Body, Mind & Spirit

The spirits of the Old West are alive and kicking in Flagstaff.

Once home to outlaws and pioneers, many former residents of this small mountain town never left. Read about the ghosts of the Weatherford Hotel, where strange sightings and disturbing events aren't just confined to the Zane Grey Ballroom. Step inside the Hotel Monte Vista, where locals swear that the Grizzly Meat Man still roams the hallways. Discover the historic train depot, an eternal home to those departed souls that once worked the rails, including a ghostly former train conductor.

Join author Susan Johnson as she uncovers the supernatural side of Flagstaff's fascinating history.

Trace the haunted heritage of America's Mother Road across Oklahoma.

Route 66 may seem like a quieter thoroughfare than it was in its heyday, but the ghosts of Oklahoma's past bustle along unabated. When the sun sets on the Road of Dreams, the shadows of its roadside attractions take on a nightmarish cast. British airmen disappear into the mist above Miami. Phantoms stir in the Dust Bowl's shallow grave. A westbound Frisco train hops the rails outside Kellyville. Author Tanya McCoy expertly weaves amongst the spirits still traveling along Oklahoma's historic Route 66

Pull on the uncanny threads from the legendary tapestry of New Mexico's Native American heritage.

Ancient Indian history and present Native American cultures are woven together in the Land of Enchantment. The threads of these tales stretch back to Mimbres burial grounds and prehistoric trade routes. Stories and traditions tie the land to its people, in spite of the cycles of slaughter and theft that have threatened to pluck them apart. Descend into the kivas of Chaco Canyon or seek out the high mountains where the clouds mark the stones. From legends of the Salt Woman to the legacy of the Ghost Dance, Ray John de Aragon examines the mysteries of the mesas.

Wandering spirits, vengeful ghosts, and unexplained sightings in Tucson, Arizona.

The benign, candle-carrying ghost of Mayor Levi Manning is reported to roam the halls of Manning House, while a frightening presence is said to lurk in the projectionist room at the Fox Theatre. In Room 242 of the Hotel Congress, guests have described a woman in white sitting at the end of the bed, while other spirits have been spotted in the halls. From the Mission San Xavier del Bac, built in 1700, to the grounds of the University of Arizona, stories of paranormal encounters abound. 

Join author Daryl F. Mallett and discover the thrilling and bone-chilling history of the Old Pueblo.

Founded in 1876, Globe was once a wild and wooly mining camp, and its robberies, murders and mayhem left a dark impression.

Tucked at the base of the Pinal Mountains, this historic landmark is a quintessential old western town. Make a stop at the Globe Train Depot and discover why so many spirits have made it their last whistle-stop along the rails. Explore the courthouse and the Old Gila County Jail, where sinister spirit Kingsley Olds is said to still be doing time. Visit the Globe Cemetery where bandits, cowboys and upstanding citizens mingle.

Tag along with author and paranormal historian Debe Branning as she digs through some of Globe's deepest secrets and reveals wicked tales.

The New York Sunonce described Jerome as “the Wickedest Town in the West.

The area was once home to the largest copper mine in Northern Arizona, built on the steep terrain of Cleopatra Hill. The small town, population fifteen thousand at its peak, was shockingly nefarious. Diversions for the hardworking miners came by way of saloons, gambling and ladies of the evening. Shootouts and murders, violent accidents in the mines and smelters and fires and diseases scourged its denizens. Life was tough on the mountain—death came too soon for many. When the copper mine closed in 1953, Jerome was rendered a ghost town, and its spirits still lurk among the living. The stories in this book will convince you they are here for a reason.

Terror in the Tri-Cities

Built along the 33rd Parallel, rumor has it that the cities of Chandler, Mesa, and Tempe are magnets for the unexplained. Mysterious tales of a cursed Ouija Board, restless pioneer spirits, and specters lurking in underground tunnels are just a few of the unsettling stories attributed to this phenomenon. Whispers about the accidental death of Santa Claus haunt Mesa, while in Chandler, spirits continue to celebrate in their favorite bars and lurk in the San Marcos Hotel. At the university campus in Tempe, ghosts of former staff and students are said to appear in the library and dorms. 

Author Debe Branning explores the spooky side of the Tri-Cities.

Phantoms and Local Lore

Southwest of Tulsa on Historic Route 66 sits Sapulpa, where Lower Creek Native American James Sapulpa established a trading post around 1850. With the railroad arriving in 1866, enterprise brought ill-fated characters, oil booms, bootlegging and bordellos. And like most Western towns, mystery, murder and turmoil followed. And so too did the ghosts—born of vigilante justice, racial strife, natural disasters and one of America’s deadliest train wrecks. Authors Tanya McCoy and Stacey Price hunt the paranormal in the historic haunts and catastrophic calamities throughout Sapulpa’s history.

Central New Mexico remains a vault of long-buried secrets and restless ghosts. Bloodcurdling tales from a haunted Civil War battlefield at Val Verde mingle with the whispers of unsettled spirits in Socorro. The notorious Luna mansion and the cursed rooms of Mountainair’s Shaffer Hotel gather in the otherworldly apparitions of a shadowy past. Cody Polston, a local ghost hunter, skeptic, and collector of the macabre offers a spine-tingling selection of stories from Central New Mexico’s haunted heritage. 

Built on top of ancient burial grounds or over forgotten cemeteries, schools like the Lee Williams High School seem to attract spirits who wander the halls long after the final bell. In Ruby and Vulture City, the old wooden schoolhouses where the town’s children used to gather are said to be haunted by the shades of those unaware their lessons have ended. Even Old Main at the University of Arizona, with its beautiful stone facades, is plagued by whispers of ghostly professors gliding across the marble floors.

Join author and paranormal historian Debe Branning as she explores the spooky side of Arizona’s schools.

Explore the haunted lore and inexplicable tragedies of North Central Texas. North Central Texas is home to some former residents who just won’t leave. Encounter spirits of affluent families lingering in their mansions and the specters of notorious outlaws still trapped in their jail cells. Uncover the mysterious demise of Garland’s Smiley family and the grisly secrets of a Grayson County slaughterhouse. Track down the stone angel who flaps her wings when no one is watching. Learn why the elevators at the Adolphus Hotel frighten guests and plumb the ghostly currents that flow through the town of Mineral Wells. Author Teresa Nordheim ventures into the past of a region with more unnerving shadows than a North Texas Thunderstorm.

Explore more than a century of Garfield County's ghostly lore.

Garfield County is seemingly a quiet span of rural Oklahoma, but its history is steeped with strange legends. Enid (originally known as "Skeleton" for chilling reasons) has served as the major center since winning out in the violent railroad war of 1894. Early settlers were startled when a mysterious stranger claimed to be John Wilkes Booth in a deathbed confession thirty years after Lincoln's assassination. The intervening decades only added to the county's haunted heritage, from the phantom staff still in the Broadway Tower to the glowing headstone at Imo. Join Jeff Provine and Tammy Wilson in the shadows that stalk the countryside and the spillways beneath town.

The booming, modern metropolis of Phoenix is a city filled with the ghosts of its past.

Discover the legend of the mysterious Hohokam tribe, whose people once inhabited the Pueblo Grande Ruins and later vanished. Learn about the spirits of the Smurthwaite House, which sits on the grounds of Phoenix’s oldest cemetery. Hear the tales of the Pioneer Living Museum, a collection of historic buildings relocated from every corner of Arizona—and the spirits of the former residents that came along too. Take a peek inside the Mystery Castle, old train depots and eerie historic mansions. Author and paranormal historian Debe Branning delves into the history and mysteries of these desert tales.

Fascinating tales from the territories of Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico.

From its earliest days to the dawn of the twentieth century, the Southwest was known as a place for dreamers, heroes, and lonesome drifters. People were drawn to places like Tombstone, where notorious events left a lingering legacy, and Taos Pueblo, with centuries of history contained within its adobe walls. Across the territories, the blending of cultures and conflicts that arose turned common people into legends. Names like Geronimo, Billy the Kid, Doña Tules, and Olive Oatman survive in story, along with other, wilder tales, like those of the Lost Dutchman mine and the Mogollon Monster.

Join author and illustrator Jessica Laughlin as she takes you on a journey through the wild frontier of the Southwest.

A Massacre, a Hellhound and Billy the Kid’s Many Victims.

Thanks to its bloody range war, Lincoln County hosts a wide array of restless spirits. La Llorona glides across the Bonito River and stalks the streets of Carrizozo. Old Ruidoso, the ghost steer, bellows from the mountains, sparking tales of ill omens and the relocation of an entire town. The clang of the shackles that restrained Billy the Kid reverberates through the Lincoln County Courthouse. Shadow people inhabit dark corners of Fort Stanton, while the ghosts of Aztec mummies guard a treasure in the Capitan Mountains. And the clear waters of Bonita Lake hide the blood-soaked history of Bonito City.

Author John LeMay explores the dark side of Lincoln County.

A phantom stagecoach materializes on Weatherford’s Main Street, the galloping hooves of invisible horses tugging witnesses back towards the nineteenth century. A stroll through the enchanting Chandor Gardens might lead to an encounter with its creator, renowned English portrait artist Douglas Chandor. The apparition of a former judge lingers around Parker County Courthouse, while the Old Jail Museum’s corridors are filled with disembodied voices and echoing footsteps. Visitors to Old Greenwood Cemetery might hear the quiet sobbing of the woman who was murdered by a jealous lover or feel a cold nudge against their hands when they pass by a canine buried alongside his owner. Author Teal Gray walks through miles of Weatherford's history to unwind years of its haunted lore. 

The legendary monsters that roam the Land of Enchantment.

New Mexico is full of the strange and unusual, from mysterious cryptids to visitors from outer space. Hairy shapeshifters dart across the back roads of Grants and Gallup, while Sasquatch roam the Sandias and Sitting Bull Falls. Visitors from outer space drop in to terrorize Roswell in the form of escaped extraterrestrials, Spring-Heeled Jack floats over Silver City, and a faceless monster stalks the South Valley. Prehistoric survivors like the Thunderbird perch on the mountaintops, giant sloths leave massive footprints in the White Sands, and spectral dinosaurs glide across the scrublands of Ghost Ranch. Not even the waters are safe, as giant catfish roam the bottom of Elephant Butte Lake and Lizard Men swim through the acequias of the San Luis Valley.

Author John LeMay separates fact from folklore, and artist Chris Casey captures the likenesses of New Mexico’s legendary monsters. 

Step into the supernatural world of New Mexico’s most haunted restaurants and bars, where the spirits of the past linger in the shadows.

In Santa Fe, the shade of Julia Staab wanders through La Posada, once the site of her opulent home, and in Cloudcroft, the Lodge hosts its own ghostly resident, Rebecca, who once worked as a chambermaid in the very place she haunts. The colorful past of Casa Vieja in Corrales inspired not only rumors of hidden bodies but also the menu, and on the Plaza of Old Town Albuquerque, tales of spectral encounters abound.

From fine dining spots with violent histories to cozy eateries where whispers of bygone eras still echo through the halls, author Donna Blake Birchell uncovers the eerie side of the Land of Enchantment.

Specters and apparitions roam the badlands of New Mexico, where the law was scarce but criminals were plenty.

Ruthless outlaws like Thomas “Black Jack” Ketchum and Billy the Kid met their end here but left a legend, and possibly vengeful spirits, behind. The worst prison riot in the United States occurred just outside of Santa Fe at the New Mexico State Penitentiary, and rumor has it that the abandoned complex is haunted by the horrors that occurred. In Taos, the graves of three suspected witches lie under a layer of cement to keep them from rising again.

Author Donna Blake Birchell explores the dark side of justice in the Land of Enchantment.