Paranormal Phenomena

By Aaron Perez Published 6-18-2025 (Part of this article was first posted in an earlier blog, but I decided to extend it.) Image Credit: Trost Society      Tracing back to 1879, the first academy of what would later be known as Loretto was first established in San Elizario, Texas by the Sisters of Loretto as St. Joseph’s Academy. By 1892, it was later moved to central El Paso before Mother Praxedes Carty, a member of the Sisters of Loretto, amassed funds to purchase the 19 acres where the current campus stands. Despite criticism, the school was designed by the Trost and Trost architectural firm and opened its doors in 1923. The building was constructed facing Mexico, symbolizing inclusivity for all who lived in the area. The school serves students from Kinder all the way to the twelfth grade, with six-twelfth being all females. The school is also rumored to be haunted by various spirits within its walls, the first being the ghost of a nun is said to haunt the tower of the...

By Aaron Perez Published 4/24/2025 Image Credit: UTEP   University of Texas at El Paso The local university in the city of El Paso, UTEP is home to many spirits that roam its halls. Since Utep has so many buildings, there are some who have the reputation of being haunted by spirits. The locations of these hauntings include the Old Main, Seamon Hall, the Psychology building, Cotton Memorial, The Union, Fox Fine Arts Building, and the Magoffin Auditorium. What most have in common is that there are disembodied voices in the buildings, particularly Old Main, as well as footsteps when no one is there at night. Other buildings, like the Classroom Building and Geosciences have creepy aesthetics, but have not had reports of being haunted.  Old Main The oldest building on campus, Old Main sits right at the foot of the hill that overlooks the university. As the oldest building, it is expected to have many strange phenomena, which it does. As documented by a local investigation by publis...

By Aaron Perez Published 4/21/2025  Image Credit: KFOX      Infamous for being the most dangerous city to live in at one point in history, just as the former was at one point as well. Ciudad Juarez also carries the infamous moniker of being the location of a major radioactive disaster, with aging medical equipment having been improperly disposed of as the cause. These scary thoughts alone can keep anyone up at night, with them wondering how such things could happen in one small area. I did not even state the various disappearances of women that have happened in the city, as this was overshadowed by the cartel killings that happened afterwards. Still, the thought of a woman suddenly disappearing would most likely point out a serial killer on the loose or worse, a satanic cult that may have been active in Ciudad Juarez for a long time. These speculations are nothing compared to the history of the city, as many battles, massacres, and disasters have happened there, whic...

 By Aaron Perez Published 4/7/2025 Image Credit: Ken Hudnall and Connie Wang, Link to where you can purchase the book can be found here .     When one thinks of El Paso, Texas, what comes to mind is Chico's Tacos, the Star on the Mountain, and its desert environment. Another notable association that El Paso has is the paranormal, thanks to its various haunted locations. There are so many haunted places in the city, that thanks to the authors Ken Hudnall and Connie Wang, they are now well documented in a book series named Spirits of the Border . The first volume of the series, The History and Mystery of El Paso del Norte , gives a summary on strange events that have happened in the city and cryptids that may inhabit in its borders. The book also goes into detail on the haunting within the infamous El Paso High School and its tunnels. It also the history and a gives a list on which areas in the city have strange phenomena. It also documents a version of La Llorona that is s...

 By Aaron Perez Published: 4/2/2025 Image credit: Ysleta ISD      Out of all the schools in the county, only one can claim to be more haunted than the infamous El Paso High School. Located in the lower valley of the city, Ysleta is one of the oldest high schools in the county, and has been witness to many historical events. The school was used as a temporary POW camp for captured German soldiers during World War 2. Their stay there would not be permanent, as they would be taken to bigger camps. Because of its long history, the school is said to have more than a few spirits, far more than schools in the area. This school is said to be haunted by various spirits, mostly that of young children who can be seen roaming the theater auditorium. Another ghost is said to be that of a girl in a white dress who is said to roam one of the staircases of the school. This girl, like the one in El Paso High, is said to be a former cheerleader who ended her life and now roams the hal...

By AaronPerez Published 3/26/2025 Updated 6/1/2025 Image Credit: Harold P. Warren    EPCC Mission Valley is one of the newer facilities in the college district, which itself dates all the way back to 1969. Though completed in 1998, Mission Valley has served countless students throughout its years, especially those interested in law enforcement.  Though the campus itself is new, the land it is sitting on has a rich history, even if the initial results say otherwise. To explain it even further, one must go back to 1966, when the film Manos: The Hands of Fate had its theatrical debut downtown El Paso. The film was both a ratings and a box office disaster, due to the poor quality, incoherent voice acting, plot, and the circumstances it was made. Originally made as a result of a bet that Screenwriter Stirling Silliphant gave to fertilizer tycoon Harold P. Warren, the film would be forgotten for decades, but thanks to the TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000 , it found a cult ...

By Aaron Perez Published 3/18/2025   Raymond Telles Academy, formerly known as Houston Elementary Image Credit: 93.1 Kiss FM Formerly an elementary school named after Sam Houston, this building closed its doors due to lack of student influx and district wide cuts. I actually attended this school myself, and know a thing or two about its hauntings. When it was Houston Elementary, the entire area consisted of four main buildings, but when it was closed, it lay abandoned for some time until it was repurposed. The former Elementary school became part of the district’s early college and the buildings were then separated into two entirely new learning institutions, one being a disciplinary facility named Raymond Telles Academy and the other an early college and pre-school named CCTA. The school that is now known as Raymond Telles Academy is no stranger to hauntings, as police have responded to break-ins late at night from its Houston days, only to find the premise who went there would re...

By Aaron Perez Published 3/12/2025 Image credit: El Paso Community College         Opened in 1975 as the medical branch of EPCC, the Rio Grande Campus originally had five programs in the field. It later expanded to 12 programs which gave its students an opportunity to enroll into more specialized careers in the medical field. Its original A building belonged to the El Paso Independent School District before it was purchased for its current purpose. It was later expanded with the adjacent B building, which is connected through the first floors. It was later further expanded in the 2000s with Health and Science Laboratory building being completed in 2002 and since then, new buildings have been built or are being rented out by the college. Prior to being part of the Community College, these buildings served various roles throughout the years. Its administrative and enrollment office and little temple buildings originally served as synagogues. One of the other build...

    By Aaron Perez Published 3/10/2025 Updated 3/13/2025      El Paso is no stranger to hauntings, as I have documented in previous blogs. It does have many hauntings, particularly schools with its most famous being El Paso High School. There are others on the list that are notable, but it would take research and more blogs to document each and every one of them. I will begin to do that by listing some of the schools that have things bumping in the night.  Image Credit: The Trost Society 5.  Loretto Academy-1300 Hardaway St, El Paso, TX 79903 A Catholic school locate d in the central part of El Paso, a ghost of a nun is said to haunt the tower of the school, forever pacing the tower of the school she dedicated much of her life to. This spirit was said to have shamed herself in life by breaking her vow of celibacy and becoming pregnant. She then made the terrible decision of ending her life, and now waits for atonement of her sins. Others say it was a t...

By Aaron Perez Published 3/6/2025     Image Copyright: El Paso ISD      Founded in 1930, Austin High School is located in the central part of El Paso, and has been an influential institution in the city. Designed by Robert E. Mckee with Spanish inspired architecture in mind, the building has a distinct tower that can be seen for miles. Austin High School was known for lighting up the large A that is painted in the Franklin mountains when a major football game would be played in their stadium.  Is this the vice principal of the ghost custodian performing his monitoring duties from beyond the grave? Copyright: Ghost915 El Paso del Norte Paranormal Society      While it may not be as deeply documented as El Paso High School, it certainly has its own share of mysteries and ghost stories. From phantom cheerleaders to strange vice principals, the halls of Austin High School are rumored to be haunted by many uneasy spirits. As mentioned earlier, th...

By Aaron Perez Posted 3/5/2025-Updated 3/6/2025 The Lady in the Hill Image Copyright: EL Paso ISD      The oldest high school in the city, and in the county, El Paso High School was built by the Trost & Trost foundation and founded in 1916. The building features a Greco-Roman architecture, unique in the city, and sits on the foot of the Franklin mountains and overlooks downtown El Paso and Ciudad Juarez. Dubbed “The Lady of the Hill”, El Paso High School has seen countless students walk through its halls for over a century. It is also the home of the continuous student military corps in the state, which is still in operation to this very day.  Being an old school can also bring in some paranormal mysteries to it, especially if the building is rumored to have several undead spirits roaming its halls.       Its most famous specter is that of a cheerleader who killed herself by jumping off the now closed fourth floor balcony and plunging to the a...