Old Cuchillo Bar, NM
Old Cuchillo Bar and Store
Cuchillo, New Mexico
Property type: Business/Residence
Business Website: http://cuchillobar.com
Investigation Date: 05-09-2009
Property Description and History:
This property which contains a; hotel, store, bar and barn goes all the way back to the year 1830. The bar was in operation until 2004.This property has a lot of history attached to it. Our Client Josh purchased the Cuchillo Bar and Store in 2007. This is a large location the hotel is approximately 1600 square feet the store is approximately 5,000 square feet, the barn is approximately 3,000 square feet and the house next door is approximately 2,000 square feet.
A piece of interesting history was found in the bar when it was purchased by Josh; a hand written account of the history of the bar written by the previous owner Thelma Wynne. This account can be found at the Cuchillo bar website http://cuchillobar.com/history.html typed up as it was written with grammatical errors.
Claims of Activity:
The paranormal activity claims are; the feeling of a presence, hearing voices plus knocks and bangs in the hotel and store, feeling “spooked out” in the bar area (won’t go in the bar after dark), finding the cabinet doors open after already closing them and seeing shadow figures throughout the hotel and especially in the courtyard area. No particular time of day when experiencing activity, but does notice it more at night.
Research:
The team spent many hours going over background research on the area, the property title search and geothermal and seismic activity. As this location was very old, the owner had original deeds and documents dating back over a hundred years that he was kind enough to let us review.
Latitute/Longitude: 33 14 09 51 N 107 21 38 55 W
County: Sierra County
Year Built: Around 1830
Square Footage: Unknown, 4 Buildings Total
Wall Type: Adobe Brick, 2 Feet Thick
Roof Type: Adobe Brick
Air Conditioning: None, Fans Only
Building Codes: Unknown, so many additions over the years
Minerals: Gold and Silver Deposits
Bedrock: Tertiary Volcanic – around 65 million bc – present
Water Flow: From surrounding mountains (Cuchillo is a valley)
Natural Sources: Unknown
Utilities: Electric – no known easements of record
Magnetic: Fields are very low: no unusual data http://geomag.usgs.gov/realtime/
Elevation: 4781 feet
Terrain: Surrounded by mountains and desert.. located in valley
Seismic Activity: None listed over last 5 years in the area http://www.iris.edu/dms/seismon.htm
The Investigation:
After driving throughout the night from Phoenix, AZ, we arrived on location in Cuchillo, NM at 6 a.m. on May 9, 2009. Josh Bond greeted us at the Old Cuchillo Bar. Following formal introductions of our group of eight investigators we were taken on a guided tour of the mercantile, post office, game room, courtyard, hotel, general store, bar, and stage coach garage. To the say the least, this place was amazing with its rich history and claims. After the walk-through, we were taken to an old adobe house where we would be staying. The house, had claims of voices, things moving in the kitchen and sounds of footsteps.
We then settled in and rested before beginning the on-site research and debunking. Debunking some of the claims, we found that with gusts of wind, many of the older structures produced common sounds just as any old structure would include – the creaking of walls and the slight banging of loosely attached tin roofs. Also, being an older adobe structure, nothing is square in any of the rooms, including door frames, walls and the flooring. This causes what we call a “fun house effect,” which the brain is telling you something is not right and can cause a sense of uneasiness in the room or building. We also conducted a light test by shining bright LED lights at headlight and flashlight level through the windows and doors from different angles, which allows us to eliminate shadow effects that could be misconstrued as a figure or that shadow you catch out of the corner of your eye. This did not produce any strange shadows except in one room of the guest house. It also could have given the appearance of someone standing in the doorway of the mercantile room, but the circumstances would have to be someone walking in front of the doorway with the neighbors across the road simultaneously shining a light in from their property, but it is possible and that claim could be dismissed. The Electro-Magnetic Field (EMF) levels were low and almost non-existent in all the buildings. High EMF readings can give people the sense of being watched, nausea, auditory and visual hallucinations, cause headaches, and even make some people ill. We did find traces of small animals in the bar area, which can contribute to some of the small noises heard.
Our research team met with Josh in the afternoon and investigated many of the historical documents from the town dating back to the 1800’s. We learned the stage coach area was used to gather towns people and defend from Indian attacks, and the bar and general store was an extremely active meeting place for the towns people as well.
At approximately 7 p.m., we began equipment and command center set-up. The command center is our central point where our cameras are monitored and audio session assignments are dispatched to ensure the safety of our members and eliminate any possible contamination from members during each session. The command center also monitors four infrared (IR) cameras that see in total darkness. The four IR cameras were placed in the following locations: the bar, mercantile, game room, and courtyard. Stand-alone camcorders with night vision and audio were set up, with one in the stage coach garage and two in the guest house because of the distance from the command center area, which was set up in one of the hotel rooms. An audio recorder also was set up in the courtyard area. Baseline readings of EMF; surface temperature of walls, windows, ceilings, and doorways; ambient temperature (actual surrounding air temperature of the room); and humidity were all recorded for standards and comparisons. During our investigation everything was set up as much as a controlled experiment to eliminate as much contamination as possible. All of our investigations are at night to reduce audio contamination from neighbors and roadways, as well as EMF readings from lights or other sources. When comparing the humidity and temperature, there wasn’t enough of a change to account for the swelling or expansion of the structure, and therefore could not be linked to any of the sounds.
At 9 p.m. we began our investigation. This included three teams in separate locations running five audio sessions during the night with on 25 to 30 minute intervals. When teams are assigned, they turn on their audio at the command center and state the time for three seconds, being sure to match the time on the DVR system for comparison during review.
We stopped the investigation at 3 a.m., but allowed all the cameras to continue running. At 9 a.m. the next day, we packed up and began our journey home. Over the next two weeks, we reviewed the 120 hours of video and audio with some interesting findings.
Investigation Findings:
On audio in the stable area with two investigators, we caught an Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP), a voice not heard at the time of recording, saying what we believe to be, “Told you” in between the two investigators having a conversation about the moon. Also on two different audio recorders at separate times, and on the audio of one of the camcorders, we captured a growl. There was no explanation for this and was even acknowledge by two investigators saying, “Did you hear that, it sounded like someone growling?” While investigating in the guest house, Andy asked, ”Are you upset your wife left you?” This was followed by five loud bangs heard by the investigators at the time and captured on audio and the audio of the two camcorders. Just to verify, Andy asked again, “So you’re upset she left you?” Again, there were three loud bangs. While reviewing both camcorders from the guest house, while no one was in the house or near the property, we captured the sound of doors being opened and shut, clear and audible footsteps walking on the wooden floor throughout the house, and while two investigators were in separate rooms, a clear voice was heard in the microphone of one camcorders saying, “Stop.” The voice was not captured on the audio recorder the two investigators were using or the camcorder in the room with them. Also while investigating the guest house and other areas, flashlights were shutting off – even with new batteries. It is theorized that during paranormal activity, electronic equipment will malfunction because the energy is being drained to help manifest. Caught on both camcorders from different angles, one investigator’s flashlight was flickering and having problems. Andy asked, “If that is you, can you turn the flashlight off?” The flashlight is a push button that has a hard on and off, but in this instance, the flashlight faded out slowly and when asked to turn it back on, it faded back in slowly as well
Throughout the night, there were also many personal experiences that happened, that we were unable to find explanations for. All investigators that have an experience must record it in our command center notebook after their session and not discuss it during the investigation so that we may review and compare at a later date. Some experiences that couldn’t be explained included voices in the mercantile area; the smell of rose perfume by two different investigators at different times and locations; seeing what we call a “shadow figure” which is a black mass that is the shape of a person moving throughout the mercantile and bar structure; something being dragged against the wooden floor; and bottles clanking in the bar. We were unable to explain any of these occurrences.
