I don’t believe in Ghosts!

No.

I don’t believe in Flying Saucers. I hail from the San Luis Valley, a hotbed for UFO sightings. I spent a far part of my life under those skies and never saw a single thing. I guess while everyone else was seeing fleets of other worldly craft soaring over head, I must have been looking the other way.

I don’t believe in Ghosts, witches, spells, and so on.

Zombies? Nope, but I think I sat through a couple of college courses they were all taking.

But that doesn’t stop me from liking the stories, especially folk tales

An example? Try this story on for size.

There are several incidents that are associated with, the town of Las or Los Sauces (depending on the spelling you choose). Nestled on the banks of the Rio Grande River and before bridges were built, it was one place where people forded the river to get from the east side of the San Luis Valley to the west. Any further north and you end up adding to your trip. Further south is almost impossible since you’re now dealing with the Rio Grande Gorge.

Los Sauces is a small town and has some interesting stories associated with the paranormal. One of my personal favorites has to do with a guest at a community dance. One thing I’ll say for the community is there’s some heart-breaking beautiful girls that have come out of there. And that must have been true back in the early days when the community was founded. Back then, it was a full-fledged town with stores, a saloon, and a post office. Since it was a crossing, it wasn’t unusual to have strangers staying the night there. Well, this night. there was a dance in town, and there was a man attending it. Movie stars didn’t exist yet, but this man would have been considered “Movie star handsome” by today’s standards. The ladies were all taken with him, and according to the story he’d been dancing with them all night long. He seemed especially intrigued with the most beautiful girl in town. As he danced with her, someone noticed something odd about him. He had a barbed tail, and it was sticking out of his pant leg near his ankle. Legend says it was the Devil in the flesh. Realizing he’d been made, the Devil proved he was also a gentleman. He thanked the ladies for the dances, kissed his dance partners hand, said good night, and disappeared in a flash of light.

This story is told throughout the southwest, but the town names are different. I suspect everyone stole it and put the name of their town into it. That, or the Devil enjoys a good party, dancing with a pretty girl, and gets around some.

Makes you wonder how he finds time to create the mischief he’s blamed for.