5 Most Haunted Hotels in New Mexico: Outlaws, Adobe and Ghosts
There is a hotel in northern New Mexico with a room that has been locked for decades. The key hangs in the office. Management does not rent it to anyone.
The same building has bullet holes in its dining room ceiling, and more than two dozen men are said to have died inside it during its first years.
We pulled this list from our directory of haunted places across New Mexico. All five are operating hotels, and two of them sit on ground that has been occupied continuously since the early 1600s.
Here are the 5 most haunted hotels in New Mexico, the spirits attached to them, and how to stay in each.
Why New Mexico Hotels Are So Haunted
New Mexico has a longer European settlement record than almost anywhere else in the country, and its buildings sit on top of each other rather than beside each other.
Santa Fe was founded in 1610, and hotel sites there have been rebuilt repeatedly on the same corners for four centuries. That is a depth of layered history no eastern city can match.
Then the territory got the violent end of the frontier. Land grant wars, cattle disputes and the traffic of the Santa Fe Trail produced killings at a rate that shocked even people used to the West.
1. St. James Hotel, Cimarron
The St. James Hotel opened in 1872, built by Henri Lambert, a French chef who had cooked for Abraham Lincoln before heading west.
It became the premier stop on the Santa Fe Trail and one of the most violent buildings in the territory. More than twenty six men are said to have been killed inside it, and the bullet holes are still in the dining room ceiling.
Room 18 has been permanently sealed and is never rented. The key hangs in the office and stays there. Elsewhere, guests report heavy bootfalls between two and four in the morning and cold spots on the second and third floors. The best known spirit is gambler Thomas James Wright, shot at his card table in 1881 after winning the deed to the hotel.
2. La Posada de Santa Fe, Santa Fe
La Posada de Santa Fe is built around an 1882 Victorian mansion constructed by the merchant Abraham Staab for his wife Julia.
Julia Staab bore seven children, lost one, and spent her later years withdrawn from society. She died in 1896, and the mansion was later absorbed into the resort that surrounds it now.
Room 256 was her bedroom suite and is the most active room in the building. Guests report a woman in Victorian dress at the foot of the bed who vanishes when a light goes on, along with sharp cold and a heaviness that settles after dark.
3. The Lodge at Cloudcroft, Cloudcroft
The Lodge at Cloudcroft sits at 9,000 feet in the Sacramento Mountains and has taken guests since the late 1890s.
It was built by the railroad as a mountain retreat, and the drive up from the desert below climbs several thousand feet in under an hour.
Its ghost is Rebecca, a red haired chambermaid from the 1930s, and Room 101 is the room people ask for. Reports include roses and perfume with no source, freshly made beds found disturbed minutes later, the lift moving between floors empty, and a touch on the shoulder in an empty room.
4. La Fonda on the Plaza, Santa Fe
La Fonda on the Plaza stands at the end of the Santa Fe Trail on a corner that has held an inn since 1607, making it one of the oldest hotel sites in America.
Successive buildings on the spot burned or were demolished and rebuilt. The current Pueblo Revival structure dates to the 1920s.
The most specific story belongs to Judge John P. Slough, shot dead at the hotel on 15 December 1867 after a political quarrel. Witnesses describe a man in 1860s formal dress clutching his chest near the staircase, and figures in period clothing through the older sections of the building.
5. Shaffer Hotel, Mountainair
The Shaffer Hotel was built in 1923 by Clem “Pop” Shaffer to serve travellers on the new Highway 60, in thick adobe with Pueblo Revival detailing.
Shaffer was a folk artist as well as an innkeeper, and his decorative work is still visible around the building, which now runs as a hotel and gallery.
Pop Shaffer himself is the figure most often reported, an elderly man in 1920s clothing near the front desk where he used to greet arrivals. Guests describe heavy boots stopping outside their doors, gentle knocking near midnight with nobody in the hallway, and voices in the lobby after hours. Room 7 is the most active.
How to Visit New Mexico Haunted Hotels Safely
All five take normal bookings. Room 18 at the St. James is the one thing you cannot have, and staff will not open it, so do not press them on it.
The two Santa Fe properties are premium, roughly $200 to $600 a night. Cimarron and Mountainair are small town rates by comparison.
Altitude is worth respecting here. Santa Fe sits at 7,000 feet and Cloudcroft at 9,000, high enough to affect your first night’s sleep. Mountain roads to Cloudcroft can also ice over in winter.
If you want to record anything, our ghost hunting equipment guide covers the EMF meters, recorders, and cameras that actually capture evidence.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most haunted hotel in New Mexico?
The St. James Hotel in Cimarron, which is the only hotel on this list with a room permanently sealed because of what guests reported in it.
Can you stay in Room 18 at the St. James?
No. It has been closed to guests for decades and is not rented under any circumstances. You can stay elsewhere in the hotel, and the second floor rooms are the ones with the reports.
Which room should I request in Santa Fe?
Room 256 at La Posada de Santa Fe, which was Julia Staab’s own bedroom suite and is the single most reported room in the city.
Plan Your New Mexico Haunted Hotel Trip
Santa Fe is the obvious base, with La Fonda and La Posada a few minutes apart on foot.
From there, Cimarron and the St. James are about two and a half hours northeast through the Sangre de Cristos. Mountainair sits an hour south of Albuquerque, and Cloudcroft is a longer run into the southern mountains that pairs with White Sands.
For everything beyond the hotels, browse our full directory of haunted places in New Mexico or read our roundup of the most haunted places in New Mexico.
