Tucson Arizona

Velasco Pueblo

The spirit of the original owner has been an encouraging presence
and has his own tastes in interior decorating.

DESCRIPTION

This traditional 1850 adobe home began with three main rooms and an entry hall. It was built when the Spanish garrison became a permanent presence in El Presidio. Other upscale sections were added onto this main house, mostly when well-known and well-off mover and shaker Carlos Velasco and his wife Beatriz bought it in 1878. To them it was a fixer-upper opportunity.

These grander rooms have fifteen foot high ceilings, constructed with Ponderosa Pine and Douglas fir. They made this adobe their own dream home and built and changed it throughout the 1880s. A major renovation by Beatriz resulted in a hip roof and new floors.

velasco-paranormal

HISTORY

Carlos Velasco accomplished much in his life, as he was a real achiever. Velasco served as a public servant, becoming a Sonora State Senator and a district judge, before moving to Tucson. He became a general store operator in Tucson until 1878, when he sold his business to start a Spanish newspaper.

When he saw a need in his community, he got busy and personally offered at least a partial solution. When there were only English-speaking newspapers, Velasco started a Spanish newspaper, El Fronterizo, which he ran in one of the south rooms in his house. He relied on a used Washington hand press to print his own paper. It developed a large following and became a very successful enterprise.

When growing anti-Hispanic sentiments became evident in his community, Velasco started a fraternal insurance society, Alianza Hispano-Americana in 1894, one of the earliest Hispanic insurance companies in the Southwest.

He and his wife lived in their cherished adobe home until 1914 when Carlos died. The adobe was sold, and its structure underwent a series of considerable remodeling efforts. At some point the adobe was renovated into apartments and some of the original windows and doors were closed up.

The years that the adobe was a rental property were not kind, and its owners didn’t keep up with needed repairs. It became a challenging fixer-upper with a sagging roof and severely termite-damaged timbers. It suffered damage from a fire in one of the bedrooms.

Thankfully, the Velasco Pueblo was rescued by three new owners: Brown, Dillon and Cobb, who took on the huge project to renovate this historic pueblo and return it to its former glory.

HISTORY OF MANIFESTATIONS

When a historic building that is in bad shape is restored and renovated, the spirits of the people who loved it while they were alive, are drawn back to their cherished place where they can enjoy their memories and often encourage the living. Spirits often let the living know that they are sharing the place with them.

Former owners in spirit form sometimes like to try to have a say about the decor and even sometimes the arrangement of furniture in their beloved home. They will frequently support the efforts of the living owners.

Tucson

MANIFESTATIONS

The Entity of Carlos Velasco

As the new owners began cleaning up, stabilizing, renovating and restoring this adobe, the entity of Velasco began to make friendly appearances, so pleased that the living were finally fixing up his favorite place in this world. After appearing, he looked directly and steadily in a calm manner at the startled people. He liked to see the work they were doing.

The bedroom located off the room that served as Velasco’s Spanish newspaper business was blackened by a fire. Brown was hard at work, working on one of the bedroom’s walls, when he felt someone looking at him. He looked up to see the solid upper torso of a Mexican man, sporting a mustache. After looking at photographs, Brown positively identified this as the spirit of Carlos Velasco.

Velasco’s spirit is also fascinated with clocks, and likes to reset them.

He apparently is also on the decor committee, and likes to rearrange the furniture in ways that are considered odd by the new owners.

STILL HAUNTED?

Probably so, though this story was published around twenty years ago. A lot can happen in twenty years.

These owners or perhaps newer owners could’ve had a cleansing ceremony for the adobe. Or, they all could have just accepted Velasco as a house spirit and gotten used to his company.

I couldn’t find any psychic or paranormal scientific investigations made public on the internet to back up the reported experiences of witnesses with the spirit of Carlos Velasco. The owners then or now may have had a private investigation done to see if they really had Carlos with them, and if he was happy with their efforts. Unfortunately we simply don’t know at this time.