The Ghostly Ladies of New Mexico

Spooky Rebecca

The Lodge is a historic resort overlooking Cloudcroft a rustic Sacramento mountain community in southeast New Mexico. The Lodge was originally built in 1899 and is found at an elevation of 9,000 ft. above sea level. It was opened to the public in 1906 and was rebuilt after a fire in 1911. Well-known people such as Pancho Villa, Judy Garland, and Clark Gable have stayed here as well as every New Mexico governor since 1901.

The Lodge is a three-story, Victorian-style, European mountain inn that is surrounded by huge pine trees and offers fantastic mountain scenery. The inn has stained glass windows, a lookout tower, a circular driveway, a pond, and a waterfall. Inside there is a two- floored lobby with a fireplace. Visitors are greeted by a large, stuffed bear and each guest room has its own special design.

There is an outdoor dining patio “Rebecca’s Restaurant”, an outdoor dining patio the inn’s swimming pool, and gardens. The restaurant is named after the spirit that haunts the inn. Her pictures can be seen hanging on the walls throughout the inn and her likeness can also be found on a stained glass window.

At the inn, there is a western saloon-type bar located in the basement which is called “The Red Dog Saloon”. Here customers can dance to live entertainment.

The Story of Rebecca

A young, chambermaid worked at the Lodge during the 1920s & 1930s. Along with other employees she lived in rooms that were located in the basement. Some say that she also moonlighted as a prostitute. Apparently, she was murdered by her enraged lumberjack boyfriend who caught her in bed with another man. Soon after this incident, ghostly occurrences started happening.

Now there are two resident ghosts – Rebecca and the lumberjack boyfriend. It is thought that Rebecca lives in the room, right behind the downstairs bathroom. Her strange energetic, but friendly presence has been felt and she’s accepted as part of the inn. Employees and guests have reported seeing the apparition of a beautiful red-haired woman with blue eyes floating in the halls. As a guest was sleeping one evening he heard a scraping sound in the hallway. Opening his door just a crack he saw a woman with long red hair in a floor-length nightgown rearranging flowers in a vase sitting atop an antique chest.

Down the hall from the Governor’s Suite 101 in Room 104, a female guest was sleeping beside her husband when she awoke because she felt too hot. Laying on her side she felt a gentle, cold hand on her shoulder and a male voice singing “Won’t You Be My True Love?” in her ear. She finally got the nerve to turn around to see who was there and felt a cool whooshing movement but saw no one. She shook her husband awake but he had heard nothing. A male guest wanting to take a bath found a vaporous female waiting for him in the tub.

According to a desk clerk, Mr. Adams three women would always request to have the same room at the inn because “Becky” would visit them there. There was a Halloween when a man dressed in a tuxedo ordered two dinners and sat by himself facing an empty chair. Everyone around watched him as he ate his own dinner talking to someone who couldn’t be seen. At the end of the meal, both plates were empty and both wine glasses had been drunk. Waking up in the middle of the night a male guest glanced at his watch on the nightstand and was surprised to see it floating straight up in the air and gently dropping to the top of the dresser.

One of Rebecca’s favorite places is The Red Dog Saloon which was built in the space once used as a shower area for inn employees. She makes her presence known in different ways. Lights turn on and off by themselves, and workers cleaning up after the saloon closes have seen her apparition twirling on the dance floor. The bartender has seen the reflection of a pretty, red-haired woman in a long dress in the bar mirror. However, turning around to look at her she disappears. She’s been known to help herself to the alcoholic drinks served.

During the Prohibition Era, saloon customers used to gamble there. Since then the poker chips have long since been disposed of. However one evening a bartender was very surprised to find some old 1930s- era poker chips in the middle of the floor that hadn’t been there a few minutes before. There have been times when the Lodge customers have called to complain about the loud music coming from The Red Dog Saloon. What is even stranger is that at those times the saloon has been closed. It appears that Rebecca likes to dance. A bartender Ms. Crosby went to use the downstairs bathroom. The lights wouldn’t turn on and she was alone. To add insult to injury after using the toilet she also realized there was no toilet paper. She shouted out an expletive and to her surprise, a white, ghostly hand appeared under the doorway with a roll of toilet paper. Terrified she ran upstairs.

A new employee living in an upstairs room at the Lodge for only about 2 months was welcomed to the inn “Rebecca” style. While getting ready to go down to work she saw in her vanity mirror that the toilet handle was moving by itself to flush the toilet. A guest and his wife, who had expressed disbelief in the existence of Rebecca, had a wine glass suddenly shatter while sitting at their table. As they were leaving the lights blinked twice.

Rebecca’s spirit loves to play tricks on the staff. The inn has a modern, computerized phone system and she likes to place calls from the Governor’s Suite. When the desk gets a call from Room 101 there is never an answer from the other end. The light in front of this room which is an old bulb light with a fan attached goes on by itself when someone walks by and turns off when they are gone.

After a former housekeeper had made a bed in a room coming back later she would see the indentation of someone who had either sat or lay down on the bed. She also had to deal with guests’ shoes which would mysteriously travel down a couple of rooms from where the guests were staying.

When Mr. Sanders became the owner of The Lodge in 1982 there was a temporary housing mix-up and the Sanders decided to keep their spare clothes in chests in an empty storage room in the basement. They got a “Rebecca” welcome. One night unlocking the room to get some clothes they saw a glowing light moving at the back of the room. Going to the back of the room Mr. Sanders saw that their trunks had been moved and a once-sealed interior door was wide open leading to a room from which the glowing light had been shining. He followed the light into an old bathroom and the faucets started pouring water into the sinks. After he had turned off the water, he inspected the area and found no broken windows and nothing missing.

In the new offices in the basement, Rebecca has been known to turn on the copy machine when no one is around. According to two different psychics Rebecca enjoys being part of The Lodge.

The Apparition of Julie

The second female spirit makes her home at the La Posada Resort and Spa which is located in downtown Santa Fe. Spanish settlers farmed the land on which the resort is located as far back as 1610. In the early 1800s, the land became the property of the Baca family. Wealthy merchant, Abraham Staab built a grand mansion known then as The Staab House, which is now part of the La Posada Resort and Spa. The mansion has 3 stories built from the finest imported European materials. Abraham and his wife, Julie entertained Santa Fe’s high society here. The third floor had a ballroom and the Staab family itself lived on the second floor. The six surviving Staab children grew up in the house.

Tragedy struck the family when their seventh child died soon after being born. This affected Julie deeply and sent her into a depression. Afterward, she kept to her room and stayed there until she died in 1896 at the age of 52. Abraham died in 1913.

In the early 1900s, the original third-floor ballroom was destroyed by fire. In the 1930s R.H. and Eulalia Nason became owners of The Staab House and surrounding estate. To expand business possibilities they added adobe casitas (small houses) in Pueblo Revival style in areas around The Staab House and Carriage House. They named their new venture La Posada in Spanish meaning “inn” or “resting place”. This became a popular place for the arts community.

After having several owners, La Posada was bought by Rock Resorts in the late 1900s. After renovation and additional construction, it became the La Posada Resort and Spa. It is set among beautifully landscaped gardens featuring exotic native plants.

The second floor is no longer used for guests but the first floor offers a bar where guests can enjoy food and drink and there are 3 banquet/reception rooms for special events -The Rose Room, The Library, and The Salon.

It appears that Julie Staab never left her mansion. Her favorite place is Room 256 which was her room until her death. In the early 1900s, Julie was known to draw a bath in the middle of the night regardless of whether guests were staying in the room or not. While a workman was cleaning the chimney outside of Room 256 he glanced over at the window and saw a woman in an old fashioned dress peering at him through the curtains. He was quite surprised when he recognized the woman as being Julie Staab from her portrait hanging in the drawing room. People have seen her in a black evening gown moving up the staircase. Early one morning an employee of the bar was preparing for the day and saw her calmly sitting in a chair. She was dressed in a white lace dress. A moment later she disappeared. Julie’s gentle presence has been felt on all the floors and people have experienced unexplainable cold spots. Julie Staab is content to remain in her house and enjoys the entertaining that takes place here.

So take a trip to New Mexico and meet the lovely, ghostly ladies that reside there.