Local Legends of Southern New Mexico
THE CATTLE QUEEN OF NEW MEXICO After losing her lawyer husband, Alexander McSween, during the bloody Lincoln County War, Susan McSween (1845–1931) didn’t just survive—she thrived. Nicknamed the Cattle…
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Category: History
Searching for the Lost Padre Mine
BENEATH THE CRAGGY SPIRES of the Organ Mountains, rumors of hidden gold still drift through piñon-juniper canyons near Las Cruces. For at least 150 years, the legend of the Lost Padre Mine has lured…
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New Mexico’s Greatest Mysteries
WHO BUILT THE LORETTO CHAPEL STAIRCASE? Catholics are no strangers to mysteries of faith, but the Loretto Chapel staircase takes that divine whodunit to another level. Built in the late 1800s, the…
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The Unsolved Fountain Murders
THE STATE SENATE PRO tempore’s office, located in the Capitol building basement in Santa Fe, contains a wall of photographs of holders of that position. Among them is a 1931 black-and-white of a bald…
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Inside New Mexico’s Spirit World
N EW MEXICO CHILDREN don’t play in arroyos for fear of La Llorona, the spirit of the wailing woman. “She searches waterways for her drowned children,” says Mora storyteller Ray John de Aragón, author…
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The Strange Death of Melvin Mills
OVERLOOKING THE CIMARRÓN RIVER at the southern edge of Springer, the weathered mansion of Melvin Whitson Mills looms. Built in 1877, the three-story adobe is a wholly original mix of French Academic…
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A Tin Tribute in Chilili
IN THE SMALL East Mountains community of Chilili, a folk art memorial holds sacred space. During the mid-20th century, local artist Horace McAfee created punched-tin tombstones for the San Juan…
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Witch Tales of New Mexico
THERE IS AN OLD DICHO from Spain: No creo en brujas, pero las hay (“I don’t believe in witches, but they exist”). Fall in New Mexico brings such ideas into focus as Halloween season arrives, along…
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The Romance and Reality of the Old West
PAUL ANDREW HUTTON saw Walt Disney’s Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier for the first time when he was six years old. “That just stamped itself on my psyche,” says the longtime University of New…
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Totah Theater Shines Again
AT DOWNTOWN FARMINGTON’S historic Totah Theater, an unexpected feature greets moviegoers: small wooden tables tucked between the last four rows of seats. Opened in 1949 by the Allen Theatres chain…
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