A Hidden (Haunted?) Chapel in Albuquerque

This morning was a cool and rainy, just perfect for settling down with my tea, a cozy blanket, and my favorite read, New Mexico Magazine (no, they don't pay me to write this - I just love that state and the magazine is as close as I can get to being there for now). In the spirit of the month of October, the month of ghouls, goblins, and great ghost stories, New Mexico Magazine focused on this subject in their October issue. Inspired by the stories and feeling in the Halloween mood, I've decided to tell you a little story from my solo trip to New Mexico that I took in 1996 when I was in my early twenties (now I've dated myself). While not frightful, it was a significant experience for me....So here it goes...

While walking the streets of Old Town Albuquerque on a sunny June morning, an area I'd visited several times before with my mom on prior trips, I somehow wandered down some of the back streets, away from center of Old Town. I stumbled upon a little adobe chapel with an interesting circular stain glass window that looked like a mandala...And when I say little, I mean little. It is just one very small room, with seating just along the side walls and a small alter at the far end. When you initially walk in, facing the entrance, there is a niche where many folks have left candles, pictures, and other offerings in prayer. Many candles were still lit when I entered. The minute I stepped into the small chapel, an overwhelming feeling of sadness, hope, and compassion came over me. I was somewhat mesmerized by the chapel and stayed in there for some time, and while no one else was in there with me the entire time, there was a presence. I can't exactly describe it, although this is a feeling I get in other areas of New Mexico as well. I just had an overwhelmingly emotional feeling while inside the chapel. I chalked it up to somehow feeling the energy and prayers of all those people who had been in the chapel before me and that somehow their energy seemed suspended in this space.

I left the chapel, with mixed feelings of excitement to have found such a little gem during my soul-searching solo visit to New Mexico, and to have the opportunity to feel the connectedness with others who had been in the chapel, as well as sadness for all those who had been there in desperation and hope for a loved one. It was a profound experience for me.

So over the years, I've often thought of the little chapel. I even tried to instruct my mom on how to find it when she went there shortly after me with a friend. She could not find it. (Mind you, I did not remember the name of the chapel nor was the Internet as alive and well at that time as it is today, so I didn't really expect her to find it.)

So, on a morning much like today (minus the rain) about 2 months ago (some 12 years after my solo trip), while reading New Mexico magazine (yes, I do read other things too), I stumbled upon mention of a "hidden chapel" in Albuquerque that not even some locals know about. I thought, "That's my chapel! That has to be my chapel!" I finally had the name of the chapel: La Capilla de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe. In addition to providing me the name of the chapel, the article had also mentioned that it was possibly haunted by a weeping lady wearing black! I immediately got goosebumps...Is it possible I wasn't alone in there that day?

Armed with the name of the chapel, I went to the Internet and found an interesting site, Southwest Ghost Hunters Association, that does investigations and provides info about other supposedly haunted sites in the southwest including this chapel. (Click the site's link to see the investigation.) When I saw the pictures of the chapel, I knew for sure it was the same one. Accounts from folks who have visited the chapel and seen the ghost say that when they've encountered her, they feel an overwhelming sense of sadness. I got goosebumps again! That's how I felt while I was there...Could she and I have been sharing the space at that moment?

While I've always believed in ghosts to some extent, I'm still much the skeptic. I've personally never seen a ghost. I've had weird things happen but nothing conclusive. I have had friends with some amazing stories, and I've most certainly had the overwhelming sense of being watched, particularly while traveling New Mexico, but does that equate to being in the presence of a ghost? Who knows, but it's kind of fun to think about! In fact, one of my new favorite shows on TV is Ghost Hunters on the Sci Fi channel. I sometimes wish I could be one of their investigators on one of the episodes!! My mom thinks I'm crazy. I'm not sure why I would want to do it...Maybe I'm hoping for something conclusive to justify my belief.

Anyway, thank you for reading my pseudo ghost story, and hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween!

To read about my Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) collection, see my Vintage Inspirations blog.

~Jeannie

Pictures courtesy of http://www.dukecityfix.com/.

What Took You So Long?

There's maybe one thing worse than going this long without posting anything on this blog in the last 3 years, and that's telling you my solo trip to New Mexico story without one photo (see first two posts). So, three years later, I'm adding pictures to my previous two posts about my solo trip from California to New Mexico.

You may be wondering what broke my spell of not writing anything in this blog for years. I mean, it's been this long, why bother, right? Well, it's not because I'm lazy or didn't have anything else to say, but rather it was, for lack of a better term, just being too darn busy. I suppose that shouldn't be an excuse because I love to write and we're all busy. Everyone has a million and one things they need to get done. Well, I haven't ignored my passion completely; that being writing and traveling to the Southwest (even though the economy has prevented me from doing much traveling lately). And in fact, that is what provoked me to once again continue writing this blog and to hopefully be more faithful from now on!

I decided to take the day off from work today, so the first thing I did was make some tea and sit down on my comfy chair with one of my favorite periodicals, New Mexico Magazine (imagine that!). I flipped open the new issue that I just received in the mail (September 2008) to find the letter that I wrote to the editor a few months ago! I had long given up that my letter would be published but was suddenly provoked to review the "Mailbag" section of the magazine with a glimmer of hope that it would be there...and it was! Maybe for all you writers that have been published in a variety of ways, this is no big deal, but I was so excited. This was the first time I'd ever sent a letter to an editor of anything, and the first time something I'd written I was ever published in a periodical of any kind! And not to mention my favorite magazine about my favorite subject! Call me a goober, I don't care! For now, I'm about as happy as can be!