N.M. ghost town/bar convincingly earns its title

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N.M. ghost town/bar convincingly earns its title
August 3, 2009
By Kevin Hopper
IQ

Rarely does one think of ghost towns in the literal sense. Rather, a ghost town is a place that once housed hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands of residents and now sits either abandoned or home to very few people.

Cuchillo, New Mexico is one such ghost town. And though the current population of Cuchillo, located just 15 miles west of Truth or Consequences in Southern New Mexico, is listed as 35, one of itsresidents has suggested that there may be a few more than that, albeitof the supernatural type.

Josh Bond is the current owner of the Old Cuchillo Bar and Store. Though a fire in 2000 shut down the bar, Bond has sought to reopen the spot as a microbrewery. However, since he purchased the property more than a year ago and renovated the space that once served as this old mining town's hotel, frequent paranormal activity has changed his scope.

“I hear and see stuff a lot,” Bond said in a recent phone interview with Local iQ about the strange and often unexplainable activity that occurs on a regular basis at this quaint but desolate spot on the map. “Last week I was walking through my dining room and it felt like something brushed up against me and said something in my ear. I have also woken up to hear someone talking in my ear. That was pretty weird.”

So rather than just reopen the bar, Bond said he plans on preserving the history of the building, which dates back to the 1830s, and focusing on his supernatural patrons by establishing a museum along with a bar or microbrewery.

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Photo: Tom Kuna
“I hadn’t intended this at first, but I would like to see it as a haunted attraction here in New Mexico,” Bond informed. “I would love to see it as a haunted bar, a haunted brewery. And obviously as a museum to house all the documents and photos and artifacts that came along with the property when I bought it.”

But is the Old Cuchillo Bar and Store really haunted?

“Without a doubt,” Albuquerque-based paranormal investigator Steve Kompier confidently stated over the phone recently. Kompier and two fellow ghost hunters very recently conducted an investigation of Bond’s property, walking away with a few convincing findings.

“We recorded some things — a voice and a conversation — that I can’t explain,” claimed Kompier, who operates under the name Ghost Investigations (ghostinvestigations.com) in a recent interview. “We got responses from a male with a gravelly voice. I suspect it’s maybe the previous owner. He’s a little pissed off to be honest because we have EVPs [Electronic Voice Phenomenon] of him calling me an asshole.”

[Editor’s note: After reviewing a half a dozen EVPs captured in the investigation by Kompier, his claims are well founded.]

Bond informed Local iQ that other respected paranormal investigation teams have studied the site, all of which have concluded that the Cuchillo site is, in fact, haunted. A quick Google search reveals numerous reports and widely distributed stories on Bond’s property, as does Bond’s own website: cuchillobar.com.

“I feel like I created this house to be very comfortable the way I designed it, and I don't feel [a presence] all the time,” Bond said, albeit after relating a number of strange occurrences, including unexplained voices, rattling door knobs, the sounds of kitchen cabinets opening and closing and inanimate objects falling to the floor. When asked who he thinks his ghostly residents might be, Bond presented a curious theory.

“I don’t think these spirits stick to one property in this town,” he suggested. “I kind of think these spirits are just wandering aimlessly, because most of the houses here are 150 years old. I think they’re still wandering these streets. These energies, I think, they travel these old dirt roads — from the mines to here to the railroad to here to the mines to here. Maybe they’re just making their old rounds.”

Despite all the attention that Bond’s bar has garnered of late, there remains the daily reality for this talented metal sculptor and web developer of living among these “energies.” Because of this reality, Bond said he struggles to rationalize his unique situation.

“I always look for the scientific explanation,” Bond concluded. “I always want to blame it on something else other than a ghost, just to keep myself rational.”