday before Labor Day--which is August 29th. This was a good decision on the part of the organizers because they have had record ticket sales so far. I also heard the tickets are half price this year.

Here is the link to the virtual Zozobra where people can submit their problems to be placed in Zozobra for 2014.

Here is the 2013 Burning of Zozobra. If you do not want to watch the whole event, which lasts about 17 minutes -- marker 15:58 is the start of the burning.