The Ghosts of the St James Hotel - Cimarron, New Mexico

Haunted St. James Hotel in Cimarron, NM

The St. James Hotel is said to remain host to several restless spirits. Both the owners and the guests of the hotel will tell you that it is haunted with many unexplained events. Several psychics have visited the hotel and specifically identified three spirits, as well as many others who just pass through to relive their experiences.

The second floor of the hotel is the most active, with stories of cold spots and the smell of cigar smoke lingering in the halls (smoking is not allowed in the hotel.) A prior manager said that "you never see them, but you do feel and hear them." Another report from a former owner, states that she walked into the dining room and saw a pleasant-looking cowboy standing behind her in the mirror on the front of the bar. The spiritual activity of the hotel has been featured on the popular television shows Unsolved Mysteries and A Current Affair.

St. James Hotel, September, 2008, Kathy Weiser.

ghostly image Room 18 at the hotel is kept locked because it houses the ghost of an ill-tempered Thomas James Wright, who was killed at his door just after winning the rights to the hotel in a poker game. Having been shot from behind, Wright continued on into the room and slowly bled to death.

Wright’s angry, malevolent ghost continues to haunt the room and he does not like company. One former owner said she was pushed down while in the room and, on another occasion, saw a ball of angry orange light floating in the upper corner. The room holds only a bed frame without a mattress, a coat rack, a rocking chair and bureau which has been made a shrine to the Old West. Sitting atop the bureau is a Jack Daniels bottle, a basin and pitcher, a hand of cards, an Ace Copenhagen tin, and several shot glasses. On the wall is a bad painting of a half-naked woman.

This room is considered by the staff to be the most haunted and people are rarely allowed to enter the room, much less sleep in it. Rumors abound that when the room was rented, a number of mysterious deaths occurred there.

Room 17 is the epicenter of sightings of Henry's second wife Mary Elizabeth, who is said to remain at the hotel as a protector. Mary gave birth to her children in the hotel and died there herself in December, 1926. Allegedly, Mary’s rose-scented perfume can often be smelled in her old room. Sometimes, an insistent tapping is heard when the window is open and will not stop until the window is closed. On other occasions, a milky transparent woman can be seen in the hallways.

Another "dwarf-like” old man has also been seen at the hotel. Nicknamed the "Little Imp” by hotel staff, the spirit is said to be very mischievous, constantly playing tricks and laughing at the staff. On one occasion, he was said to have stuck a knife into the floor between two owners of the old inn. Most often, however, he is blamed for objects that mysteriously disappear, only to be found later in locations that they absolutely don’t belong.

Old registers in the historic St. James Hotel reflect the

many historic characters who once stayed there,

September, 2008, Kathy Weiser.

Other, unknown entities are also said to roam the hotel, creating a host of paranormal activities. Staff report that items constantly fall off walls and shelves and electrical equipment at the front desk behaves unpredictably. Others have reported cold spots throughout the historic inn, lights that seemingly turn on by themselves, feelings of being watched by unseen eyes, and cameras that cease to work inside the hotel, strangely return to normal after leaving the St. James.

Kody Mutz, a college student, who has worked summers at the hotel, reported that in 2002, as he was working at the front desk, he heard a high pitched shriek coming from the far corner of the lobby.

Looking up abruptly from his work, he was dumbfounded to see absolutely no one on that side of the room. Quickly looking around, his eyes rested on three other quests mingling at the other side of the lobby, apparently having not heard the loud scream, they were completely unphased.

The hotel is open year around, with 13 historic rooms, named for the famous and infamous people who once stayed there. An annex was also added to the hotel that houses an additional 10 rooms. The hotel retains its historic ambiance with antique chandeliers, velvet drapes, thick carpets covering its old wooden floors, brocade wallpapering, and many of the original furnishings of the hotel.

There are no phones, radios, or televisions in the 14 rooms of the main hotel; however, the 10 room annex has all the amenities of a modern hotel. The old saloon, which is now used as the hotel's dining room, still holds the original antique bar, as well as twenty-two bullet holes in the pressed-tin ceiling. In the hallway of the hotel is a plaque that commemorates Clay Allison and the roster of 19 men he was said to have killed, as well as photographs of the many famous guests that have stayed at the historic inn. Also in the hallway is the original headstone of Parson Franklin J. Tolby, the beloved minister of Cimarron, who was killed during the Colfax County War.

Checking into this historic place will make you feel as if you have stepped back in time, as mounted deer and buffalo stare down at you from the lobby walls, you view the old hotel ledgers signed by the its many famous guests, and imagine the sound of tinny music coming from the antique piano in the corner. Perhaps you too, will be lucky or unlucky enough, depending upon your point of view, to run into one of the hotel’s many unearthly guests.

Update: The St. James Hotel has recently sold and from what we understand, the contact information below may no longer be correct.

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Contact Information:

St. James Hotel

Route 1 (Hwy 21) , Box 2,

Cimarron, New Mexico 87714

505-376-2664

866-472-5019

Also See:

Cimarron - Wild & Baudy Boomtown

Cimarron Photo Gallery

The Largest Land Grant in History

Santa Fe Trail - Highway to the Southwest

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