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Does this name sound familiar? I've lived in Albuquerque all my life and have never heard of it......until recently!
It turns out that this is an old abandond sanitarium, The Sandia Ranch Sanitarium. When a buddy told me about this, I couldn't get there fast enough! A few rules about this cache: 1) The cache itself is not right at the sanitarium. Due to private land and train tracks I had to place it a little distance away. You can drive the dirt road and see the place or walk the road. Approx .35miles from the cache. It's an easy road or walk. Attributes indicate wheelchair accessable, this is for the cache only, not the view of the sanitarium itself. 2) This is important, the sanitarium itself is on private property and is rumored to be owned by a motorcycle gang. DO NOT GO INTO THE SANITARIUM! There are many stories of very large dogs as well as owner/tresspasser confrontations. It is due to the fact that the land owner is responsible for any injuries and/or issues on his property. 3) I don't know if the surrounding mesa area between the tracks and the buildings are private or not, so hedge on the side of caution and only view it from the dirt road/burm. Ok, onto the fun. I have been attempting to do research on this place and oddly enough, I have found very little if anything on the history of Sandia Ranch! I'm told it was built in the early 1920's and shut down in the 1970's. I find it very strange that historical information is so hard to find on this...hmmmmmm. It seems that this building has also been used in the early years as a tuberculosis treatment center as well as an old folks home. I have found many stories regarding the sanitarium, some of which I'll post here, but very little actual historical info. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Individual accounts: "It is said that Dr.Samual woul kill and exspiriment on the ill patients and killed them after and put the bodies in the basement,and a few years later hung himself." "For those who have risked going into this asylum have witnessed a large black cloud hovering above them. This black cloud has appeared in pictures as well. It is said that one patient went so crazy that he killed several patients and staff (nurses and doctors etc.) After the murders, the asylum was never the same and they were forced to close it down." "I worked at Sandia Ranch as a C.N.A, for 9 years & up until it was closed down by the State. I haven't been there since, the building was sold by the original owner and then set on fire. But I KNOW for a fact that, the place is DEFINATELY haunted, I've had several terrifying experiences there and still have photos of what the inside of it, looked like then. Sandia Ranch was an extremely "creepy" place when it was a convelescent home and occupied by residents/staff. I can only imagine how creepy of a place it is now that, it is empty and/or abandoned." "Ok as far as the `basement` my husband has been there a few times. It`s not really a basement so much as a glorified crawl space. There`s a bunch of pipes in it,and he didn`t encounter anything strange. He got stabbed by a ghost there once though. He was running through the day room and there was nothing there that he could have ran into and he felt a sharp pain and was bleeding from his leg" "look, you want information? my uncle was admitted into the Sandia Ranch Sanitorium. According to my granmother, it wasn't the most ideal place, but it was well suited for thier needs. during the time, labotomies were used to try to "rid" the body of it's ailments. a lobotomy is where they basically shave off pieces of the brain. in the seventies, it wasn't really safe, but it was legal to use on sanitorium patients because of lack of laws. Many many patients died, and since many families didn't keep in contact, it was up to the sanitorium to get rid of the bodies. so yes, there probably are 96 bodies in the basement. but that doesn't mean you should go pick up the bones. thats stupid and disrespectful in any aspect. Another means of therapy was electro therapy, in which, they would use a low voltage electric chair to stimulate the brain. not to kill people. now for the rest of you, think of this place as a final resting place of many souls. black figures, scrathes, sounds, getting assaulted, those are all signs to leave this place alone. this warning is not to be taken likely. everytime you go, your taking something with you, you are beign followed away from the scene. you are disturbing a resting place. leave it alone! you don't think i would know this? my uncle was killed in a labotomy accident. his doctor, Dr. Philip. L. Samuel" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some folks have ventured into the place at thier own risk and taken pictures (some are in the gallery). You can access the rear of the site by turning on the dirt road at the posted coord. It is an easy drive along the train tracks. At the Burm coordintates, just walk up the little dirt burm and you are now facing the rear of the sanitarium. From this point don't venuture further onto private property. We went at about midnight and it's pretty darn spooky! Creepy to think about what may have actually happened in there! I wouldn't recommend it for kids, don't want the tykes having nightmares or anything but it's your call. You can see it well in the day, but for maximum creepyness...night is best! I will emphasise again, DO NOT ENTER THE PRIVATE LAND/SANITARIUM. View it from the road/burm only. A quick thank you to NMFireHorse for correcting me on some of my mistakes and giving me more historical info!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
pnpur vgfrys vf n znt anab...guvax lryybj