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In the early 1800's the town of Chama was
not only exciting but down right dangerous. As the youngest of the
Tierra Amarilla Land Grant's historic villages, Chama was established
at a time in New Mexico's history when much of northwestern New
Mexico was without effective law enforcement.'
Outlaws and other disreputable types, along with businessmen and
hard working settlers, were drawn to frontier towns like Chama which
sprang up along the path of the railroad, in this case the Denver
and Rio Grande.
One of the earliest descriptions of Chama appeared within weeks
after the railroad reached the site which was to become the new
town. A March 9, 1881, article in the Santa Fe Daily New Mexican
reported the little town of Chama was "Fast growing a reputation
for lawlessness". Holdups, murders and shootings were so frequent
that few people paid any attention to them.
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It was this kind of lawlessness which in another
newspaper story earned this fledgling railroad settlement the label of
"The Hurrah town at the front of the Narrow Gauge". The term
"Hurrah" in territorial New Mexico was not intended as a compliment.
Foster's hotel was in existence at this time.
By the middle of March, however, a group of Chama's more respectable citizens,
fed up with matters formed a vigilante committee. Members paraded around
the town with a prominently displayed rope and explained to all the "bunko
steerers, thieves and murderers" that they had two hours to leave.
Apparently they were quite persuasive, for most of the original element
"left gratefully", at least temporarily.
Another reporter who visited Chama later that same month observed that
although the roughest criminal element had left, many other undesirables
remained. Large numbers of "soiled doves" and "tin horn"
gamblers, were making themselves quite obnoxious, but fortunately, were
generally too tame to be considered dangerous.
At that time Chama was still a typical railroad
town consisting largely of tents. With the exception of a few railroad
offices and some commercial businesses, one being Foster's Hotel Bar and
restaurant, every tent and building was utilized as a saloon or dance
hall where the gamblers and "soiled doves" plied their Trade.
As the town grew, other and more dangerous elements
made their appearance, not only at Chama, but at other towns further along
the railroad such as Bloomfield and Durango. Gangs led by desperadoes
such as Ike Stockton, Charlie Allison and other hardened refugees of the
Colfax County Wars in northwest New Mexico, vied for control, not only
of the towns, but for the entire northwest region of New Mexico.
The situation deteriorated so badly that Governor
Lew Wallace was forced to send Adjutant General Max Frost to Rio Arriba
in early April 1881 to investigate. Frost's report described Chama as
"very lawless and disorderly" and concluded that the average
citizen risked his life simply by walking the streets in broad daylight.
General Frost also reported that the situation was aggravated by a lack
of local law enforcement. Chama itself had no constable, and very recently
a person appointed as deputy sheriff had been involved in the shooting
of two railroad employees and had nearly been lynched.
One tongue in cheek report indicated Chama had
no mosquitoes, but that the bullets which passed through the tents at
night served the purpose of keeping residents from sleeping as well as
those little pests. The writer also suggested that if anyone who was tired
of life and had scruples about committing suicide, he could go to Chama
and easily find someone quite willing to do the job for him.
In the meantime, excitement remained the order
of the day in Chama. It was reported that every man who dared walk the
street in Chama had to be armed and some were described as "walking
arsenals". The report added that most of the population "spend
their time at night".. in rioting, gambling. Drinking, loafing and
seem to take a special delight in firing off six shooters and Winchester
rifles.
Foster's Hotel was a known saloon, dance hall and
brothel during its past. The building has undergone several changes over
the years, the most notable in the 1920's when a second wing was added
on. This second section is what houses the current hotel. The second floor
of the original building is closed to the public due to safety concerns.
The wall paper and several pieces of furniture date back to its "old
west" days.
This article was prepared from material
found in several of New Mexico's historic newspapers. Much of the information
however, comes directly from original documents found in the collections
of the New Mexico State Records Center and Archives in Santa Fe and was
written by Robert Torrez (Local Historian).
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The room
where a female judge was poisoned.
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The closed off second story of the old hotel
contains three areas that are believed to be haunted. The first
is located on the southwest corner of the building.
In the late 1800's a woman was elected as
the local judge. However, several men of the town did not like the
idea of a woman becoming a judge. They resolved the situation by
sneaking into her hotel room and adding poison to a pitcher of water.
She was found dead in the morning.
It has been reported that the sound of a
woman choking and gasping for breath can be heard in the empty room.
This is often accompanied by a cold spots or a cold "gust of
wind" in the room.
Across the hall is yet another room that
has a ghostly inhabitant that has refused to check out. Staff at
the hotel believe that it is the ghost of a small girl who died
of an illness there over a hundred years ago. The sound of her crying
an calls can be heard from the room, often having the late night
staff in the bar below suspecting that children have broken into
the building. A quick search of the second floor reveals that the
building is secure and no one is present in the area. No one alive
at least.
The third room of the old section of the
hotel that has a haunted reputation is located a few rooms back
on the south side. Rumor has it that this room is haunted by the
ghost of a cowboy from the town's railroad days. He is unidentified
but his footsteps are often heard walking around on the second floor
by the late night staff working on the floor below.
The newer section of the hotel has its share
of hauntings as well. A previous tenant of room 21 was insistent
that someone had a key to his room. He would often see a dark figure
moving about his room, often as the figure was walking towards the
door. The figure would mysteriously disappear when the tenant investigated
further.
People staying in Room 25 often report Hot
and Cold spots. The areas of heat and cold are extremely concentrated
and move swiftly about the room for several minutes.
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Room that
is haunted by the ghost of a small girl.
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Due to the size of the hotel and time limitations,
Teams 1 and 2 were tasked to investigate both wings of the hotel in the
same night. Team 2 was assigned the task of investigating the old closed
off section of the original building while Team 1 looked into the reports
of ghostly activity in the addition built in the 1920's. The
investigation was started at 9:00pm.
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Entrance to the
closed off section of the hotel.
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Access to the closed off section of the old
hotel is by a "out of place" corridor that is located
half way up the main staircase leading to the wing of the hotel
that is currently used. After climbing a few steps, the corridor
turns to reveal a padlocked door, the only entrance to the abandoned
section of the historic hotel. In this area we sat up our base area
in order to control access to the investigation site and to stay
out of sight from curious onlookers patronizing the hotel's bar.
Both Teams assisted in setting up the DVR system and infrared cameras.
The camera positions were determined by the amount of reported activity
and their frequency. Cameras were placed in the poison room and
the room haunted by the small girl. Cameras were also positioned
on each side of the main hallway.
Team 2 began their investigation by doing
sweeps for unusual DC electromagnetic fields on the second floor.
Several readings were taken of fluctuating fields in the "poison
room" and adjoining areas. Often a perfume like smell accompanied
the appearance of the DC fields. These areas were determined to
be the most active after searching the remainder of the area.
Meanwhile Team 1 searched the other wing
of the hotel which is still in use. EM sweeps of Rooms 21 and 25
revealed that both areas were subject to high AC electromagnetic
fields from old wiring. Room 25 also had high AC fields that were
generated by a powerline coming into the building at that location.
The readings from these areas are within the ranges known to cause
hallucinogenic effects to electrically sensitive people. No significant
DC fields were located in this section of the building. Afterwards
the basement was searched with no significant findings.
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At 11:00pm, a short break was taken by both teams
as the Team captains discussed their findings. Two investigators were
left at base to monitor the cameras. It was determined that both teams
should focus on the older section of the building since the search of
the newer wing turned up negative results. Several experiments were also
discussed to see what effect they might have.
The investigation resumed at 11:30pm. Both teams
went through the site taking EM readings and photographs. We then implemented
the experiments we discussed during the break. The experiments situated
around putting investigators in each of the "haunted" areas,
in full view of the IR cameras, to see if any of the investigators would
perceive similar experiences as the witnesses. Three different experiments
were performed with different investigators in each location. Two of the
experiments are noteworthy due to perceived phenomena coupled with unusual
activity on the Infrared cameras.
Video
(Click on thumbnail to
view the video)
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Event
1 (Manually Operated IR Camera Approx. 10:30pm)
Although there is some dust
contamination in this clip, one object moves upwards and seems
to duck back down to move under the top of the door. The video
was taken in the "poison room".
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Event
2 (Camera Three 12:59am)
Camera 3 records an unusual
light that arcs behind a investigator stationed in the small girl's
room. This occurs seconds before the investigator hears noises
resembling "breathing sounds and human voices". The
light appears to move from behind the investigator and is temporarily
obscured by her arm as it arcs downwards.
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Event 3 (Camera
One 1:06am)
An possible "orb" moves across
the Poison room and fly upwards and out of the door. This may be
a particle of dust, but its movement makes it interesting.
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Event 4 (Camera
One 2:47am)
Camera 1 picks up an unusual
object that moves across the screen towards the left. The object
then reverses direction and swoops downwards, disappearing into
the floor. This occurs ninety seconds before the investigator in
the doorway hears a noise that resembles "a gasping breath".
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Photographs
(Click on the thumbnail
to view the larger image)
Team 1 in Room 25
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Stephanie
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Carrie and Ashley
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Hallway in the new wing
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Team 1 in Room 21
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Dust in the basement
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The "Cowboy" Room
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"Base"
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Hallway of the old hotel
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The "Poison Room"
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The "small girl's room"
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Unusual Photo
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Exterior of the hotel
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Hallway of new wing
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Vince measuring EMF
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Vince and Josh
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Da Hitman
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Vince, Carrie, Cody
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Cody measuring AC fields
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Detecting a power line
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Another room in the old section
of the hotel
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Team 1 and Hitman searching the
new wing
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Unusual object near the top center
of photo
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Kat taking photos in the hall
of the old hotel
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Photo coupling in the small girl's
room
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Last frame of the entire object
before it vanishes
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Event Four captured by camera one at 2:47am
presents a interesting mystery. The object in the video changes
direction multiple times and then appears to vanish into the floor.
If this object was dust or an insect, it would continue to be visible
to the camera until it leaves its point of view and disappears out
of frame.
The camera itself is surrounded by Infrared
emitters, which provides more than enough illumination to to keep
objects visible while in the camera's viewing range. The object
here does not do this. Enhanced frame by frame analysis clearly
shows that the object disappears as it nears the bottom third of
the camera's picture. The faint glow of the object mends into the
floor as it appears to vanish into the floor itself. Foreign particles
reflecting the IR light from the camera can not do this. This factor,
combined with the sudden changing of directions, is highly suggestive
that the object captured in this video is not dust, an insect, or
other small particle moving in front of the camera's lens. Attempts
to replicate this event were unsuccessful, the result being that
any object near the lens stays visible until it leaves the frame
completely.
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The next thing that is interesting about Event
4 is that 30 seconds after the object moves through the picture, an investigator
seated just outside of the doorway experienced a sound that resembled
a woman gasping for breath. This time differential is consistent with
Persinger's theories on EM Transduction and the time delays involved in
experiencing the perceived phenomena. The "gasping for breath"
sound experienced by the investigator is one of the experiences reported
by many others in this particular room. As a result, this event is consistent
with several of our hypotheses on how ghostly phenomena is perceived and
offers some speculative data to those particular hypotheses.
Event 2 is just as curious. The video shows a small
bright light that emerges from the investigator's left shoulder and arcs
downwards. The light is obscured by the investigator's arm during this
movement. A reflection of light from the camera's IR emitters can be ruled
out due to the obstruction during its movement. The light is also in the
room itself any there are not any other potential light sources that can
sufficiently explain what the camera captures. In fact, the light itself
casts its own reflection on the wall during the last visible part of its
movement.
Camera 4 does show a moving light from a cameraman
moving down the hallway but this is occurring in a section of the hotel
separated from camera 3 by several walls, effectively ruling out any light
reflections from that source.
As with Event 4, Event 2 is followed by the perceived
sound of choking and faint voices. The investigator reacts within 10 seconds
of the light appearing near her.
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Photo Analysis
Two photographs taken during the investigation
are also very interesting.
The first (above left) was taken down the
hallway, looking towards the poison and small girl's rooms. It shows
a mist like object that clearly casts a shadow behind it. The "orbs"
in this photo have been determined to be dust particles. Photographs
taken before and after this picture show nothing of interest in
the hallway.
The second photograph was taken from the
same location during Team two's initial sweep of the area. The object
in the upper left middle section of the image shows an object that
does not exhibit features that are typical of dust or other foreign
objects moving in front of the camera's lens.
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Photo and video analysis performed
by Cindy Madrid, optics technician, a independent professional not affiliated
with SGHA.
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