Julia Staab

Amassing a fortune as a major supply contractor for the U.S. Army during the Civil War, Abraham Staab built the beautiful three-story brick mansion for his wife Julia. Constructed in the French Second Empire-style, the residence was decorated with the finest European materials and furnishings.

The large Staab family, including six children, lived primarily on the second floor, which was accessed by a grand staircase. On the third floor was a beautiful ballroom that soon became one of the social entertainment centers of Santa Fe society, as Julia loved to show off the home that she adored.

After the death of her seventh child, a son, soon after birth, Julia fell into a deep depression and her hair was said to have turned prematurely white. Julia had several more unsuccessful pregnancies and eventually took to her room, where she spent almost all of her time until her death at the age of 52 in 1896. Rumors at the time persisted that in Julia’s later years, she had gone completely crazy.

In the 1930s, R.H. and Eulalia Nason became the owners of The Staab House and surrounding estate with plans to turn the property into a hotel. They soon constructed a series of Pueblo Revival-style adobe casitas around the existing Staab Mansion and carriage house. The Nasons called their new business La Posada, Spanish for "resting place."

In the the following years, the La Posada became a popular place to be for the arts community, drawing many guests who were leaders in the Santa Fe arts movement.

There are numerous reports of Julia Staab’s spirit interfering with hotel employees and guests. One of the first recorded reports in 1979, tells of an employee who was cleaning late in the night and looked up to see a beautifully dressed, translucent woman standing near a fireplace. On another occasion a security guard saw the same woman and was so scared he took off running. A hotel operator reported saw her reposing in an armchair. In all three cases, the spirit vanished shortly after she appeared.

More recent reports include a bartender who states that during a particularly busy evening, glasses suddenly began to fly off the shelves, one by one, crashing to the floor. On this same night, the fireplace kept turning on and off, seemingly of its own accord, and a seasoned waitress continually dropped trays, reporting that it felt as if someone had pushed them up from underneath.

Julia’s alleged spirit has been the subject of many ghost tours, and has been featured in the popular television shows Unsolved Mysteries and Weird Travels.