Haunted Places in New Mexico: 26 of the Most Haunted to Visit
A prison where 33 men died in two days, a theater that leaves gifts for a little boy, outlaw hotels with bullet holes in the ceiling and a hillside of white iron crosses. These are New Mexico’s best-known haunted places, with what is history, what is legend and how to visit.
New Mexico has been settled for longer than almost anywhere in the United States, and its ghost stories run from Spanish colonial Santa Fe through the Santa Fe Trail and the Lincoln County War to coal camps and Route 66. Santa Fe and Albuquerque have the most stories close together, northeast New Mexico has the old Wild West hotels of Cimarron, Clayton and Las Vegas, and the south has Lincoln, Mesilla and Las Cruces. We have checked every place below against current sources, so you know which are open, which run ghost tours, which take overnight guests and which you can only see from outside. Many of the stories are told by tour guides and hotel staff rather than written down anywhere, and we say so where that is the case.
Where to look The lobby stairs, the balcony and the backstage shrine
Reported ghosts Bobby Darnall, a six-year-old boy killed in a 1951 boiler blast
Visiting City-owned working theater; the lobby is open for shows and events
Tours Occasional free guided tours by the city that include the 1951 story
Italian-born businessman Oreste Bachechi opened the KiMo on Central Avenue in 1927, and its Pueblo Deco design, with garlanded buffalo skulls whose eyes glow amber, is one of a kind. The name was suggested by Isleta Pueblo Governor Pablo Abeita and loosely means king of its kind. The city bought the theater in 1977 to save it from demolition, and it still hosts films, plays and concerts.
On August 2, 1951, a water heater under the lobby stairs exploded during a matinee, and six-year-old Bobby Darnall Jr., who had run down from the balcony, was killed. Performers say Bobby’s ghost plays pranks on shows that do not leave him a treat, and a backstage shrine holds toys, notes and ballet shoes. Researchers who checked the archives found the famous ruined Christmas show story does not match the records, so treat the haunting as theater folklore.
What investigators report
Performers and staff keep up a tradition of leaving donuts, toys or candy for the spirit of young Bobby Darnall, and say pranks such as popping lightbulbs and forgotten lines follow when the offerings are taken away. Activity is most often reported near the stage.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book a show or watch for the city’s occasional free building tours, and look for the shrine story; leave a note, not food, which is no longer allowed.
Where to look Room 18 (kept locked), Room 17, the second floor, TJ's Bar
Reported ghosts Gambler Thomas James Wright, Mary Lambert's perfume, the "Little Imp", a cowboy in the bar mirror
Visiting A working hotel; public areas, restaurant and bar are open to visitors
Henri Lambert, who is said to have cooked for Abraham Lincoln, opened a saloon in Cimarron in 1872 and grew it into the St. James Hotel on the Santa Fe Trail. Local tradition credits the saloon era with at least 26 killings, and the bar’s pressed-tin ceiling is still full of bullet holes. New owners reopened the hotel in December 2024.
Room 18 has been kept locked for decades. The story goes that Thomas James Wright won the hotel in a poker game and was shot in the back on his way to this room. Guests leave him drinks outside the door. Next door in Room 17, Mary Lambert is said to announce herself with a waft of perfume.
What investigators report
Investigators focus on Room 18, which the hotel keeps locked to guests; the Ghost Adventures crew centred their 2014 investigation there.
Address 2355 Calle de Guadalupe, Mesilla, NM 88046
Where to look The Carlotta Room and its two worn velvet chairs; the bar
Reported ghosts Armando and Inez, the young lovers of the house's legend; a poltergeist in the bar
Visiting Working restaurant on the Mesilla plaza
The Double Eagle sits on the plaza of Old Mesilla, a short drive from Las Cruces, in an adobe built in 1849 as the home of the Maese family. It is on the National Register, and its dining rooms are full of gold-leaf ceilings, chandeliers and antiques. It is named after the $20 gold coin of the 1850s.
The legend says Señora Carlota Maese found her son Armando with Inez, a young servant, in his bedroom and attacked them with sewing shears; Inez died that night and Armando three days later. That bedroom is now the Carlotta Room, where two velvet chairs in the corners are said to be worn into the shapes of the ghosts, and diners are asked not to sit in them. Staff describe moving furniture, shattered wine glasses and a poltergeist in the bar. El Paso’s KFOX14 filmed a ghost hunt here; there is no record that the murders happened.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book dinner in the Carlotta Room, look but do not sit in the corner chairs, then walk the plaza at night.
Visit on a tourGhost toursParanormal investigations allowed
Address 251 W Amador Ave, Las Cruces, NM 88005
Where to look The jail cells in the annex
Reported ghosts Mary Waters, said to have died in a cell in 1951; a shadow figure called Bubba
Visiting Empty historic building; entry only on booked tours
Tours Ghost tours and paranormal investigation nights by a local tour company
Doña Ana County built this courthouse and jail on Amador Avenue in 1937, designed by El Paso architect Percy McGhee. It served as the county courthouse until the 1980s, and the jail was left empty in 2008. Ghost Adventures filmed inside in 2017, the first national paranormal show to do so.
The best-known story is about Mary Waters, a waitress found near the Amador Hotel in the 1950s and jailed on the assumption that she was drunk; she screamed in her cell and was found dead, and the cause was later given as a ruptured kidney and alcohol poisoning. People report slamming cell doors, cold spots, voices and a shadow figure nicknamed Bubba. A local tour company runs ghost tours and paranormal investigations inside.
What investigators report
Paranormal Research Investigations El Paso, which runs hands-on investigations here with recorders and sensors, reports disembodied voices, laughter and heavy footsteps in the maze-like hallways and the jail annex.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book one of the evening tours or investigations through the local operator listed by Visit Las Cruces; it is not open for casual visits.
Address Old Town Plaza, 2005 N Plaza St NW (San Felipe de Neri church), Albuquerque, NM 87104
Where to look Casa de Armijo, Plazuela Sombra, the Chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the streets around the plaza
Reported ghosts Victoria at Casa de Armijo, the Lady in Black at the chapel, the Hatchet Lady, Scarlet
Visiting Public streets and plaza; shops and the church keep their own hours
Tours Evening ghost walks most nights and daytime history tours by local companies
Albuquerque was founded here in 1706 as a Spanish colonial town around a plaza. San Felipe de Neri church on the north side was rebuilt on its present site in 1793 and is the only building in Old Town proven to date from the Spanish colonial era. When the railroad arrived in 1880 a New Town grew up to the east, and this original settlement became Old Town; it is now about ten blocks of shops, restaurants and galleries in old adobes.
Nightly ghost walks have run here for more than 20 years. Guides tell of Victoria, a girl of eight said to appear at the windows of Casa de Armijo; Scarlet, a red-haired woman linked to the Manual Springer house, a Prohibition-era brothel; the Hatchet Lady who chases couples; and the Lady in Black who sits and sobs in the Chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Under the bricks of Plazuela Sombra, guides explain, are bones that floods probably washed out of a long-gone cemetery. These are storytellers’ tales, told alongside documented history.
What investigators report
Investigators report recording EVPs attributed to the Lady in Black, said to sit on a bench inside Old Town’s Chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Address 4311 NM-14, Santa Fe, NM 87508 (about 15 miles south of the Plaza)
Where to look Cell Block 4 and the floors still marked by the 1980 riot
Reported ghosts Shadow figures reported by officers since 1981; slamming cell doors
Visiting Closed prison on the grounds of a working one; visits only on booked, escorted tours
Tours Guided history tours for private and school groups, booked by email
Tickets Ask the Corrections Department for fees; background check needed at least five days ahead
Ghost hunting No: tours focus on history and the department does not offer ghost hunts
The Penitentiary of New Mexico opened south of Santa Fe in 1956, replacing the 1885 territorial prison. Built for about 900 men, it held 1,156 by early 1980. On February 2 and 3, 1980, inmates seized the prison for 36 hours, took 12 officers hostage and killed at least 33 fellow prisoners, many in Cell Block 4, the protective custody unit. It was one of the deadliest prison riots in American history. Old Main closed in 1998 and is now used for film sets and guided tours.
The Corrections Department runs its tours as history and deliberately leaves out ghost stories, out of respect for the people who died and those who survived. The stories still exist: officers and National Guard members have reported a human-shaped shadow in the old prison since 1981, and a local ghost research group that visited nine times found the slamming sounds people heard had ordinary causes. Visitors see hatchet marks and burn scars still on the floors.
Haunted Rooms tip: Tours are booked in advance by email with the Corrections Department, need a background check and are for ages 16 and over; bring a flashlight and a layer.
Address 100 E San Francisco St, Santa Fe, NM 87501
Where to look La Plazuela restaurant over the old well, Room 510, the third-floor halls, the Santa Fe Room
Reported ghosts Judge John P. Slough, a ruined salesman at the well, a murdered bride, a cowboy in the bar
Visiting A working hotel; public areas, restaurant and bar are open to visitors
There has been an inn on this corner of the Santa Fe Plaza for centuries; the hotel says records point to the town’s first inn around 1607, and it was the end of the Santa Fe Trail. The current Pueblo Revival building opened in 1922, was run as a Harvey House for decades and now has 180 rooms around a famous rooftop bell tower bar.
Its best-known story is real history: Chief Justice John P. Slough was shot in the lobby of the old Exchange Hotel on this site in 1867, and guests still report a tall man in a long black coat in the halls. Diners in La Plazuela describe a figure who walks to the middle of the room and drops into the floor where an old well was, and a bride is said to linger in Room 510.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book dinner in La Plazuela, the old courtyard restaurant built over the well, then take a nightcap in the Bell Tower Bar.
Address Dawson Rd, about 5 miles north of US 64, Colfax County, NM
Where to look The miners' section of white iron crosses
Reported ghosts Lights like miners' helmet lamps; figures among the graves
Visiting Reached by gravel road; the cemetery is visited by the public, the old townsite beyond is private
Dawson was a Phelps Dodge coal town of around 6,000 people. On October 22, 1913, an explosion in Stag Canyon Mine No. 2 killed 263 men, the second-worst mining disaster in American history; on February 8, 1923, another blast in Mine No. 1 killed about 120 more. The mines closed in 1950 and the town was torn down or sold off. The cemetery is all that is left, with rows of identical white iron crosses for the miners, and it is on the National Register.
New Mexico’s tourism department lists Dawson among the state’s most haunted places, and visitors who come at night describe small lights moving like the lamps on miners’ helmets and figures standing among the graves. Former residents and their families still gather here for a reunion every two years and leave notes in a book by the gate, so come respectfully.
Haunted Rooms tip: Go in daylight, stay on the cemetery road and leave the townsite beyond alone; it is private grazing land.
Address Lincoln Historic Site, US 380, Lincoln, NM 88338
Where to look The courthouse stairs, Billy the Kid's upstairs room, the Tunstall Store and the Wortley Hotel
Reported ghosts Deputy James Bell on the stairs; footsteps in the Tunstall Store
Visiting State historic site; several buildings open
Hours and season 10 AM to 4 PM, Thursday to Monday
Tickets $7 adults; 16 and under free
Lincoln was the center of the Lincoln County War of 1878 to 1881, and its old courthouse, the Tunstall Store and 15 other buildings are now the Lincoln Historic Site, a National Historic Landmark run by the state. On April 28, 1881, Billy the Kid, held upstairs under sentence of death, escaped and killed deputies James Bell, shot on the stairs, and Bob Olinger, shot from a window. Pat Garrett killed the Kid at Fort Sumner that July.
The Santa Fe New Mexican called the courthouse quite possibly the only haunted state monument in New Mexico. Visitors have described a white mist on the staircase, a hot flush by a rear window and the feeling of being pushed upstairs, and a staff member said the stair light popped when he asked a ghost to show itself. People also report footsteps in the Tunstall Store, and a local guide has told of a ghost called Lilia in Room 3 of the Wortley Hotel. The site manager says she has seen nothing herself.
Haunted Rooms tip: Start at the visitor center, climb the courthouse stairs, and plan for Thursday to Monday opening; Old Lincoln Days is in early August.
Where to look Room 310, the basement and coal tunnel, Byron T's bar
Reported ghosts Former owner Byron T. Mills, a little girl in the basement
Visiting A working hotel; public areas, restaurant and bar are open to visitors
Built in 1882 on the plaza of Las Vegas, New Mexico, this Italianate hotel hosted Theodore Roosevelt and the first Rough Riders reunion, and has appeared in silent westerns and No Country for Old Men. Its old bar, Byron T’s, was named after the former owner whose ghost the hotel’s staff talk about openly.
Byron T. Mills’ old office is now Room 310. Guests there, often women traveling alone, report cigar smoke, old-fashioned cologne and a dent on the bed as if someone has sat down. Staff told the Santa Fe New Mexican in 2025 about a child’s voice and a curly-haired girl in the basement.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask for Room 310 directly; staff will not give it to a woman traveling alone unless she asks for it.
Where to look Room 256 (Suite 100), the Staab House staircase, the bar
Reported ghosts Julia Staab, seen in a black Victorian dress
Visiting A working hotel; public areas, restaurant and bar are open to visitors
At the heart of this six-acre adobe resort is the 1882 Staab House, a three-story brick mansion built by merchant Abraham Staab for his wife Julia and their children. Julia died in 1896. The house was turned into an inn in the 1930s and is now part of a 157-room Tribute Portfolio resort and a member of Historic Hotels of America.
A janitor reported the first sighting in 1979: a woman in a black Victorian dress with her hair in a tight bun. Since then staff and guests describe gas fireplaces switching on, swaying chandeliers, a shelf of glasses crashing down and the smell of roses. Julia’s old bedroom, Room 256 (also called Suite 100), gets the most reports.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask for Room 256, also known as Suite 100, which was Julia Staab’s bedroom.
Where to look Rebecca's restaurant and the lounge with her portrait, guest rooms with fireplaces
Reported ghosts Rebecca, a red-haired chambermaid said to have been killed by a jealous lover
Visiting A working hotel; public areas, restaurant and bar are open to visitors
The first Lodge was built in 1899 for travelers on the Alamogordo and Sacramento Mountain Railway, high in the pines at Cloudcroft; after a 1909 fire it was rebuilt by 1911. Owners Lanna and Joe Duncan, who bought it in 2015, restored its Arts and Crafts features during a pandemic closure and reopened in 2021 with 59 rooms and a high-altitude golf course.
The resident ghost is Rebecca, a young chambermaid who, the story goes, vanished after her lumberjack boyfriend found her with another man. Staff say she flickers lights, opens doors, slides objects across tables and lights fireplaces. The hotel embraces her: its restaurant carries her name and her portrait hangs in the lounge.
Haunted Rooms tip: Have dinner at Rebecca’s and look for her portrait; staff are happy to share their own stories.
Address 401 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe, NM 87501
Where to look The gift shop, the nave and the old bell
Reported ghosts A small boy in the gift shop; a friar on the grounds
Visiting Historic church open to visitors; small admission fee; Mass held on set days
San Miguel was built in the Barrio de Analco, home to Tlaxcalan and other Native people who came north with the Spanish, probably soon after Santa Fe was founded in 1610; it is first mentioned in 1628. It was damaged in the 1680 Pueblo Revolt and rebuilt in 1710, and is often called the oldest church in the continental United States. Its bell carries the date 1356, but a 1914 study showed it was cast in Santa Fe in 1856.
A mid-1800s legend says the bell rang on its own and gave a blind man his sight while it tolled. Ghost tour guides add a little boy who is said to haunt the gift shop and try to play with visiting children, a friar on the grounds, and an uneasy feeling some visitors describe inside. People are buried beneath the church, as at most old missions; the ghost stories themselves come from tour guides, not records.
Haunted Rooms tip: Visit quietly; it is still a consecrated church that holds Mass, so check the schedule before you go.
Where to look The top-floor wing, the stairwells, guest rooms on the upper floors
Reported ghosts A woman on the top floor, unseen hands pulling at bedsheets, whispers in empty halls
Visiting A working hotel; public areas, restaurant and bar are open to visitors
Hotel Parq Central opened in 2010 inside the 1926 Santa Fe Railway Hospital on Central Avenue, the old Route 66. The railroad treated its workers here for decades, and from 1981 to 2006 the building was Memorial Hospital, a psychiatric hospital for children and young people. It then sat empty until a four-year restoration turned it into a boutique hotel with a rooftop bar.
The stories began with the hospital. Patients and staff described a woman watching from the hallways of the top floor, bedsheets pulled off in the night and whispers close to the ear. Guests today report shuffling in the stairwells and the feeling of being watched, and a 2011 ghost hunt by Los Muertos Spirit Seekers recorded whispering it could not explain.
What investigators report
The Los Muertos Spirit Seekers reported whispers caught on voice recorders, cold drafts and a sense of being watched during a 2011 investigation. Reports focus on the right wing of the top floor.
Where to look The dining rooms and the room staff call Sara's room
Reported ghosts Sara Ruiz, a curandera (healer) and the mother of the last owner
Visiting Working restaurant; open to diners
Just behind San Felipe de Neri church in Old Town, this adobe hacienda was the Ruiz family home for generations, and family tradition dates it to the early 1700s; Albuquerque’s own guides call it one of the oldest homes in the city. Rufina G. Ruiz, the last of the family to live there, died in 1991 aged 91, and Marie Coleman turned the house into a New Mexican restaurant.
Coleman has said that during the renovation a woman’s voice told her to get rid of the contractor and her tools were found scattered. She came to believe the voice was Rufina’s mother, Sara Ruiz, a healer. Staff blame Sara for thrown silverware, slammed doors and hidden keys, have described a woman in a long black dress who vanishes from the dining room after hours, and say you should tell Sara goodnight before you leave.
What investigators report
Staff say “Goodnight Sara” before leaving, and one worker reported that calling out to Sara and asking for his missing keys saw them turn up in his pocket. She is reported in the dining room after hours.
Address 207 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe, NM 87501
Where to look The spiral staircase, the gift shop and the Inn at Loretto next door
Reported ghosts A nun said to smoke cigars and slip money into the till
Visiting Private museum and wedding chapel; small admission fee
The Sisters of Loretto commissioned this small Gothic Revival chapel for their girls’ academy in 1873, and it was consecrated in 1878. Its architect, Projectus Mouly, modeled it on the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. Its famous spiral staircase climbs 20 feet to the choir loft in two full turns with no central support, and the sisters credited it to a mysterious carpenter who appeared after they prayed to St. Joseph; a local historian has argued the builder was a French carpenter, Frank Rochas. The academy closed in 1968 and the chapel is now a private museum and wedding chapel.
Santa Fe’s ghost tellers say one of the old teaching nuns never left. In the story she wears black, smokes cigars, browses the gift shop, talks to children and leaves extra money in the register. Tourism Santa Fe ties the same tale to the Inn and Spa at Loretto, built on the academy site, where shop staff in the late 1970s reported an extra ten-dollar bill in the till each morning and the smell of cigar smoke.
Haunted Rooms tip: Go early in the day for the staircase, then walk a block to San Miguel Chapel and the Oldest House.
Reported ghosts Two witch sisters and the headless horseman of Alto Street
Visiting Operates as a small visitor attraction; hours vary
This thick-walled adobe across the lane from San Miguel Chapel has been sold to visitors as the oldest house in the United States since at least 1879, and later owners claimed it dated to 1200. Tree-ring dating of its roof beams points to the 1740s to 1760s, though some lower walls may be older, possibly Pueblo work. Whatever its age, it sits in Barrio de Analco, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Santa Fe.
The best-known legend says two sisters who lived here were witches who sold love potions. Juan Espinoza bought one, lost his love to his brother and came back for a refund, and the sisters cut off his head with his own sword. He is said to ride as a headless horseman down Alto Street toward the Santa Fe River. Tourism Santa Fe also says a malevolent presence is felt in the house. It is a folk tale, with no record behind it.
Haunted Rooms tip: See the house, cross to San Miguel Chapel, then walk Alto Street by the river at dusk for the horseman story.
Where to look The grand staircase, the second-floor rooms and the attic
Reported ghosts Josefita Manderfield Otero; a servant called Cruz
Visiting Restaurant closed in 2020; private property, see it from the street
When the Santa Fe Railway wanted a right of way through the Luna family’s land in 1880, it agreed to build them a new house, and this Southern Colonial style mansion of adobe was finished in 1881. In the 1920s Josefita Manderfield Otero, wife of Eduardo Otero, added the portico, solarium and ironwork. The mansion is on the National Register and ran for decades as a fine dining restaurant, until the Torres family, owners since 2009, closed it in 2020 and later listed it for sale.
Staff have described Josefita’s ghost since the restaurant opened in the 1970s: a woman in 1920s clothes on the staircase, in the old bedrooms upstairs and in the attic, along with chairs that moved and pots that rattled in an empty kitchen. A second spirit, a servant called Cruz, was said to play pranks on staff. Some accounts say Josefita died in 1951; we could not confirm the date.
Haunted Rooms tip: It sits on old Route 66 at Main Street and Highway 314; see it from the street and check local news for any reopening as an event venue.
Reported ghosts Irene, said to be a former maid, in Room 307
Visiting A working hotel; public areas, restaurant and bar are open to visitors
This three-story sandstone hotel on Clayton’s Main Street has stood since 1892, first as a saloon and lodging for railroad travelers, then from 1898 as the Eklund Hotel. It is on the National Register of Historic Places, its saloon keeps its original bar and a bullet-scarred tin ceiling, and outlaw Black Jack Ketchum, hanged in Clayton in 1901, is said to have liked its chicken dinners. Its current owners reopened it in 2011.
The ghost guests ask about is Irene, said to be a former maid, who is blamed for creaking floorboards and faces seen in the wallpaper of Room 307. Owner Keith Barras has told New Mexico Magazine that old buildings have stories, and leaves guests to make up their own minds.
Haunted Rooms tip: Pair a night here with the Union County Courthouse, where Black Jack Ketchum’s ghost is said to linger.
Where to look The third floor and Room 311, the basement, the fourth floor
Reported ghosts A crying boy in Room 311, a man in old-fashioned clothes, a woman in a black mantilla
Visiting A working hotel; public areas, restaurant and bar are open to visitors
The Drury Plaza opened in 2014 inside the old St. Vincent Hospital, a 1953 John Gaw Meem building on land the Sisters of Charity had used for hospitals since 1865, together with 1911 Marian Hall. After the hospital moved out in 1977 the state used the buildings for offices and a nursing home, and they gathered a long list of ghost stories along the way.
Nurses on the third floor told of a child crying and gasping in Room 311, said to be a boy brought in after a Christmas Eve car crash. Others described a man in old-fashioned clothes and a woman in a black mantilla on the top floor, and blood-like stains in the basement. Drury’s managers say they have seen nothing.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask for a third-floor room in the original hospital building rather than the newer wings.
Where to look The seventh floor, the fourth floor at dusk, the ballroom, Room 611
Reported ghosts A nervous young woman in 1940s clothes, an older woman in a pink dress, a party in the ballroom
Visiting A working hotel; public areas, restaurant and bar are open to visitors
Conrad Hilton opened this ten-story hotel in downtown Albuquerque in 1939, the first Hilton-branded hotel outside Texas. It became the Hotel Plaza, then La Posada de Albuquerque in 1984, and reopened in 2009 as Hotel Andaluz after a $30 million renovation. It joined Hilton’s Curio Collection in 2019 and is on the National Register as the Old Hilton Hotel.
Guests describe a young woman in 1940s clothes on the seventh floor, said to have waited for a lover who left for the Second World War, and an older woman in a pink dress on the fourth floor around sundown. Late-night guests report a party in an empty ballroom, and one guest in Room 611 told of a bang and a closet door that opened by itself.
What investigators report
Guest reports centre on room 611, the fourth floor at sundown, the seventh floor and the ballroom late at night; one guest in 611 said loud bangs stopped after she asked the spirit aloud to leave.
Where to look The Abo Suite, Room 16, the lobby and upstairs hall
Reported ghosts Builder Clem "Pop" Shaffer and his wife Lena, a woman in white
Visiting A working hotel; public areas, restaurant and bar are open to visitors
Blacksmith Clem “Pop” Shaffer built this cast-concrete hotel in 1923 after his shop burned, and covered it inside and out with his own painted folk art, from the ceilings to the furniture. It is on the National Register of Historic Places and sits on Mountainair’s main street near the Salinas Pueblo Missions.
Most reports name Pop and Lena Shaffer themselves. Guests describe lights switching on and off, taps running, footsteps and a woman’s voice in the lobby, and an empty room that smelled of chocolate during one overnight investigation. Paranormal teams have focused on the Abo Suite, and Room 16 is often called the most active room.
What investigators report
Ghost hunters reported a K2 meter responding for around 10 minutes in the Abo Suite when they asked “Are you with us, Pop Shaffer?” and requested yes answers by moving close to the meter.
Address 180 W Amador Ave (at Water St), Las Cruces, NM 88001
Where to look The second floor
Reported ghosts Annie, said to walk the second floor
Visiting Closed for restoration; see the outside only
Don Martín Amador, the businessman credited with helping bring the railroad to Las Cruces, first used his adobe building at Water Street and Amador Avenue as the town’s post office, lockup and court, and in 1885 turned it into a two-story hotel and theater. It later housed Citizens Bank and then county offices, and it has been empty since 2006. The city and the Amador Hotel Foundation are restoring it as a public event and exhibit space, and interior work was due to start in 2026.
Visit Las Cruces says the hotel was once a brothel and is a stop on local ghost walks, where people report shadowy figures and flashlights that turn on and off. The ghost is said to be a girl called Annie on the second floor. These are tour stories; the building’s documented history is the Amador family and the railroad era.
Haunted Rooms tip: It is closed during restoration, so see it on a downtown ghost walk with the old courthouse across the street.
Address Fourth St and Terrace Ave, Chama, NM 87520
Where to look The closed second floor
Reported ghosts A woman judge said to have been poisoned; a crying girl; a cowboy
Visiting Working hotel, saloon and restaurant
Foster’s has stood across from the Chama rail yard since about 1881, with additions in 1927 and 1932, and it is on the National Register. Today it is a hotel, saloon and restaurant facing the depot of the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, the narrow-gauge steam line that crosses into Colorado.
New Mexico’s tourism department says three ghosts are reported here: a woman who had won a local judgeship and was poisoned in her room by men who resented her, and whose choking guests say they hear; a young girl who died of illness and is heard crying; and a cowboy in the halls. A local ghost research group notes the hauntings center on the closed second floor. None of these stories has a name or date we could verify.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ride the Cumbres and Toltec train by day and have dinner in Foster’s saloon after.
Where to look The courthouse halls and old jail; Ketchum's grave in Clayton Cemetery
Reported ghosts Black Jack Ketchum, the train robber hanged in 1901
Visiting Working county courthouse; public offices in business hours, no tours
Clayton’s red brick Neoclassical courthouse with its silver dome was built in 1909 to replace an earlier courthouse damaged by a tornado. Train robber Thomas “Black Jack” Ketchum was tried in Clayton and hanged here on April 26, 1901, in a stockade by the old courthouse. The rope was too long and the drop took off his head; it was sewn back on before he was buried in Clayton Cemetery.
In 2018 New Mexicans voted Clayton the most haunted town in the state in a tourism department survey. The courthouse is said to have cold spots, employees have described silhouettes and orbs, and the old jail where Ketchum waited is said to be icy. His grave lies by a dirt path in the cemetery, and the local story is that neither the Catholic nor the Protestant section would take him. Stay at the Hotel Eklund on Main Street to make a night of it.
Haunted Rooms tip: See the courthouse from the square during business hours, visit Ketchum’s grave in daylight, then stay at the Hotel Eklund.
Where to look The dining room and its piano, the old saloon, the kitchen
Reported ghosts A woman in a dance hall dress, a saloon girl in the kitchen, a self-playing piano
Visiting A working hotel; public areas, restaurant and bar are open to visitors
The Laguna Vista began as the El Monte Hotel in 1898, and its saloon was one of the busiest in the Moreno Valley in the 1920s and 1930s, when politicians stopped on the way to the Raton races. A newer lodge was added beside the original in 1964, and it still runs as a lodge, restaurant and saloon on the Enchanted Circle.
Staff stories include a piano that plays itself, a chair that keeps moving from a table to the piano, and a woman in a dance hall dress who vanishes toward a hidden staircase. Legend says she was a bride whose husband went hunting and never came back. A former cook described pans falling from the kitchen walls.
What investigators report
Staff say the ghost reacts to music in the kitchen: a cook reported pots falling and objects thrown when she switched the stereo from the usual country and classic rock to rap.
These places appear in older lists of haunted spots. We keep them here so you know the facts before you go, but you cannot (or should not) visit them.
Urraca Mesa, Philmont Scout Ranch
Older lists call this mesa near Cimarron a gateway to the underworld and say the belief comes from Native people of the area. We could not find any tribe or published tribal source behind that claim, which appears to be a scout campfire story. The mesa is on the private Philmont Scout Ranch, open only to registered Scouting groups, so please do not trespass or treat it as a ghost-hunting spot.
Atoka School, near Artesia
Our older guide repeated claims that this abandoned school is visited by teenagers and full of demonic voices. We found no reliable source for the stories, and the building is private and abandoned. Do not enter it.
Carrie Tingley Hospital, Albuquerque
Older lists describe glowing rooms, invisible barriers and children’s voices at this children’s hospital, and our older guide gave it a 1910 opening date we could not confirm. We found no reliable source for the ghost stories, and it is a working hospital for sick children, so it is not a place to visit for ghosts.
The asylum at Edith and Osuna, Albuquerque
The story of an abandoned asylum run by a murderous Dr. Samuel appears only on websites, with no record behind it. The site is private and the owners prosecute trespassers. Stay away.
Want to sleep somewhere haunted? See our guide to haunted hotels in New Mexico, from the St. James in Cimarron and the Eklund in Clayton to La Fonda and La Posada in Santa Fe. Driving the old road? Our guide to the haunted places along Route 66 passes through Albuquerque, and neighboring states have their own guides for Arizona, Colorado and Texas.
Changed in this guide: Urraca Mesa, Atoka School and Carrie Tingley Hospital are now listed under off-limits, with the facts. The Albuquerque Press Club stays in our Albuquerque guide but is a private club. The Old Bernalillo County Courthouse moved to the Albuquerque guide. We added the Old Main prison’s real history, Lincoln, the Double Eagle, Clayton’s courthouse, Las Cruces, Chama and every haunted hotel we cover in the state.
Visited one of these places? Tell us what happened
We collect first-hand accounts from visitors and add the best ones to our guides, with your first name and the date of your visit. We read every story before it’s published.
The Old Main penitentiary south of Santa Fe has the darkest history, with 33 inmates killed in the 1980 riot, but the best-known ghost stories belong to the KiMo Theatre in Albuquerque, La Fonda and La Posada in Santa Fe and the St. James Hotel in Cimarron. In a 2018 state tourism survey, New Mexicans voted Clayton the most haunted town.
What is the most haunted town in New Mexico?
Clayton won New Mexico’s 2018 tourism survey, thanks to the Hotel Eklund, the Union County Courthouse and the grave of Black Jack Ketchum. Santa Fe has the most haunted places in one city, and its tourism office runs with the claim.
Can you go ghost hunting in New Mexico?
Yes, in a few places. A local company runs paranormal investigations in the old Doña Ana County jail in Las Cruces, several haunted hotels welcome guests who want to try, and Albuquerque and Santa Fe both have nightly ghost walks. The Old Main prison tours are history tours only.
Can you tour the old Santa Fe prison where the 1980 riot happened?
Yes. The New Mexico Corrections Department runs guided tours of Old Main, booked in advance by email. Visitors must be 16 or older, pass a background check and sign a waiver.
Who is the ghost at the KiMo Theatre?
Bobby Darnall Jr., a six-year-old killed when a water heater exploded in the lobby in August 1951. Performers leave him gifts at a backstage shrine so he will not spoil their shows, though researchers have shown the most famous story about a ruined Christmas show does not match the records.
Is Dawson Cemetery open to visitors?
Yes, in daylight. It is reached by a gravel road off US 64 between Cimarron and Raton. The old townsite beyond is private grazing land, so visit only the cemetery and treat it as the memorial it is.
Sources and how we research
Every place in this guide is checked against its official website, historic register listings and news coverage, and we confirm whether it is open, closed, private or gone before we list it. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and local historians tell them; we say so where records contradict a story. Each place shows how many independent sources we checked it against; our own Haunted Rooms pages are not counted.
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About the authors
The Haunted Rooms Team are paranormal researchers who write about historic haunted places across the United States. We research every place in our guides using official sites, historic registers, local archives and news coverage, and we report ghost stories as the stories they are. We review each guide regularly so you are not sent to a place that has closed, changed hands or banned visitors. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
