Book is a combination of a guidebook and a history for more than two dozen ghost towns in New Mexico.

There is a mystical quality to the land and sky in New Mexico. Places with long histories, such as New Mexico, breed superstition, carrying the memories, stories, and beliefs of those who have passed before. The state is such a notoriously superstitious place that real estate agencies post notices about whether a house is “truly” haunted, with pseudo-legal discussions about the need to disclose this information publicly. There is a haunted State Monument in Lincoln County, and a lovelorn ghost wanders through one of the state’s national parks. There are ghosts who are friendly and fearsome. Stories that have become fables, and others that are fully believed. Haunted New Mexico will occasionally ask you to suspend belief, showing those cracks between what is real and imagined.

For decades ghostly tales have been told across the land of enchantment. New Mexico's macabre past has created its share of phantoms. From by-gone gunfighters and wealthy socialites to murdered prostitutes and children, their tragic lives have left an imprint in time and legend. For 20 years ghost investigator Cody Polston has searched New Mexico's famous haunted locations for evidence of the supernatural. Now, for the first time, the complete findings of all of his investigations are revealed. The ghost stories and history of New Mexico's most haunted places are fascinating, but are they really haunted by ghosts?

New Mexico's twin traditions of the scientific and the supernatural meet for the first time in this long-overdue book by a journalist known for investigating the unexplained. Strange tales of ghosts, monsters, miracles, lost treasure, UFOs, and much more can be found not far from the birthplace of the atomic bomb. Huge radio astronomy dishes search desert skies for alien life, and the world's first spaceport can be found in this enchanted land; in many ways New Mexico truly is a portal to other worlds. Mysterious New Mexico is the first book to apply scientific investigation methods to explain some of New Mexico's most bizarre lore and legends. Using folklore, sociology, history, psychology, and forensic science--as well as good old-fashioned detective work--Radford reveals the truths and myths behind New Mexico's greatest mysteries.

True to its nickname, New Mexico enchants some souls so much they never leave. The Express St. James of Cimarron plays host to the cantankerous spirit of former owner Thomas James "T.J." Wright. At the Trinity Hotel in Carlsbad, Miss Ruby occasionally pranks unwitting guests and still cares for the rooms where she once worked. The gentle ghost of Julie Staab sits weeping at the bar of La Posada when not running bath water in her former room. And in death, Byron T. Mills looks over the Las Vegas Plaza Hotel he owned and neglected in life. Local author Donna Blake Birchell shares the chilling stories of these permanent spectral guests.

As settlements and civilization moved West to follow the lure of mineral wealth and the trade of the Santa Fe Trail, prostitution grew and flourished within the mining camps, small towns, and cities of the nineteenth-century Southwest. Whether escaping a bad home life, lured by false advertising, or seeking to subsidize their income, thousands of women chose or were forced to enter an industry where they faced segregation and persecution, fines and jailing, and battled the other hazards of their profession. Some dreamed of escape through marriage or retirement, and some became infamous and even successful, but more often found relief only in death. An integral part of western history, the stories of these women continue to fascinate readers and captivate the minds of historians today. Arizona and New Mexico each had their share of working girls and madams like Sara Bowman and Dona Tules who remain notorious celebrities in the annals of history, but Collins also includes the stories of lesser-known women whose roles in this illicit trade help shape our understanding of the American West.