Location Description and History

The building in this village, just north of Albuquerque, started out as a private home in 1801 but has been a restaurant under one name or another for several decades. It has long been associated with stories of ghostly goings on. Employees and many customers here are aware of a strange presence that haunts the old section  of the building. A bloody shoot-out between members of the Emberto family took place there in  April of 1898. It started when the son killed the father's mistress. The father then shot and killed  his wife, blaming her for prompting the murder. In the ensuing gun battle, the father was also killed.  The Emberto's were buried on the property, and their inflamed passions are felt to this day.

The apparition of a man sitting in a rocking chair has been spotted on several occasions in the banquet room. This room also has moving cold spots, candles light themselves and chairs are moved about in various odd configurations. Other areas of reported phenomena include the north dining rooms and the bar.

Chairs in the rear dining room have been found to move by themselves. The most dramatic example occurred when a waitress was busing one of the tables when she needed to retrieve another washrag from the kitchen. Upon her return, seconds later, all of the chairs in the room had been stacked up, pyramid fashion, on one of the tables.

A May 1893 incident in which a 10-year-old boy, the son of the hacienda's owners, shot and killed a female member of the hacienda staff. Maybe it was an accident. Maybe not. Regardless, many believe that the boy's ghost haunts the building.

Luis and Louisa Emberto purchased the property in 1883. Five years after they moved in, Luis discovered that his wife was having an affair and moved out of the hacienda promising to return and kill both her and her lover. On April, 1898, made good on his promise and shot his wife twice.

An armed posse soon surrounded the hacienda and in the gun battle that ensued, Luis was struck down. Due to the scandalous circumstances of the couple’s death, they were not allowed a proper burial in the church cemetery and were their remains were interred across the irrigation ditch to the west of the building. Today, the restless pair continue to make their presence known at the hacienda turned restaurant. Reported activities include items that seemingly move on their own, the sounds of disembodied voices, and the appearance of a woman in 1800’s era clothing. Others have heard the sound of midnight parties in the old hacienda.

Employees have reported seeing - and seeing through - a woman wearing a long, Victorian-style dress; hearing the crying of a baby that cannot be found; eaves-dropping on conversations that take place in an empty bar; watching as heavy cooler doors open and close by themselves.

This ghost hunt was done with the 94 Rock morning show and psychic Cynthia Hess. SGHA and the radio crew were locked inside the building grounds overnight to conduct the investigation.

A infrared video camera was positioned on a tripod at the entryway to the rear dining room and the team moved about the entire location at will. Updates of the ghost hunt were broadcast every hour until 2:00am.

Photographs

Click on the thumbnails to view the larger image

Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP)

Question Asked	Reply	EVP
Session with Cynthia Hess
1. Is there something you want to say or tell us?	Sounds like "Have to Run"
2. What happened to you?	Sounds like "Busted"
3. How many are here?	"Get out?"
4. Are there others outside?	Sounds like "They got you" or "I can't hear you"
5. Do you have a name?	No Reply	N/A
Second session with Cynthia Hess
1. Is Lousia here?	No Reply	N/A
2. Do you want to tell us anything?	Sounds like "I didn't do it"
3. Do you want us to help you?	Sounds like "Yeah, I think"
4. Who is here?	Badly garbled and hard to make out may be "First him, her...????"
5. Do you have a name?	Sounds like "Irvin", but may be interesting as a investigator present at the site has the last name of "Irwin"
Third session with Cynthia Hess
1. Can you make your presence known?	No Reply	N/A
2. Does anyone want to speak?	Sounds like "You are a woman"
3. Do you have a name?	Get Out!
4. How many are there?	No Reply	N/A
5. Are you crying?	No Reply	N/A
6. Can you leave?	No Reply	N/A
Session with T.J. Trout (94 ROCK)
1. Is anybody here?	Sounds like " Get Out"
2. Who are you?	Sounds like laughter
3. Why are you here?	No Reply	N/A
4. Why have you not left?	No Reply	N/A

Video

During the ghost hunt, people kept running into chairs. Ghost hunter Jessica was instructed to push the chairs back in to prevent further mishaps. Shortly afterwards an unusual EM reading is located in the corner of the room. As the ghost hunters move in to investigate, the reading disappears and the chair on the right appears to move out from under the table by itself. (Click the image to see the video, 5,340 kb)

This is a smaller version of the video above and also contains various other oddities that were captured on video that night. (Click the image to watch the video.)

Attempts to replicate the movement of the chair using the other two chairs were unsuccessful due to the amount of distance the chair traveled away from the table (approximately 18 inches). The cause of the movement is unknown at this time but is quite interesting due to the timing of the EM field appearing and disappearing and that it was reported phenomenon associated with that particular area.