Haunted America

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. 

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.

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.