Hotels! Of Course They Are Haunted!
New Mexico has a tourist season. I come from Chicago and it is interesting to see the differences when it comes to tourists. New Mexico has a different kind of tourist in mind when it comes to reaching out across the world. There are no tall buildings here, no gigantic theme parks, but what New Mexico offers truly lives up to the state's nickname of the land of enchantment. Whether it be The history of ancient civilizations or skiing down the many mountains that dot northern New Mexico, tourists visit our state. And they need a place to stay… And there are a lot of places to stay.
Hotels are universally known as places to lay your weary head after a long days adventure. When I first came to New Mexico, I had my first extended stay extended stay hotel experience. from bed and breakfasts to luxury Inns, Hotels can be a tourist's best friend... but also their last living memory.
New Mexico is littered with haunted hotels. Many are over 100 years old but some are brand new. From events happening in the era of the wild west to murders to accidents, hotels have seen it all.
Let's start with The La Fonda in Santa Fe, officially joining historical records in 1922 but earlier records show that there has been an inn on the land since 1607.
During its long history, a story of a failing salesman came into the spotlight. This salesman was staying at the La Fonda and eventually took his own life by throwing himself down a well. that well is now under the floor of the hotels restaurant. Many people claim to have seen the man repeating his act of suicide, forever caught in a loop of death.
speaking of Wells, many stories surround wells throughout the world even appearing on the big screen like in the movie The Ring.
But that's for another time.
another story coming from the hotel occurs in 1857. as seen in many wild West movies, gambling and cards occur in taverns and hotels. In this story a gambler, Weather by cheating or finding himself the victim of a murder, was taken into the hotel's backyard by a lynch mob and hung from a tree. In 2019, we see this backyard as the patio of the hotels La Plazuela restaurant. many guests have reported seeing the shadow of a man hanging from the tree while eating their dinner. If that doesn't make you lose your appetite I don't know what will.
10 years later in 1867, chief justice of the territorial Supreme Court, Judge John P Slough was shot in the lobby. John was appointed chief justice by President Andrew Johnson. With a quick temper, he was appointed to fight corruption that was seen in the New Mexico courts back in that day. in February 1867, John attacked a system of peonage, thinking it was akin to slavery that he fought in the Civil War to destroy. William Logan Rynerson, A member of the territorial legislative Council, joined a campaign to remove the judge leading John to insult Rynerson in public and, in acting upon the age of the wild west, Rynerson drew a gun on John the following day demanding that he "take it back". Judge John P Slough replied, "Shoot and be damned" and was shot, dying the next day. The murder of John helped affirm the position of New Mexico as apparently the only place where assassination became an integral part of the political system according to historian Richard Henry Brown.
these days, the judge has been reported to be seen in his long black coat wandering the hotel. Speaking of murder, a young bride was also murdered on her wedding night by a jealous ex lover, and in doing so she became the ghost of the wedding suite.
another interesting note about the hotel is that Soviet spy David Greenglass stayed there in 1943 selling secrets about the Manhattan project to the Soviets while working at a compound known as Site Y.
For this article, I cannot really end with a word of warning. what I can say is that when people collect in one spot, things tend to happen. It's part of life. Hotels are one of those places where happiness and heartache sometimes go hand-in-hand. The La Fonda hotel is just one of many with a past connected deeply to the history and tragedies of the United States. If I was to share any word of warning I would probably ask that you hold history to heart. You never know what you might learn.
Remember you can email me at friendsoffolklore@gmail.com!
