Location Description and History

This historic house is thought to have been built in 1840 by the Zamora family. Originally the exterior was done to look like brick, the more modern work was completed by Florencio L. Chavez after World War 2. At the time of it's construction, all of the present day amenities were included. A small basement contains a boiler and small trenches were dug to accommodate piping and ventilation ducting. During the Civil war, the building was used to house some of the 300 Confederate soldiers that remained in Albuquerque during Sibley's march to the north. Historically, the site has also been used as a butcher shop, jewelry store, a general store and eventually as a restaurant. Before the construction of the house, member's of the Armijo family had a house constructed near the same location.

Historical Photos

(images on right are thumbnailed)

S-1: Disembodied voices are often heard in the rear dining room and in the restrooms.

S-2:Kitchen items seeming turn on by themselves and are often found in places where they were not left.

S-3: There are often sudden, strong changes in temperature in the dining areas and the kitchen.

S-4: Unexplainable noises coming from the trap door in the main dining room.

We arrived just after closing and began by doing an EM sweep of the entire location. Several unusual EM fields were discovered around the storage room but we were able to determine that they were originating from the buildings breaker box located near that area. From here we moved to the rear dining room. While the team was looking over the area, Cody noticed that the ventilation ducts could easily transmit noise from one location of the building to another. The duct work, which is quite visible, extends out of the kitchen and follows the hall back towards the bathrooms, ending in the women's restroom. Branch lines of the duct lead off to the rear dining room and the men's restroom. The hypothesis was tested with Bob making noises in the kitchen.

The noises could be easily heard in the bathrooms and the rear dining room, although the sounds were slightly different in each location due to the transmission through the duct work.

From here we moved into the main dining room.

We inquired if the trap door had ever been opened and examined to see if a cause of the odd noises was ever investigated. We were told no. The trap door had been waxed over several times and it appeared to be stuck.

So after acquiring a pry bar and allot of effort, we were finally able to open the trap door. The area below was a large crawlspace, about three feet in width and four feet high, and could probably be more accurately described as a tunnel. After several minutes of looking into the space with flashlights, Cody entered the tunnel to investigate.

The tunnel itself had several inches of lime on the floor and extended northward towards the front of the building for approximately 15 feet. At this point it turned and headed east. As Cody traveled down the east section, the floor began to rise until the crawlspace was impassable. It was in this location that Cody found huge deposits of bones covering the floor, at least a foot in depth.

As he backed out of the tunnel, he noticed several water pipes secured to the floor above with banding material that was extremely loose. Several times on the way out, he accidentally bumped into one of the pipes, causing it to bang on the floor above.

Upon exiting the tunnel, Cody was informed that the group above had heard the noises that the customers and staff experienced. Cody told them about the loose pipes and the bones.

After several minutes, Cody reentered the tunnel with a zip lock baggie and a screwdriver. The loose screws were tightened and samples of the bones were taken for a professional analysis.

EM sweeps of the main dining room were resumed and one usual DC field was found near the entryway to the rear dining area. the field appeared to be originating from near the ceiling, so Buck climbed up onto the dividing wall to get better measurements. Nothing of intrest was located.

The investigation was concluded at 1:30am.

Photographs

Click on the thumbnails to view the larger image

The bones were determined to be goat bones, approximately 200 years old. That would jive with the fact that the location was once a barber shop but we have no clue why they would have thrown the bones into the crawlspace.

The "whispering noises" were determined to be caused by the ventilation ducting.

The noises coming from under the trap door were discovered to be loose pipes.

There is no evidence to suggest that this location is haunted.