Creepy Hotel Story For Monday Mystery...!

Older hotels can be a great source of mystery stories, or of stories of haunting due to sad circumstances.

Room 256 is one of those stories that continues to this day. Sadness forms the background for this tale, but that is often the case in most of the hotel mysteries I've found.

The Hauntings Of La Posada

In 1932, a six-acre estate in Santa Fe was converted into La Posada de Santa Fe Resort & Spa, one of the most historic hotels in New Mexico’s state capital. The centerpiece of La Posada is a three-story Victorian mansion known as the Staab House, named after a wealthy family who once owned the property. The mansion was built in 1882 by a prominent resident named Abraham Staab.

Abraham and his wife, Julia, were very popular in Santa Fe social circles, and the couple had seven children. However, when their eighth child died of illness shortly after birth, Julia went into a deep depression. After more unsuccessful pregnancies, Julia became withdrawn and spent the majority of her remaining years in a self-imposed exile in her bedroom, where she passed away on May 14, 1896, at age 52.

When the Staab House was converted into a hotel, Julia’s former bedroom became Room 256, and it is rumored to be haunted by her ghost. The first known sighting occurred in 1979, when an employee cleaning Room 256 saw a vision of a well-dressed woman resembling Julia Staab before she abruptly disappeared. There have been numerous sightings of this woman in Room 256, along with stories of voices being heard from behind the door when the room is empty. Hotel operators have also reported phone calls going through this room, even though the line is disconnected.

The alleged hauntings are not confined to Room 256, as there have been sightings of Julia’s ghost in the dining room, along with reports of glasses being knocked off the shelves and unexplained gusts of wind blowing out the candles. To this day, La Posada is still considered to be one of the most infamous haunted hotels in the United States.

I have a feeling that stories like this will linger as long as mankind exist. We seem to be drawn to hauntings and ghost stories for some reason or another. I wonder why that is!

Coffee out on the patio again this morning.