Est. 1850 · One of the Oldest Buildings in Lincoln (1850s) · Regulator Strongpoint in the Lincoln County War · Billy the Kid Held Here ~Two Weeks After Stinking Springs Capture · Restored and Reopened as the Ellis House
The Ellis Store is among the oldest structures in Lincoln, a thick-walled adobe on the same site since the 1850s. Its name comes from its long use as a store and trading post serving the village and the surrounding ranches in territorial New Mexico.
The building sits in the middle of the events that became the Lincoln County War. When fighting broke out in 1878 between the Murphy-Dolan faction and the rival interests of John Tunstall and Alexander McSween, McSween's Regulators used the Ellis Store as one of their strongpoints during the July 1878 battle that ended with McSween's house burned and McSween dead.
The Ellis Store's most-told story comes a little later. After Sheriff Pat Garrett tracked Billy the Kid to Stinking Springs and captured him in December 1880, accounts hold that the Kid was held at the Ellis Store for roughly two weeks before being moved on toward his trial. The room is now called the Billy the Kid Room.
For years the property operated as the Ellis Store Country Inn, a bed-and-breakfast, before closing for a period. Innkeeper Amy Gauthier purchased and restored the building, reopening it as the Ellis House and returning it to overnight use. The Billy the Kid Coalition has worked to place a permanent historical marker at the site documenting its role in the Lincoln County War and the Kid's story.
Sources
- https://www.abqjournal.com/news/article_b011aa32-38b5-11ef-9956-1b1dd68cb391.html
- https://ellishousenewmexico.com/
- https://www.legendsofamerica.com/nm-lincoln/
KnockingMuffled voicesWhistlingApparition of a hulking figureObjects vanishing and reappearing
The Ellis Store's haunted reputation centers on the room named for Billy the Kid, the room tied to the roughly two weeks he was held here after Stinking Springs. Guests staying in it have reported violent knocking, muffled voices, and whistling. The whistling detail is the one repeated most often, since the Kid was known for whistling tunes. When the room held a single bed, a few guests reported being tossed out of it during the night; after a king-size bed was installed, those particular accounts stopped.
Beyond that room, the inn has accumulated a small collection of stories over its years as a bed-and-breakfast. The figure described most often around the property is a tall, hulking shape. Guests have reported disembodied voices and the more domestic experience of small items disappearing for a while before turning up again. At least one guest described a woman's voice whispering near his ear as he was falling asleep.
These accounts come from guest reports collected during the property's bed-and-breakfast years and from regional coverage of Lincoln's Billy the Kid sites; they are the kind of repeated, low-key reports common to old adobes rather than anything documented by formal investigation. With the building restored and reopened, whether the new Ellis House produces the same stories is an open question.
Notable Entities
Billy the Kid (Billy the Kid Room)A hulking figure
Where this legend is told
