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When the railroad arrived in Albuquerque in 1880, a whole new town of stores and saloons sprouted along the tracks in tents and shacks. But just like the original settlement, which came to be known as Old Town, the additional districts produced their fair share of macabre tales and ghostly lore. At the KiMo Theater, the crew still leaves out donuts for the tragic young victim of a 1951 water heater explosion. A mysterious woman in a black dress visits the bar at the Old Albuquerque Press Club with an apparent hankering for gin. From inexplicable occurrences at the Old Bernalillo County Courthouse to infamous residents of the Fairview Cemetery, Cody Polston gathers enough of Albuquerque's haunted heritage to entertain the most dismissive skeptic.

New Mexico's night sky generated speculation about alien visitation for centuries before the Roswell Incident of 1947. But the luminous spheres known as Bolas de Lumbre weren't the only evidence of unnatural phenomena in play. Locals have grown accustomed to stacking an unending list of questions against a disquieting tally of strange objects, unexplained sightings and unsolved mysteries that perplex scientists and confound skeptics alike. The original inhabitants of the land confidently claimed the distant stars as their ancestral home, but there is nothing remote about the fear many of the state's modern residents feel for the "Evil Eye" or a host of other supernatural threats. From notorious body snatchers to obscure ancient rituals, Ray John de Aragón examines New Mexico's eerie heritage.