New Mexico L.O.W.F.I

Posts Tagged ‘ghost’

It was a dizzying game of poker, the stakes higher then ever underneath the bullet-riddled ceiling. The Cimarron miner looked at his hand, looked over at his opponent and then glanced around at the decorated walls of the Lambert Inn. The cards told him all he needed to know. “This place is mine,” he thought.

With a grin he said “all in” and the miner, T.J. Wright, won the rights to the St. James Hotel.

Drunk from his victory, and from saloon whiskey, Wright headed up to his room on the second floor. No sooner had he seen the number 18 on his door, he heard the crack of a pistol and felt the hot pain of a bullet slam into the meat of his back — Wright dropped to the floor.

Well, at least that’s how the legend goes.

A hundred years later the T.J. Wright story has taken many different forms. In one version he was shot for cheating at cards, in another he is cheating with the proprietor’s wife. The common theme in all the stories? Wright and Room 18 are intertwined in Cimarron lore.

The rest of the story and video here

http://www.koat.com/slideshow/news/29640294/detail.html

Roswell, NM, April 18, 2011 –(PR.com)– Roswell, New Mexico author and historian John LeMay will appear on the Jeff Rense Program, a nationwide radio show, on Friday, April 22, 2011 at 10 p.m. Central time. LeMay will discuss his new book, “Roswell USA: Towns That Celebrate UFOs, Lake Monsters, Bigfoot, and Other Weirdness,” which has just been released by RoswellBooks.com. Also appearing on the show with LeMay will be UFO researcher Noe Torres, editor and publisher of LeMay’s new book.

A lifelong Roswell resident and author of several books about New Mexico history, LeMay takes a fresh new look at the Roswell Incident from an “insider’s perspective.” Having been born and raised in the Alien Capital of the World, LeMay’s childhood was filled with tales of flying saucers and alien autopsies, and he rubbed shoulders with several key Roswell eyewitnesses, including Robert Shirkey, who said he saw UFO debris being loaded onto a B-29 bomber at the Roswell Army Air Field in 1947.

In “Roswell USA,” LeMay presents a careful reconstruction of the famous UFO crash, including details that many readers may not have previously heard. He also provides a unique glimpse into what it’s like to live in the one place on Earth most closely associated with flying saucers and extraterrestrials. His analysis of the odd things that happen in Roswell, especially during its annual UFO festival, is priceless.

LeMay’s keen insight and marvelous sense of humor also focus on some of Roswell’s other, lesser-known mysteries, such as the “alien ghost” that haunts the New Mexico Rehabilitation Center. Written with an eye to historical accuracy, and perhaps an occasional wink of the eye, LeMay’s book also chronicles some of Roswell’s “other” mysteries, such as the “second” Roswell UFO Crash (in 1949); Bottomless Lakes where cars sink into the depths and monsters emerge to the surface; the Headless Horsewoman of Lover’s Lane, a Victorian Era Spook with an axe to grind against young lovers; and others.

Roswell is by no means the only town to use strange events and bizarre creatures to draw tourism dollars. Nor was it the first. In the second part of LeMay’s book, he takes us on a tour of other towns all over the U.S. that celebrate weirdness – such as Churubusco, Indiana, where a giant turtle sighting in 1948 has served the town well in tourism for the last 60 plus years, and Flatwoods, West Virginia, where a one-time alleged sighting of a strange alien monster has since resulted in the “Flatwood Monster Days” festival. Also, there is Lake Champlain, New York, which has since become America’s very own Loch Ness. Point Pleasant, West Virginia, celebrates Mothman Days and has its own Mothman Museum. Kelley, Kentucky, is the site where aliens from outer space laid siege to a farm house in 1955. And, many UFO enthusiasts visit a lonely country cemetery in Aurora, Texas, where lie the remains of an extraterrestrial, or so they believe, that crashed there in 1897.

“Roswell USA” is published by RoswellBooks.com, and is available in paperback for $14.95 from the author’s Web site at RoswellUSA.com. It is also available on Amazon.com and other major online retailers, and in the Roswell area, may be purchased at Roswell Landing, 205 North Main Street (Phone: 575-622-3036). It features over 50 photographs and illustrations, original cartoons by Neil Riebe, and impressive cover art by Brian Norwood. The book is also available for the Amazon Kindle.

Author John LeMay is the author of several books about the history of New Mexico. His works include “Images of America: Roswell,” “Postcards of America: Roswell,” “Images of America: Chaves County,” and “Images of America: Towns of Lincoln County,” all published by Arcadia Publishing of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. LeMay is also an archivist and serves on the board of directors for the Historical Society for Southeast New Mexico, located in Roswell.

Noe Torres, editor and publisher of “Roswell USA,” has authored a number of books regarding historical UFO cases, including the critically-acclaimed “Ultimate Guide to the Roswell UFO Crash” published in 2010 by RoswellBooks.com. Torres is the section director for the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) in South Texas and has appeared on numbers television and radio programs. He is a regular speaker at the annual Roswell UFO Festival held each July in Roswell, New Mexico.

The Jeff Rense Program, which will celebrate its 18th anniversary in June 2011, is one of the world’s most listened-to Internet radio shows, specializing in topics dealing with “exotic and eclectic venues of research and inquiry.” Interviewing more than 50 unique guests each month, Rense’s program has been described by broadcast executives as “a completely new dimension in talk radio” and “the best information program ever.” Rense was also a pioneer in making talk radio interactive, and his radio interviews commonly feature simultaneous online illustrations and images.

The Rense.com internet site is one of the world’s most referenced 24-hour news services. It is the top talk radio site and records close to 10 million total hits per month. It has also achieved top-level Arbitron ratings in several top U.S. radio markets. In addition, the Rense.com Web site archives over 150,000 pages of stories, articles, reports and features. Rense.com is in the top .001% of the 20 million websites on the internet, according to rankings issued in 2007.

Last evening in the Albuquerque foothills there was a fire at the same spot which is known for the Albuquerque ghost lights, also known as haunted hill.

Pooka and I visited there last April and wrote about it here.  The fire seemed to be located right at the spot we have photographed in that post and where there looked to be a small cave:

I noticed that when the fire was out there were flashlights of the investigators that seemed to be checking out those caves (if they can even be called that).  The news is reporting that it is highly possible the fire was arson.

Going to try to go over there tomorrow when hopefully the firemen and police will be gone and I can check it out better.

Written by my friend John LeMay.  I should be getting a copy in the next week or two and will report on that in the future.  For now, here is the press release:

The inside story of the world’s most famous UFO case is revealed in a new book by Roswell, New Mexico historian John LeMay. “Roswell USA” transports readers into a bizarre world of flying disks, alien autopsies, unearthly beasts, and other wonders.

Roswell, NM, March 29, 2011 –(PR.com)– A new book by Roswell, New Mexico, historian and author John LeMay provides a fresh new look at the world’s most famous UFO case, the alleged 1947 crash of a flying saucer in the desert north of Roswell. The 254-page paperback, “Roswell USA,” available from RoswellBooks.com, looks at the so-called “Roswell Incident” from the unique perspective of someone who was born and raised in the “Alien Capital of the World.” LeMay’s childhood was filled with tales of flying saucers and alien autopsies, and, in his youth, he rubbed elbows with several key Roswell eyewitnesses.

In his book, LeMay discusses how the UFO phenomenon has radically changed Roswell, beginning with what occurred in the summer of 1997, when about 40,000 tourists and reporters descended upon the desert town to celebrate the 50th anniversary of an event that skeptics claim did not even happen. Never had the world seen such an amazing spectacle – an entire town celebrating the crash of a flying saucer and the alleged recovery of extraterrestrial beings. Despite controversy that persists to this day, UFO tourism was born that summer in the New Mexico desert, and the annual celebration of the Roswell Incident became a fixture that continues to fill the town’s coffers to overflowing every July. Indeed, in a town once known as the “Dairy Capital of the Southwest,” UFOs and “Little Green Men” have become Roswell’s top tourist draw.

Relying on his extensive personal knowledge of all things Roswell and his unlimited access to the archives of the Historical Society for Southeast New Mexico, where he works as an archivist, LeMay presents a careful reconstruction of the famous UFO crash, including details that many readers may not have previously heard. In describing the discovery of strange metallic fragments at a sheep ranch north of town, LeMay writes, “At daybreak, Monday July 7, the three men arose and went out to survey the debris field. Sheridan Cavitt, Army counterintelligence agent, and Mack Brazel, local rancher, on horseback, and Jesse Marcel, intelligence officer, in a military jeep, soon came upon the mystery that would haunt the rest of their lives. Marcel and Cavitt finally understood what had caused Brazel’s agitation on the previous day as they came upon a vast field littered with the same type of strange metallic debris that Brazel had taken into town. Marcel speculated that the stuff must have come from some type of aircraft that exploded over the ranch.”

In addition to revisiting the 1947 UFO incident, LeMay also provides a unique glimpse into what it’s like to live in the one place on Earth most closely associated with flying saucers and extraterrestrials. His analysis of the odd things that happen in Roswell, especially during its annual UFO festival, is priceless. For example, he tells the story of an object that surfaced during the 2008 Roswell UFO Festival that subsequently went “viral” and generated interest all over the planet – a small rock.

LeMay’s keen insight and marvelous sense of humor also focuses on some of Roswell’s other, lesser-known mysteries, such as the “alien ghost” that haunts the New Mexico Rehabilitation Center. “In July 1997, when interest in the Roswell Incident was peaking due to the 50th anniversary celebration, Josephine Morones, stepped out of the staff kitchen one night and was struck by a very odd sensation,” LeMay says in his book, “Turning to look down the hall, she saw the most bizarre sight of her life – a small figure that looked somewhat human but clearly was not.”

Roswell is by no means the only town to use strange events and bizarre creatures to draw tourism dollars. Nor was it the first. In the second part of LeMay’s book, he takes us on a tour of other towns all over the U.S. that celebrate weirdness – such as Churubusco, Indiana, where a nine month long hunt for a giant turtle in 1948 has served the town well in tourism for the last 60 years, and Flatwoods, West Virginia, where a one-time alleged sighting of a strange alien monster has since resulted in the “Flatwood Monster Days” festival and toy figures of the creature being sold all the way in Japan. Also, there is Lake Champlain, New York, which has since become America’s very own Loch Ness. Point Pleasant, West Virginia, celebrates Mothman Days and has its own Mothman Museum. The list of weird creatures and bizarre events goes on.

Roswell USA is published by RoswellBooks, and is available in paperback for $14.95 from the publisher’s Web site. It is also available on Amazon.com and other major online retailers, and in the Roswell area, may be purchased at Roswell Landing, 205 North Main Street (Phone: 575-622-3036).

As most Halloweens we spent part of it in Madrid, NM at the Mine Shaft Tavern.  I took that orby photo last night.  I took a similar one last year, but there were way more orbs this year.  I also took more photos, but they only had a few orbs.  This is from the Mine Shaft website:

Coal mining began around 1835 in what is now known as Madrid (pronounced MAD-
rid). The town grew as a “company town”, the company owned everything-
administering law & order, operating the hotel, stores and the tavern. The original
tavern was established around 1895, it burned down on Christmas Day in 1944.

The current Mine Shaft Tavern was completed in 1947 with much of the interior the
same today. In the 1950’s most of the mines closed and Madrid became known as a
ghost town for about 20 years.

The Mine Shaft Tavern is said to be the most haunted place in Madrid.

We made a couple of night stops at the old cemetery.  Really, I didn’t get any ghostly feeling there.  It was a very calm place, like everyone was at peace.

On the other hand…

This house really caught my attention.  It seemed to be abandoned and when I checked with locals that was the case.  Apparently whoever had been living there just disappeared and they have no idea what happened to that person or if the house will eventually be put up for sale.  The house was only two buildings down from our hotel.  One night we sat on the porch there (there are chairs and a table out) at 2 am.  This was before I asked about the house and Britton thought that someone must live there because he could feel someone watching us from inside, I had the same feeling.  It was a very spooky place, but not really in a bad way.  I felt no danger sitting there.  The photo I took also had lots of orbs in it.  You can see the full sized pic here.

That is Soda Dam, which is just esoteric looking, whether or not there are any spirits hanging around.

Here’s the strange experience I had while visiting the Kelly ghost town this past Monday: Forty minutes had passed. I assumed I was on borrowed time when it came to being completely isolated at the mine’s headframe structure and gaping mouth. With the morning growing late, inevitably, some other tourist/hiker would arrive, destroying the serenity and interrupting the flow of my ongoing EVP and photo sessions. While Kelly is at least three or four miles from the nearest house, and is neatly tucked into the mountainside, it does draw an occasional visitor or two over the course of a few hours.

However, thanks to the elevation and utter silence around the entire location, whether at the mine, cemetery or in “town,” you’re always alerted when someone has arrived. Up to that point, I hadn’t heard a single vehicle driving around or voices of any kind that would indicate I had company down below. But feeling a combination of luck and greed to have had the mine all to myself for so long, I decided to start back towards the old abandoned foundations in town.

Continue reading here

Find out more and watch John’s cool video here.  I love the shots of the old graveyard!

So up in Cedar Crest (a small mountain community) which is just a few minutes east of Albuquerque, right off the main highway is a little cemetery.  I remember many years ago my sister asked someone about it and they said it was a Pet Cemetery.  It was only a few years back when someone mentioned to me a relative of theirs being buried there that I realized it wasn’t a Pet Cemetery.  During the nice months of the year we sometimes take Pooka up to Cedar Crest for hamburgers at Burger Boy, which is only a building away from the cemetery.  We sit outside and eat and often I stare at that little cemetery and think that some day I will walk over there and have a look around, but I never did until yesterday.

It is a very small cemetery but it is kept up very well.  No weeds covering the graves and they are always decorated with bright plastic flowers and other things.  I assume that there is a caretaker that lives in the little house next to it, but maybe not.

I decided to not actually enter the cemetery because I had Pooka with me and if there was a caretaker they might possibly get angry about my dog maybe peeing on a grave. :)  The Ramones Pet Cemetery kept playing in my mind and I sang along under my breath as we walked around.  Most of the graves that I could see dated from the late 1950s – 1970s.  Some were newer, but I didn’t see any older than that.  I took some photos and then Pooka and I decided our adventure day was over and we would go home because she was getting very hot out in the sun.

Two of the photos I took have this misty type effect in only one area of the photo, which I thought was kind of strange.  One of those photos also had two blue orbs in it.

The large full photos are here (that one also has the blue orbs) and here.  I suppose someone could think that mistiness is due to a smudge on the lens, but the photos before and after those don’t have it and I didn’t clean the lens so it should have been it the photos I took after.  Possibly it is something to do with the way the sunlight is hitting that area.

The only other thing I thought was strange while I was there (though not necessarily the least fortean) was this strange tombstone:

The full photo is here.  I couldn’t read any of the other writing on the tombstone except Monster.  Strange stone too, it was actually a stone with the middle part cut out of it and what seemed to be some sort of clearish film in the window (dirty glass maybe?).  I am going to go back without Pooka next week so I can go inside and get a closer look.