Answer: He claimed I ought to give him time check when he quit. I had to go to El Paso to have my wife’s eyes treated and I asked Mr. Crowley to send man down there and this fellow worked one day for Garrity and then quit and then, of course, Garrity was the man to give him his time check. I had no more to do with it.
Question: He worked for Mr. Garrity after you had taken leave?
Answer: Yes, sir.
Question: Go ahead and tell me just what he said?
Answer: He just walked right up to me and either said, “Give me my time check” or “I want my time check,” but before I had a chance to reply, came right up and struck me.
Question: What did he strike you with?
Answer: I do not know; something hard.
Question: Where did he hit you?
Answer: In the mouth and face, just one blow.
Question: What did you do then?
Answer: I started to run and he shot me in the back and I kept running.
Marita R. Keams’ (Navajo) Story
I interviewed Marita at the courthouse, where she was employed as receptionist and information clerk for the Museum and Chamber of Commerce. Marita is a Navajo woman who has had numerous encounters with ghosts at the courthouse. She believes that perhaps one of the spirits that follows her around the property is the ghost of the executed man, Smiley. “I know he’s around here all the time. I can feel him looking at me,” she says.
What follows is a detailed account of something that cannot be contained behind glass cases and roped off rooms. When the lights are turned off at the Navajo County Courthouse and all daily business has ended, another type of activity chooses to begin to stir, an activity of curiously weird noises, voices, and more. Marita can tell you what she has experienced, but of course the true challenge is to experience these eerie events for yourself. The museum’s hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
— Antonio
“I’ve been working at the courthouse for three years, and before that I was working at the Petrified Forest National Park gift shop. I have had numerous experiences with the ghosts in the building, and I also know of others who have experienced strange things first-hand. My experiences gave me the impression that I was not welcome in the building. I guess I was being tested. Being a Navajo, we are taught that if you keep any possessions of the deceased—a shirt, furniture or whatever—the spirit of the dead person will attach itself to the item and you might have some trouble on your hands. In the museum there are lots of items of the past, which are displayed in the showcases, such as old Indian grinding stones, arrows and clothing, as well as lots of non-Indian items.
The museum director has informed me that some of the items that have been securely locked behind glass cases have been strangely found outside of these cases, and placed in other locations by “someone.” Our museum’s kitchen display seems to attract most of the activity. Utensils and other items are re-arranged to fit an unseen person’s own whim for order. A museum employee named Jane refuses to open any of the display cases unless someone is with her. She keeps her own experiences to herself.
Interestingly enough, our own museum director is hesitant to be alone in the building. All our employees have experienced our names being called out from the second floor. In my case, I heard a friendly female voice, but others have heard both male and female voices calling them when they are alone in the courthouse. Another employee who was the former city tourism director had quite an experience of his own to tell. His experience happened while he and his family were driving past the courthouse late one night. He noticed that the lights were on in the second floor, when they should have been turned off. He drove his car to the rear of the building and informed his wife and teenage son that he would return after finding out who might be in the courthouse at such a late hour. He opened the back door and just as he was about to enter, his wife called out to him from the car that there was a woman on the stairs on the second floor landing. This strange woman was looking out the window at them. He returned to the car and sure enough, there was a woman whom he did not recognize staring down at all of them. He, his wife, and son entered the building and searched for the strange woman. Although they did a thorough search, they never found her. Just a few months after I began working here, a group of kids carried an Ouija board up to the third floor on a halloween night, and apparently made contact with the ghost of the building. The ghost identified himself as George. George is the name of the man who was actually hanged right outside the courthouse in 1900.
I was alone one evening in the courthouse when I heard a loud banging metal sound coming from the second floor. As loud as it was, I was not about to go upstairs by myself and investigate. I just remained where I was, hearing the sound. The next day, I asked a co-worker about it and he said, “Oh, the ghosts make that happen now and then.” I decided not to inquirer any further. Just a few months after my first experience, I was once more in the building after locking up for the day. It was dark and I was on the second floor, standing next to a window.
Suddenly, I began to hear the sound of someone walking down the staircase from the third floor approaching the second floor where I was. The doors were locked and I wasn’t sure who this stranger might be. The thought crossed my mind that I could be in danger. As I kept quiet and listened for the footsteps, I noticed that they stopped.
Trying to be as quiet as possible, I listened for any sound. There was no further noise coming from the stairs. I convinced myself that perhaps my mind was playing tricks on me. After all, I had heard others speak about the courthouse being haunted. Maybe this was just my crazy imagination. Suddenly, the footsteps started up once more! I carefully made my way to the open door and peered out onto the staircase. I saw no one. I realized that I must have been experiencing something ghostly. I sure didn’t want to stay in the building any longer. I quickly walked down the stairs, grabbed my purse and keys and shot out the front door!
There is another event I have experienced several times during the winter: doors opening and closing on their own. Once I even witnessed the doorknob of the front door of the courthouse turn, and the door open and close. We have double doors that are located directly behind the front desk, which lead out to the rear of the building. I once heard these doors swing open. I walked to the doors to investigate, and I found that the doors were locked, just as I had left them.
Besides my own experiences, public visitors to the courthouse have, at numerous times, approached the front desk to tell of experiencing cold chills, or a feeling that a ghost is following them. Like these visitors, I have also experienced these same feelings. It feels like a blanket of very cold air is passing right through me. I know this sounds strange but I’m also not the only one who has experienced this. Visitors have told me that this feeling is strongest in the room where an old chuck wagon is displayed, exactly the room where I have always felt the same thing happen to me.
Another strange unexplained thing that continues to happen in the courthouse are the faucets in the men’s room that are turned on by an invisible hand. At the end of the day, I thoroughly check every corner of the courthouse, making sure that everything is as it is supposed to be. There have been several instances when I’ve returned after checking the men’s room and found the faucets are running. I don’t know who could have done this since I have been the only “living” person in the building. I have a suspicion that it is the ghost of George.
I remember another day when I was seated at the front desk and the greeting card rack began to turn on its own, and then abruptly stop. I thought that there might be a small child behind it who was having fun spinning the rack. I rose from my chair and walked over to have a closer look; there was no one near it! There was also a time when, for several nights after leaving the building, I would feel the presence of someone following me to the parking lot and into my car. I felt the usual cold chills, and this presence would not leave