The Plaza Hotel

Las Vegas, New Mexico (old Spanish for ‘The Meadow’), once a rival to cities like, Tucson, Denver and Albuquerque is now nothing more than a moderate blip off Interstate 25. It once boasted a population of 6,000 people, was an economic powerhouse and a major stop for the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. And of course, with all that money and commerce floating around town, history is bound to leave its mark.

The town was founded in 1835 as a Mexican Land Grant to local Mexican homesteaders. The first feature in Las Vegas to be built was the central plaza (in the traditional Spanish Colonial style). The first residents built their adobe and log homes around the plaza with higher minarets at the corners for better protection against outlaws, Apache and Navajo raiders.

Las Vegas, its proper name being, ‘Nuestra Señora de los Dolores de Las Vegas Grandes’ (Our lady of sorrows of the grand meadow) grew slowly but steadily over the next 60 years. The fact that it was located on the Santa Fe Trail and only 46 km south of Fort Union, virtually guaranteed its growth. By 1860, the town had 1,000 people.

In 1880, the Atchinson Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad built a depot about a mile east of the plaza in what is now usually referred to as the Anglo section. For whatever reason in doing this, building a disembarkment point so far away from the city center didn’t deter or move business away from the old historical (and Chicano) section. Commerce was too firmly entrenched around the square.

The sheriff Pat Garrett marched Billy the Kid (and two other lesser outlaws) through the plaza to the Las Vegas jail where they had to wait till the next morning for the train. Garrett narrowly avoided a vigilante group wanting to lynch Henry McCarty (Billy) enroute to the depot where Garrett needed to catch the train bound for Santa Fe.

Currently, there are 918 buildings in Las Vegas that are on the National Register of Historical Buildings. This puts Las Vegas pretty much near the top of the list for the society in terms of overall historical density for historical buildings.

There were many reasons for wanting to move to Las Vegas. Obviously, it was a central location for Fort Union and a good, quieter alternative to Cimarron. It was also a practical distance from Santa Fe and mining was slowly being developed in the mountains to the west. However, many people moved west upon following orders from their doctors in thinking, the dry desert air would help alleviate the symptoms from the tuberculosis ravaging their bodies. Las Vegas wasn’t a specific destination that people willingly singled out to put down roots, but those who did, could find solace knowing that the Plaza Hotel offered comfort to the dying.

Old signage from when the building was known as the Hotel Romaine

An old WWII parachute factory on the Main Square

The doorway of a neighboring building that still bores the markings of when Longmire was filmed in Las Vegas

Known as the ‘Belle of the Southwest,’ the Plaza Hotel opened in 1882. To give that some perspective, New Mexico didn’t receive statehood until January 1912, a full 30 years later. Jessee James was shot in the back of the head in his home by Bob (Robert Ford) in St. Joseph, Missouri. And Charles Guiteau assassinated the President, James Garfield; also popularized by a Johnny Cash song.

The Plaza Hotel was envisioned and built by Don Benigo Romero, a local land baron and financed through a loose collective that included: Carlos Blanchard, a handful of Catholic merchants, French Protestants and even some German Jewish immigrants. The cost was $25,000. It was built for no other reason save for than Benigo thought Las Vegas needed a nice, respectable hotel. But of course, Cimarron had the St. James and Santa Fe has the La Fonda.

The Plaza Hotel opened with three floors, 37 rooms with 14’ high ceilings, a saloon, restaurant and a dance hall. It was the leading hotel in Las Vegas until the Santa Fe Railroad built the Hotel Castenada in the late 1890’s. Most of the stone, brick and wood were locally sourced during construction.

In 1982 (exactly 100 years later), the hotel underwent a $5 million dollar renovation that included the next door building, The Emporium, once one of the grandest mercantile in the entire southwest. Currently, the Plaza has 71 rooms.

People of note who have stayed here in the past include: Jesse James, Doc Holiday, Robert (Bob) Ford and Billy the Kid. More recent names include: Edward James Olmos, James Spader, Javier Bardem, Tommy lee Jones, John Lithgow, The Cohen Brothers, Robert Taylor & John Carpenter. Michelle Obama even visited the hotel in 2008 while campaigning for Barack. The movies, No Country for Old Men, Easy Rider and the television western Longmire was featured in Las Vegas and at The Plaza Hotel.

In terms of spirits and ghosts, the predominant activity at the hotel is thought to resonate from a particular individual, Byron T. Mills, a prior owner and General Manager.

A local attorney and businessman, Byron bought the hotel shortly after World War I and ran it until the mid- 1940’s. Towards the end of his ownership, Byron resorted to letting the hotel fall apart, even selling off much of the furniture in order to make his debts. Byron died in 1947 at the local Elks Lodge in town.

There have been reports of a male spirit in the basement of the hotel. It’s thought this individual was once perhaps, an old maintenance worker. Not much is known about him. He isn’t reported often and is probably residual in nature. So in saying that, it’s moot whether he was nefarious or good natured.

Plaque outside the room where the Cohen Brothers stayed while filming, No Country for Old Men

Plaque outside the room where Edward J. Olmos stayed

Of the 71 rooms at the hotel, the room most often reported to have activity is room #310, Byron’s old office. Byron is known to touch or caress single women. Indentations are reported at the foot of the bed and strong cigar smoke is noticed. He has even been sighted on occasion in the elevator. However, much like the spirit in the basement, Byron hasn’t been reported to be evil.

On a personal note, after researching multiple websites and a couple books, I’m not entirely sold on the idea that whatever is in #310 is Byron at all if there’s anything to begin with. Reading through all the comments on Trip Advisor, Google and Expedia, only once have I come across a personal experience of a guest encountering something in that room. There is a very obvious lack of personal experiences. 99% of everything I’ve come across is simply a retelling of old stories or what was told to the guests by hotel staff, basically perpetuating old tales and legends.

The census of 1910 and 1920 shows Byron living at 921 8th Street. During the 1930’s and 1940’s, the census shows Byron & his wife living at the hotel itself. Maybe this was a sign of current and impending financial difficulties? If Byron had no love lost for the hotel, especially in his twilight years, then why come back and haunt the place? In fact, he almost had the place demolished.

Byron was at one time, the Mayor of Las Vegas and a territorial representative. So if it’s really him, I don’t understand coming back to a place that one was ambivalent about, guilt perhaps? Impossible to say.

We arrived in Las Vegas in the late afternoon. We had taken an out-of-the-way detour into Albuquerque to see some of the Breaking Bad locations including two bronze statues of Walt & Jesse that Vince Gilligan had bestowed to the city as a thank you for the hospitality they showed the production crew during filming. The statues are in the convention center in downtown Albuquerque.

So as we were checking in at the Front Desk, both of us were quite tired and road-weary from driving all day. We procured our keys, took a quick spin through the lobby which, was having some kind of locals art sale at the time and found our room upstairs. We collapsed onto the bed for a solid 15 minutes and relished resting on something that wasn’t moving.

The Plaza Hotel is an odd building. While walking the upper floors was nice, reading the plaques outside the rooms of movie stars who have stayed there and studying the façade lent to the atmosphere, the lobby was an entirely different animal. Some of the places I have stayed had a dedicated room for either sundries or gifts. And I think this is a more normal approach to take. The Plaza Hotel had merchandise & sundries spread over the lobby, reception and a dedicated room with more expensive items for purchase. Honestly, it gave the feel of an indoor flea market. It was strange.

We were hungry but since it was Cinco de Mayo, the outdoor tables were full of drinkers. So we walked around the outside plaza for a while enjoying the band that was playing in the gazebo. We were hoping that by killing time, one of the tables outside would empty, it did not.

We ambled back upstairs to our ‘haunted’ room and I emptied the pack containing our equipment. We then collapsed again onto the bed to close our eyes; the dog didn’t seem to complain. Lying there enjoying the air currents swirl about the room, nothing felt off. The room felt very warm, welcoming and comfortable. We didn’t sense anything paranormal or strange.

After 15 minutes, I wandered downstairs to see if a table opened up. There were two open on the outside patio! I secured one and texted Regina to come down and meet me. We dined on some rather delicious food and drinks. Kaiah received many scratches and pets from people. With full bellies, we ambled back up to the room and laid down (again) whereby I set an alarm for 10:15 pm. We would begin investigating when the revelries downstairs died down.

The only weird thing that happened all night occurred shortly after we had woke up and began taking readings of the room. We started off by doing EMF sweeps with the K2 meters we brought and a Mel Meter. What we found out almost immediately was that the room was absolutely saturated in medium-level EM fields. Both K2 meters were pretty much pegged into the yellow everywhere in the room and only diminished as we walked into the bathroom. But even in there, they were in the double green. I found similar results with the Mel Meter as well with the gauge being almost pegged near the bed and wall. This would practically render the K2 meters useless.

I’ve never heard of people having vivid dreams, nightmares or restless sleep in this room. But being exposed to high EM fields like this can lead to anxiousness, restlessness and paranoia. In general, it’s not good to remain in these environments. So it was a good thing we were only there for one night. Kaiah didn’t seem bothered by it.

10 minutes later, Regina set up & activated the REM Pod at the foot of the bed. I wandered into the bathroom with the Mel Meter. I was still getting high readings between 2 and 2.5 mG. However, back in the bedroom, the readings were at 4-5 mG. During these 15 minutes, the Rem Pod never went off. I turned around to walk back into the bedroom and that’s when the Rem Pod went off. It buzzed (alarm) for a solid five seconds with the green indicator light before going off. What this means, is that something had entered the small EM field that the pod generates and weakened it. We were asking questions aloud shortly before this. It was the only time during the entire evening that the pod alarmed. We spent another 15 minutes or so investigating and taking EVP readings but received nothing. We retired back to bed but not before I reset the alarm for 1:00 am.

Shortly after 1:00 am, I walked the hallways of the hotel taking readings and pictures. I sat down on a few benches getting used to the atmosphere. I never felt like I was being watched nor did I receive any weird feelings. It was simply a quiet hotel. Even the lobby was quiet with the Night Auditor nowhere in sight. They were probably sleeping in the back anyway. I walked back upstairs to the room where Regina was getting no luck either.

Around 2:30 am, we decided to call it. The room and the hotel writ large were dead. We were receiving nothing from multiple pieces of equipment. Even the dog wasn’t acting strange. And honestly, she’s probably the best piece of equipment we have. Oh well, the lack of evidence wasn’t for lack of trying. We did sleep pretty well the rest of the night.

My final thought on the Plaza Hotel is that the place is not haunted. When one takes into consideration the complete lack of first-hand accounts and experiences across multiple social media websites, nary a mention in books of supernatural dealings aside the normal ‘trade stories’ and our abject lack of evidence, there should have been something. And in my opinion, an errant sensor being triggered on one piece of equipment is not proof of activity. Also, what I didn’t mention is I asked our waiter if he had any experiences either first-hand or stories from co-workers. All he mentioned was the same generalized stories that anyone can read in any book or website.

The history of the hotel is pretty special. The history of the town is likewise, interesting. But overall, Las Vegas is not one of the safest towns in New Mexico (poverty & drugs) nor is it one of the most well kept. I’m surprised time hasn’t placed it in the annuals of forgotten ghost towns. This was my first trip to the Plaza Hotel but third visit to Las Vegas. I won’t be back.

A few pictures of scenes from Breaking Bad since it was filmed on location in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Las Vegas is only about two hours north. We figured, hey…while in Rome!!

Walt & Skylar's Car Wash that was used in Breaking Bad!

Bronze statue of Walt and Jesse given to the City of ABQ by Vince Gilligan

Walt & Skylar's house used in Breaking Bad!!!