Vertical Gems – El Paso ‘Folklore including Ghosts’

The Main Branch of the El Paso Public Library is no stranger to tales of unexplained phenomena. Many patrons have inquired about the mysterious stories from within the library itself. Such stories and others are in articles throughout the years and some are in the Border Heritage collection. In fact, the Border Heritage Center holds a whole El Paso vertical file on such a subject, ‘Folklore including ghosts’. A file filled with tales of hauntings, apparitions, and witchcraft in which patrons can peruse the storytelling that has endured throughout the decades of El Paso’s history. One 1956 El Paso Herald Post article recounts several topics covered in a Folklore course held at Texas Western, later to become University of Texas at El Paso. Some articles released throughout the years tell the stories of unfortunate incidents within mysterious circumstances such as several car accidents on Transmountain. Other articles promote events surrounding the curiosity that persists in the community around such phenomena. There is also a classic folktale “La Llorona” retold by Joe Hayes situated within the pages of curiosities.

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Explore this topic and many others with our vertical files, and subscribe to the blog to receive notices when we post weekly on different materials or activities of the department!

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View selected BHC archive materials and other organizations' at the BRAG Archive Festival tomorrow, Saturday September 28, 2019. See our 'Upcoming Events September 2019' post for more information.