Ghost Story #27

After nearly a year in an abusive relationship, at 27, I was plotting my escape from Taos, NM. It'd be a long winter before making it back to Austin. When a shotgun was pointed at my chest & I begged for the trigger to be pulled, I knew I needed to get the hell out of there. As women of any strength or background, being isolated is a very dangerous place to be. Taos Pueblo is the oldest continuously inhabited structure in the US, so there certainly are some ghosts around there, some of which generations have seen together. Taos people were killed hundreds of years ago, to force others to build the catholic church on that land. I never set foot in the church for that reason alone. The horseshoe shaped village cups the Pueblo itself, which is walled in at the foot of the mountains. I lived in one of those houses, where most had electricity & indoor plumbing. Unlike inside of the Pueblo, but there was a river for water. I only spent the Feast Days in the Pueblo. The tiny town which started up in the mid-1500’s, was less than 3 miles away & certainly had plenty of their own ghosts, too. At over 7200ft, it stayed cold far too long. The depressing 4 room house would heat up easily with 2 potbelly stoves. Driving into or back from town at night was intense. No lights, flat road, nothing to either side but dark fields. Occasionally rabbits or hand raised buffalo or a figure standing on the side or walking along it’s shoulder. Pueblo men would wrap up in light flannel sheets, like a mummy, part of their face showing, doing so to walk outside, during certain times that use of a vehicle was restricted. (similar to certain Jewish law) So, you’d see these swaddled figures, in the headlights, but quite often, it was not a human. As you’d guess, when it would disappear into thin air. The Pueblo has been around well over twice as long as the town, so you can imagine the accumulation of spirits on that road in between the two worlds of town & Pueblo, life & death. I’ve been back to NM dozens of times since then, but I doubt I will ever return to Taos.