As appeared in the Albuquerque Journal Rio Rancho/Westside sections 01/24/09
Take an old gas station, a great meal by candlelight, and a recitation of the local macabre and what do you get? A catered book reading by New Mexico’s favorite ghost story writer, Antonio Garcez at Art Gallery 66 in Bernalillo last Saturday night.
Art Gallery 66 is housed in an old adobe gas station on Route 66, circa 1914. Twenty-five guests were seated in what was originally a service bay for old jalopies, but is now a room beautifully adorned with original paintings, photographs, pottery and sculptures including works of art from Garcez himself. Yes, he is a writer as well as an artist.
Ghost Night Out, as the event was named, initially conjured up visions of people holding hands around a big round table staring at an Ouija board and humming, but it wasn’t that kind of gathering. Award winning author Garcez hosted a delightful evening of true ghost story telling regarding haunted locations throughout New Mexico, local ghost sightings and actual encounters.
As we finished our dinners, Antonio walked to the front of the room and turned off the music to begin reading the first story from his Ghost Stories of New Mexico book. As he sat down and adjusted his glasses, the music started up again. “I thought I turned the music off,” Antonio said in a somewhat bemused way. Not missing a beat I said “You did,” acknowledging the proverbial elephant in the middle of the room which resulted in a confirming chuckle from the crowd. If we were there for ghost encounters, I wasn’t about to shy away from pointing out the first one of the evening.
After the first story, we were asked to go around the room and state our names and a simple “yes” or “no” to the question “do you believe in ghosts?” Surprisingly, there were a few people in the audience who answered in the negative, probably spouses who were promised a great meal if they agreed to provide safe passage to this eerie event. Little did they know spirits love to tease the non-believers the most. I would love to know how many of them encountered an inexplicable swarm of butterflies or a strong scent of oranges on the drive home that night.
Reading from his books, Garcez reminded us all the stories “have not been handed down from generation to generation but are first hand accounts of spiritual encounters.” He also told us of some haunted locations in New Mexico he knew of in case we wanted to spend a weekend with other world. The hot spots included Taos Pueblo’s sacred Blue Lake, the historically rich St. James hotel in Cimarron, NM, and even just up the road in Bernalillo.
Garcez then asked the audience if anyone had a ghost story of their own to share-this was what I was waiting for, to hear from regular people, unpublished mortals and their tales of the afterlife. Only one woman dared share her personal sighting, which was a good one by the way. After the dinner more people opened up with their stories amongst their intimates, no doubt safer from the rolling eyes of the skeptics-at-large.
It was such a fun night full of beautiful art, light-hearted fun and the all important chocolate cake (not devils-food) for dessert. Garcez promises more events are in the works and on a much bigger scale, which is good news for all of us.
Quote of the Week: “I do believe in spooks, I do believe in spooks. I do. I do. I do. I do believe in spooks.” – Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz
Take an old gas station, a great meal by candlelight, and a recitation of the local macabre and what do you get? A catered book reading by New Mexico’s favorite ghost story writer, Antonio Garcez at Art Gallery 66 in Bernalillo last Saturday night.
Art Gallery 66 is housed in an old adobe gas station on Route 66, circa 1914. Twenty-five guests were seated in what was originally a service bay for old jalopies, but is now a room beautifully adorned with original paintings, photographs, pottery and sculptures including works of art from Garcez himself. Yes, he is a writer as well as an artist.
Ghost Night Out, as the event was named, initially conjured up visions of people holding hands around a big round table staring at an Ouija board and humming, but it wasn’t that kind of gathering. Award winning author Garcez hosted a delightful evening of true ghost story telling regarding haunted locations throughout New Mexico, local ghost sightings and actual encounters.
As we finished our dinners, Antonio walked to the front of the room and turned off the music to begin reading the first story from his Ghost Stories of New Mexico book. As he sat down and adjusted his glasses, the music started up again. “I thought I turned the music off,” Antonio said in a somewhat bemused way. Not missing a beat I said “You did,” acknowledging the proverbial elephant in the middle of the room which resulted in a confirming chuckle from the crowd. If we were there for ghost encounters, I wasn’t about to shy away from pointing out the first one of the evening.
After the first story, we were asked to go around the room and state our names and a simple “yes” or “no” to the question “do you believe in ghosts?” Surprisingly, there were a few people in the audience who answered in the negative, probably spouses who were promised a great meal if they agreed to provide safe passage to this eerie event. Little did they know spirits love to tease the non-believers the most. I would love to know how many of them encountered an inexplicable swarm of butterflies or a strong scent of oranges on the drive home that night.
Reading from his books, Garcez reminded us all the stories “have not been handed down from generation to generation but are first hand accounts of spiritual encounters.” He also told us of some haunted locations in New Mexico he knew of in case we wanted to spend a weekend with other world. The hot spots included Taos Pueblo’s sacred Blue Lake, the historically rich St. James hotel in Cimarron, NM, and even just up the road in Bernalillo.
Garcez then asked the audience if anyone had a ghost story of their own to share-this was what I was waiting for, to hear from regular people, unpublished mortals and their tales of the afterlife. Only one woman dared share her personal sighting, which was a good one by the way. After the dinner more people opened up with their stories amongst their intimates, no doubt safer from the rolling eyes of the skeptics-at-large.
It was such a fun night full of beautiful art, light-hearted fun and the all important chocolate cake (not devils-food) for dessert. Garcez promises more events are in the works and on a much bigger scale, which is good news for all of us.
Quote of the Week: “I do believe in spooks, I do believe in spooks. I do. I do. I do. I do believe in spooks.” – Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz
No comments:
Post a Comment