The Case of the Haunted Hacienda

The Case of Haunted Hacienda

The Delightful Diners were enjoying a margarita at La Hacienda. The bright colors and snappy music made for a delightful evening. Marsha said “La Hacienda reminds me of the story of the ‘Haunted Hacienda” in Geneva.”

Sue took another sip of her margarita and asked “What are you talking about?”

Marsha launched into a legend that she had heard as a child.

Pancho Villa began his life as a bandit and later became a Mexican Revolutionary leader. The history books say he was killed in Parral, Mexico in 1923, but legend says the US Government relocated him to a mansion on the Fox River in Geneva. He lived there under the name of Juan Valdez with a beautiful wife and children. They would throw huge parties especially in November celebrating the Day of the Dead.

Sue interrupted “Day of the Dead! What’s that?”

Marsha told her that it is a multiday holiday for family and friends to celebrate friends and family that have died. “Pixar made that movie about it last winter – I think it was called Coco” Then Marsha’s face got serious as she continued her story. In November of 1943, Juan and his wife were found murdered. They never found out who did it and the house sits empty to this day. People have tried to live in it but they swear it is haunted. That Juan wanders the halls crying out for his family and his people to follow him.

“I don’t believe it!” Said Joe as he reached for another chip and pulled it through the salsa.

“It’s true!” Marsha retorted. “They even have haunted house tours on the weekends.’

“We should go.” Sue offered.

“Great idea” Joe agreed.

Sue, Marsha and Joe are off to investigate the rumors of a haunted house in Geneva. They pulled up to the rundown mansion whose pillars reached back to a glorious past. When they walked up the path they discovered that the mansion wasn’t deserted. A tall dark-haired man in his mid-thirties greeted them at the door. He said he was Peter and was the producer of a cable ghost hunting show. His team was there with their electronics trying to test out the rumors of the ghosts the mansion. He said “It is always good to have others experience what we find. It adds credibility to our findings.” He invited them to join the group.

As they entered the formal living room, Marsha felt a chill run down her back. “Do you feel that?” She whispered.

Sue and Joe looked at her with suspicion. “I don’t feel anything odd” Joe said.

Peter held up his hand in a signal for quiet. He held a small device in his hand and it started to make noise and lights began to flash. Pete whispered “This EMF meter is detecting an electromagnetic energy. That is probably what Marsha felt.”

Peter took them to the master bedroom where Juan and his wife were found murdered. He had set up a series of low light cameras. “I recorded last night and came to see what I got.”

He took a disk from one of the cameras and put it in his laptop and began scrolling through the hours of footage. Sue, Marsha and Joe peered over his shoulder. The four ghost hunters let out a gasp!

The Delightful Diners, Sue, Marsha and Joe went to the Haunted Hacienda in Geneva and joined forces with a professional ghost hunter. They were reviewing footage taken in the Master Bedroom the previous night.

The video on Peter’s laptop showed two figures struggling. They were just white blobs not identifiable people. After the struggle, one figure lay on the floor and the other seemed to float upwards and meld into the ceiling. The figure on the floor became more and more transparent and vanished.

Marsha shivered, “Do you feel the cold now?”

Joe agreed “It is very strange feeling. All the way into my bones”

“I can’t believe what we saw. It’s crazy!” Said Sue.

“This will make a terrific part of my show.” Peter said.

Marsha asked, “How can we tell if it was really Pancho Villa?”

Peter told her “I don’t think we will ever know for sure, but I am positive this house is haunted and something terrible happened here.”

Sue announced, “I am never going to doubt the existence of ghosts again”

Joe agreed and Marsha told them “I always knew ghosts existed”