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BY TRISTEN CRITCHFIELD FOR THE JOURNAL

While it’s essentially spooky season all year long at Painted Lady Bed & Brew, things tend to ramp up in October. “With our history, with the old saloon and brothel, and then the ghosts that are actually here, it makes for a pretty cool, authentically haunting experience,” owner Jesse Herron said. “We just kind of lean into that and try to be the one destination in Albuquerque during October, especially Halloween season, that people think of.”

Painted Lady Bed & Brew officially opened in 2018, with a bed-and-breakfast liquor license that allowed guests at one of the four suites to be served two beers per day. Herron eventually acquired a small brewer’s license that allowed him to make his own beer using a two-barrel system. These days, guests can enjoy a beer at the Ghostlight Saloon, a renovated trolley, and a spacious outdoor beer garden with seating for about 85 people. Herron usually has two Painted Lady beers on tap, as well as offerings from other local breweries.

The haunted history is a major part of the appeal as is the paranormal activity that occurs frequently on the property but there’s also a full slate of scary events lined up for “Ghostober.” That includes a Houdini seance on Halloween night that has Herron particularly excited.

This Halloween marks the 100th anniversary of the death of magician Harry Houdini, who was notorious for exposing fraudulent spiritual mediums. As legend has it, Houdini had an agreement with his wife, Bess, that whoever died first would

Painted Lady Bed & Brew will host a series of Ghostober events, including the Crypt Keeper’s Comedy Hour, A Night of Haunting Magick with Jordan Jonas and a Houdini Halloween Seance.

COURTESY PAINTED LADY BED & BREW

Painted Lady Bed & Brew will host a Season of the Witch Celebration on Saturday, Oct. 24, which is highlighted by the annual unveiling of Painted Lady’s Witch’s Brew, an amber beer that features a variety of spices from Old Town Herbal.

COURTESY PAINTED LADY BED & BREW

attempt to contact the survivor. While Bess reportedly conducted seances for 10 years after Houdini’s death, the tradition has carried on to the present day. This year, that will include Painted Lady.

“We’re doing that inside the casita at Painted Lady on Halloween night with Jordan Jonas, who’s a bartender here and a professional magician and mentalist,” Herron said. “So he’s putting together an actual seance for 13 people at a time.

“And we’re going to do four of those in different staggered seatings throughout the night, beginning at 6 p.m. And the last one is at 10:30, and it’s actually going to be after the property’s closed. So it’ll be completely like an after-hours, total darkness experience.”

The Houdini Halloween seance will be a ticketed event. Given the limited availability, Herron expects that it will sell out. Still, there will be plenty of other options for those looking for a spooky experience.

For example, the Season of the Witch Celebration on Saturday, Oct. 24, will be highlighted by the annual unveiling of Painted Lady’s Witch’s Brew, an amber beer that features a variety of spices from Old Town Herbal.

“I describe it as Halloween in a glass,” Herron said. “And it’s got pretty much everything that reminds you of the season, except pumpkin. So it has star anise, it has a little bit of allspice. It’s got some really interesting flavors, a lot of stuff going on in it. It’s a really aggressive beer that people just really have taken a liking to.”

It’s the third year the beer has been released; this time, the tapping of the keg will coincide with a showing of “The Craft.” Additionally, there will be tarot readings and “witchy local vendors” on the property that day.

Most of the original Painted Lady beers come with horror movie themes. In late September, a Oktoberfest collaboration with Dripline Brewery called Wake the Dead, an “Addams Family” tribute, was released, and this month, Please Don’t Kill Me Mr. Ghostface, a blonde that pays homage to “Scream,” will make its return.

Could “Obsession,” this year’s biggest horror hit, eventually get a beer in its honor? It’s certainly possible. Most new beers are released during Scary Movie Bingo, which includes a showing of the film in question.

“I’ve got a long list of movies I want to show here, but that’s definitely on the list,” Herron said.

Opportunities for thrills and chills abound with the October event schedule at Painted Lady, but every now and then, Herron still runs across the real thing. It was a lot more common when he lived on the property, but every now and then spirits will do something to remind him of their presence.

“I don’t live here anymore and I haven’t in a few years, but I’m here every day, at least six days a week, sometimes multiple times a day,” Herron said. “I’m just in the laundry room, like the utility room right now … and the lights flicker this one light bulb in particular. And sometimes I just tell them to knock it off or whatever, and then it goes away. So there’s little stuff like that.

“There’s still former guests that are here for whatever reason, however that works. I’m not sure. Nobody really knows. You have to respect the property and not mess with them or invite evil things in. So it’s a special place, and we’re trying to keep it that way.”