Sunday March 7, 2010
This investigation was challenging.
The wind blew, it rained...hard, turned to snow and the whole town lost power for most of the night. You might think
something didn't want us there!
History
Madrid is a small town
located just north of Albuquerque and south of Santa Fe. More commonly known for its coal-mining days beginning in the mid-19th
century, the small town has seen a lot of change within the last century. During
the coal-mining days, Madrid served as home and a “company town” for many workers and continued to remain that
way until the middle of the 20th century. In 1919, The Albuquerque and Cerrillos Coal Company hired a man
by the name of Oscar Joseph Huber to serve as a full time Superintendent of all sites being mined in Madrid. Due
to his capability and exceptional leadership skills, Madrid became somewhat of a “model-town” for other coal mining
towns to follow. As mining success became more prevalent within Madrid, the town flourished into a community
in the 1920’s and 30’s incorporating elementary and high schools, an employer’s club and a fully equipped
hospital. The employer’s club, which was put into place by Huber, required that the workers of the
town donate a small portion of their pay to worthy causes within the town. As the town grew, so did traditions. Christmas
time in Madrid became one of the most appealing attractions that the town offered. Hundreds of Christmas lights were set up
throughout the town and powered by the company’s own coal-fed generators. Traditions, life and work
continued to grow until a little after World War II, and it wasn’t until
the mines closed in 1954 that Madrid became known as a ghost town for nearly 20 years.
In
1970, Huber’s son had inherited ownership of the entire area, which we now know as the town of Madrid. He rented out
many of the old homes in which the miners used to live, to artists and business owners. As time went on, art galleries, shops
and museums became to evolve in the former coal-mining town.
And now, decades
later, Madrid is a small community with some tourist attractions and serves as home to many. Several art galleries and family-owned
businesses make up the majority of shops within the town, many of which have been around since the coal mining era, nearly
a century ago. Just like most former “ghost” towns, unusual activity and potentially paranormal experiences have
been reported from countless people ranging from natives of the small town to employees of local businesses.
Many
experiences and unusual reports have come from people claiming that The Mine Shaft Tavern, a bar and restaurant within Madrid,
is home to very unusual happenings. According to the Tavern’s website, the original Mine Shaft Tavern burnt down on
Christmas Day in 1945. Having to temporarily relocate in order to rebuild, The Mine Shaft Tavern has currently been in the
same location since 1947. The Tavern sits in front of The Coal Mining Museum and The Engine House Theatre,
both of which are tourist attractions for the small community. More recently, the town served as a primary movie-set
for the film “Wild Hogs” which was released in 2007. The art galleries and antique shops have gained a lot of
popularity for shoppers throughout the world who collect turquoise or one-of-kind pieces inspired by the southwest. Despite
its recent attractions and claims of unusual activity occurring throughout the town, one thing is for sure: Madrid is a very
old and beautiful town with a lot of history
Employee
Experience
PSPS conducted an interview
with an employee of the Mine Shaft Tavern who described several instances of interaction with the paranormal. For the last
4 years, a spirit has provided numerous personal and physical encounters with her, as well as displaying acts of displeasure
after speaking to our team. Although the employee is unsure as to whom her companion is, her personal feeling is of a male
presence.
The first encounter
occurred in the back office while she was preparing payroll. Employee “D” felt a presence,
as if someone was placing their hands on her shoulders. Since that initial experience, she is welcomed
each morning with a touch upon her cheek as she readies for her day. If the caress is not greeted with
a mutual “good morning,” --the spirit exhibits distress by acting out --- a not so gentle push, a coffee cup being
physically removed from her hand, or in one instance, being “shoved” to
get her attention. The spirit has also provided physical support on other occasions when “D”
had to remove disorderly patrons from the bar. “D” has also stated that she believes the spirit
had followed her home one evening, only to be told to go back to the tavern, which the spirit did! The Mine
Shaft Tavern has a long history of paranormal activity with chairs being moved, items falling off the bar, and sounds of a
past band member playing music. During a recent spiritual cleansing of the location, the Shaman placed
her hands on “D’s” shoulders and simply stated, “The spirit does not want to leave
you.”
Director’s Note: If you believe in the existence of
a haunting, it is important to remember that the spirit you are encountering was once a living, breathing, human being.
The question is always why are they still here? Maybe they are trapped, maybe they are trying to deliver a message
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| K-II, EMF |
The Process
On March 7, 2010, Purple Sage
Paranormal Society (PSPS) conducted an investigation of the Mine Shaft Tavern and Restaurant, as well as the 5 outbuildings
that compose the museum area of the property. During the search, PSPS incorporated three digital video
recorders (DVR) with night vision, EMF detectors, digital voice recorders, a hand-held digital video recorder, KII meters,
and digital cameras.
The investigation was performed by seven team members, with a rotation system of
2-3 person teams through-out the evening. After completion of the equipment set-up and a walk-through of
the property, the investigation commenced from the hours of 10:00 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.
During the evening,
the team encountered numerous weather events; wind, rain, sleet, snow, thunder and lightening. At 10:06
p.m., the entire town of Madrid lost their electrical power – which lasted over 2 hours. As such,
PSPS also lost the ability to utilize the digital, night-vision recorders.
PSPS investigators compiled:
250 Photographs 3.5 Hours of Nightshot
Video 3
Hours of Digital Voice Recordings
 Investigator's Experiences
Brenda
Saiz, Team Member:
Throughout our investigation, one team member is placed at the “base
station”, which was located in the Old West Saloon. During my shift, I noticed the door that leads
to the breezeway and front of the restaurant open and close – as if someone entered the room and closed the door behind
them. Due to the unfortunate weather (wind and rain), I assumed that this was the cause for the door to
move on it’s own accord. I proceeded to look for something to put in front of the door to prevent
another occurrence. As I approached the door I heard a very close and very distinct whisper. Unfortunately I was unable to
understand what was being said. I confirmed that there were no other team members in the vicinity of the
base station that could have created this sound anomaly.
Melissa Stephens, Team Member
At approximately 11:40 p.m., Brenda, Peggy and I were conducting an EVP session in the medical building.
As we were standing in front of the dental equipment, I asked the question – “are you standing close to
us?” Immediately following the query, I felt a presence directly behind me. The change in atmosphere was also felt by
Brenda and Peggy. We continued searching the building for possible explanations for the sudden change in the environment and
were unable to find a reason.
Marlane Barton, Assitant Director
During
a sweep of the tavern area, Scott, Roger and I conducted an EVP session in the middle of the tavern. As we were asking questions,
the KII meter responded directly to the queries by illuminating the lights. This phenomena is known to occur when spirits
are using their energy to interact to certain stimuli. This session lasted approximately 10 minutes, and
was concluded when the KII meter erratically illuminated to the question, “would you like us to leave the restaurant.”
It is PSPS’s policy to respond positively and honor the request of a apparent intelligent haunting.
This encounter was recorded and answers to specific questions were apparently given.
Since specific
names and situations were used in the questions, we have elected not to reveal this recording to the public
in order to protect individual privacy.
Other teams entered the tavern area after time was given
to clear the room. No further encounters occurred
Director’s Note:
Always
treat an entity with respect. Just imagine having several teams of investigators traipsing through
on a regular basis trying to coax a ghost to move something, speak into a recorder, reveal itself.
How frustrating would that be if the ghost is confused, lost or just trying to tell a living person
something important. Now take it to the next level…what if that ghost were your
mother, father, sister, brother, husband or wife.
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| Tavern Interior |
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| Melissa Stephens, PSPS Investiagtor |
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| Museum Bulidings |
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| Marlane Barton, Co-Founder |
The Results
PSPS
team members completed numerous hours of review of all recordings, pictures, EVPs, and personal experiences. It has been discussed
and decided that the evidence that is of particular interest and a possible paranormal event is a picture that was taken in
one of the out-buildings for the museum and the KII interview in the Tavern itself.
This picture was
taken by Scott Kuhn in the Old West Saloon portion of the Mineshaft Tavern complex looking out through the front door.
The picture has been cropped and filtered. The image in the original picture is consistent with
the size of a adult human.
The KII meter measures electro-magnetic field through a series of diode lights
from green to red. Green is a low field and red lights are a high field. The device
measures pulses and has been used to communicate with the paranormal. Questions are asked and the
energy emitted by the entity attempting to communicate are measured. Yes/no questions are asked
and choreographed responses indicate alleged responses. The session had 10 minutes of timed responses
to our questions and was witnessed by one of the Tavern’s owners. We did voice record this event.
Several times we attempted video recording the responses each time the responses on the KII stopped
and then started back-up when the camera was turned off.
Because personal information of events, including
names were used and the sensitive nature of the responses, PSPS has decided not to post this on the website to protect the
confidentiality of Madrid resident directly involved.
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| Miner's Face? |
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