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The Witch’s Grave

Old Mesilla, New Mexico
By Robin Wright

Old Mesilla and the area around it has had a dubious history, even before anyone officially settled there. The city of Las Cruces, the second largest city in New Mexico and a mere 6 miles from the quaint town of Old Mesilla was so named because of an 1830 massacre of a wagon train headed west along the trail known as El Camino Real. When the survivors buried their dead, they put up the requisite markings of crosses. Those following used it as a landmark, calling it “La Placita De Las Cruces”–the place of the crosses. Those who settled along the trail shortened it to Las Cruces. Las Cruces is now a bustling modern metropolitan, but enter Mesilla, New Mexico and you step back two hundred years.

Mesilla still has the thick adobe walled buildings that kept out both heat and dust. This was where Billy the Kid was caught, jailed, and allowed to escape. This is also the home of San Albino’s cemetery, home of the Witch’s Grave.

At the end of Calle De Lupe is the dirt packed ground that composes the cemetery. Tumbleweeds skitter across the graves, but your eyes will be drawn from the beautiful sculptures that serve as tombstones to a 4’x4’ cinderblock and cement tomb decorated with a 2‘ black cross that someone has carved with the number “666.” This, legend says, is the Witch’s tomb. It is the only headstone in the cemetery that has no name inscribed on it. There is no record of who she is or what she had done to get such a fortified grave, but it has been said that when she was buried there, her ghost kept trying to get out from its supposed final resting place. She has spent decades trying to find a crack that will set her free, and those who live near the cemetery have spent just as many years repairing the cracks that do appear.

Local lore claims a girl once slept on the tomb in response to a dare. She walked away alive, but was afterwards afflicted with incurable epilepsy. Further caution to those who feel the need to visit– in case escaping witches and mysterious illnesses aren’t enough, the fine folk who live near the cemetery do not appreciate late night visitors, and strongly discourage entering the cemetery after dark.

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Dramon Shadow says:

April 2, 2008, 8:29 pm

This sounds interesting…except for one thing! Witches aren’t really evil!!!!!!!!!!!! I truly believe in ghosts and have been to a few sights but stories about a witch who will attack you from beyond the grave is far fetched. I am a witch an we are NOT evil!!!!!!! But I get the spookiness of the grave site, it’s in the tradition more over than the belief.

page says:

April 24, 2008, 5:19 pm

THAT IS SOO COOL and weird at the same time soo call me at 931-729-1554 OR 931-729-7057 !!! p.s I’m Hot!!!!

Ananimous says:

April 28, 2008, 6:43 pm

i dont appreciate you being racist on mexicans or blacks or whoever so shove all that stuff up you a**

Destiny says:

April 28, 2008, 6:50 pm

I live in new mexico and i have a story to tell you about witches.
My mom told me this story, When my grandma was little she was at her aunts house in Las Vegas, NM
when she was washing dishes she saw a ball of fire rolling down the hill and all these cats were on that hill with there hair up. My grandma then found out that this lady died that live next door so the lady was a witch.
And also my dads great grandma was a witch
ps this is a true story and there is a story that the plaza hotel is haunted and there is a lot of witches that live there

Angel says:

May 5, 2008, 12:40 pm

Having lived in southern New Mexico my entire life, I will admit to having seen and experienced a number of what would be considered paranormal things. The Double Eagle restaurant in Old Mesilla is, in fact, haunted. If I recall correctly, it is one of the back dining rooms, and a number of cooks and waitresses have quit the restaurant because of the ghost’s activity.
One of the comments on this mentioned the Old English building at Gadsden High School in Anthony, NM. That ghost is a female suicide who haunts the second floor. There are, in fact, three other ghosts that I have encountered personally. One is a Hispanic janitor who was locked in the basement over a Christmas break. (I believe this took place in the early 80’s.) He is beneath the Boys’ Gym next to the Old English building, and if you stand by the railing next to the concession stand in late December, you can sometimes hear him pounding on the metal door and calling in Spanish for help. One of the other ghosts is also a basement ghost- a student who got lost in the basement during a dare break-in. The third, which I’ve never encountered personally, holds sway in the Girls’ Gym near the football field. Apparently that ghost likes playing with the lights and showers.
Stahman’s Pecan Orchard is also haunted. Located on some of the old conquistador trails, and near abandoned missions, it has been considered haunted for well over forty years. Many of my friends, whose parents lived in/worked at the orchard, have related stories told by their parents about the occurrences in the orchard. It’s commonly known that trying to park by the side of the main road that winds through the orchard leaves one with a fifty/fifty chance of being able to start your car once more.
I’ve only seen one ghost in Stahman’s personally. When I was driving to Gadsden from NMSU in Las Cruces one fall afternoon, I took the road through Stahman’s for a pleasant change of pace. (Rather than using the interstate, or the rural highway running behind Vado.) As I drove through Stahman’s, I turned a gentle corner and saw, out of the corner of my eye, a man leaning against one of the pecan trees. I turned to look and saw a priest with his arms around the tree trunk. He was wearing brown robes, with a wooden crucifix at his waist, and watched the road without moving. It didn’t ‘click’ for a moment, and then I looked back. He was, naturally, gone. I’d never seen a ghost in daylight, and that memory has stuck with me very vividly.
There is also a burnt down church past Santa Theresa, near the country club, which is haunted by the priest who died in that fire. My friends and I went there one night, and we distinctly heard both fire and a man’s voice speaking softly in Spanish. A sighting of La Llorona was documented in the late eighties under one of the bridges crossing from Juarez to El Paso, TX. I recall a chupacabra scare in the Las Cruces/Anthony/Chaparral area when I was in middle school, and there was a spate of Bloody Mary sightings in my elementary school.
Despite what people may scoff or dismiss, the New Mexico area, having the history of conquest that it does, is rife with ghosts. I myself have never heard of the witch’s grave, but that does not mean it isn’t possible. After all, I’ve spoken to people who have seen a corpse hanging from a tree in the small park near the Old Mesilla church.

robert says:

May 20, 2008, 2:35 pm

stfu becca you and your gat a** friend bit**

BCH says:

July 6, 2008, 2:14 pm

i have a crack :) ))))

wanna see?

damn **** **** *** mother ****** ******* ***** **** *****
sorry bipolarness again

Millie says:

July 14, 2008, 12:59 pm

u wanna see haunted??
go to the Kit Carson Museum in Taos NM
my grandmother works there
that place is so haunted

LATINO says:

August 14, 2008, 3:02 am

PINCHE GRINGOS GUEYS JOTOS DE MIERDA MEXICO IS DIFFERENT FROM MEXICO YOU DUM ***** DUM **** REDNECKS

BANUELOS says:

September 24, 2008, 4:35 pm

FOR ALL U RACIST GRINGOS, GET THE F**K OVER IT CUZ YA KNOW WHAT, U NEVER GONNA GET UR WISHES, THEY CANT DEPORT US ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE GONNA KEEP COMIN N N TAKIN OVER DA U.S. CUZ IF U WHITES WERE REALLY BETTER THEN US !!WE WOULDN BE HERE N DA US!!! “”"”NOW WHAT B!TCH3S”"”"

anonimous says:

September 27, 2008, 9:16 pm

why can’t we all just get along!!!!! jkjk have a good holoween

Candace says:

September 29, 2008, 8:38 pm

When I was going to school at NMSU many moons ago, I had my 21st birthday party along the Rio Grande. A friend of mine brought 3-wheelers (now quads cuz those things were so unsafe) and she and I went riding off away from the party. We encountered an old sanitorium which had been converted into a women’s prison at one time and was, at that time, totally abandoned. We didn’t see anything in particular there but the 3-wheeler refused to start. We wandered around the place for a while and the feeling was just totally creepy, gave us both goose bumps. Took us a good hour to get that 3-wheeler started again and I was never so happy to drive away from a place. I never did go back, but wonder if anyone has any information on it? Ever heard of it? Is it still there?

Monster says:

October 2, 2008, 3:26 am

The Gadsden High School Ghost I do believe in because I actually saw what was an apparition of a girl on a second story window of the very last class room to the north side of the building upstairs looking at the buses leaving to drop off student who stayed late for school activities, the building was dark, but she seemed to stand out like she was glowing she wore a dress, a friend and I saw her while on our way home from basketball practice, my friend saw it first them he pointed her out to me while not being able to say anything which was exactly what happened to me after I saw her too. I actually attended that classroom where I saw her standing but never experienced anything while there in class which I am glad about, but one day I did see someone cross the hallway as if they were walking from one room to another from the back of my eye while I was going to the boys bathroom on the second floor which was right across that actual classroom in which I saw the apparition at, but what was crazy was that all the classroom doors in the hallway were closed, and well I did not hear any of the doors close, but then again that could have been my imagination, but sometimes the toilet stalls on the second floor boys bathroom would flush on their own. I did also hear about the custodian there too, but never saw anything about him, as far as believeing in the old english building at Gadsden High being haunted I saw it myself while attending school there so I do believe.

Monster says:

October 2, 2008, 3:30 am

but about the Witch’s Tomb I have never heard of, I have heard of the Old Abandoned Hangar in the Las Cruces Airport which is very Haunted, but I am going to look into it and bring some info if anyone would be interested later

silver says:

October 3, 2008, 2:14 pm

which room was it that you saw the girl? I go to ghs and im sernior there

Monster says:

October 6, 2008, 2:27 pm

Well I don’t remember the exact classroom number because I left gadsden in 1993, but I can tell you that it was in the Old English Building on the second floor the last classroom to the left facing Highway 28 as you go up the stairs, she was standing on the third window from left to right as you view them from the classroom door.

silver says:

October 7, 2008, 12:08 pm

Thats coo. I think I am going to keep an eye out when I stay afterschool. =]. thanks for the info ^^

NIKY says:

October 15, 2008, 10:21 pm

I HAVE HEARD ABOUT ANNIE SHE HAD DIE THE NIGHT OF HER PROM WHEN SHE DIED HER BLOOD WAS ALL OVER THE FLOOR BUT HER SOUL STILL SUROUNDS HER HOOD………………

doll says:

October 16, 2008, 10:29 pm

yeah that is real she was raped and murder the man who did that also haunts that place he is an evil aprition dont mess with him…

Brittany from LC NM says:

October 19, 2008, 7:42 pm

this story is very much true in some ways, the story is said that the with killed a little boy and as punichment she was killed and buried next to him so she would have to deal with the torment of resting next to the innocent soul she harmed. Its really creepy to go at night, A few friends and myself went one night and while the boys were in the graveyard we waited by the car, my friend steph and I saw a white figure slowly walk from one side of the graveyard to the other, stop, stare directly at us then vanish into thin air. CREEPY!! Also in Deming NM there is a hospital that is extremely haunted. there are underground pipes leading from the hospital to different spots in the city. it’s a small town nobody really knows of about 30 minutes from Las Cruces and Mesilla. If you are an avid ghost hunter I suggest going there.!!

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