Haunted Honeymoon

My husband and I were married in the small, historic town of Las Vegas, New Mexico (not to be confused with Las Vegas, Nevada -- gambling capitol of the world!). Las Vegas has a history that can be described as "the wild, wild, west": shootouts and hangings were not uncommon. One hotel in Las Vegas was the scene of many deadly bar Room brawls. The Plaza Hotel, located in the heart of Las Vegas, is rumored to be haunted as a result of it's violent history.

Although I believe in the paranormal, my husband does not. So he didn't give a second thought to booking a room at the Plaza for our honeymoon. He laughed at me when I said I wasn't too keen on spending the night there after some of the stories I had heard. But he had gone to such trouble to get a nice room, fix it up with flowers, chocolates and champagne so I relented and went with him. After all, I figured we would be together, so why should I be afraid?

After spending some time in our room (it was our honeymoon, after all), we went down to the restaurant and had a nice dinner. Everything was going well, and my husband made a few comments about how the hotel was not really haunted, the stories were probably just a marketing ploy to get people to go there. I didn't argue with him, since I had seen or felt nothing to confirm the ghost stories I had heard.

When we went back to our room, the window was open. I figured my husband had opened it before we left, even though I didn't remember him doing so. It was October, and starting to get cool in the evenings, so I closed and locked the window when we got ready for bed. After a while, as we were trying to fall asleep, I noticed a rattling sound coming from the window. It wasn't too windy outside, but I thought maybe a breeze was hitting just the right way. Still, the rattling was bothering me. So I got up and cracked the window a bit. The rattling stopped.

At three-thirty that morning, I woke up and was very cold. I got out of bed and found the window completely open. Again, I thought my husband had opened it. But now I was cold, so I shut the window tight again, locking it. It started to rattle again, but I was so tired by then and half asleep already, so I ignored it and went back to sleep.

An hour later we were rudely awakened. We heard a sound like glass breaking and then a cold, violent wind swept through the room, knocking over a lamp, a vase and sweeping the bed coverings off the bed and across the room. The wind was only in the room for a matter of seconds, but it was terrifying. After huddling together on the bed for a few moments, we turned on some lights. The window was still shut, locked and intact. The lamps, mirrors, etc. were all intact. There was no explanation for the sound of glass breaking that had awakened us. There was no explanation for the wind that had roared like a freight train through our room.

We packed up our bags and left immediately, finishing out the night (and the rest of the weekend) in a friend's home. I asked my husband whether he had opened the window that evening and he said he had not. How the window got open early in the evening and then in the middle of the night remains a mystery. My husband still doesn't believe in ghosts, although he admits he cannot explain what happened that night. As for me, I believe that someone (thing?) just wanted to get in the window that night and needed it opened. We spoke to some people in town, but nobody knew the history of that particular room, or of any story similar to ours.

At least our honeymoon was memorable!