Thursday, August 16, 2012

St. James Hotel, Cimarron, New Mexico, United States

Gambler T.J. Wright is one of the permanent guests at the St. James Hotel. Evidently, the gambler was shot at the door to his room, then staggered inside to die. To this day, the room is not rented overnight, and few people enter even for a few hours.

Chef Henri Lambert and his wife opened a saloon in 1872, during the wild-and-rowdy days of the Old West. Cowboys riddled the ceiling with bullet holes, sometimes from fighting, and sometimes from just high spirits.  In all, twenty-six  people - including T.J. Wright - died at the St. James, which soon became a place to stay as well as to drink and gamble.

Lawman Wyatt Earp and his brothers were guests at the hotel as they traveled west to the infamous town of Tombstone. Authors Zane Grey and Lew Wallace also enjoyed the hotel's hospitality. Outlaws Jesse James and Billy the Kid were two of the more notorious guests.

Mary and Johnnie Lambert are two benign ghosts. Johnnie, the son of the owners, died as the result of an accident in the hotel when he was three years old. He plays with the ghosts of two older girls who died in the hotel; they are supervised by Mary, Johnnie's mother.

The ghost of Wright has been seen in mirrors, and has been caught on videotape.

Then there is Melissa, who in life used to "entertain" in the hotel after Mary had gone to bed. Melissa brought her "gentlemen callers" up an exterior staircase. She has made her presence known to male guests, by touching them and/or sitting or lying on their beds.

Remember: Room 18 is not available to rent. 

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