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Copyright © 1993-2002, Mexico Online ®
The Ghosts of Los Alamos page 2


On my last visit, Los Tesoros was full and I was taken to a suite that was larger than many people's house at Casa Pacifico, which was entirely empty. It was Sunday and there was no room service. Aware of the ghost stories, I went around turning on lights in both my bathrooms and along the long, empty exterior halls. Unable to sleep, I headed back to Los Tesoros for a nightcap. Aside from a few barking dogs, the pueblo was silent. It was dark, no noise, no pedestrians on the narrow cobblestone street. Behind an elegant set of iron-grilled windows, I could see gringos having a candlelight dinner.

Then I heard it…wafting through the wind in the Jacarandas…a female voice, so pure, so haunting. I strained to hear the angelic sound, sure that I was hallucinating. The words were in English…"and my heart will go on" but the cadence was definitely Spanish. It was the theme from the Titanic. I followed the sound up the street, certain it was the spirit of Celine Dion. I scanned the empty courtyard of Los Tesoros, looking for its source, a few candles were flickering beneath a painting of the Virgin of Guadalupe. The song gained in crescendo. Then, in a dark corner just outside the bar, two tired waiters were staring at the speakers of a boom box with a glazed look. The acoustics were awesome in the stone patio. When the song finished, they pointed to a poster on the wall: "El Poder de Amor" (the power of love). The music came from George Matin and Angelica Amaya, a touring duo from Leon, scheduled to perform live at Los Tesoros the following night. Martin, a former opera star of German descent and his young Mexican wife have the extraordinary ability to mimic Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Englebert Humperdick ,and even old Blue Eyes. Martin trained his wife's extraordinary voice, and finally admitted that she didn't understand a word of the world famous song.

Opera House - practicing for a dance.
Opera House - practicing for a dance

That was as close as I came to a personal experience with the ghosts of Alamos but stories continued to haunt my visit. A long time resident told the chilling story of a wealthy gringa decorator's frustrating attempt to restore one of the imposing haciendas. But every time one of the workers tried to tackle one of the thick 4-ft adobe walls with sledgehammer, the handle broke or the worker just disappeared leaving the tools on the floor. For two years, she left the wall standing. Finally she decided to install a recessed art nook in the wall, and took up the sledgehammer herself. The facia broke easily, exposing a large, gaping hole. Inside was the preserved skeleton of a young woman, her hair and pieces of her dress were still intact. The pelvic area indicated she was carrying a 6-month old fetus. Someone from a distant order of nuns told the story of a father, so shamed by his unwed daughters pregnancy, that she was sealed in the walls.

An Alamos street scene
An Alamos street scene

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