© D O'Donnell 2006

Montpellier in 1981: Shortly before midnight a two-door Renault pulled over to pick up a woman. Four people were already inside the car, so the hitchhiker’s unexpected presence necessitated some rearrangement of seating. Eventually, she settled in the rear seat. The car continued on its way, loud music blaring from its cassette player. As it approached a sharp curve the hitchhiker suddenly shouted, ‘Mind the bend. You are risking your life!’ The driver slowed up and safely negotiated the turn. Then everyone realized that their passenger had vanished! So shaken were the four that they called at the Montpellier police station and reported their experience. Inspector Lopez was impressed and later told researchers, ‘Their panic wasn’t put on and we soon realized they were genuine. It worried us, ‘But there was little that could be done after the event.

Resurrection Mary: This cemetery is home to a well known ghost story. It's the story of Resurrection Mary. Her name is Mary Bregavy, a young Polish girl that was killed in a car accident in 1939 while going home from a dance at the O'Henry Ballroom, now the Willowbrook Ballroom. Her ghost makes appearances all along the cemetery roads and at the Willowbrook Ballroom. She has been known to dance with men at the ballroom and ask them for a ride home only to disappear from their cars as they pass the cemetery. She's been seen hitchhiking on the nearby roads by many creditable witnesses. A taxi cab driver saw young girl walking one evening in 1989 and picked her up. The two of them were talking and driving but as the cab passed Resurrection Cemetery the girl, (Mary), disappeared from the front seat of the cab. In the summer of 1976, the Justice police received a phone call from a man who said that he saw a girl locked in the cemetery after hours. It was 10:30 PM when Sergeant Pat Homa responded to the call. Homa shined his flashlight through the cemetery bars into the darkened burial grounds. He didn't find any girl. He did find two of the bars on the gate were bent apart at a weird angle. They appeared have been bent apart by human hands...

By Kathy Weiser
Legends of America, © December, 2004

Eight miles north of Decatur, Nebraska, on the Omaha Indian Reservation, is a hill overlooking the Missouri River.  At its summit is a mound of dirt nearly 45 feet high marking the burial place of the great Omaha Indian Chief Blackbird.  The honored Indian Chief was buried here sitting upright on his favorite horse.  Back in 1804, Lewis and Clark visited this gravesite, leaving behind decorations to commemorate him. Blackbird Hill is said to be haunted and every year dozens of people gather at the site, on October 17th.  However, it is not the ghost of Chief Blackbird who lingers here, but rather, that of a young woman who was murdered upon this hill more than a century and a half ago.

 The story begins with a young couple back east who had fallen in love in the early 1840s.  When the boy finished his schooling, his plans were to travel abroad for a time and then return to marry the young girl.  However, the boy never returned from his trip abroad.  The devastated young girl waited for several years, but she finally gave him up for dead and married another man.  Soon, the newlyweds headed west, eventually settling in northeast Nebraska, atop Blackbird Hill. On October 17, 1849, the young girl was astounded when she saw her old fiancé walking up the winding path from the Missouri River to her small cabin.  He too was surprised, having no idea that she lived there. Overjoyed to see him, she confessed that she had never stopped loving him and only married the other man because she thought he was dead.  He then began to convey the tale of his previous years.  When traveling abroad, he was shipwrecked but managed to survive.  However, it took him almost five years to get back to America.  When he arrived home he was saddened to find that his mother had died and his fiancée had married another man and moved west.  Setting out to find her, he joined a wagon train and headed for California, searching everywhere along the way for his long lost love...

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 Church Street Café – This 18 room hacienda, nestled in the heart of Old Town, dates back to 1709.  Originally built as a residence by the Ruiz family, it was referred to as the Case de Ruiz for nearly 200 years.  One of the oldest structures in the State of New Mexico, it remained in the Ruiz family until the last family member, Rufina G. Ruiz, died in 1991 at the age of 91.  After Marie Coleman purchased the property and began renovations for the Church Street Café, it was found that the building continued to be inhabited by the spirit Rufina Ruiz’s mother, a woman named Sara Ruiz.  Known to be a “curandera,” or healer, Sara was obviously not happy with the renovations as she once yelled at Marie when she brought in a contractor, “Get him out of here, now!"  Once a contractor was finally hired, buckets began to mysteriously get kicked around.  These types of antics continued until Marie began to talk to the spirit.  Employees have seen Sara’s spirit in the café dressed in a long black dress and a number of customers have felt her presence.

Haunted Hill - Located at the end of Menaul Boulevard in the foothills, allegedly visitors have heard the sounds of screaming, phantom footsteps and bodies being dragged.  According to the legend, an old man once lived in the caves at the top of the hills, sometimes bringing prostitutes there and killing them.  Other reports tell of the apparition of an old man walking and the swinging of a lantern by unseen hands. Kimo Theatre - The Kimo Theatre, a Pueblo Deco picture palace, was opened on September 19, 1927.  No institution stands through time without something bad happening and the Kimo is no exception. In 1951, a six year old boy named Bobby Darnall was killed when the boiler in the basement exploded, demolishing part of the original lobby.  It is this boy, wearing a striped shirt and blue jeans that is often seen playing on the lobby staircase.  But he is also known to play numerous impish tricks, such as tripping the actors and creating a ruckus during performances.  To appease the spirit, the cast hangs doughnuts on the water pipe that runs along the back wall of the theatre behind the stage...