Horror stories





It’s Halloween, time to listen for things that go “bump” in the night.

Here’s a true Alamosa horror story on Sixth Street, possibly geared to scare the bejeepers out of anyone in the area late at night.

Either a story of love gone sour or debts unpaid, it left its image on the town and, it is said, once in a while drives home its message when the shape of a long dead female appears in the window.

If one listens closely, she may cry out, concerned about two daughters, aged 18 and 13, who were living with her in Alamosa during the summer of 1912, as well as a 16-year-old son in Austria, the “old country.”

Despite the gory incident, old newspapers report that the business continued as an eatery for a number of years at 529 Sixth Street, in a building now threatened with demolition.

On July 24, 1912, Blanca Cafe proprietress, 37-year-old Theresa Geber, was finishing up the breakfast rush shortly after 9 a.m. when Stephen Edl, who ran the nearby Club Cafe, walked into the dining room, which was still partially filled, argued with her in their Austrian German dialect and then shot and killed her almost instantly with a Colt .45.

Edl then wandered in a crazed daze around the dining room, changing the position of his pistol several times before going into the kitchen and shooting himself in the right temple.

So much for breakfast.

The couple reportedly got along well when they arrived in Alamosa, so well that Theresa furnished the money so that Stephen could purchase and operate the Blanca Cafe.

It reportedly wasn’t a smooth relationship and, after months of serious — and dangerous — quarreling, the police ordered Edl to leave town. He returned later with a partner from Chicago who financed Edl’s purchase of the Club Cafe, around the corner at 516 State.

That partnership ended as unpleasantly as the Edl-Geber one did. The partner took a mortgage for what remained of the debt and went back to Chicago, leaving his family in Alamosa.

Edl was reportedly single, 32 years of age, and had no relatives in the area.

According to the July 26, 1912, edition of the Alamosa Journal, Edl was “an erratic man and seemed to be always quarreling,” so the Club Cafe was not successful.

The Blanca Cafe, however, was prospering, and the incident may have been triggered by the fact that the Club Cafe had been closed to satisfy a judgement Theresa had obtained the day before to satisfy a long-past-due debt.

Editors of the Journal suggested the Blanca Cafe might be taken over by the Geber daughters and the mortgage holder would return to run the Club Cafe.

Stephen and Theresa were buried in the Alamosa Cemetery two days apart and as far away from each other as possible, but late tonight, when the wind is still, will they continue their conversation?

Theirs aren’t the only spirits said to be wandering the streets.

China Pete, the madame who ran a “boarding house for women of ill repute,” could still be beckoning customers in the south side for her long-dead employees.

Then, along the river, the cries of a 22-year-old woman may be heard as she begs her husband not to kill her. She died of two gunshot wounds.

And it has been said that City Marshal Charles Emerson Jr. has continued patrolling the streets ever since he was killed in action on Jan. 21, 1895.

Don’t call them. They may call you.