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The
Saint James Saloon and Hotel was built by Henry Lambert, a former
cook of General Grant and President Lincoln, during a time in New
Mexico's history where law and order was unheard of, until 1903.
While many well-known people, such as Annie Oakley, Buffalo Bill
Cody,General Sheridan, Wyatt Earp, Zane Grey & Bat Masterson,
stayed at the Saint James, so did many of the criminal element,
who considered New Mexico a haven from legal justice.
It's
not surprising then, that the Saint James had a raucous, violent
history, with 26 documented killings and many other undocumented
ones. Gunfights, brawls and knifings took their toll on the living,
and explains why there are so many restless spirits still checked
in as residents of the hotel.
The
notorious gunman, Clay Allison, allegedly danced naked on the bar,
once part of the present dining room which still has bullet holes
in its pressed tin ceiling. If you look closely at the ceiling of
the dining room, 22 bullet holes still exist. A double layer of
heavy wood prevented the killing from spreading up to the sleeping
clients upstairs.
The
building was last remodeled in 1985. There are no air conditioners,
phones or televisions in the rooms, and some rooms lack private
bathrooms. Several of the 14 rooms have seen better days, with plaster
and wallpaper peeling off, but others have been restored to their
original grandeur. |
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The
St. James Hotel
is said to remain host to several restless spirits. Both the owners
and the guests of the hotel will tell you that it is haunted with many
unexplained events. Several psychics have visited the hotel
and specifically identified three spirits, as well as many others who
just pass through to relive their experiences.
The
second floor of the hotel is the most active, with stories of cold spots
and the smell of cigar smoke lingering in the halls. A prior manager said
that "you never see them, but you do feel and hear them." The spiritual
activity of the hotel has been featured on the popular television shows
Unsolved Mysteries and A Current Affair.
Room
18 at the hotel is kept locked because it houses the ghost of an ill-tempered
Thomas James Wright, who was killed at its door just after winning the
rights to the hotel in a poker game. He obviously doesn't like company.
One former owner said she was pushed down while in the room and, on another
occasion, saw a ball of angry orange light floating in the upper corner.
The room holds only a bed frame without a mattress, a coat rack, a rocking
chair and bureau. Sitting atop the bureau is a Jack Daniels bottle,
a basin and pitcher, a hand of cards, an Ace Copenhagen tin, and several
shot glasses. On the wall is a bad painting of a half-naked woman.
Respectful of the spirit, the room remains un-rented. He is unfriendly,
very angry, wants to be left alone and gives off evil vibes. He has been
known to knock over unwanted people who come into room #18, and has spun
his chandelier, which is hanging in room #18, around and around to let
the living know that he is still there. So, the owners give this spirit
what he wants.
The second floor is haunted by Mary Lambert (wife
of Henn Lambert). Her presence is marked by her strong perfume, which
waifs through the hallway by the upstairs guest rooms. If the living want
to sleep in her old room, the window must be kept shut completely as Mary
wants it to be safe for everyone. She will tap and beat on the window
if left open, waking up the hotel patrons sleeping in that room, and won't
stop until the window is shut. She perhaps is still looking after her
hotel and her guests.
A
mischievous "gnome-like" old man, named Little Imp by the owners,
plays tricks on the living, annoying many, especially new employees. He
once appeared on a bar stool, and laughed at the young man hired to clean
up the dining room. He is also the one who took a steak knife from the
holder in the kitchen and stuck it in the floor between the two owners
of the hotel. More evidence points to him as well, when lamp shades and
glasses crack all by themselves, and objects disappear and reappear in
other places.
The
Poker Room |
We arrived just
after sunset and procured a room in the hotel. We talked with the
manager and he gave us a quick tour of the hotel pointing out any
areas where suspected paranormal activity has occurred. After the
tour, we proceeded to the bar.
Buck began sweeping the area with electromagnetic
detection equipment and discovered a static field in the center
of the room. This is interesting because there are not any possible
man-made elements that can explain the field itself.
We
then went upstairs to the “poker room”. We began sweeping the area
for suspected phenomenon using various EMF detectors and infrared
cameras. The room itself seems to emit an electromagnetic field
of six milligauss. Once again we were not able to determine if the
field was man-made or paranormal in origin. However we did an extensive
search of this room with the infrared camera and weren't’t able
to turn up any paranormal phenomenon. The field itself is still
very interesting and warrants a more in-depth investigation.
We
moved on to the upstairs hallway and to room 18 itself. Buck took
several EMF readings near the doorway that were within the suspected
range for paranormal activity The readings on the doorway registered
at 4.7 milligauss (35Hz) and seemed to be more prominent towards the bottom
of the door.
It is possible this could be some sort of
electrical interference from power lines running through the floor
of the second-story but this is unconfirmed. We were also able to
turn off the hallway lights and check out the area around the door
of room 18 with an infrared camera. Nothing of particular interest
was found. At this point in the investigation we had another area
other than the St. James hotel to investigate. |
Room
18 |
Therefore we stopped
investigative operations temporarily. We decided to resume the investigation
after 11:00 PM
We
resumed the investigation at 11:15 PM in the hotel lobby. Almost immediately
Buck detected a suspect field near the center of the lobby. The odd thing
about this particular field was that it extended through the lobby and into
the Lambert room (dining room). Under normal circumstances we would probably
attribute this type of the field as being man-made however there’s something
about this field that just doesn't’t seem to set right. The Lambert room
itself is also very interesting. At times it seemed as if we were being
watched by unseen eyes from various locations through the room.
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On several occasions we heard
footsteps that seemed to move in a random patterns throughout the
dining room. However, because of the electromagnetic field that
extends into this room from the lobby is almost impossible to distinguish
if this is something of paranormal origin, at least by means of
scientific detection.
We spent almost an hour monitoring the Lambert
room with the infrared camera. However we were unable to obtain
definite results.
At 1:00 AM we returned to the second floor and once again began
an analysis of the poker room and the area around room 18. Still
curious about the EMF readings we got in the lobby, we searched
the upstairs corridor to see if we can register any possible fields
that could be connected one we discovered below. Sure enough we
did find evidence of the electromagnetic field that seem to correspond
to the one that we found downstairs.
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However
there were certain oddities to the field that was detected upstairs. First
of all it also extended along the hallway towards room 18. When we checked
the same area in the hallway downstairs this field was not present. We
decided to take a break and get something to drink. Cody remained upstairs
monitoring the poker room with the infrared camera while Buck went downstairs
to the lobby. After 20 minutes, Cody decided to rendezvous with Buck downstairs.
Upon turning the corner towards the stairs he managed to capture a chandelier
rapidly spinning by itself. He watched the event for approximately two
minutes, all the while trying to raise Buck on the radio.
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He
eventually ran downstairs, found Buck and returned with him back
upstairs. The chandelier was still moving, although not as rapidly
as before. Together they watched the event for another two minutes
before the chandelier stopped spinning. We registered EMF reading
that fluctuated between 5.3 to 8 milligauss.
At this time we decided to move down towards
the end of the hallway, turn off the lights and investigate the
second floor hallway with the infrared camera. The videotape reveals
several possible paranormal events including one orb
Another interesting photograph was taken,
at the foot of the stairs, of the first floor hallway. A dark figure
appears at the end of the hall. When the picture was taken, no one
was present in the hallway.By 2:00 AM we went back downstairs to
the bar area. We were interested in the electromagnetic field that
we picked up there earlier. At first we were unable to locate the
field so we moved around the first floor examining the field that
runs through the lobby and into the Lambert room. While we were
involved in this, Buck went back into the bar and picked up the
elusive field. There are several things that are interesting about
the field in the bar. First of all the reading seems to fluctuate.
On top of that it also appears and disappears at random. It is important
to note that during this part of the investigation the bar itself
was closed. All the lights and electrical appliances were shut off.
If the field was a man-made field then there’s nothing present that
would indicate this. |
While
we were examining this field we ventured back into the hallway course
lobby near the bathroom. In this area both of us distinctly smelled perfume.
We searched the area with the EMF detector and picked up readings of 4.7
and 5.2 milligauss. As with the field in the bar, the perfume smell seemed
to be moving about the hallway and into the bar itself. It vanished completely
almost as soon as it started.
We then moved into the adjacent room located off of the kitchen area.
While we were here, Buck heard the kitchen door open and close. We immediately
went over towards that door when we heard the sound of footsteps coming
from the bar. We detoured force the bar area only to hear the kitchen
door opened and close began.
Buck
stayed in the bar area, examining its four possible suspect fields while
Cody went to investigate the source of the moving kitchen door. The search
turned up negative results. We were unable to locate anyone on the first
floor nor were we able to find any possible suspect EMF fields. We continued
searching the area until 4:30 AM with no other activity to report. We
terminated investigation at that time due to the lack of battery power
for the video camera and we had shot up all of our still film. Another
interesting subject that we discovered during this investigation was a
“haunted painting” that hangs at the top of the stairs on the second floor.
There is an image that is visible in the painting that was not originally
there. It appears to be that of another figure similar to those already
in the portrait. However we picked up nothing but normal background ratings
with the EMF detection equipment.
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